June 30, 2025

Susan and Michael Kuhnhausen

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When Susan Kuhnhausen came home from work on a September evening in 2006, she noticed something felt…off. Minutes later, a man charged at her from the shadows with a hammer in hand. What followed was a shocking and harrowing fight for survival—and an investigation that uncovered a dark and twisted plot involving betrayal, manipulation, and a hitman with a violent past. This week, we tell the story of Susan and Michael Kuhnhausen, a case that forces us to ask: how well can you ever really know the person you married?

Support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/LoveMarryKill

Today’s snack: Loaded totchos

Sources:

WEBVTT

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Hi. I'm Rich and I'm Tina.

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And if there's one thing we've learned in over twenty

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years of marriage.

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It's that some days you'll feel like killing your husband.

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And some days you'll feel like killing your wife.

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Welcome to love, Mary Kill.

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Hey Tina, Hey Rich?

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How are you today?

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Pretty good? How about you?

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I'm doing pretty good.

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It's hot.

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It is hot Sunday morning. We're here in the recording

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studio and it is sweltering out already.

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I think it's supposed to be one hundred degrees today.

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Nearly with the humidity and other factors, it will be

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over one hundred degrees.

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Oh boy, let's just stay inside today.

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If only we had a swimming pool. Been going hard.

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I've been going hard in the swimming pool. So if

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you guys would like to support me and I sure

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rich to put in a swimming pool.

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I will put in a swimming pool if you commit

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to being the one who takes care of it, fixes

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the well.

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We had a pool at our old house and it

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was a thirty year old pool. The pool was really old.

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The pool was falling apart, like literally, like it needed

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to all be redone. And we didn't do that, and

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I think if you put in a brand new pool,

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it's going to be easier. Okay, we're gon, we're gonna

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settle this off here.

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All right, fair enough. We got to review a few

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days ago. It was a very nice review. But the

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reviewer did have one piece of feedback for us, Well,

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you share this with me, and that was that we

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used the word horrible too often.

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And I think that's probably true.

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We do use the word horrible definitely, because true crime

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is pretty horrible. We talk about all these horrible things.

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But I came up with a list of words that

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we could use instead of horrible.

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Okay, the last episode, I tried really hard not to

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say horrible. If anyone wants to go.

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Let's keep score today. So you could say appalling, atrocious, despicable.

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Okay, ghastly, ghastly.

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That's good, monstrous, depraved, unforgivable, wretched, grim, or nightmarish.

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Do you have those written now for me?

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No, you just have to remember.

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Someone make a needle point for us. That would be

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really fun to have a needle point with all those

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where you should do that, Say you do like to

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needle point in your spell?

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I was going to say I should print them out for you.

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But we'll just try to keep it in mind.

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Okay, Well, I can smell something you made a snatch.

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I hope you're hungry. I know it's only like ten

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am on Sunday morning, but I hope you're hungry. You know.

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I don't think we've ever talked about this, but I'm

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kind of an intermittent faster.

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Yeah. I usually don't eat, and I.

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Don't usually eat until two. Yeah, but I have had

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to give it to me.

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Well, today for our episode, for the case we're going

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to talk about, we're going to Portland, Oregon, which I've

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never been to Oregon.

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I would love to go there.

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It sounds like a beautiful I've never even watched Portlandia,

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which people love.

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We watched at least an episode, I don't think so.

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I watched maybe a bit some pieces. But and I

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don't know if you knew this, but tater Tots were

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developed in nineteen fifty three in Portland, Oregon. No.

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I didn't know, but I feel like such a ninny.

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Everyone knows.

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I know.

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I know. I'm glad I'm here for you. But it

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was created by the founders of OORDA. They were basically

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looking for.

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A way like, oh, oh, I get it now, it's

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all coming to Idaho. Yeah.

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So they were looking for a way to use the

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leftover pieces of potatoes that would otherwise be thrown away.

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Yeah, genius.

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So they chopped it all up, they added some flour seasoning,

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put it through like this masher, and made it into

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the shape that we know as the tater tot. And

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originally the sales were slow, but the Orida folks thought

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they were maybe not charging enough money for them, and

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so they raised the price and suddenly it took off.

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People were like crazy, people loved it. I didn't make

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you tater tots, but I did make you a Portland

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classic snack.

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I know what you made already.

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Really, what is it?

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I think it must be loaded.

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It's tachos.

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Okay, well, yeah they saw them. I saw the guacamole

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and the refrigerator and the cheese that you specifically would aside.

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And it's hard to not make a lot of nachos

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or tachos in this case, but basically.

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Tachos you could eat off old cha.

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No, you're not gonna be able to eat all of this,

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but we'll have a challenge.

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Sure.

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So yeah, here are your loaded tachos. How did you

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enjoy your tachos?

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They're really tasty.

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Yeah, I mean to pretty much guess what they would taste.

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An important ingredient though, that I think you left off.

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Did I leave off sour cream?

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Oh? I did leave off sour cream. I also left

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off the onions though, So I'm not.

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All bad all right, because I don't like raw onions,

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but you don't like sour creams. Just in case people

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don't know that about us, But do you want to

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tell us about today's case?

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I do say we're going to tell the story of

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Susan and Michael Kunhausen. And this is a recommendation from Genessa,

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so thank you, Jenessa. It was early evening Wednesday, September sixth,

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two thousand and six, in Portland, Oregon. Fifty one year

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old Susan Kunhausen had just finished another long shift as

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an emergency room nurse at Providence Portland Medical Center. She

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was in no particular rush to get home. She had

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been living alone ever since she kicked her husband, Mike Kunhausen,

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out of the house the year before. They weren't divorced

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yet technically still separated, but the writing was on the wall.

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They met occasionally, mostly for the sake of Mike's kids

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and grandkids, trying to preserve some shred of normalcy, but

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Susan was preparing to make the split permanent. Mike, on

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the other hand, had made it clear he didn't want

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a divorce. He saw her decision as betrayal abandonment. On

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her way home that evening, Susan decided to do something

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for herself. She stopped into the Perfect Look hair salon,

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just a short detour to get a fresh cut and

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a new color, a symbolic step into a new chapter.

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While waiting, she picked up a copy of Oprah magazine

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and flipped through the pages. A poem caught her attention.

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It was called I Will not Die an unlived Life

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by Donna Markova. The lines read, I will not die

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an unlived life. I will not live in fear of

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falling or catching fire. I choose to inhabit my days,

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to allow my living to open me, to make me

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less afraid, more accessible, to loosen my heart until it

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becomes a wing, a torch, a promise. I choose to

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risk my significance to live so that which came to

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me as seed goes to the next as blossom, and

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that which came to me as blossom goes on as fruit.

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I'm not big into poetry, but I really like that poem.

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The words resonated deeply with Susan. After nearly eighteen years

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of marriage, she had chosen to walk away to live

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more fully. She wasn't afraid of starting over. In fact,

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she was starting to enjoy it. She left the salon

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feeling refreshed and renewed. She drove back to her modest, blue,

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single story cape cod tucked behind a gray picket fence

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in the Montevilla neighborhood of southeast Portland. It was around

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six thirty pm when she entered through the mudroom at

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the back of the house. She saw a handwritten.

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Note left by Mike.

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It read quote, Sue haven't been sleeping, had to get away,

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went to the beach.

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See you Friday or Saturday. Love me.

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She set her aside, disarmed the security system, and walked

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through the house to the front door, stepping back outside

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to grab the mail. After flipping through a few envelopes,

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she came back inside and kicked off her birkenstocks. Something

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caught her eye. The bedroom was dark. That was strange.

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It was still light out and she usually opened the

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curtains in the morning. Had she forgotten? And then everything changed.

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A man burst out of the bedroom, charging straight at her,

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a baseball cap pulled low over his face, long hair

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tucked behind it, yellow rubber gloves on his hands. In

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one of those gloved hands, he gripped a red and

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black clawhammer raised high above his head. He didn't say

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a word. Susan screamed as the hammer came down. We've

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done a few cases like this where you know someone

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a woman comes home and is just surprised by someone in.

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The garage or in the house.

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It's just such a terrifying feeling, knowing that you know

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you're just something doesn't feel right to you, and you

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probably have this inkling of it, and then this strange

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man is in your house coming at you.

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I was going to say it's horrifying, but I'm going

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to say it's ghastly.

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Yes, they say we learn how to be married by

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watching our parents and seeing their marriage.

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Boy, I hope not.

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But as Susan would later tell her friends, quote my

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parents loved me, but they couldn't teach me how to

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have a successful marriage. Any more than they could teach

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me how to fly. Her father served in the Air Force.

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Her mother was a homemaker. The two separated when Susan

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was in second grade. Her childhood was far from stable,

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moving from Colorado to Arizona, to California to Nevada. New homes,

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new schools, new friends. The ground beneath her feet was

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always shifting. After high school, Susan earned her credentials as

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a licensed practical nurse and later became a registered nurse.

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She moved to Oregon in her late twenties, eventually making

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Portland her home. She was outgoing, vibrant, and quick to

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make friends. Being single never felt like a problem. She

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had a full, independent life packed with friends, purpose, and

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the adrenaline of her job as an r nurse. But

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in nineteen eighty eight, when Susan was thirty three, her

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mother and a friend teamed up and decided it was

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time Susan met someone. Together, they placed a personal ad

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in Willemette Week, Portland's free alternative weekly. I don't know

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if Susan went along with this or if they did

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it without her knowledge, but yeah, they decided to do this.

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The ad described Susan as quote someone different, a single

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white female thirty three, overweight but not over life, seeking

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a single male who wants more out of a relationship

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than just slender.

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It bothers me that her weight is mentioned twice in

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that brief ad. Had she not had a lot of

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luck dating and had her weight been an issue in

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her previous relationships?

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The sense I get was that she just it wasn't

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anything that she ever really pursued that hard, Like she

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just was happy being with her friends and being on

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her own. So probably wasn't you know, wasn't something she

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really thought about.

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And also the ad says something different like that's kind

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of we too.

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Yes, maybe her mom and friend were looking for a

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way to make her stand out. Yeah. So the replies

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came quickly. One letter stood out to Susan. It began, quote,

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Hi different. My name is Mike. I'm a thirty nine

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year old divorced, white male. I enjoy most things in nature,

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from wandering in the ape caves at Mount Saint Helen's

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to walking on the beach at sunset. If you're not familiar,

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and I was not familiar, the ape cave is a

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lava tube at Mount Saint Helen's. It was formed thousands

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of years ago in an eruption. It has like two

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different sections. You can hike through ones really easy, and

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then the other is much more rugged but sounds really cool.

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Yeah.

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Susan was intrigued by the reply. She and Mike talked

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for the first time on January thirtieth, nineteen eighty eight.

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She marked the date with a smiley face drawn in

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redpen in her day planner. That first call led to another,

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then another. Susan later estimated they spent over one hundred

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hours on the phone before ever meeting in person. She said, quote,

242
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he had a nice voice. I was impressed that he

243
00:10:56.919 --> 00:10:58.600
wanted to talk about the deeper things.

244
00:10:58.879 --> 00:11:00.000
Does Mike live in Portland?

245
00:11:00.679 --> 00:11:01.440
Yes, he does.

246
00:11:01.679 --> 00:11:04.720
Their first in person meeting came in February. They met

247
00:11:04.720 --> 00:11:07.320
at the Crystal Springs Road to Dendron Garden, next to

248
00:11:07.360 --> 00:11:10.639
Read College. It was a simple, sweet date. They fed

249
00:11:10.639 --> 00:11:14.159
the ducks and Mike tossed unsalted peanuts to the squirrels.

250
00:11:14.200 --> 00:11:18.399
That's very specific, unsalted peanuts. In many ways, they were opposites.

251
00:11:18.600 --> 00:11:22.039
Susan was bubbly and social. She loved going out dinners,

252
00:11:22.120 --> 00:11:27.519
comedy clubs, road trips, spontaneous adventures with friends. Mike was quiet, reserved,

253
00:11:27.679 --> 00:11:31.240
a home buddy with few close friends, but Susan didn't mind.

254
00:11:31.360 --> 00:11:33.679
They were grown ups with their own lives. She could

255
00:11:33.720 --> 00:11:36.440
go out with friends, have her independence, and still come

256
00:11:36.440 --> 00:11:39.240
home to Mike. At that time, he seemed okay with

257
00:11:39.279 --> 00:11:43.399
that too. Susan's brother James, remembered Mike this way quote.

258
00:11:43.600 --> 00:11:46.240
He was nice to my sister. He had a good job,

259
00:11:46.440 --> 00:11:48.759
he seemed to have a good work ethic, all that

260
00:11:48.799 --> 00:11:51.679
sort of thing. Mike had grown up in Portland and

261
00:11:51.799 --> 00:11:54.679
was adopted as an infant in nineteen forty eight. He

262
00:11:54.799 --> 00:11:58.639
served in Vietnam, and although he told people he saw combat,

263
00:11:58.679 --> 00:12:02.120
his official records list his role as a switchboard operator.

