LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A Las Vegas man accused of living with his girlfriend’s body for several months calmly told a dispatcher she was dead and said he expected to go to jail while he brushed his teeth.

Officers took George Bone, 31, into custody Wednesday, July 26, after discovering Beverly Ma’s body during a welfare check in the 5300 block of Railroad River Avenue near Lindell Road and Eldorado Lane, they said.

Police suspect Bone strangled Ma in May, documents said.

Before police were called on Wednesday, a family member went to check on Ma when Bone reportedly told her Ma was deceased in a closet, police said. The family member then called 911.

In the call, the family member tells a dispatcher that Bone told her that her sister was deceased. She then hands the phone to Bone while remarking that he is brushing his teeth, the audio indicated.

Dispatcher: Why do you think she’s dead, sir?

Bone: Uh, because she’s been like that for a while now.

Dispatcher: OK, what is awhile?

Bone: Uh, since — May.

Dispatcher: Since, what I’m sorry?

Bone: May I think.

Dispatcher: She’s been in there since May?

Bone: Yea.

Dispatcher: And how do you know that?

Bone: Because I checked on her.

Dispatcher: So, you saw her in May and you saw that she was dead but you didn’t call anybody until right now?

Bone: No, because I didn’t want to go to jail.

A family member told police Ma and Bone were friends and that she was not close with family, documents said. Police said Ma and Bone met in high school and moved in with each other last summer.

The witness told police they entered the home on Wednesday after seeing an unusually high air conditioning bill, police said. Bone led her upstairs to the body, documents said.

“She noticed a cooler against the bedroom closet door and the bottom of the door had a towel, which covered the gap,” police said. “George told her that she can open it and see.”

Bone told police Ma had died sometime in May, police said. On May 4, dispatchers received a 911 call from Ma and heard a man and woman screaming at each other, they said. Because Ma called from her cellphone and did not provide an address, police went to the general area but did not see or hear anyone in distress.

Police knocked on a door where dispatchers believed the call may have originated, but no one answered, they said. Investigators suspect Ma died that day.

The call, lasting about a minute, includes audio of a dispatcher asking Ma, the caller, for her address. In the background, it appears Ma and Bone are screaming at each other.

Bone was being held at the Clark County Detention Center without bail. Last week, he told 8 News Now’s Sasha Loftis that he was innocent.

In 2013, Bone took an Alford plea on a charge of attempted lewdness with a child under the age of 14, records showed. An Alford plea is similar to a no-contest plea, where a defendant accepts prosecutors have enough evidence to convict him or her but does not admit guilt.

In 2012, Henderson police initially arrested Bone on charges of sexual assault and lewdness with a child stemming from allegations a teenager made about an assault two years prior when she was 11, documents said.

The student told a school employee that Bone had “inappropriately touched” her while he was living in a home with her, documents said.

In addition to an open murder charge, Bone also faces a charge of failing to register as a sex offender, records showed. Bone is listed in the Nevada Sex Offender Registry under a different address than where police responded on Wednesday, records showed.