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True Crime
Susan Kuhnhausen’s Husband Sent a Hitman to Kill Her — He Failed
One woman’s fight for her life ends in her attacker’s death
The story of Susan Kuhnhausen’s ordeal began to unfold with a call from her neighbor, Anne Warnock, to 911 in Portland.
Caller: “We have an intruder in the house next door.…The intruder was in the bedroom with a hammer. The woman who lives there thinks she may have strangled him. He was down when she left.”
911 Operator: “Can you put her on the phone?”
Warnock: “She’s bleeding.”
911 Operator: “Does she need an ambulance?”
Warnock: “No, she’s a nurse. She says call an ambulance for the guy. He may be dead.”
911 operator: “What did she use on him? She strangled him. What else did she do?”
Warnock: “She put a chokehold on him.”
911 operator: “I’ve got help on the way. Stay on the line.”
Warnock: “She has a hammer here.”
911 operator: “Don’t touch it. Don’t touch it. Just leave it there.”
Warnock: “She hit him in the head several times. That’s the hammer he had with him. She struck him, and she strangled him, and she…