264
00:12:02.480 --> 00:12:05.879
Some of those war stories may not have been entirely true.

265
00:12:06.000 --> 00:12:08.399
We weren't able to find much about his first marriage,

266
00:12:08.440 --> 00:12:11.480
except that he had two young children when he met Susan.

267
00:12:11.759 --> 00:12:14.759
His ex wife had primary custody, while the kids stayed

268
00:12:14.759 --> 00:12:17.799
with him every other weekend. In May of nineteen eighty eight,

269
00:12:17.879 --> 00:12:20.039
just a few months after they met, Susan and Mike

270
00:12:20.120 --> 00:12:23.399
moved in together. By December, they decided to make it official.

271
00:12:23.840 --> 00:12:26.639
They were married in a small ceremony in Reno, Nevada,

272
00:12:26.799 --> 00:12:30.360
surrounded by a few family members and friends. Why Reno.

273
00:12:30.720 --> 00:12:33.679
For Mike, it was the slot machines. For Susan, it

274
00:12:33.799 --> 00:12:37.200
was symbolic. She'd always thought of marriage as a gamble.

275
00:12:37.679 --> 00:12:40.679
She later said, quote, what bigger gamble in life is

276
00:12:40.720 --> 00:12:41.720
there than marriage?

277
00:12:41.960 --> 00:12:42.919
I hit the jackpot.

278
00:12:45.559 --> 00:12:48.440
You have been working on that one all week, haven you,

279
00:12:48.440 --> 00:12:50.480
I can tell, just came up with it. I won

280
00:12:50.559 --> 00:12:53.480
the jackpot. She felt proud of herself for taking that leap,

281
00:12:53.480 --> 00:12:55.799
and proud of Mike too. He was willing to try

282
00:12:55.840 --> 00:12:59.759
again after a failed first marriage that took courage back

283
00:12:59.759 --> 00:13:03.679
in Royland. The newlywed settled into their routines. Susan embraced

284
00:13:03.799 --> 00:13:06.639
Mike's kids as her own. Not long after the wedding,

285
00:13:06.759 --> 00:13:10.240
Mike landed a new job as a janitorial supervisor for

286
00:13:10.440 --> 00:13:15.039
Oregon Entertainment, the parent company of Fantasy Adult Video, which

287
00:13:15.120 --> 00:13:19.200
operated several adult video stores around Portland. It's not clear

288
00:13:19.279 --> 00:13:22.960
exactly what Mike's role entailed, but he most likely oversaw

289
00:13:23.000 --> 00:13:26.240
the crews responsible for cleaning the stores and may have

290
00:13:26.320 --> 00:13:29.000
done some of the work himself. So there's a whole

291
00:13:29.080 --> 00:13:30.559
chain of adult video stores.

292
00:13:30.720 --> 00:13:32.879
Well, this is like nineteen This is you know, in

293
00:13:32.919 --> 00:13:35.879
the late eighties, early nineties or so, and I think,

294
00:13:36.000 --> 00:13:38.200
you know, the internet was not around yet, and so

295
00:13:38.279 --> 00:13:42.039
I think there were probably more adult bookstores and places

296
00:13:42.080 --> 00:13:44.919
where you could go buy porn videos and things like that.

297
00:13:45.000 --> 00:13:46.399
So I'm guessing there were quite a few. I think

298
00:13:46.399 --> 00:13:48.480
there are still a few. I did google it on

299
00:13:48.559 --> 00:13:49.240
my work computer.

300
00:13:49.720 --> 00:13:50.799
Maybe it was not good.

301
00:13:50.639 --> 00:13:56.600
I don't remember seeing any adult only video stores in

302
00:13:56.639 --> 00:14:00.320
our area, but I remember the video store when I

303
00:14:00.360 --> 00:14:01.840
was a kid that we went to. There was a

304
00:14:01.840 --> 00:14:03.399
black curtain, uh huh.

305
00:14:03.480 --> 00:14:06.960
So oh, and that's where they kept the adult videos. Yeah,

306
00:14:07.000 --> 00:14:09.320
it's hard to remember, but thinking back to those days,

307
00:14:09.480 --> 00:14:12.480
not like Blockbuster didn't have it, but your local video story,

308
00:14:12.519 --> 00:14:13.080
Yeah they had.

309
00:14:13.120 --> 00:14:15.600
They had the secret room in the back curtain.

310
00:14:15.679 --> 00:14:18.320
Yeah. I think I just remember like stumbling back there

311
00:14:18.919 --> 00:14:22.279
accidentally as a kid like that. You know. So in

312
00:14:22.279 --> 00:14:25.600
those early years, life was good. They worked various shifts,

313
00:14:25.840 --> 00:14:28.440
Susan and the chaos of the er, Mike with his

314
00:14:28.559 --> 00:14:31.679
custodial duties, but they made it work. They spent time

315
00:14:31.720 --> 00:14:35.679
with Mike's parents, had his kids every other weekend, juggled family,

316
00:14:35.759 --> 00:14:40.000
work and friends. Things seemed normal, even happy, but Early

317
00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:42.840
in the marriage, Mike made a comment that, in hindsight,

318
00:14:42.919 --> 00:14:47.080
feels like a warning. He told Susan, quote, marriage changes people,

319
00:14:47.480 --> 00:14:49.759
So who do you think is going to change more?

320
00:14:50.120 --> 00:14:52.919
You or me? As it turned out, it was Mike

321
00:14:52.960 --> 00:14:56.960
who changed. He stopped making an effort. Always introverted, he

322
00:14:57.039 --> 00:14:59.639
at least used to enjoy hiking with Susan, but that

323
00:14:59.759 --> 00:15:03.320
too faded, she said, quote, it wasn't very long after

324
00:15:03.360 --> 00:15:05.799
we got married that there was no more hiking, no

325
00:15:05.919 --> 00:15:09.399
more getting out. And it wasn't just about differing lifestyles.

326
00:15:09.759 --> 00:15:12.919
Mike's entire worldview had a darkness to it. He once

327
00:15:12.960 --> 00:15:15.720
admitted he didn't think he'd ever been truly happy, not

328
00:15:15.840 --> 00:15:19.240
even as a child. He told her flatly, quote life

329
00:15:19.360 --> 00:15:22.120
is a shit sandwich, and every day you take another

330
00:15:22.159 --> 00:15:23.399
bite until you die.

331
00:15:23.679 --> 00:15:25.919
Really depressing outlook on life, isn't it?

332
00:15:25.960 --> 00:15:29.679
Absolutely? They never had children together, which was fine with Susan,

333
00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:32.919
but a growing emotional divide started to take a toll.

334
00:15:33.200 --> 00:15:36.919
Over time. Mike grew more controlling. He'd complain whenever Susan

335
00:15:36.960 --> 00:15:40.120
went out with her friends to dinner, a movie, anything.

336
00:15:40.399 --> 00:15:44.200
He criticized her for spending money that baffled Susan. She'd

337
00:15:44.240 --> 00:15:46.960
always earned more than Mike, and money had never been

338
00:15:46.960 --> 00:15:50.159
an issue before. In Susan's mind, it was her money,

339
00:15:50.159 --> 00:15:52.080
and if she wanted to go do something with friends,

340
00:15:52.279 --> 00:15:54.720
then she was going to do it. Her friends noted

341
00:15:54.720 --> 00:15:58.080
the shift too. Mike was becoming more negative, more critical,

342
00:15:58.440 --> 00:16:01.360
more possessive. When Susan and talked to friends on the phone,

343
00:16:01.399 --> 00:16:04.960
they could tell he was there, hovering, listening in the background.

344
00:16:05.440 --> 00:16:08.559
He chain smoked cigarettes and guzzled diet cokes all day,

345
00:16:08.759 --> 00:16:12.159
and his anxiety only seemed to intensify with time. He

346
00:16:12.240 --> 00:16:15.559
continued to criticize her over spending money. When Susan pointed

347
00:16:15.600 --> 00:16:17.799
out that he was spending over two thousand dollars a

348
00:16:17.840 --> 00:16:20.480
year in cigarettes, he brushed it off, saying it was

349
00:16:20.519 --> 00:16:24.159
an addiction. Her response, well, I'm addicted to going out

350
00:16:24.159 --> 00:16:25.080
from time to time.

351
00:16:25.519 --> 00:16:28.120
One thing I read is that Mike got a five

352
00:16:28.200 --> 00:16:30.639
thousand dollars a year bonus from his job, and he

353
00:16:30.720 --> 00:16:33.120
kept that a secret from Susan. So he not only

354
00:16:33.200 --> 00:16:35.399
was criticizing her for spending money, but he was also

355
00:16:35.480 --> 00:16:38.200
hiding money that he was making as well from her.

356
00:16:38.480 --> 00:16:40.039
Well, I would guess a lot of their money went

357
00:16:40.159 --> 00:16:41.519
to support his children too.

358
00:16:42.039 --> 00:16:43.799
I don't know for sure what he was paying in

359
00:16:43.840 --> 00:16:45.480
child' support, but yeah, I'm sure you're right.

360
00:16:45.960 --> 00:16:50.000
Whether or not Mike actually saw combat in Vietnam remains unclear.

361
00:16:50.320 --> 00:16:53.960
As we mentioned, military records list him as a switchboard operator,

362
00:16:54.120 --> 00:16:57.159
but Susan's brother James, who worked for the VA, believed

363
00:16:57.200 --> 00:17:00.879
he showed signs of PTSD. PTS can show up in

364
00:17:00.919 --> 00:17:05.079
a lot of ways, flashbacks and nightmares, emotional numbness, sudden

365
00:17:05.119 --> 00:17:09.440
mood swings, irritability, paranoia. For Mike, the signs were there.

366
00:17:09.759 --> 00:17:11.680
By the summer of two thousand and five, after nearly

367
00:17:11.720 --> 00:17:14.920
seventeen years of marriage, Susan had had enough. Mike seemed

368
00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:18.599
checked out emotionally, physically in every way. She tried to

369
00:17:18.680 --> 00:17:22.640
kiss him and he'd respond by burping, Oh, that's really disgusting.

370
00:17:22.839 --> 00:17:23.720
Yeah, that's not cool.

371
00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:27.359
Susan begged him to try couples counseling. He refused, saying

372
00:17:27.400 --> 00:17:30.839
it was the death knell of his first marriage. Susan

373
00:17:30.920 --> 00:17:33.880
gave him an ultimatum, go to counseling or we get

374
00:17:33.920 --> 00:17:37.960
a divorce. Reluctantly, Mike agreed, but he didn't take it seriously.

375
00:17:38.279 --> 00:17:41.319
He showed up, but he didn't show up. Susan could

376
00:17:41.319 --> 00:17:43.880
see his heart wasn't in it. She still didn't want

377
00:17:43.920 --> 00:17:46.519
to fail, and she didn't want Mike to fail again either,

378
00:17:46.759 --> 00:17:49.079
But she began to realize that she wasn't married to

379
00:17:49.119 --> 00:17:51.559
a broken man who needed help. She was married to

380
00:17:51.720 --> 00:17:56.559
a malignant narcissist, a manipulator, a liar, a man who

381
00:17:56.599 --> 00:18:00.720
needed control. Mike would often say quote, I'm just an asshole,

382
00:18:00.799 --> 00:18:03.759
always haven't, always will be. I know guys like that.

383
00:18:03.920 --> 00:18:04.359
Yeah.

384
00:18:04.599 --> 00:18:08.680
Eventually Susan came to believe him. After seventeen years, she

385
00:18:08.839 --> 00:18:12.319
decided she didn't want to be with an asshole anymore.

386
00:18:12.640 --> 00:18:15.920
When somebody says that, like regularly, I'm just an asshole,

387
00:18:15.920 --> 00:18:18.839
I'm a jerk, like, probably believe them after a short time.

388
00:18:18.920 --> 00:18:22.079
Yeah, she said, quote I cared about him, but I

389
00:18:22.160 --> 00:18:24.440
didn't want to live with him anymore. I wanted to

390
00:18:24.480 --> 00:18:27.440
be happy again. It's really draining to live with someone

391
00:18:27.519 --> 00:18:29.519
who is negative all the time.

392
00:18:29.880 --> 00:18:36.160
Yeah. I wouldn't know, but I'm sure it is.

393
00:18:36.519 --> 00:18:38.799
I do catch myself sometimes I'm like, gosh, I mean

394
00:18:38.960 --> 00:18:41.720
like a grumpy, negative, mean old woman today.

395
00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:44.000
Well I think we all do that sometimes, and it's

396
00:18:44.119 --> 00:18:45.400
fine to have bad days.

397
00:18:45.400 --> 00:18:46.079
And be irritable.

398
00:18:46.119 --> 00:18:49.240
But nobody wants to live with someoney who was always

399
00:18:49.319 --> 00:18:49.880
yeah right.

400
00:18:50.279 --> 00:18:52.640
Mike lived in with his father. By then, his kids

401
00:18:52.640 --> 00:18:55.640
were adults and had children of their own. Susan considered

402
00:18:55.680 --> 00:18:59.079
the grandkids hers too. For their sake, she tried to

403
00:18:59.119 --> 00:19:02.400
maintain a friendly relationship. They still had family get togethers.

