Even though police have yet to arrest the person responsible for killing UW-Madison junior Brittany Zimmermann, other controversies surrounding the homicide have been making their way through Dane County courtrooms in the year since her death.
The first storm erupted nearly a month after the homicide, when former Dane County 911 Center Director Joe Norwick admitted 21-year-old Zimmermann called 911 from her cell phone the afternoon of her death last April—but no one came to help. Norwick said the dispatcher mistook Zimmermann's call as accidental and did not call back or dispatch police.
A warrant unsealed in December revealed Zimmermann called 911 at 12:20 p.m., but police were not dispatched until Zimmermann's fiancé Jordan Gonnering found her body at 1:08 p.m, despite audible screams and signs of struggle in her call.
As the county's 911 center came under fire and a flurry of lawsuits ensued, another potential blunder surfaced, this time involving the security of Zimmermann's downtown apartment where she was killed. Allegations of flimsy doors, cheap locks and negligent landlords arose as other lawsuits bearing the Zimmermann name were filed. Over the next 12 months, many facets of the Zimmermann case were left tangled in the justice system.
The ill-fated 911 call
In June 2008, Zimmermann's parents, Kevin and Jean, filed a federal lawsuit against Dane County and Rita Gahagan, the 20-year veteran dispatcher who mishandled Zimmermann's call, but dropped the suit the following month. Then on Jan. 13, the Zimmermanns and Gonnering filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Dane County, County Executive Kathleen Falk and Gahagan alleging their negligence led to the homicide.
The suit claims Falk failed to provide adequate staff or equipment to the Dane County 911 Center and her and the county's initial denial of sounds of struggle in Zimmermann's 911 call caused emotional distress to the family. The lawsuit also alleges Gahagan violated policy by failing to call Zimmermann back and should have dispatched police based on sounds heard in the call.
According to court documents, attorneys for the county, Falk and Gahagan filed a motion in late January to dismiss the case. Attorneys for Falk also filed a motion to reschedule her court appearances to April or May due to a change in legal counsel. Dane County Circuit Court Judge Maryann Sumi will rule on the motions before proceeding with the wrongful death suit.
Fighting to hear the call
With so much controversy surrounding Zimmermann's botched 911 call, curiosity about the contents of the call spiked, with many wondering if there were in fact audible signs warranting police dispatch. In mid-May, a number of media organizations including the Wisconsin State Journal, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Channel 3000 filed a lawsuit seeking to make the audio of Zimmermann's call public.
In a battle between the public's right to freedom of information and protecting the integrity of an ongoing police investigation, the media organizations' attorney April Barker and Dane County attorneys argued their respective viewpoints in the courtroom of Dane County Circuit Court Judge Richard Niess.
In mid-December, Niess ruled to allow the release of audio of Gonnering's 911 call. Authorities released a heavily edited recording of the call in early January, despite pleas from Gonnering's attorney to withhold the audio. Niess also made documents relating to the Dane County 911 Center's investigation into how Zimmermann's call was handled available to the public.
Nearly two weeks later, Niess made a final ruling to keep the audio of Zimmermann's call private until her killer is found.
""Uninhabitable conditions""
Zimmermann's ill-fated 911 call was not the only issue in the homicide case to spur legal action. The security of Zimmermann and Gonnering's apartment at 517 W. Doty St. was also brought into question in two separate suits filed by Zimmermann's loved ones against the property's management.
In June 2008, Kevin and Jean Zimmermann filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Wisconsin Management Company Inc. and its owner, landlord Russ Endres, alleging the apartment lacked proper security, which allowed an intruder to gain entry and kill Zimmermann.
According to the suit, Zimmermann's parents said they observed ""uninhabitable conditions"" at the apartment, with ""cheap, hollow-core doors with cheap locks."" The lawsuit claims the landlord should have provided better security in an area ""known to be frequented by vagrants, panhandlers and criminals."" The Zimmermanns claim WMC ignored several verbal and written complaints made by Gonnering about the lack of security.
On Feb. 5, Gonnering joined the lawsuit against WMC and Endres seeking unspecified compensatory damages for the ""natural shock, grief and severe emotional injuries"" he sustained after discovering Zimmermann's body and the apartment in ""morbid disarray."" A pre-trial meeting between attorneys for both parties and the judge in the Zimmermann lawsuit is scheduled for May.
