Story Published:
Sep 15, 2006 at 1:50 PM PDT
Story Updated:
Aug 31, 2006 at 8:56 AM PDT
PORTLAND, ORE. - When Susan Kuhnhausen returned home from
work earlier this month, she encountered an intruder wielding a
claw hammer. After a struggle, the 51-year-old nurse fended off her
attacker by strangling him to death with her bare hands.
Neighbors praised the woman for her bravery. Investigators
initially said they believed the dead man - Edward Dalton Haffey -
was burglarizing Kuhnhausen's home.
But after an investigation, police say the intruder Kuhnhausen
strangled was apparently a hit man hired by her estranged husband -
Michael James Kuhnhausen Sr. - to kill her.
The 58-year-old husband was taken into custody on Thursday,
charged with conspiracy to commit murder and attempted murder, and
ordered held on $500,000 bail.
Haffey had worked as a custodian under Kuhnhausen at an adult
video store, according an affidavit filed by the Multnomah County
District Attorney's office.
Kuhnhausen and his wife were in the process of getting a
divorce, and she told officers "her husband was distraught about
the divorce and wanting to reconcile but that she was insisting on
the divorce," the affidavit states.
A background check showed Haffey had served lengthy prison terms
for conspiracy to commit aggravated murder, and convictions for
robbery and burglary.
Inside a backpack Haffey left at the scene was a day planner
with "Call Mike, Get letter," scribbled on the week of Sept. 4,
the affidavit said. Michael Kuhnhausen's cell phone number was
jotted on the inside of a folder, it said.
An emergency room nurse who lives in a southeast Portland
neighborhood, Susan Kuhnhausen arrived home on the evening of Sept.
6 to find Haffey coming at her with a claw hammer.
She was struck in the head and wrested the weapon away, but the
struggle continued and Haffey bit the nurse, according to police. A
large woman, she was eventually able to get the slight Haffey into
a chokehold and police later found him dead in a hallway. An
autopsy revealed the cause of death as strangulation.
Police say she acted in self-defense.
There was no sign of forced entry into the home, but according
to the affidavit, Susan Kuhnhausen offered an explanation for the
lack of evidence of a break-in: Her estranged husband had the
security codes for the home's alarm system, and would have been
able to disarm it.
Michael Kuhnhausen denies any involvement, the affidavit states.
Susan Kuhnhausen was out of town attending a national Emergency
Nurses Association conference and did not immediately return a
phone call seeking comment from The Associated Press.
She left this message on her voicemail: "I'm not able to answer
all the calls that I've received in the past few days. I'm being
comforted by your concern and your support. I want you to know that
our lives are all at risk for random acts, but more likely random
acts of love will come your way than random acts of violence."
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