404
00:19:02.759 --> 00:19:05.359
Mike would come over when the grandkids visited, and Susan

405
00:19:05.359 --> 00:19:08.640
did her best to keep things civil. She genuinely wanted

406
00:19:08.640 --> 00:19:12.000
to stay on good terms, but she was also rediscovering herself.

407
00:19:12.000 --> 00:19:16.759
Her friends noticed she seemed lighter, happier, more optimistic. She'd

408
00:19:16.799 --> 00:19:19.640
been happy before Mike, she was starting to believe she

409
00:19:19.720 --> 00:19:22.519
could be happy after him too. By the time the

410
00:19:22.559 --> 00:19:25.599
two thousand and five holidays rolled around, Susan felt more

411
00:19:25.640 --> 00:19:28.680
and more secure in her decision. Mike, on the other hand,

412
00:19:28.759 --> 00:19:32.240
did not. One evening Susan had friends over, Mike came

413
00:19:32.279 --> 00:19:34.960
by two. She was laughing and talking with her friends

414
00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:38.000
when she noticed him sitting off to the side, not

415
00:19:38.079 --> 00:19:42.799
saying a word, just watching, staring, his eyes full of anger.

416
00:19:43.440 --> 00:19:46.839
That's creepy. It was in that moment that Susan knew

417
00:19:47.000 --> 00:19:50.240
the separation wasn't enough. She needed a clean break. She

418
00:19:50.359 --> 00:19:53.640
needed a divorce, and she needed to move on for good.

419
00:19:54.279 --> 00:19:55.880
We'll be back after a break.

420
00:20:02.960 --> 00:20:06.079
By January of two thousand and six, Susan Kunhausen knew

421
00:20:06.079 --> 00:20:09.160
that her marriage was over after more than seventeen years

422
00:20:09.160 --> 00:20:11.759
with Mike. They had been separated for six months. She

423
00:20:11.799 --> 00:20:13.920
had done her best to keep things amicable for the

424
00:20:13.960 --> 00:20:16.880
sake of his kids, their grandkids, and maybe even for

425
00:20:17.000 --> 00:20:21.640
Mike himself. They still spent time together at family gatherings, birthdays, holidays.

426
00:20:21.920 --> 00:20:24.920
It sounds like Mike's kids really loved Susan and considered

427
00:20:24.960 --> 00:20:26.400
her part of their family.

428
00:20:26.640 --> 00:20:28.440
As far as I know, I really wasn't able to

429
00:20:28.480 --> 00:20:31.440
find out a lot about the relationship between the kids,

430
00:20:31.440 --> 00:20:34.920
but I did read that Susan considered them like her

431
00:20:34.960 --> 00:20:38.559
own children, so I'm assuming the feeling was mutual in

432
00:20:38.640 --> 00:20:41.680
some ways. Susan hadn't fully closed the door. She hadn't

433
00:20:41.680 --> 00:20:44.480
even changed the security code to the house alarm. It

434
00:20:44.559 --> 00:20:48.240
was still twelve ten, their anniversary December tenth, a code

435
00:20:48.279 --> 00:20:51.279
that she had programmed herself years earlier. She had asked

436
00:20:51.319 --> 00:20:53.759
Mike not to come over when she wasn't home, but

437
00:20:53.920 --> 00:20:57.480
deep down she suspected that he wasn't respecting that boundary.

438
00:20:57.720 --> 00:21:00.880
There were little things, small signs, a sense that someone

439
00:21:00.920 --> 00:21:03.599
had been there. She believed that Mike was letting himself

440
00:21:03.640 --> 00:21:06.519
in while she was at work, going through her belongings,

441
00:21:06.759 --> 00:21:10.400
checking up on her life. Still, Susan wasn't especially worried.

442
00:21:10.720 --> 00:21:13.640
She was firm in her decision. She had nothing to hide.

443
00:21:13.799 --> 00:21:16.720
Her instinct told her that he was snooping, not threatening,

444
00:21:16.960 --> 00:21:19.039
and maybe part of her still wanted to believe that

445
00:21:19.079 --> 00:21:20.680
Mike wouldn't cross a line.

446
00:21:20.720 --> 00:21:22.960
Not really was the house Susan's.

447
00:21:23.440 --> 00:21:26.079
I don't know if she bought the house before they met,

448
00:21:26.279 --> 00:21:28.720
or if they bought it together after. I do know

449
00:21:28.799 --> 00:21:30.559
they were They jointly owned it.

450
00:21:30.559 --> 00:21:32.799
Together, so he kind of did have a right to

451
00:21:32.839 --> 00:21:33.160
be there.

452
00:21:33.359 --> 00:21:36.039
That's an interesting question really, because she she kicked him

453
00:21:36.039 --> 00:21:38.119
out of the house. They were separated, they weren't fully

454
00:21:38.119 --> 00:21:41.079
divorced yet, so I mean, technically, you're right he did

455
00:21:41.359 --> 00:21:43.640
if he did own the home as well, but she

456
00:21:43.680 --> 00:21:46.839
did specifically ask him not to come when she wasn't there.

457
00:21:47.279 --> 00:21:50.319
Yeah, yeah, I can totally understand that. It is weird

458
00:21:50.319 --> 00:21:52.519
how Susan said that she could sense that he had

459
00:21:52.559 --> 00:21:54.880
been there. I've had that feeling before a lot too.

460
00:21:55.079 --> 00:21:56.799
Uh huh, Like you don't know if someone has been

461
00:21:56.799 --> 00:22:00.480
there or not. You just get this sense that different. Yeah.

462
00:22:00.519 --> 00:22:03.799
As the months passed, Susan continued to move forward. By

463
00:22:03.839 --> 00:22:06.640
the end of that summer, she had separated their finances

464
00:22:06.680 --> 00:22:09.319
and opened her own bank account. She was living fully

465
00:22:09.359 --> 00:22:13.000
on her own terms now, both emotionally and practically, and

466
00:22:13.119 --> 00:22:15.839
she had started the process of making the separation official.

467
00:22:16.039 --> 00:22:18.799
The divorce was underway, and now we're back to where

468
00:22:18.799 --> 00:22:22.920
we began. Wednesday, September sixth, two thousand and six, Susan

469
00:22:23.000 --> 00:22:26.920
Kunhausen had just finished another shift at Providence Portland Medical Center.

470
00:22:27.200 --> 00:22:29.079
She was preparing to leave the next day for a

471
00:22:29.160 --> 00:22:32.680
nursing convention, so around three pm she called Mike. It

472
00:22:32.759 --> 00:22:34.680
was a simple check in to ask if he could

473
00:22:34.720 --> 00:22:37.799
feed her cats while she was gone, but Mike sounded off,

474
00:22:38.119 --> 00:22:41.240
surprised to hear from her. Agitated, he told her he

475
00:22:41.359 --> 00:22:43.880
was stressed and heading to the beach. He mentioned that

476
00:22:43.920 --> 00:22:46.640
he had left her a note at the house. After work,

477
00:22:46.759 --> 00:22:49.319
Susan stopped by the Perfect Look hair salon for a

478
00:22:49.319 --> 00:22:52.119
haircut and color. She told her stylist that she was

479
00:22:52.160 --> 00:22:54.799
planning to file for divorce and wanted a new color

480
00:22:54.839 --> 00:22:57.759
for a new life. She left the salon feeling refreshed

481
00:22:57.799 --> 00:23:00.799
and hopeful. She pulled into the garage, entered through the

482
00:23:00.839 --> 00:23:04.279
back door, and disarmed the security system twelve ten, same

483
00:23:04.319 --> 00:23:06.920
code as always. She read the note that Mike had

484
00:23:06.960 --> 00:23:10.599
mentioned left in the mudroom quote, Sue, haven't been sleeping,

485
00:23:10.759 --> 00:23:13.279
had to get away, went to the beach. See you

486
00:23:13.319 --> 00:23:14.440
Friday or Saturday?

487
00:23:14.680 --> 00:23:15.240
Love me.

488
00:23:15.799 --> 00:23:18.440
Was that something that Mike did frequently? He would escape

489
00:23:18.480 --> 00:23:20.119
to the beach when he was stressed.

490
00:23:20.519 --> 00:23:22.640
I don't know, but I do know that the to

491
00:23:22.640 --> 00:23:24.359
get to the beach, like if you're going to the

492
00:23:24.359 --> 00:23:26.519
Pacific Ocean from Portland, it's like an hour and a

493
00:23:26.519 --> 00:23:29.039
half drive, so it's not just a quick getaway. Yeah,

494
00:23:29.079 --> 00:23:32.759
but maybe it was something he did regularly. Susan walked

495
00:23:32.759 --> 00:23:34.759
back out of the house through the front door, got

496
00:23:34.799 --> 00:23:37.319
the mail, and spent a couple minutes leafing through the mail,

497
00:23:37.519 --> 00:23:40.880
enjoying the nice weather, before heading back inside. At first,

498
00:23:40.960 --> 00:23:43.640
nothing seemed out of place, but something fell to off.

499
00:23:44.039 --> 00:23:46.200
It was subtle, barely more than a whisper in the

500
00:23:46.200 --> 00:23:48.720
back of her mind, a strange quality to the light.

501
00:23:49.119 --> 00:23:51.240
It was only six thirty PM, but the house felt

502
00:23:51.279 --> 00:23:54.000
darker than it should had she left the curtains closed.

503
00:23:54.200 --> 00:23:56.880
I think it's interesting sometimes you talked about intuition, like

504
00:23:56.920 --> 00:23:59.519
that somebody has been in your house, and I think similarly,

505
00:24:00.079 --> 00:24:02.279
like you might just get this sense that someone is

506
00:24:02.319 --> 00:24:04.960
there in the house or that something is different, but

507
00:24:05.079 --> 00:24:05.559
you might not.

508
00:24:05.559 --> 00:24:07.440
Be able to put your finger on where that comes from.

509
00:24:07.640 --> 00:24:10.599
Yeah, and then everything went off the rails. A man

510
00:24:10.720 --> 00:24:13.079
burst from her bedroom, charging straight at her.

511
00:24:13.279 --> 00:24:14.920
He wore yellow rubber gloves and a.

512
00:24:14.880 --> 00:24:18.720
Baseball cap pulled low, long hair tucked underneath. In one hand,

513
00:24:18.799 --> 00:24:21.400
he held a red and black claw hammer raised high.

514
00:24:21.720 --> 00:24:24.240
Before she could react, he struck her in the left temple.

515
00:24:24.559 --> 00:24:27.559
Susan staggered. She wanted to run, but she was trapped.

516
00:24:27.799 --> 00:24:30.160
But Susan wasn't just any woman. She had worked for

517
00:24:30.200 --> 00:24:33.119
nearly thirty years in the er, one of the most chaotic,

518
00:24:33.240 --> 00:24:37.599
dangerous environments in healthcare. She had seen overdoses, psychotic breaks,

519
00:24:37.680 --> 00:24:41.720
violent outbursts. She'd been assaulted twice. As a charge nurse.

520
00:24:41.839 --> 00:24:44.960
She had overseen takedowns of out of control patients. She

521
00:24:45.039 --> 00:24:48.039
knew how quickly calm could turn to crisis, and how

522
00:24:48.039 --> 00:24:51.960
to respond. The emergency department is a particularly vulnerable setting

523
00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:55.960
for workplace violence. Studies have shown that emergency room nurses

524
00:24:56.039 --> 00:24:59.599
experience some sort of violent event every two months on average.

525
00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:03.279
Because of this, many er departments provide training for nurses

526
00:25:03.319 --> 00:25:06.759
to spot warning signs of an escalating situation, to de

527
00:25:06.960 --> 00:25:11.160
escalate aggressive behavior, and if necessary, to use physical self

528
00:25:11.160 --> 00:25:14.640
defense maneuvers to protect themselves. Susan had long been an

529
00:25:14.680 --> 00:25:18.720
advocate for required training across organ to help healthcare workers

530
00:25:18.759 --> 00:25:23.000
prepare and defend against violence in healthcare settings. Susan had

531
00:25:23.000 --> 00:25:26.400
received regular self defense training, and as she realized how

532
00:25:26.440 --> 00:25:29.319
serious this threat was, it was quickly clear that the

533
00:25:29.400 --> 00:25:32.119
man intended to kill her. Her training and a good

534
00:25:32.160 --> 00:25:35.039
dose of adrenaline kicked in. She decided she was not

535
00:25:35.119 --> 00:25:38.039
going to be killed in her own home. Later, Susan

536
00:25:38.039 --> 00:25:40.599
would say, spoiler alert, Susan.

537
00:25:40.319 --> 00:25:41.799
Did survive this attack.

538
00:25:42.359 --> 00:25:44.359
Quote. What I saw in his eyes and what I

539
00:25:44.400 --> 00:25:47.200
heard in his voice terrified me because he was not afraid.

540
00:25:47.519 --> 00:25:50.480
He seemed surprised, But the very scary part was he

541
00:25:50.519 --> 00:25:53.400
seemed excited. She felt like he had done this before.

