The Woman Who Fought Back: Susan Kuhnhausen vs a Murder-for-Hire Plot

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The house is quiet when she gets
home.

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It's late, past the kind of hour
where anyone would be awake.

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The porch light cuts a dull glow
across the entryway as she steps

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inside, keys still in her hand,
the weight of a long shift

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clinging to her bones.
Everything looks normal, but

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something isn't right.
Maybe it's the silence, maybe

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it's the feeling you get before
you can explain it.

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She moves further into the
house.

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And then, movement.
A man steps out of the darkness.

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He's holding a hammer.
No warning, no hesitation.

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He comes straight at her.
Well, he doesn't know.

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What he couldn't have planned
for is the woman he just

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attacked has spent years in
emergency rooms watching people

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fight to stay alive.
And she's about to do the same

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because this isn't a robbery.
He didn't come to scare her, he

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came to kill her.
He just didn't know who she was.

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And before this night is over,
one of them will be dead.

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I'm Brittany Ransom and This is
When Killers Get Caught, a

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podcast where I examine the
people, the psychology, and the

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moments that lead to the most
extreme acts of violence.

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And what happens when silence
finally breaks?

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This is a story about Susan
Kunhausen, about survival and

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the night a killer chose the
wrong victim.

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This week, I needed to talk
about someone like Susan.

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Over the course of the past few
weeks in America, there have

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been a host of violent crimes
against women.

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Husbands killing wives, fathers
killing eight of their own

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children.
And I just needed to tell the

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story about someone who made it
out.

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The first thing that Susan
Knhausen noticed was the

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movement.
Not the man, not yet.

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Just a shift in the darkness
that didn't belong there.

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Then the hammer came down.
And it wasn't hesitation, there

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was no warning.
It was just immediate violence.

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Fast, committed, already
decided.

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The impact is close enough that
there's no time to really

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process it as pain first, only
shock.

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This sudden realization that her
house, her space, and her return

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from a normal shift at work had
already turned into something

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else entirely.
This was a place now, where

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someone had come to finish a
job.

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She stumbled backwards, but not
away from him, not far enough.

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He was already on her though,
already closing the distance

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like he knew exactly what he was
doing.

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There was no shouting, no
robbery demand, no searching the

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house.
Just pressure and pursuit.

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And that's when something in her
mind clicks quietly, almost

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clinically.
This wasn't random.

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This isn't panic.
This man is moving with intent,

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and her back hits something.
The wall, a counter, a doorway.

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She's not sure which.
What matters is that she feels

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the space behind her disappear.
He's not trying to scare her

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away.
His aim is to erase her.

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Another strike comes, but this
time she sees it just fast

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enough to move.
Not away from him, though there

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is enough space for that, but
through it.

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Forward, close enough that the
swing loses force, close enough

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that she can feel the air of the
hammer past her face.

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Her, ER, training doesn't
announce itself.

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It's like a memory, like
recognition.

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She knows what violence looks
like when it's controlled, when

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it's purple full, when it's
purposeful, when someone is

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trying to stop a body from
responding.

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And this man is not improvising.
He is continuing, which means

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something else.
He's not going to stop just

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because Susan asked him to, not
because she resists or not,

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because she survived that first
hit.

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There will be no negotiations
here, only an outcome.

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Her hands come up not in panic,
but structure, positioning,

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distance.
She's not thinking from a place

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of fear anymore.
She's thinking about it,

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anatomy, leverage, what holds
and what gives on the human

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body.
She reads him the way she reads

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her patients who are slipping
away in the ER, their breathing

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patterns, weight distribution,
the way that aggression burns

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oxygen faster than it can be
replaced.

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The man in front of her is
strong, but no man is limitless,

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and he's already escalating.
That tells her something else

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she knows too well.
People like this run hot, but

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not long.
They commit hard and then burn

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out.
The question is whether she can

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survive the beginning part of
the attack.

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Another impact lands, but this
time less clean.

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A glancing blow, enough to force
her down to one knee.

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Though that's when something
changes.

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Not outside, but inside of
Susan.

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The fear.
It's still there, but it's

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changing shape.
It's stopped becoming panic, and

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she feels clarity, A narrowing,
a focus.

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The world reduced to distance,
pressure, timing.

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Survival doesn't feel loud, it
feels precise, and she moves in

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again, not away from him.
In close quarters.

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That hammer lose its
effectiveness immediately.

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Susan pushes even closer, close
enough that the space becomes

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something she can control
instead of something he can use.

