The 911 call made from slain UW-Madison student Brittany Zimmermann's cell phone will not be made public until her killer is found, a Dane County judge ruled in late December.
On Dec. 22, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Richard Niess made a final ruling against releasing the 911 call made from Zimmermann's cell phone the day of her death in April. A number of media organizations, including the Wisconsin State Journal, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Channel 3000, filed a lawsuit seeking to make the recording public.
In May it was revealed that a dispatcher, later revealed as 20-year 911 Center veteran Rita Gahagan, mishandled Zimmermann's call. According to warrants unsealed in December, the call contained audible screams and signs of struggle, but police were never dispatched.
Last month, Niess ruled that the 911 call made by Zimmermann's fiancé, Jordan Gonnering, who found her dead in the West Doty Street apartment they shared, could be released. On Jan. 9, a heavily edited recording of Gonnering's call was made public, with portions of the audio containing information pertinent to the ongoing investigation omitted.
I just came home, the door was busted in and my girlfriend's been shot,"" Gonnering told the dispatcher.
Legal issues surrounding the 911 call continued Jan. 13 when Zimmermann's parents, Kevin and Jean, and Gonnering filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Dane County, County Executive Kathleen Falk and Gahagan.
The suit alleges Falk did not provide the 911 Center with adequate staff or equipment, and that the Zimmermanns suffered emotional distress when Falk and the county initially denied the existence of Brittany's call or sounds of distress. The lawsuit also claims Gahagan failed to follow procedure and should have dispatched police upon hearing sounds of concern in the 911 call.