542
00:25:53.839 --> 00:25:56.599
When you're being attacked with a blunt object, instinct tells

543
00:25:56.640 --> 00:26:00.240
you to create distance, but distance gives the attacker room

544
00:26:00.279 --> 00:26:03.400
to build momentum and swing with more force. So Susan

545
00:26:03.440 --> 00:26:06.880
did the opposite. She closed the distance. She rushed forward,

546
00:26:06.920 --> 00:26:09.599
trying to throw off his balance. She was five inches

547
00:26:09.640 --> 00:26:12.279
shorter and her knees weren't great, but she outweighed him,

548
00:26:12.279 --> 00:26:15.480
and she used that to her advantage, slamming her body into.

549
00:26:15.319 --> 00:26:17.440
His I love it. That's really good advice.

550
00:26:17.640 --> 00:26:18.359
Yeah, for sure.

551
00:26:18.519 --> 00:26:20.920
If you have a lower scent of center of gravity,

552
00:26:21.039 --> 00:26:22.519
just charge.

553
00:26:22.720 --> 00:26:25.400
But he didn't fall. Instead, he shoved her back into

554
00:26:25.440 --> 00:26:27.720
the wall of her bedroom. That's when he said the

555
00:26:27.759 --> 00:26:31.200
only words he spoke during the entire ordeal. You're strong.

556
00:26:31.759 --> 00:26:34.079
Susan shoved him again, screaming.

557
00:26:33.720 --> 00:26:35.440
Who are you? What do you want?

558
00:26:35.880 --> 00:26:38.200
He punched her in the face, splitting her lip, and

559
00:26:38.240 --> 00:26:41.559
then again she collapsed to the floor. She opened her

560
00:26:41.559 --> 00:26:44.480
eyes and saw him standing over her, hammer raised for

561
00:26:44.559 --> 00:26:48.119
the final blow. She had one terrifying thought, I'm going

562
00:26:48.160 --> 00:26:50.960
to die today, but she wasn't ready to die. She

563
00:26:51.000 --> 00:26:54.039
snapped back into survival mode. She thought, I've got to

564
00:26:54.039 --> 00:26:57.000
get that hammer. Incredibly, she managed to pull him to

565
00:26:57.000 --> 00:26:59.599
the ground. She doesn't even know how it just happened.

566
00:26:59.799 --> 00:27:02.799
She bit him his arm, his side, his thigh, anywhere

567
00:27:02.839 --> 00:27:05.880
she could. If I'm going to die, she thought, maybe

568
00:27:05.920 --> 00:27:08.920
my teeth marks will help the police identify him. It's

569
00:27:08.960 --> 00:27:11.240
amazing to be thinking like that in that moment.

570
00:27:11.519 --> 00:27:14.039
Yeah, and I love that we have her thought process.

571
00:27:14.319 --> 00:27:16.599
I do too, But it also makes me sad because

572
00:27:16.640 --> 00:27:18.839
she's thinking she's going to die and she's trying to

573
00:27:18.920 --> 00:27:22.640
leave clues so that the police can find her killer.

574
00:27:22.440 --> 00:27:25.119
Which is really so glad that she is still with us. Yeah,

575
00:27:25.200 --> 00:27:28.640
I'm curious how quickly her thought went to was this

576
00:27:28.799 --> 00:27:30.920
my husband that is sending this killer?

577
00:27:31.119 --> 00:27:32.160
I think it was pretty quick.

578
00:27:32.240 --> 00:27:34.440
Yeah, the fact that she was asking who sent you?

579
00:27:34.559 --> 00:27:37.359
Right away. As they wrestled on the floor, she reached

580
00:27:37.400 --> 00:27:40.119
into his pockets, hoping to find an id, something that

581
00:27:40.200 --> 00:27:43.079
she could toss under the bed which could be discovered later.

582
00:27:43.559 --> 00:27:45.839
At one point, she managed to wrench the hammer from

583
00:27:45.880 --> 00:27:47.759
his hand and struck him in the head, but he

584
00:27:47.880 --> 00:27:50.480
snatched it back, so she grabbed him by the throat

585
00:27:50.519 --> 00:27:54.279
and squeezed hard. His face turned red, then purple.

586
00:27:54.559 --> 00:27:55.200
Who sent you?

587
00:27:55.279 --> 00:27:58.160
She screamed, who sent you here? She eased her grip,

588
00:27:58.240 --> 00:28:00.759
hoping for an answer, but instead he fought back and

589
00:28:00.799 --> 00:28:03.200
tried to flip her over, and Susan knew if he

590
00:28:03.240 --> 00:28:05.519
got on top of her again, it was over. So

591
00:28:05.559 --> 00:28:07.839
she climbed on top of him, threw her leg across

592
00:28:07.880 --> 00:28:10.359
his body, wrapped her left arm around his throat and

593
00:28:10.440 --> 00:28:13.039
locked it in tight. Quote tell me who sent you,

594
00:28:13.079 --> 00:28:16.160
and I'll call you a fucking ambulance, she shouted. He

595
00:28:16.279 --> 00:28:19.160
just growled and kept fighting, so she tightened her forearm

596
00:28:19.200 --> 00:28:21.680
around his neck, and this time he didn't get back up.

597
00:28:21.839 --> 00:28:26.200
The entire fight lasted fourteen minutes. Holy cow, If you

598
00:28:26.240 --> 00:28:29.680
think about fourteen minutes in a lifer death struggle, that's

599
00:28:29.720 --> 00:28:31.720
a really long time too.

600
00:28:31.759 --> 00:28:33.359
Oh my gosh. I love that she kept fighting.

601
00:28:33.440 --> 00:28:36.480
I know when he stopped moving, Susan let go, grabbed

602
00:28:36.519 --> 00:28:39.359
the hammer and ran barefoot to her neighbor's house. She

603
00:28:39.440 --> 00:28:42.680
pounded on the door, panicked. Quote, Dennis, open the door,

604
00:28:42.799 --> 00:28:45.440
call the police. I've been attacked. I think I may

605
00:28:45.480 --> 00:28:48.119
have killed the guy. His wife, Anne opened the door.

606
00:28:48.480 --> 00:28:52.119
Susan stood there, wild eyed, bleeding, holding a bloody hammer.

607
00:28:52.400 --> 00:28:54.240
Hope it sounds like she knew her neighbor as well,

608
00:28:54.279 --> 00:28:56.920
because if she didn't know them, could you imagine opening

609
00:28:56.920 --> 00:28:59.440
the door and seeing this, it would be pretty really scary,

610
00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:03.079
and let Susan in. Susan dropped the hammer on the counter,

611
00:29:03.200 --> 00:29:06.440
trying to steady her breathing while Anne called nine one one.

612
00:29:06.559 --> 00:29:08.359
We have an intruder in the house next door. The

613
00:29:08.400 --> 00:29:10.559
intruder was in the bedroom with a hammer. The woman

614
00:29:10.599 --> 00:29:12.960
who lives there thinks she might have strangled him. He

615
00:29:13.079 --> 00:29:14.200
was down when she left.

616
00:29:14.440 --> 00:29:15.720
Can you put her on the phone.

617
00:29:15.880 --> 00:29:16.599
She's bleeding.

618
00:29:16.880 --> 00:29:18.079
Does she need an ambulance?

619
00:29:18.359 --> 00:29:20.880
No, she's a nurse, she says, call an ambulance for

620
00:29:20.920 --> 00:29:22.160
the guy. He may be dead.

621
00:29:22.279 --> 00:29:23.359
What did she use on him?

622
00:29:23.559 --> 00:29:24.559
She strangled him?

623
00:29:24.880 --> 00:29:25.880
What else did she do?

624
00:29:26.160 --> 00:29:27.440
She put a choke hold on him.

625
00:29:27.680 --> 00:29:29.680
I've got help on the way. Stay on the line.

626
00:29:29.759 --> 00:29:30.759
She has a hammer here.

627
00:29:31.000 --> 00:29:33.400
Don't touch it. Don't touch it, just leave it there.

628
00:29:33.599 --> 00:29:35.400
She hit him in the head several times. That's the

629
00:29:35.440 --> 00:29:37.799
hammer he had with him. She struck him and she

630
00:29:37.839 --> 00:29:39.839
strangled him, and she thinks he's dead.

631
00:29:40.160 --> 00:29:41.079
Was he by himself?

632
00:29:41.319 --> 00:29:43.799
Anne asked Susan. Did he have anyone with him? And

633
00:29:43.839 --> 00:29:47.039
then to the dispatcher said no. She expressed a concern

634
00:29:47.160 --> 00:29:49.960
it may have been her ex partner who sent the person.

635
00:29:50.240 --> 00:29:52.640
Have there been problems with her ex husband or her

636
00:29:52.680 --> 00:29:53.319
ex partner.

637
00:29:53.519 --> 00:29:55.440
She did talk to Mike, her ex partner, and asked

638
00:29:55.519 --> 00:29:57.000
him to house it for the cats, and he said

639
00:29:57.039 --> 00:29:58.480
he couldn't do it. He was on his way to

640
00:29:58.519 --> 00:30:01.079
the beach. He left her a note he knows the alarm.

641
00:30:01.400 --> 00:30:04.400
Okay, that's good information to pass to the officers. When

642
00:30:04.400 --> 00:30:07.119
police arrived at the scene, they entered Susan's home and

643
00:30:07.160 --> 00:30:10.000
found the attacker lying motionless on the bedroom floor.

644
00:30:10.160 --> 00:30:10.839
He was dead.

645
00:30:11.119 --> 00:30:11.599
Wow.

646
00:30:11.960 --> 00:30:15.440
Susan was rushed to the hospital, battered, bruised, but alive.

647
00:30:15.759 --> 00:30:18.319
She had lumps on her head, a split lip, bruises

648
00:30:18.359 --> 00:30:20.839
all over her face and body, and teeth marks on

649
00:30:20.880 --> 00:30:23.599
her arm. When her friend Helen arrived to check on her,

650
00:30:23.680 --> 00:30:26.079
Susan looked at her and asked, quote, do you think

651
00:30:26.160 --> 00:30:27.240
Mike could have done this?

652
00:30:27.680 --> 00:30:30.039
It didn't take long for the Portland police to identify

653
00:30:30.039 --> 00:30:32.920
the man who had attacked Susan Kuenhausen. In the dead

654
00:30:32.960 --> 00:30:35.799
man's back pocket, they found a wallet inside was an

655
00:30:35.799 --> 00:30:40.119
ID Edward Dalton Haffey, aged fifty nine. A background check

656
00:30:40.200 --> 00:30:43.279
quickly revealed that Haffy wasn't just any petty criminal. He

657
00:30:43.319 --> 00:30:47.720
was a Vietnam veteran with a long and violent record robbery, burglary,

658
00:30:48.000 --> 00:30:51.519
conspiracy to commit murder. One of those crimes stood out.

659
00:30:51.720 --> 00:30:54.160
In nineteen ninety one, Halfy had been involved in the

660
00:30:54.240 --> 00:30:57.359
murder of his ex girlfriend, Georgia Lee Dutton, a thirty

661
00:30:57.440 --> 00:30:59.799
nine year old woman who had threatened to report Halfy

662
00:31:00.079 --> 00:31:03.880
and two other men for manufacturing and distributing math. Ten

663
00:31:03.960 --> 00:31:07.279
days after she went missing, a canoeist found her decomposing

664
00:31:07.319 --> 00:31:10.480
body on the banks of the Umpquah River. Although Hafy

665
00:31:10.519 --> 00:31:13.440
didn't carry out the murder himself, he helped plan it.

666
00:31:13.680 --> 00:31:16.680
He took a plea deal guilty of conspiracy to commit

667
00:31:16.759 --> 00:31:20.400
aggravated murder and served nine years of a twelve year sentence.

668
00:31:20.559 --> 00:31:23.400
He was released in two thousand and three. After prison,

669
00:31:23.640 --> 00:31:26.559
Hafey moved to Portland and began looking for work. By

670
00:31:26.680 --> 00:31:29.480
July two thousand and four, he found a job cleaning

671
00:31:29.480 --> 00:31:33.200
the floors for Fantasy Adult Video, the same company where

672
00:31:33.279 --> 00:31:37.319
Mike Kunhausen was working as the janitor supervisor. The connection

673
00:31:37.400 --> 00:31:40.039
between Mike and Haffey had just come into focus, and

674
00:31:40.079 --> 00:31:43.400
the next day another clue surfaced. Susan's friend Helen, went

675
00:31:43.400 --> 00:31:45.960
to her house to pick up some belongings in the basement.

676
00:31:46.000 --> 00:31:49.039
Amid the clutter, she noticed a backpack that didn't belong

677
00:31:49.319 --> 00:31:52.519
the police had missed it. Inside were a random assortment

678
00:31:52.519 --> 00:31:56.319
of items, a container of Hershey's syrup, two hundred dollars

679
00:31:56.319 --> 00:32:00.160
in cash, diabetes medication, a pay stop made out to

680
00:32:00.279 --> 00:32:03.599
Edward Haffey, and most revealing of all, a day book.