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It's not strength that decides
this moment, it is proximity,

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awkward angles and broken
rhythm.

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He tries to reset, to lift the
hammer again, but now he has to

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adjust, and that fraction of
hesitation means everything.

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Susan's arms are already there,
locked, not striking, not

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flailing, controlling.
The struggle is not cinematic,

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It's tight and grinding and
suffocating in its closeness.

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Bodies collapse into each other,
onto the floor, each trying to

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become the one that decides what
happens next.

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The hammer shifts in his grip.
Dangerous still, but less clean,

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less certain.
She feels his breathing now,

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fast, overloaded.
He's still trying, but his

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commitment is starting to cost
him his control.

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And in that moment, something
else from the ER surfaces.

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Not emotion or fear, but
assessment.

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Everyone has a pain tolerance
and people break in predictable

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ways.
Not instantly, not evenly, but

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there is a threshold where the
human body will stop Co

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operating with intention.
Susan adjusts her grip on him.

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Not stronger, smarter.
She angles him, takes away his

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balance, trying to overpower
him.

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He stumbles half a step, then
another.

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That's when she gets it.
The opening, the chokehold,

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isn't beautiful like an action
movie, and it's definitely not

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clean.
This isn't messy, desperate, and

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final in the way that people who
have been in a real fight

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understand.
Her arms lock in.

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Not a perfect technique, but
it's enough.

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Enough to stop his forward
motion, enough to cut off the

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rhythm he was relying on, enough
to turn his aggression into

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something that has nowhere to
go.

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He reacts like most people would
in this situation.

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Thrashing, pulling, trying to
use the hammer to hit her.

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But the space he had to swing
that hammer, it's all gone now.

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There's no room.
He can't generate any force.

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It's just resistance and
pressure and the slow collapse

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of control, and Susan's voice is
in his ear now, not shaking, not

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pleading, flat, controlled.
You don't have to die here, she

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says.
A pause, a shift, then quieter.

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Tell me who sent you and I will
call you an ambulance.

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Something changes in him when
she says that.

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Not surrender, not yet, but
recognition that this is not

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going the way he planned.
The struggle slows down, not

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because it's ending, but because
her attacker is drained, because

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the body cannot sustain this
level of output forever, because

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oxygen became a limit.
Second stretch, and then stretch

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again, and then nothing really
sharp, no final movement of

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resistance, just a release that
happens all at once, like a

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switch being turned off instead
of a door being closed.

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The silence arrives in pieces.
1st the absence of impact, then

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the absence of struggle, then
the realization that the weight

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in her arms is no longer
fighting back.

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He decided to keep his silence
in exchange for his life.

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Susan stays still for a moment
longer than she needs to, not

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because she doubts what has
happened, but because choking

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someone isn't like in the movies
and if he wakes up, he'll come

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for her again.
Only when she is certain that he

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is gone does she let go.
The house is quiet again, but

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it's not the same quiet it was
before.

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And this time, nothing will ever
be the same again.

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Susan survived.
Her attacker did not.

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The moment the struggle ends,
things don't return to normal.

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It shifts into something colder
and procedural.

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Somewhere in the silence that
follows, Susan will make the

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call 911, her voice steady in a
way that doesn't really match

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what just happened in her living
room.

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She's not screaming or crying or
rambling.

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She reports it in the way that
someone who is trained in

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emergencies reports anything
else direct, clipped and

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controlled.
There was an intruder.

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He is down.
You need to send help.

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And then she waits.
By the time the police arrive,

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they are not walking into
uncertainty.

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They walk straight into a
contradiction.

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The call that they received
suggested a victim, a woman who

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was in danger, a break in that
had gone wrong.

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What they find inside the house
refuses to fit neatly into that

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description.
The front door is intact.

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There's no sign of forced entry
that would explain chaos at a

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distance.
Nothing suggests A burglary that

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spiraled out of control.
Instead, the disorder is

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concentrated, contained in just
one small area of the home, as

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if the entire event unfolded in
a tight, violent orbit and

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didn't go anywhere else.
And in that space, they find

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him.
The intruder is already dead.

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A man later identified as Ed
Haffy lies where the struggle

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ended.
His body positions not like

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someone who had been searching a
house, but someone who had been

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fully engaged in a final
physical confrontation nearby.

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The investigators document the
hammer.

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It's no longer an active weapon,
but it still carries the weight

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of its intent.
The presence anchors the entire

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scene.
Nothing about this looks random

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to the initial police officers.
And that is what immediately

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shifts the investigation from
burglary response to something

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far more complex.
The officers are no longer

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asking what happened here in
this house.

