EXCLUSIVE: Harrowing moment Texas cops find Sarah Ferguson’s former assistant ‘strangled to death’ in her luxury Dallas apartment – as family say her relationship with murder suspect husband was ‘toxic’ for years

Shocking police tapes reveal the moment the body of Sarah Ferguson’s former assistant was found – allegedly strangled in her luxury Dallas apartment.

DailyMail.com has obtained photos of the apartment, as well as audio from Dallas, Texas police radioing an officer encountering the alleged crime scene and ominously reporting, “I need a supervisor here.”

Jenean Chapman, 46, was found dead Monday afternoon in The National luxury apartment tower in downtown Dallas after her coworkers called police for a welfare check when she didn’t show up for work.

Police arrested her husband, James Michael Patrick, 48, 200 miles away in Austin on Wednesday.

Despite being married to Chapman since July, he describes himself on his Facebook page with the phrase: ‘Disco….. sleeze….single off’ and had his relationship status as ‘single’.

Chapman worked as personal assistant to the Duchess of York in the early 2000s.

Ferguson, Prince Andrew’s ex-wife, posted a statement about Chapman on her Instagram said Friday that she “heard from her just a few months ago” and promised to help pay for funeral expenses.

Audio from the Dallas Police Department radio, obtained by DailyMail.com, reveals the moment officers came across Chapman’s body.

Around 1:30 p.m., a female officer announced that she would be “taking the call to Elm,” the street where Chapman’s apartment was located.

The dispatcher says, “It’s a black woman. They said they haven’t heard from her since Wednesday. She and her husband had a house (inaudible).”

Just over 15 minutes later, the female officer radioed the bad news. “It’s definitely going to be a 27,” she said, using the police code for an attempted crime. “We need a (inaudible) crime scene.”

An officer adds that they “need a supervisor to start here at 1401 Elm” — and even mentions the word “murder.”

Police only officially labeled the case a murder a day later, calling it an “unexplained death” in their first statements to the media on Monday.

The Dallas County Medical Examiner has not yet determined the cause of death, although sources told the local ABC affiliate WFAA channel 8 “It appeared that Chapman had been strangled.”

Chapman lived with Patrick in a 1,157-square-foot, one-bedroom apartment in the luxury hotel and residential tower The National.

She moved there five months ago from San Francisco, where Patrick previously lived.

Photos obtained by DailyMail.com from an advertisement for her 36th-floor apartment show panoramic city views and mid-century modern furnishings.

Chapman’s family said their relationship was “rocky” and “toxic,” and had been on and off for six years. They were surprised to learn this summer that the couple had eloped without their knowledge.

But based on his Facebook page, you would have no idea Chapman was in Patrick’s life.

Although there are many selfies of the 38-year-old, his wife is not publicly visible.

Patrick categorized his relationship status on his profile as single and wrote in his description: ‘Disco….. sleeze….single off’.

One of the few photos of the couple together available online is on an old profile Patrick created on the clothing site PoshMark.com.

Patrick’s criminal record includes a charge for an alleged “terrorist threat” in Dallas County in 1993, when he was 18 years old, but it was later dismissed.

He was also charged in 2001 with theft under $500 in Travis County. That charge was also dismissed.

University of Texas police arrested him Wednesday and booked him into the Travis County jail on a $100,000 bond, according to his booking records.

The New York Post reported Friday that he had been transferred to Dallas, but the Dallas County jail system had no record of an inmate matching his description as of Saturday.

Chapman’s sister, Crystal Marshall, wrote in an Instagram post Thursday, “It’s really hard for me to write this. The past few days have been absolutely the worst days of my life. My sister was recently a victim of physical abuse and her life was brutally taken from her.

“I love you and miss you dear sister, and I wish you wouldn’t be taken from us so soon.”

The family has one GoFundMe page to pay the costs of transporting her body to her family home in New York, as well as “funeral expenses and legal fees to provide justice.”

As of Saturday, they had raised $25,592 of their $50,000 goal with 281 donations.

Her former employer Ferguson, the Duchess, posted on Instagram on Friday: ‘Jenean was loyal, hardworking, beautiful and fun and my heart breaks for her family and friends. I heard from her just a few months ago and she seemed so happy.

“I’m going to make a donation and support the family in any way I can.”

The Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office has ruled Chapman’s death a homicide but has not officially determined the cause of death.

Marshall told NBC Dallas Fort Worth that her sister had worked as a “senior vice president” at digital marketing company Critical Mass and that Chapman was “about to start her own company.”