681
00:32:03.839 --> 00:32:06.599
In the day book, the entry for September fourth, two

682
00:32:06.640 --> 00:32:10.279
days before the attack, was a note call Mike, and

683
00:32:10.359 --> 00:32:12.920
inside the bag a folder with Mike's new cell phone

684
00:32:13.000 --> 00:32:16.160
number written on it. And autopsy later revealed that Haffy

685
00:32:16.240 --> 00:32:19.480
had a nearly lethal dose of cocaine in his system

686
00:32:19.519 --> 00:32:22.160
at the time of the attack. It was clear now

687
00:32:22.400 --> 00:32:26.200
Mike Kuenhausen needed to be found, but Mike had vanished.

688
00:32:26.519 --> 00:32:29.160
Police checked his credit card activity and saw that on

689
00:32:29.200 --> 00:32:31.799
the day of the attack, he'd driven his Dodge Neon

690
00:32:32.079 --> 00:32:35.160
two hours west and checked into the Lincoln City Inn

691
00:32:35.359 --> 00:32:38.640
on the Oregon Coast. He didn't stay overnight, just for

692
00:32:38.680 --> 00:32:42.039
the afternoon. The next day, back in Portland, Mike used

693
00:32:42.039 --> 00:32:44.960
his credit card to purchase a three fifty seven magnum

694
00:32:44.960 --> 00:32:48.880
revolver from a pawnshop for three hundred thirty nine dollars. Then,

695
00:32:48.960 --> 00:32:51.359
on September eighth, Mike left would appear to be a

696
00:32:51.400 --> 00:32:55.079
suicide note at his daughter Angela's house. It read quote

697
00:32:55.240 --> 00:32:57.599
all I ever wanted was to be loved, and every

698
00:32:57.599 --> 00:33:00.720
time I had it, I fucked it up. Angela told

699
00:33:00.720 --> 00:33:03.640
the police her father had dropped off the note and disappeared.

700
00:33:03.839 --> 00:33:08.279
Police issued an APB. Meanwhile, Susan was terrified. She was

701
00:33:08.319 --> 00:33:11.200
afraid to go home, afraid to be alone. Friends took

702
00:33:11.240 --> 00:33:14.359
her in and made sure someone was always with her. Finally,

703
00:33:14.400 --> 00:33:17.559
on the morning of September thirteenth, around ten am, police

704
00:33:17.559 --> 00:33:20.039
found Mike. He was sitting in the parking garage of

705
00:33:20.200 --> 00:33:24.319
Kaiser's Sunnyside Medical Center. He told officers he was checking

706
00:33:24.400 --> 00:33:27.279
himself in. I have nothing left to live for anymore,

707
00:33:27.359 --> 00:33:30.799
he said. They placed him on an involuntary psychiatric hold

708
00:33:30.839 --> 00:33:33.920
for eleven hours, then arrested him for a conspiracy to

709
00:33:33.960 --> 00:33:37.440
commit murder. Mike's reaction quote, You're not going to believe

710
00:33:37.480 --> 00:33:39.720
my side of the story. My side of the story

711
00:33:39.920 --> 00:33:42.759
is so fucking off the wall. He admitted to being

712
00:33:42.839 --> 00:33:45.000
at Susan's house the day of the attack and leaving

713
00:33:45.039 --> 00:33:47.440
the note, but at first he claimed he didn't know

714
00:33:47.440 --> 00:33:49.799
who Ed half he was, but that didn't hold up

715
00:33:49.839 --> 00:33:53.119
for long. Soon he changed his story, saying he knew Ed,

716
00:33:53.400 --> 00:33:56.079
but I didn't do it. Just because I know the

717
00:33:56.119 --> 00:33:59.119
guy doesn't mean I did anything. Mike's bail was set

718
00:33:59.160 --> 00:34:03.039
at two million, later reduced to one million dollars. There

719
00:34:03.039 --> 00:34:05.640
had been no signs of forest entry at Susan's home

720
00:34:05.799 --> 00:34:09.199
and the alarm system had been disarmed. Investigators believed that

721
00:34:09.239 --> 00:34:11.440
Mike had unlocked the door and turned off the alarm

722
00:34:11.480 --> 00:34:13.559
to let Halfy in, then driven to the beach to

723
00:34:13.559 --> 00:34:16.400
give himself an alibi, but ed Halfey was dead and

724
00:34:16.519 --> 00:34:19.440
dead men don't talk. What the police needed now was

725
00:34:19.480 --> 00:34:23.239
more evidence. Witnesses a trail, and they soon got it.

726
00:34:23.400 --> 00:34:26.679
A former salmate of Halfey's came forward. He told police

727
00:34:26.679 --> 00:34:29.639
that Halfey had approached him with an offer helped stage

728
00:34:29.679 --> 00:34:32.519
at burglary for insurance money. He agreed to meet the

729
00:34:32.559 --> 00:34:36.559
man backing the plan. That man, he said was Mike Kuenhausen.

730
00:34:36.800 --> 00:34:39.880
Mike offered five thousand dollars to help Halfy kill his wife.

731
00:34:40.199 --> 00:34:43.679
The former inmate turned him down. Another witness told police

732
00:34:43.679 --> 00:34:46.519
he had driven Halfy to an Appleby's parking lot off

733
00:34:46.559 --> 00:34:49.559
of I two five to meet a man. After seeing

734
00:34:49.599 --> 00:34:52.039
Mike's photo on the news, he identified him as the

735
00:34:52.079 --> 00:34:54.760
man from that meeting, and there was more. In the

736
00:34:54.840 --> 00:34:57.360
days leading up to the attack, Halfy told people that

737
00:34:57.440 --> 00:34:59.800
he had been offered fifty thousand dollars to kill a

738
00:34:59.800 --> 00:35:02.440
w one twenty five thousand dollars up front and the

739
00:35:02.440 --> 00:35:05.719
rest after it was done. Half he added, killing someone

740
00:35:06.000 --> 00:35:08.320
is an easy thing to do. He sounds like a

741
00:35:08.320 --> 00:35:11.280
great guy. Yeah, he couldn't have been more wrong. Mike

742
00:35:11.320 --> 00:35:13.840
doesn't seem like the guy that would have fifty thousand

743
00:35:13.840 --> 00:35:14.920
dollars laying around.

744
00:35:15.159 --> 00:35:15.840
Yeah, he doesn't.

745
00:35:15.880 --> 00:35:17.800
I don't know where he came up with that money,

746
00:35:17.800 --> 00:35:20.920
if he was kind of squirrelling it away for some

747
00:35:21.000 --> 00:35:22.960
time or something. So yeah, I'm not sure about that.

748
00:35:23.159 --> 00:35:25.039
One thing I think is interesting about this case is

749
00:35:25.079 --> 00:35:27.719
that even though it seems obvious that Mike must have

750
00:35:27.840 --> 00:35:30.719
hired this guy, really there wasn't a lot of direct

751
00:35:30.760 --> 00:35:34.320
evidence to it. And I think without Halfy talking to

752
00:35:34.400 --> 00:35:36.599
a lot of people, right, he said a lot of

753
00:35:36.639 --> 00:35:38.639
things to a lot of people. I think without that,

754
00:35:38.679 --> 00:35:40.280
it might have been it would have been a very

755
00:35:40.280 --> 00:35:43.159
circumstantial case, and they may have still been able to

756
00:35:43.519 --> 00:35:44.880
pin it on Mike. But I think it would have

757
00:35:44.880 --> 00:35:47.440
been much more difficult if a lot of these people

758
00:35:47.440 --> 00:35:49.440
they just they just talk and talk and they can't

759
00:35:49.679 --> 00:35:52.519
shut up about right things that they, you know, are

760
00:35:52.559 --> 00:35:54.360
really not smart to talk about.

761
00:35:54.719 --> 00:35:57.079
Well. Susan had like yelled at him, like who sent you?

762
00:35:57.079 --> 00:36:00.760
Who sent you? And he never answered right. Believed that

763
00:36:00.800 --> 00:36:03.599
the primary motive was money. Mike had lost his job

764
00:36:03.639 --> 00:36:07.159
and the divorce would be devastating financially. Susan had always

765
00:36:07.199 --> 00:36:10.440
been the main breadwinner, and while he wasn't the beneficiary

766
00:36:10.480 --> 00:36:13.239
of her life insurance policy, that was her brother. He

767
00:36:13.280 --> 00:36:15.599
would inherit the house if she died, and it was

768
00:36:15.639 --> 00:36:18.639
paid off and worth around three hundred thousand dollars. That's

769
00:36:18.679 --> 00:36:20.639
interesting that her brother was beneficiary.

770
00:36:20.760 --> 00:36:21.320
I don't know if she.

771
00:36:21.440 --> 00:36:24.719
Changed that after they separated. I'm guessing maybe that was

772
00:36:24.880 --> 00:36:26.360
what she did, but I don't know for.

773
00:36:26.320 --> 00:36:28.960
Sure that money wasn't the only motive, and in fact,

774
00:36:29.039 --> 00:36:31.960
he had started planning the killing before he lost his job.

775
00:36:32.119 --> 00:36:36.679
Mike had always been controlling, manipulative, and Susan's decisions to

776
00:36:36.760 --> 00:36:39.679
end the marriage had shattered whatever fragile self image he

777
00:36:39.760 --> 00:36:43.119
had left. She had rejected him, and for that, in

778
00:36:43.159 --> 00:36:46.239
his eyes, she had to pay. At some point before

779
00:36:46.239 --> 00:36:49.400
the attack, Mike allegedly told his daughter's boyfriend that he

780
00:36:49.679 --> 00:36:52.639
quote couldn't face losing everything again like he had in

781
00:36:52.719 --> 00:36:55.840
his first divorce, then added that anyone willing to kill

782
00:36:55.880 --> 00:36:57.960
his wife would be well compensated.

783
00:36:58.280 --> 00:37:00.440
I don't know why his daughter's boyfriend and did not

784
00:37:00.559 --> 00:37:04.199
do anything with that information. That's pretty disturbing that he

785
00:37:04.440 --> 00:37:05.280
said that, And.

786
00:37:05.360 --> 00:37:07.719
Well, he probably thought it was an off handed comment.

787
00:37:08.199 --> 00:37:10.760
I mean, maybe it's a pretty weird, offhanded comment, but yeah,

788
00:37:10.960 --> 00:37:13.400
I'm sure he thought it was a joke or something.

789
00:37:13.760 --> 00:37:15.800
The hammer used in the attack was traced back to

790
00:37:15.880 --> 00:37:18.480
Susan's own home. It had been left in the bathroom

791
00:37:18.559 --> 00:37:22.119
during remodeling. The planet seemed was to stage a burglary

792
00:37:22.159 --> 00:37:24.440
gone wrong to make it look like Susan had come

793
00:37:24.480 --> 00:37:28.679
home and interrupted a robbery, but Susan survived and the

794
00:37:28.719 --> 00:37:32.239
evidence kept piling up. Finally, in August two thousand and seven,

795
00:37:32.400 --> 00:37:36.239
almost a year after the attack, Mike Kuhnhausen pleaded guilty

796
00:37:36.519 --> 00:37:40.519
to soliciting Susan's murder. At his sentencing, Susan addressed the

797
00:37:40.519 --> 00:37:43.599
court and her ex husband directly. She spoke for over

798
00:37:43.639 --> 00:37:46.719
an hour. Holding up a photo of her battered face,

799
00:37:46.880 --> 00:37:49.639
She told him, I am damaged by what you've done

800
00:37:49.719 --> 00:37:53.199
to me. I am damaged, but I am not destroyed,

801
00:37:53.519 --> 00:37:55.880
and then, looking Mike in the eyes, she added, at

802
00:37:55.960 --> 00:37:58.400
least if I believed you deserve to die, I would

803
00:37:58.480 --> 00:38:01.000
have had the balls to kill you. My I love

804
00:38:01.079 --> 00:38:04.280
Susan for this, She's amazing. When given the chance to speak,

805
00:38:04.360 --> 00:38:07.719
Mike didn't apologize directly. He didn't even acknowledge what he

806
00:38:07.760 --> 00:38:10.199
had done. He simply said, I've heard a lot of

807
00:38:10.239 --> 00:38:13.519
people in the last year, and I'm sorry. Susan's response

808
00:38:13.760 --> 00:38:15.079
a loud, bitter ha.

809
00:38:15.519 --> 00:38:18.679
So technically he pleaded guilty. So in the legal sense,

810
00:38:18.719 --> 00:38:21.639
he did admit to doing what he did, but he

811
00:38:21.719 --> 00:38:23.719
never said it out loud. He never said, yeah, I

812
00:38:23.719 --> 00:38:25.440
did this, and I apologize for it.

813
00:38:25.559 --> 00:38:26.480
She's a coward.

814
00:38:26.679 --> 00:38:29.639
Yeah, I hate him. Mike was sentenced to ten ten

815
00:38:29.760 --> 00:38:30.599
years in prison.