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They're asking why did this
happen?

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The forensic work begins almost
immediately.

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Evidence markers appear where
the struggle concentrated blood

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patterning suggests movement
rather than a single point of

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impact.
The positioning of objects in

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the room reflect contact force
and compression, signs of a

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close quarters fight rather than
distant attack.

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There are no signs that Susan
was restrained in any

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conventional sense.
She doesn't have any marks on

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her arms.
No evidence of prolonged

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captivity.
There's no stage scene meant to

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mimic a robbery gone wrong.
Everything points to just rapid

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escalation and a rapid reversal,
and this kind of reversal

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doesn't usually happen, well,
unless the intended victim

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fought back.
When Susan is separated from the

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scene for questioning, she's not
treated as a suspect in the

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traditional sense, but she is
still processed through the

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machinery of investigation.
Statements are taken, timelines

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reconstructed, her injuries
documented, and while Susan won,

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she was very much injured.
Reports stated she sustained

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significant blunt force trauma
from the hammer in the beginning

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of attack.
She had multiple face and hedge

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injuries, as well as soft issue
as well as soft tissue trauma

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from the fight on the ground.
Susan had just fought through

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the pain.
What emerges is something

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investigators don't often see.
The story actually holds up, not

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because it's simple.
Every physical detail inside the

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home aligns, though there is a
break in a violent

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confrontational A struggle that
ended with the intruder dead and

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the homeowner still standing.
But even as that part becomes

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clear, another question takes
shape in the background of every

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single report, every interview,
every note passed between

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detectives.
We know this wasn't random, and

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we know it wasn't opportunistic.
We know that someone chose this

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house, this woman, and this
moment, and we know they failed.

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So as they process the scene and
the evidence gets collected,

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there's just this question,
repeatedly echoed beneath all

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the technical jargon and
procedural steps.

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Who breaks into a house to kill
a nurse and fails?

232
00:13:13,480 --> 00:13:16,520
Before the investigation can
move forward, before the names

233
00:13:16,520 --> 00:13:19,680
and motives and paper trails
begin to surface, detectives are

234
00:13:19,680 --> 00:13:21,280
trying to understand one thing
clearly.

235
00:13:23,640 --> 00:13:27,080
Who is this woman at the center
of all this?

236
00:13:27,920 --> 00:13:31,280
Her name is Susan Kahausen, and
on paper, she definitely doesn't

237
00:13:31,280 --> 00:13:34,480
fit the profile of someone who
ends a violent home invasion by

238
00:13:34,480 --> 00:13:36,480
surviving it, let alone winning
it.

239
00:13:37,840 --> 00:13:40,280
There isn't a lot about Susan's
early life.

240
00:13:40,720 --> 00:13:44,640
After this entire situation went
down, she saw no reason to write

241
00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:47,160
a book or really continue her
story.

242
00:13:48,120 --> 00:13:50,840
She just wanted people to know
that you could fight back, that

243
00:13:50,840 --> 00:13:55,240
you could survive.
And Susan wasn't a fighter by

244
00:13:55,240 --> 00:13:57,640
profession.
She wasn't law enforcement,

245
00:13:57,840 --> 00:14:02,080
never military, no background in
violence, no documented history

246
00:14:02,320 --> 00:14:04,880
that could suggest she had
trained for this kind of a

247
00:14:04,880 --> 00:14:07,240
physical confrontation of that
level.

248
00:14:07,520 --> 00:14:11,760
Susan is a nurse, an emergency
room nurse to be exact.

249
00:14:12,120 --> 00:14:14,280
Which in a different way does
change things.

250
00:14:14,640 --> 00:14:19,160
Because ER work doesn't teach
violence, but you are exposed to

251
00:14:19,160 --> 00:14:23,000
it on a daily basis.
And what it does teach people is

252
00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:27,320
what things look like under
stress, what the bodies look

253
00:14:27,320 --> 00:14:31,320
like under stress, what panic
looks like when it shifts into

254
00:14:31,320 --> 00:14:34,280
something physical, what happens
when someone is running out of

255
00:14:34,280 --> 00:14:38,400
time and oxygen in control.
The ER teaches patterns most

256
00:14:38,400 --> 00:14:42,480
people never have to recognize
in real time, and it taught

257
00:14:43,320 --> 00:14:45,280
Susan something quieter than
that.

258
00:14:47,360 --> 00:14:50,760
Through her work, Susan saw how
people break.