816
00:38:31.159 --> 00:38:31.960
Isn't that crazy?

817
00:38:32.119 --> 00:38:34.760
With good behavior that met, he would be eligible for

818
00:38:34.840 --> 00:38:37.000
parole as early as twenty fourteen.

819
00:38:37.159 --> 00:38:40.519
It is crazy, and I think because she didn't die. Yeah,

820
00:38:40.599 --> 00:38:44.000
so technically it wasn't murder, but still it's weird. That

821
00:38:44.039 --> 00:38:46.280
the sentence should be different, like your intent was to

822
00:38:46.360 --> 00:38:46.760
kill her.

823
00:38:47.039 --> 00:38:48.639
So that's really unfortunate.

824
00:38:48.679 --> 00:38:49.280
I don't like it.

825
00:38:49.599 --> 00:38:59.599
We'll be back after a break. While Michael Kunhausen was

826
00:38:59.639 --> 00:39:02.400
sentenced to ten years in prison, Susan felt like she

827
00:39:02.480 --> 00:39:05.480
had received the real life sentence, not because she fought

828
00:39:05.519 --> 00:39:07.639
off a man who tried to kill her, but because,

829
00:39:07.679 --> 00:39:10.039
as she put it, she was being punished quote for

830
00:39:10.199 --> 00:39:13.840
picking a bad husband. Once adventurous and outgoing, Susan said

831
00:39:13.880 --> 00:39:16.559
she now felt like a broken plate glued together.

832
00:39:16.679 --> 00:39:20.480
Oh that's horrible. Did she sustain any lifelong injuries.

833
00:39:20.760 --> 00:39:22.679
No, I don't think so. I think she recovered from

834
00:39:22.840 --> 00:39:23.559
all of her injury.

835
00:39:23.559 --> 00:39:27.960
So the emotional turmoil and yeah, HETSD and having to

836
00:39:27.960 --> 00:39:30.039
live on your own as a woman is scary, But

837
00:39:30.199 --> 00:39:33.239
having to live alone as a woman who has survived

838
00:39:33.440 --> 00:39:36.880
an attack like this, that's I can't imagine how horrifying

839
00:39:36.920 --> 00:39:38.639
it is. She has a really good I guess we

840
00:39:38.719 --> 00:39:41.400
know she has a security system, and you've just told

841
00:39:41.440 --> 00:39:42.880
everyone the coat, so good chat.

842
00:39:44.920 --> 00:39:48.239
I'm hoping she changed it since that. I'm sure she did. Actually,

843
00:39:48.280 --> 00:39:51.000
she no longer lives in that house, but when she

844
00:39:51.039 --> 00:39:53.679
went out to eat, she always sat facing the door.

845
00:39:53.960 --> 00:39:56.679
Driving to work, she would vary her route. If she

846
00:39:56.719 --> 00:39:59.400
thought someone was following her, she would circle the block

847
00:39:59.639 --> 00:40:02.679
right down license plate numbers. She often felt like someone

848
00:40:02.760 --> 00:40:05.639
was watching her, but she didn't crawl into bed and hide.

849
00:40:05.760 --> 00:40:08.360
The very next day, after Mike was arrested, she filed

850
00:40:08.400 --> 00:40:11.880
for divorce. She also changed her last name, considering at

851
00:40:11.880 --> 00:40:15.000
one point becoming Susan Strong, a nod to the only

852
00:40:15.039 --> 00:40:17.440
words her attacker said to her, You're strong.

853
00:40:17.519 --> 00:40:18.079
Oh, I love that.

854
00:40:18.480 --> 00:40:21.360
In the end, though, she chose her grandmother's last name instead.

855
00:40:21.599 --> 00:40:26.079
She also took legal action, successfully suing Mike for emotional distress,

856
00:40:26.320 --> 00:40:28.679
not because he had money, but because she didn't want

857
00:40:28.719 --> 00:40:31.320
him to have the means to hire someone else. It

858
00:40:31.360 --> 00:40:33.719
would also ensure that she wouldn't owe him one hundred

859
00:40:33.719 --> 00:40:36.840
and forty thousand dollars when she did eventually sell the house.

860
00:40:37.159 --> 00:40:39.880
Susan never took pride in killing her attacker, but she

861
00:40:39.960 --> 00:40:42.679
never felt shame about it either. She said, quote, the

862
00:40:42.719 --> 00:40:45.079
worst of this is not that somebody tried to kill me,

863
00:40:45.199 --> 00:40:47.519
but that I had to kill someone else to survive.

864
00:40:47.800 --> 00:40:49.920
But I have no shame because I did not choose

865
00:40:49.920 --> 00:40:52.320
this death for him. I chose my life.

866
00:40:52.440 --> 00:40:54.199
Well, he would have taken her life.

867
00:40:54.360 --> 00:40:54.519
Yeah.

868
00:40:54.559 --> 00:40:57.119
Absolutely, I'm glad that she feels no guilt for it.

869
00:40:57.280 --> 00:41:00.800
The Portland Police Department awarded her the Civilian Medal of Honor,

870
00:41:00.960 --> 00:41:03.360
not for ending a life, but for saving her own.

871
00:41:03.599 --> 00:41:07.519
In twenty ten, Edward Hafey's aunt wrote Susan a letter quote,

872
00:41:07.719 --> 00:41:10.280
although this was a terrible thing that happened, no one

873
00:41:10.320 --> 00:41:13.079
in this family has any bad feelings toward you. You

874
00:41:13.119 --> 00:41:15.519
did what you were forced to do, and in doing so,

875
00:41:15.840 --> 00:41:19.159
you spared many others from the same trauma you experienced.

876
00:41:19.239 --> 00:41:20.920
Ah, that's very generous, it is.

877
00:41:21.079 --> 00:41:21.519
Yeah.

878
00:41:21.679 --> 00:41:24.119
Susan returned to work as a nurse, but she didn't

879
00:41:24.119 --> 00:41:27.880
stop there. She became an outspoken advocate for survivors of

880
00:41:27.960 --> 00:41:31.599
violent crime and a champion for women's self defense. She

881
00:41:31.719 --> 00:41:36.079
partnered with Portland area organizations like Women's Strength, Girl Strength,

882
00:41:36.280 --> 00:41:39.719
and the Oregon Crime Victim's Law Center. In twenty seventeen,

883
00:41:39.840 --> 00:41:43.440
she helped launch case Companion, a free online tool created

884
00:41:43.639 --> 00:41:47.400
with the Moltnomah County DA's office. The platform helps victims

885
00:41:47.440 --> 00:41:51.760
track offender court dates, sentencing information, and release details. It

886
00:41:51.840 --> 00:41:54.480
also connects them with resources and advocates.

887
00:41:54.559 --> 00:41:56.199
So I really love that it's a website.

888
00:41:56.320 --> 00:41:58.440
You know, you can go find out like if someone

889
00:41:58.480 --> 00:42:00.719
attacked you in there in prison, like you can find

890
00:42:00.760 --> 00:42:02.599
out when they're eligible for parole.

891
00:42:02.800 --> 00:42:05.199
Yeah, that's an amazing tool, really.

892
00:42:05.079 --> 00:42:08.840
Is, and Susan never stopped protecting herself. At work, one day,

893
00:42:08.960 --> 00:42:12.000
a patient threatened her, saying he could quote snap her

894
00:42:12.039 --> 00:42:14.159
neck and not think a thing about it. As security

895
00:42:14.280 --> 00:42:16.599
escorted him out, Susan told him, you might want to

896
00:42:16.639 --> 00:42:21.239
google me first. Her coworkers, especially those who knew her story,

897
00:42:21.360 --> 00:42:25.039
burst out laughing. A new employee, confused, asked what was

898
00:42:25.079 --> 00:42:27.239
this all about. When he found out, he said, I

899
00:42:27.280 --> 00:42:29.280
thought she was just a sweet grandma lady.

900
00:42:29.480 --> 00:42:31.719
I mean, you can be a sweet grandma lady and

901
00:42:31.840 --> 00:42:32.960
also be a bad ass.

902
00:42:33.039 --> 00:42:33.880
Yeah. Absolutely.

903
00:42:34.000 --> 00:42:36.679
Seeing pictures of Susan actually reminded me a little bit

904
00:42:36.679 --> 00:42:38.960
of my own grandma, who was my hero growing up.

905
00:42:39.199 --> 00:42:40.880
I think I've mentioned her a couple of times, but

906
00:42:41.159 --> 00:42:44.000
she she was a nurse also, and after my grandpa

907
00:42:44.039 --> 00:42:46.239
passed away, she went back to school. I think she

908
00:42:46.320 --> 00:42:48.719
was in her fifties. She became a nurse, and then

909
00:42:48.719 --> 00:42:51.199
she moved to San Diego to start a new life.

910
00:42:51.239 --> 00:42:53.480
So the pictures just kind of brought that memory back

911
00:42:53.480 --> 00:42:56.679
and also reminded me that nurses are just amazing peakle.

912
00:42:57.800 --> 00:43:01.400
Even while Mike was behind bars, Susan prepared for the worst.

913
00:43:01.639 --> 00:43:03.960
She moved to a new home with gravel surrounding the

914
00:43:04.000 --> 00:43:06.760
perimeter so that she could hear footsteps. She bought a

915
00:43:06.800 --> 00:43:09.719
gun and practiced at the range. She said, quote, if

916
00:43:09.719 --> 00:43:11.559
he came here, he was not going to get close

917
00:43:11.679 --> 00:43:14.280
enough to hurt me. But while Susan was prepared to

918
00:43:14.320 --> 00:43:18.559
defend herself again, she still held space for something rare compassion.

919
00:43:18.840 --> 00:43:21.039
She once said, quote, what would make this all be

920
00:43:21.159 --> 00:43:24.119
okay is if I continue to find even greater peace

921
00:43:24.159 --> 00:43:26.880
than I'm already finding, and that my ex husband could

922
00:43:26.920 --> 00:43:29.639
find insight into how much we all loved him. Mike

923
00:43:29.719 --> 00:43:32.440
never got that chance. He was scheduled to be released

924
00:43:32.480 --> 00:43:36.039
on September fourteenth, twenty fourteen, but cancer caught up to

925
00:43:36.119 --> 00:43:38.960
him first. He died in prison in June, three months

926
00:43:38.960 --> 00:43:42.119
shy of his release date. He was sixty five. Susan

927
00:43:42.159 --> 00:43:45.800
has shared her story with various news outlets and television shows.

928
00:43:46.039 --> 00:43:48.719
One of the main sources for this episode an article

929
00:43:48.760 --> 00:43:52.599
by Beth Slovak for Willamette Week was incredibly helpful and

930
00:43:52.599 --> 00:43:54.800
will include it along with our other sources in the

931
00:43:54.880 --> 00:43:57.440
show notes. I did reach out to Susan and asked

932
00:43:57.480 --> 00:44:00.440
for an interview, but she declined. Over the years, she's

933
00:44:00.480 --> 00:44:03.880
posted on Reddit and Facebook to correct inaccuracies and how

934
00:44:03.920 --> 00:44:06.920
her story's been told. Hopefully we've done it justice. We've

935
00:44:07.000 --> 00:44:08.159
certainly tried our best.

936
00:44:08.320 --> 00:44:09.639
You know, I don't blame her at all.

937
00:44:09.719 --> 00:44:10.239
I don't either.

938
00:44:10.320 --> 00:44:13.039
I think that she's been through enough, and you know,

939
00:44:13.079 --> 00:44:15.440
we don't have a right to everyone's story. And you know,

940
00:44:15.519 --> 00:44:18.400
she's done so much advocacy work and you've got to

941
00:44:18.440 --> 00:44:19.719
respect her and love that.

942
00:44:20.079 --> 00:44:21.039
Yeah. Absolutely.

943
00:44:21.440 --> 00:44:23.920
In twenty sixteen, she announced that she was writing a

944
00:44:23.920 --> 00:44:28.000
book and created a Facebook page titled Nurse Kills Hitman,

945
00:44:28.280 --> 00:44:30.440
which she often says in comments that's like sort of

946
00:44:30.440 --> 00:44:32.559
the headline of her life. As far as I know,

947
00:44:32.599 --> 00:44:34.920
the book hasn't been published yet. I hope it will be.

948
00:44:35.119 --> 00:44:37.119
I would love to hear the story in her own

949
00:44:37.159 --> 00:44:40.800
words today. Susan often refers to the bonus years that

950
00:44:40.880 --> 00:44:43.760
she's been given since the attack. She's now at nineteen

951
00:44:43.800 --> 00:44:46.920
bonus years and counting, and she seems grateful for each

952
00:44:46.960 --> 00:44:49.639
of those years, she has said that she struggles with

953
00:44:49.679 --> 00:44:52.280
being called a hero. Her job was to heal people,

954
00:44:52.360 --> 00:44:54.880
so why would she be called a hero for killing someone.

955
00:44:55.119 --> 00:44:57.800
A friend offered this quote, They're not calling you a

956
00:44:57.840 --> 00:44:59.840
hero because you killed a man. They're calling you a

957
00:45:00.079 --> 00:45:02.119
hero because you give them hope that if they ever

958
00:45:02.159 --> 00:45:05.400
found themselves in the same situation, they might survive too.

959
00:45:05.760 --> 00:45:08.480
Well, I would call her a hero for training other

960
00:45:08.559 --> 00:45:11.119
women to be able to defend themselves.

961
00:45:11.440 --> 00:45:13.960
I couldn't agree with you more. To me, Susan's not

962
00:45:14.039 --> 00:45:16.480
just a hero because she survived. She's a hero because

963
00:45:16.480 --> 00:45:19.800
of what she's done, since she turned a horrifying traumatic

964
00:45:19.880 --> 00:45:23.119
moment into something powerful, a reason to help others, a

965
00:45:23.199 --> 00:45:26.920
mission to protect, educate, and empower. By sharing her story,

966
00:45:27.039 --> 00:45:30.159
especially with Portland groups like Women's Strength and Girl Strength,

967
00:45:30.360 --> 00:45:33.119
Susan has helped many others get the knowledge and skills

968
00:45:33.119 --> 00:45:36.360
they need to prevent violence and the support and resources

969
00:45:36.360 --> 00:45:39.159
they need to cope with the aftermath of violent crime.

970
00:45:39.440 --> 00:45:41.840
For that, she's a true hero, and I'm really happy

971
00:45:41.880 --> 00:45:43.719
that we can share her story with those who may

972
00:45:43.760 --> 00:45:44.760
not have heard it before.

973
00:45:44.920 --> 00:45:47.079
Well. I am excited to donate to some of those

974
00:45:47.119 --> 00:45:48.920
causes because they are great.

975
00:45:49.239 --> 00:45:49.599
They are.

976
00:45:49.800 --> 00:45:52.280
This is normally where we do the rest in peace segment,

977
00:45:52.400 --> 00:45:54.360
and I always get choked up during those, But I'm

978
00:45:54.400 --> 00:45:56.559
getting choked up today because we don't have to do

979
00:45:56.960 --> 00:45:59.559
when And it's so nice and I'm so glad that

980
00:45:59.599 --> 00:46:00.599
Susan is still with us.

981
00:46:00.679 --> 00:46:03.039
Yeah. I when I started reading about this story, I

982
00:46:03.119 --> 00:46:05.320
was just so it was so nice to be able

983
00:46:05.360 --> 00:46:05.599
to do.

984
00:46:05.559 --> 00:46:08.280
A story with I mean, there is still a doubt.

985
00:46:08.320 --> 00:46:11.119
Yeah, I was gonna say it's not a completely happy

986
00:46:11.480 --> 00:46:14.800
ending because her husband never admitted to what he did.

987
00:46:14.920 --> 00:46:17.840
He never acknowledged it, and the you know.

988
00:46:17.880 --> 00:46:22.800
When having a woman persevere in domestic violence is just really.

989
00:46:23.079 --> 00:46:26.039
Yeah, she went through a lot of trauma and went

990
00:46:26.079 --> 00:46:27.760
through quite a bit so to fight back.

991
00:46:28.000 --> 00:46:28.360
Yeah.

992
00:46:28.519 --> 00:46:30.639
Let me ask you a couple questions. So one is

993
00:46:30.679 --> 00:46:33.320
about motive. We talked about the police thinking that the

994
00:46:33.360 --> 00:46:36.760
motive was money. I wonder if you think his motive

995
00:46:36.880 --> 00:46:40.559
was more about money or was it more control or revenge.

996
00:46:40.880 --> 00:46:43.360
His motive seemed to be a vengeance. He didn't want

997
00:46:43.400 --> 00:46:47.039
her to be happy. He was miserable, and the thought

998
00:46:47.079 --> 00:46:49.559
of her starting over and living a happy life seemed

999
00:46:49.599 --> 00:46:50.599
to be too much for him.

1000
00:46:50.880 --> 00:46:53.519
Yeah, he was a control freak like he I think

1001
00:46:53.800 --> 00:46:56.920
as a malignant narcissist, which I think he probably was.

1002
00:46:56.960 --> 00:47:00.400
He just couldn't handle the rejection and feeling like she

1003
00:47:00.639 --> 00:47:02.039
was abandoning him.

1004
00:47:02.000 --> 00:47:04.360
And she was going to you know, thrive and he

1005
00:47:04.440 --> 00:47:07.480
was going to be left in his miserable girl gloom. Yeah.

1006
00:47:07.679 --> 00:47:08.079
Yeah.

1007
00:47:08.119 --> 00:47:10.360
Do you think that he would have taken his own life.

1008
00:47:10.239 --> 00:47:11.079
That's a good question.

1009
00:47:11.119 --> 00:47:12.800
I mean, he left a note that sounded like a

1010
00:47:12.840 --> 00:47:15.599
suicide note, he bought a gun the day after, but

1011
00:47:15.719 --> 00:47:18.199
he you know, he didn't get caught for ten days

1012
00:47:18.280 --> 00:47:21.079
or something like that, so I don't think so. We

1013
00:47:21.119 --> 00:47:24.199
talked a little bit about this earlier, about intuition and

1014
00:47:24.519 --> 00:47:26.519
not just in a relationship, like you get some early

1015
00:47:26.559 --> 00:47:30.840
warning signs that maybe someone is very negative and not

1016
00:47:30.559 --> 00:47:33.880
a happy person, but also when Susan walked into her

1017
00:47:33.880 --> 00:47:36.559
house that night and she sensed that the lighting was off,

1018
00:47:36.599 --> 00:47:39.920
it was a very subtle thing. I'm interested to explore

1019
00:47:39.960 --> 00:47:41.960
that a little bit more, and you know, what you

1020
00:47:41.960 --> 00:47:44.880
should do with any intuition and how you kind of

1021
00:47:44.960 --> 00:47:46.000
get in touch with that.

1022
00:47:46.199 --> 00:47:48.719
In that situation, I think that I would be able

1023
00:47:48.719 --> 00:47:51.159
to send something, but you would be in real trouble.

1024
00:47:52.039 --> 00:47:56.480
I agree, really, I mean, I don't.

1025
00:47:55.559 --> 00:47:57.920
You travel a lot and you come home and sometimes

1026
00:47:57.920 --> 00:48:00.480
I'll I don't know, buy a new lamp or whatever

1027
00:48:00.559 --> 00:48:02.199
the thing is, and I'll be like, do you notice

1028
00:48:02.199 --> 00:48:05.320
anything different? Do you? And you rarely do rarely. I'm

1029
00:48:05.320 --> 00:48:07.639
not insulting you. I'm saying I think that you're right

1030
00:48:07.800 --> 00:48:10.239
general I don't. I'm not saying Almond, but you are

1031
00:48:10.480 --> 00:48:11.400
not the most observant.

1032
00:48:12.039 --> 00:48:13.719
You're right, But I just I like to think that

1033
00:48:13.760 --> 00:48:17.000
I would sense something, some danger or something like that's

1034
00:48:17.039 --> 00:48:19.760
not you know, when you rearrange furniture, buy a new

1035
00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:21.599
you know, thing or something that's different.

1036
00:48:21.679 --> 00:48:23.559
But you're probably right. You're probably right.

1037
00:48:23.639 --> 00:48:26.599
You traveled this week and because I'm a head, has

1038
00:48:26.679 --> 00:48:30.360
just left like there was just some reorganizing of our house,

1039
00:48:30.480 --> 00:48:31.760
and I moved. I moved to Keith.

1040
00:48:32.239 --> 00:48:33.079
Did you notice I did?

1041
00:48:33.280 --> 00:48:35.519
Keith is on the other side of the room, because I.

1042
00:48:35.440 --> 00:48:38.440
Was we're talking about Keith Morrison, of course of dayline same.

1043
00:48:38.480 --> 00:48:43.480
Our cardboard cutout of Keith. I mean, I I because

1044
00:48:43.480 --> 00:48:45.599
he's now when you walk by the room you can

1045
00:48:45.639 --> 00:48:47.880
see him, and he really scared me, and I'm like,

1046
00:48:48.360 --> 00:48:50.400
ohos sorry.

1047
00:48:50.480 --> 00:48:51.679
He scares me sometimes.

1048
00:48:51.800 --> 00:48:54.639
Yeah, I think I did, like apologize, like there's some

1049
00:48:54.760 --> 00:48:56.880
guy in the house, and I'm like, god, it was

1050
00:48:57.000 --> 00:48:57.760
very strange.

1051
00:48:59.039 --> 00:49:01.679
I think the bottom line this intuition discussion, though, is

1052
00:49:01.679 --> 00:49:04.119
trust your gut. Right if you feel like something off,

1053
00:49:04.239 --> 00:49:07.000
either in your relationship or when you walk in your house,

1054
00:49:07.400 --> 00:49:09.880
definitely listen to that voice inside.

1055
00:49:10.199 --> 00:49:13.800
But then sometimes people hear voices that are real, and

1056
00:49:14.119 --> 00:49:17.920
you know, if you have PTSD, you're always going to be,

1057
00:49:18.440 --> 00:49:22.119
you know, in a situation of alarm, and you know

1058
00:49:22.199 --> 00:49:24.280
that's not good either. I said something earlier that I

1059
00:49:24.320 --> 00:49:26.760
probably shouldn't have said when we were talking about who

1060
00:49:26.800 --> 00:49:30.760
owned the house and if Susan you know, was separating

1061
00:49:30.800 --> 00:49:34.400
from Mike and she had boundaries in place, like Mike,

1062
00:49:34.679 --> 00:49:37.480
you can't come over here anymore. He should have respected

1063
00:49:37.480 --> 00:49:38.400
those boundaries.

1064
00:49:38.639 --> 00:49:38.960
Yeah.

1065
00:49:39.000 --> 00:49:41.760
Absolutely, Just because he owns the house doesn't mean he

1066
00:49:41.800 --> 00:49:44.079
has a right to be there, right exactly.

1067
00:49:44.320 --> 00:49:47.840
Boundaries matter when you are, you know, either working on

1068
00:49:47.880 --> 00:49:51.440
your relationship or ending your marriage, whichever they were doing. Like,

1069
00:49:51.559 --> 00:49:55.079
he needed to respect that. Once he didn't respect those boundaries,

1070
00:49:55.159 --> 00:49:59.400
then then he would maybe become more comfortable crossing other boundaries.

1071
00:50:00.559 --> 00:50:03.599
Let me ask you to put yourself in Susan's shoes

1072
00:50:03.840 --> 00:50:06.039
for that day September sixth, when she walked into her

1073
00:50:06.079 --> 00:50:08.079
house and she's attacked. How do you think you would

1074
00:50:08.239 --> 00:50:08.920
react to that?

1075
00:50:09.159 --> 00:50:11.960
I mean, I don't have training like Susan has. I should,

1076
00:50:12.039 --> 00:50:14.760
but I mean I think I might not have survived.

1077
00:50:15.079 --> 00:50:17.760
I think preparation is so important for things like that.

1078
00:50:17.880 --> 00:50:19.960
I think the bottom line is, no one knows how

1079
00:50:20.000 --> 00:50:23.079
they would react, right. Some people have a fight response,

1080
00:50:23.119 --> 00:50:25.719
some people have a flight response, and it's just it's

1081
00:50:25.719 --> 00:50:27.719
hard to know how you'll react, which is why I

1082
00:50:27.760 --> 00:50:30.000
think training is so important.

1083
00:50:29.599 --> 00:50:32.960
Right, Absolutely, And she was comfortable with that training. She

1084
00:50:33.039 --> 00:50:36.119
knew what she was capable of, and I think that's

1085
00:50:36.159 --> 00:50:37.400
a fabulous Yeah.

1086
00:50:37.639 --> 00:50:39.519
One thing I wanted to say before we close is

1087
00:50:39.800 --> 00:50:43.559
Susan's story is remarkable and her strength is definitely worth celebrating.

1088
00:50:43.880 --> 00:50:46.880
When I was young, my father died of cancer, and

1089
00:50:47.320 --> 00:50:50.760
when other people would talk about survivors of cancer, they

1090
00:50:50.800 --> 00:50:53.199
would talk about like he was so strong, or she

1091
00:50:53.519 --> 00:50:56.239
fought cancer and she wasn't going to let cancer beat her.

1092
00:50:56.280 --> 00:50:58.559
And used to make me really angry as a kid

1093
00:50:58.599 --> 00:51:01.119
because it made me feel like my father wasn't a

1094
00:51:01.199 --> 00:51:02.719
fighter like he didn't try his best.

1095
00:51:03.079 --> 00:51:04.360
So I just say that because I.

1096
00:51:04.320 --> 00:51:08.760
Want to acknowledge that not everyone survives a situation like

1097
00:51:08.800 --> 00:51:09.760
Susan was in.

1098
00:51:10.000 --> 00:51:12.360
And I think most people fight as hard as they

1099
00:51:12.400 --> 00:51:14.519
can and a lot of people lose their battle. It's

1100
00:51:14.519 --> 00:51:16.519
like your dad lost his battle, but I'm sure he

1101
00:51:16.559 --> 00:51:18.639
would have fought as hard as he could to be

1102
00:51:18.719 --> 00:51:19.920
there for you and your family.

1103
00:51:20.079 --> 00:51:27.719
Yeah, before we go, there was one aspect of this

1104
00:51:27.840 --> 00:51:30.519
case that we glossed over really quickly. We didn't talk

1105
00:51:30.519 --> 00:51:33.440
about much, and that was the fact that Susan had cats.

1106
00:51:34.159 --> 00:51:36.880
And I don't know if you remember, but she called

1107
00:51:36.920 --> 00:51:38.480
Mike to see if he could take care of the

1108
00:51:38.480 --> 00:51:40.320
cats because she was going out of town. Apparently he

1109
00:51:40.320 --> 00:51:42.480
said no, we couldn't because he was stressed out and

1110
00:51:42.480 --> 00:51:44.000
he had to go to the beach or something like that.

1111
00:51:44.119 --> 00:51:46.719
But he got me thinking, like where were the cats

1112
00:51:46.880 --> 00:51:49.960
in this situation? Like if you had a dog and

1113
00:51:50.119 --> 00:51:53.800
someone broke into your house, most dogs would be all

1114
00:51:53.840 --> 00:51:57.159
over that intruder, right, I think the cats were like, well,

1115
00:51:57.199 --> 00:51:59.880
this isn't this isn't our business. We'll just be here

1116
00:52:00.079 --> 00:52:02.360
under the couch, you know, while all this happens. So

1117
00:52:02.599 --> 00:52:05.000
I'm wondering, how do you think Cosmo and Clover would

1118
00:52:05.039 --> 00:52:06.760
react if someone broke into our house.

1119
00:52:06.960 --> 00:52:08.280
I mean, they would definitely be hiding.

1120
00:52:08.519 --> 00:52:09.079
I think in.

1121
00:52:09.039 --> 00:52:12.159
General, cats are probably the worst security pets that you

1122
00:52:12.159 --> 00:52:15.320
could have. Although Cosmo he bit me the other day.

1123
00:52:15.480 --> 00:52:18.119
He did, and if he would do that to an intruder,

1124
00:52:18.119 --> 00:52:19.719
I think it would help a lot, but he really

1125
00:52:19.800 --> 00:52:20.000
is well.

1126
00:52:20.000 --> 00:52:22.159
I think to really scare an intruder, they would have

1127
00:52:22.199 --> 00:52:25.840
to jump at the intruder's face. Yeah, claws out, and

1128
00:52:26.159 --> 00:52:27.519
I don't think our cats would do that.

1129
00:52:27.639 --> 00:52:28.320
No, probably not.

1130
00:52:28.440 --> 00:52:31.360
I actually did find a few stories where a cat

1131
00:52:31.440 --> 00:52:34.159
did save the day, so there was This is in Mississippi.

1132
00:52:34.239 --> 00:52:37.519
A retired surgeon named Fred Everett was alerted in the

1133
00:52:37.559 --> 00:52:40.559
dead of night by his twenty pound Calico cat Bandit.

1134
00:52:40.800 --> 00:52:43.599
The cat pawed and yanked his blanket, prompting Fred to

1135
00:52:43.639 --> 00:52:46.800
discover that two men were actually breaking in. So wow,

1136
00:52:47.079 --> 00:52:50.440
bandits instinct prevented a burglary, or it could have been worse.

1137
00:52:50.519 --> 00:52:53.639
The cat didn't attack the intruders, but the cat did

1138
00:52:53.679 --> 00:52:56.400
at least warn its owner that someone was coming in

1139
00:52:56.400 --> 00:52:56.800
the house.

1140
00:52:57.079 --> 00:52:59.880
How much was the average cat weigh I think it's fourteen.

1141
00:53:00.360 --> 00:53:00.960
I thought it was funny.

1142
00:53:01.079 --> 00:53:03.480
The story specifically mentioned it was a twenty two.

1143
00:53:03.599 --> 00:53:06.400
Yeah, well, I don't think that the clover wouldn't be

1144
00:53:06.440 --> 00:53:08.559
able to. She's very small. She wouldn't be able to

1145
00:53:08.559 --> 00:53:09.719
get the covers off of us.

1146
00:53:09.920 --> 00:53:10.320
That's true.

1147
00:53:10.440 --> 00:53:13.159
Cosmo is he is kind of a big boy. Yeah,

1148
00:53:13.199 --> 00:53:14.000
he might be able to.

1149
00:53:14.280 --> 00:53:16.920
Another story from the UK, forty two year old woman

1150
00:53:17.039 --> 00:53:20.639
Sam Felsted suffered a heart attack in bed. Her cat Billy,

1151
00:53:20.760 --> 00:53:24.400
sprang into action and actually jumped on her chest and

1152
00:53:24.480 --> 00:53:28.000
basically did like chest compressions. Yeah how cats do that?

1153
00:53:28.079 --> 00:53:28.239
Right?

1154
00:53:28.280 --> 00:53:31.599
They sort of like needing motion. I know, don't even

1155
00:53:31.599 --> 00:53:33.800
have to have a lot more pressure to restart the heart.

1156
00:53:33.960 --> 00:53:34.599
I would think so.

1157
00:53:34.719 --> 00:53:38.360
But the cat helped her regain consciousness and she was

1158
00:53:38.400 --> 00:53:40.760
able to actually call for help. So I don't know

1159
00:53:40.800 --> 00:53:43.679
if the chest compressions actually did that or if the

1160
00:53:43.719 --> 00:53:46.440
cat did it intentionally, but it's pretty cool. And then

1161
00:53:46.440 --> 00:53:48.719
the last one I had, this was actually a video

1162
00:53:48.760 --> 00:53:50.719
that went viral and I saw I hadn't seen it

1163
00:53:50.760 --> 00:53:53.239
before that I remembered, but it was pretty amazing. So

1164
00:53:53.559 --> 00:53:56.000
in twenty fourteen, this is in California. There was a

1165
00:53:56.000 --> 00:53:59.199
four year old boy playing in his driveway when suddenly

1166
00:53:59.239 --> 00:54:01.679
this dog came out of nowhere and attacked him. And

1167
00:54:01.719 --> 00:54:05.400
the dog came after this boy and grabbed him and

1168
00:54:05.440 --> 00:54:08.960
started dragging him away, and this boy's cat, Tara, the

1169
00:54:09.000 --> 00:54:12.880
cat just immediately sprang into action and jumped out and

1170
00:54:12.960 --> 00:54:15.719
just like attacked the dog. It was so impressive because

1171
00:54:15.719 --> 00:54:17.880
this cat was like, uh huh, you are not going

1172
00:54:17.960 --> 00:54:21.039
to do this to my little boy, and it was Yeah,

1173
00:54:21.039 --> 00:54:23.039
it was really cool to see that. I'll share the

1174
00:54:23.119 --> 00:54:25.400
video or I'll put the link in our show notes

1175
00:54:25.440 --> 00:54:25.760
as well.

1176
00:54:25.920 --> 00:54:28.360
I mean, I love our cats. I think they're great companions.

1177
00:54:28.559 --> 00:54:33.119
I have lately been missing having dogs. Dogs, but dogs

1178
00:54:33.119 --> 00:54:35.199
have a completely different energy than cats.

1179
00:54:35.280 --> 00:54:35.519
Yeah.

1180
00:54:35.679 --> 00:54:38.400
Cats are so subtle and you could.

1181
00:54:38.199 --> 00:54:40.880
Just leave them home alone for three days and they're.

1182
00:54:40.599 --> 00:54:42.599
Like, yeah, well they're a little angry when you get back.

1183
00:54:42.800 --> 00:54:43.480
Yeah, for sure.

1184
00:54:43.599 --> 00:54:45.880
Well, this week has been really hard, especially on Clover,

1185
00:54:46.199 --> 00:54:49.239
because Emma is gone and Clover and Emma are very close.

1186
00:54:49.320 --> 00:54:51.440
Emma has texted to be a few times and she's like,

1187
00:54:51.480 --> 00:54:55.320
I really miss Clover. Yeah, she has another cat at

1188
00:54:55.360 --> 00:54:58.639
her apartment, but she still misses Cosmo and Clover. But

1189
00:54:58.719 --> 00:55:00.559
they are going to be united today.

1190
00:55:00.719 --> 00:55:00.920
I know.

1191
00:55:00.960 --> 00:55:03.239
I kept trying to tell Clover that Emma was coming

1192
00:55:03.239 --> 00:55:04.000
to see you today.

1193
00:55:04.119 --> 00:55:07.039
I was afraid to tell her in case it didn't happen. Right,

1194
00:55:07.800 --> 00:55:10.280
She's on her way, so that's very exciting. I'm excited

1195
00:55:10.320 --> 00:55:12.239
to see their reunion. But you know, cats are Clover

1196
00:55:12.280 --> 00:55:13.800
is probably gonna be like, yeah, where are you've been?

1197
00:55:13.920 --> 00:55:18.320
And I'm like, it is interesting.

1198
00:55:18.360 --> 00:55:21.840
Do you think that Clover was was really like depressed?

1199
00:55:22.159 --> 00:55:24.239
Do you think cats really feel that like?

1200
00:55:24.280 --> 00:55:27.840
I do think she was because because the place is

1201
00:55:27.880 --> 00:55:30.880
that she was actually in this room, which we call

1202
00:55:31.039 --> 00:55:33.960
a light bulb lab. She was underneath one of these

1203
00:55:33.960 --> 00:55:37.199
green chairs. Yeah, for like hours, and I tried to

1204
00:55:37.239 --> 00:55:39.280
move her and she did not want to move. And

1205
00:55:39.320 --> 00:55:41.280
that's just not a place that she normally.

1206
00:55:42.360 --> 00:55:45.440
Yeah, I can definitely tell she knows that something isn't right.

1207
00:55:45.559 --> 00:55:47.599
It's not her well, and Emma's room is like she

1208
00:55:47.719 --> 00:55:49.199
you know, she took a lot of this stuff out

1209
00:55:49.199 --> 00:55:50.599
of it. But I am going to make it into

1210
00:55:50.599 --> 00:55:54.880
the cat's bedroom now, so good idea, not exactly the

1211
00:55:54.920 --> 00:55:57.440
cat's bedroom, but Emma took the bets. So we're getting

1212
00:55:57.440 --> 00:55:59.039
a new bed and we're just going to make it,

1213
00:55:59.119 --> 00:56:01.639
you know, cozy where the cats or anyone can go

1214
00:56:01.679 --> 00:56:03.360
hang out. Yeah, like a reading room.

1215
00:56:03.440 --> 00:56:07.320
Kind of nice. Thanks again to Jenessa for recommending today's case,

1216
00:56:07.360 --> 00:56:09.960
and thank you all for listening. We really appreciate each

1217
00:56:10.000 --> 00:56:12.000
and every one of you. If you're enjoying the show

1218
00:56:12.039 --> 00:56:13.920
and you want to support the work we do, we

1219
00:56:13.960 --> 00:56:16.559
would love to invite you to join our Patreon for

1220
00:56:16.639 --> 00:56:19.440
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1221
00:56:19.480 --> 00:56:21.920
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1222
00:56:22.079 --> 00:56:24.000
if we're doing a multi part case, you don't have

1223
00:56:24.039 --> 00:56:27.000
to wait. You'll get the whole thing at once, no cliffhangers,

1224
00:56:27.119 --> 00:56:30.039
no see you next week. You'll also get completely ad

1225
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00:56:32.880 --> 00:56:36.599
our Patreon members. It's a simple way to support the research, writing,

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00:56:36.679 --> 00:56:39.400
and the production that goes into every episode, and it

1228
00:56:39.440 --> 00:56:41.800
helps us keep doing this show the way that we

1229
00:56:41.880 --> 00:56:44.079
love to do it. So if you want more true crime,

1230
00:56:44.280 --> 00:56:46.679
less waiting, and the warm glow of knowing that you're

1231
00:56:46.679 --> 00:56:49.800
helping out an independent podcast you enjoy, come hang out

1232
00:56:49.800 --> 00:56:52.519
with us at patreon dot com. Slash Love Mary Kill.

1233
00:56:52.880 --> 00:56:55.079
Our partners in crime are really good people, so that's

1234
00:56:55.119 --> 00:56:56.239
another bonus.

1235
00:56:56.079 --> 00:56:59.599
Please rate, review, follow and subscribe. Find us on social media,

1236
00:56:59.760 --> 00:57:03.480
or send us an email at lovemarykillat gmail dot com.

1237
00:57:03.519 --> 00:57:05.800
And if you have a case recommendation, you can reach

1238
00:57:05.840 --> 00:57:08.960
out on any of those platforms to send it to us.

1239
00:57:09.000 --> 00:57:12.039
You guys have the best suggestions. We really appreciate it.

1240
00:57:12.320 --> 00:57:14.679
Until next time, don't kill your wife and don't kill

1241
00:57:14.679 --> 00:58:00.920
your husband.