259
00:14:51,560 --> 00:14:54,960
She had spent years in that
environment, watching strangers

260
00:14:54,960 --> 00:14:57,880
arrive at the worst moments in
their lives, learning how

261
00:14:57,880 --> 00:15:01,480
quickly situations can escalate,
how fast control can disappear,

262
00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:06,440
and how fragile the line is
between stable and gone.

263
00:15:08,440 --> 00:15:11,520
So when she walked into her home
that night, she may not have

264
00:15:11,520 --> 00:15:14,920
been expecting violence, but she
was able to recognize it right

265
00:15:14,920 --> 00:15:17,440
away.
And that distinction probably

266
00:15:17,440 --> 00:15:20,880
saved her life, because nothing
about Susan suggests she should

267
00:15:20,880 --> 00:15:23,080
have been able to withstand what
happened next.

268
00:15:24,400 --> 00:15:27,720
Nothing about her could predict
the outcome the investigators

269
00:15:27,720 --> 00:15:31,280
are now trying to reconstruct
from blood patterns and broken

270
00:15:31,280 --> 00:15:34,840
motion and interrupted force.
Susan was not bigger than her

271
00:15:34,840 --> 00:15:36,880
attacker.
She was not stronger on any

272
00:15:36,880 --> 00:15:39,640
conventional sense, had no
training in combat.

273
00:15:40,160 --> 00:15:42,400
But she understood something he
didn't account for.

274
00:15:43,080 --> 00:15:45,720
Violence is not just strength.
It is endurance.

275
00:15:45,800 --> 00:15:47,880
It is decision making under
distress.

276
00:15:48,360 --> 00:15:51,120
It is who can continue
functioning after the moment

277
00:15:51,120 --> 00:15:55,720
should have ended them.
And Susan does not stop

278
00:15:55,720 --> 00:15:58,960
functioning.
And that's the part that doesn't

279
00:15:58,960 --> 00:16:03,040
fit neatly into the story of a
victim, because victims often

280
00:16:03,040 --> 00:16:05,600
don't get a final say in how
their story ends.

281
00:16:06,360 --> 00:16:09,920
But Susan did.
She didn't just survive, she

282
00:16:09,920 --> 00:16:13,840
ended it.
And the space between survival

283
00:16:13,840 --> 00:16:17,560
and control is what the
investigators have to make sense

284
00:16:17,560 --> 00:16:21,400
of as they begin to understand
exactly what happened in that

285
00:16:21,400 --> 00:16:24,840
house.
And what about the man now

286
00:16:24,840 --> 00:16:27,400
zipped inside a body bag on the
floor of a Portland home?

287
00:16:28,240 --> 00:16:31,120
Before police can understand why
he was there, they kind of need

288
00:16:31,120 --> 00:16:33,800
to look into who he is.
And his name was Ed Haffy.

289
00:16:34,320 --> 00:16:37,040
On the surface, he did not look
like someone you would associate

290
00:16:37,040 --> 00:16:38,480
with an organized murder for
hire.

291
00:16:39,120 --> 00:16:41,680
But his history told a much
different story than an

292
00:16:41,680 --> 00:16:44,640
appearance ever could.
Ed was not new to violence.

293
00:16:45,480 --> 00:16:48,560
Records and reporting describe a
man with a criminal back story

294
00:16:48,560 --> 00:16:52,280
that included a multitude of
serious offenses, including fire

295
00:16:52,280 --> 00:16:55,400
involvement in violent and
conspiratorial activity.

296
00:16:56,080 --> 00:16:58,520
He wasn't unfamiliar with the
system, and he wasn't naive

297
00:16:58,520 --> 00:17:01,000
about the consequences.
This was not someone who

298
00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:02,800
stumbled into the wrong place at
the wrong time.

299
00:17:03,120 --> 00:17:07,280
And that changed things for the
police, too, because they had

300
00:17:07,280 --> 00:17:10,200
always suspected that Ed's
participation was not random,

301
00:17:10,760 --> 00:17:13,119
because there had been no
evidence of the burglary, no

302
00:17:13,119 --> 00:17:15,000
indication of an opportunistic
target.

303
00:17:15,319 --> 00:17:18,520
Instead, what began to emerge is
a pattern that investigators

304
00:17:18,520 --> 00:17:22,640
would describe as deliberate,
planned, selected, and executed.

305
00:17:24,800 --> 00:17:28,160
This was a job.
At the center of that

306
00:17:28,160 --> 00:17:31,120
investigation is something that
stands out even in a case

307
00:17:31,120 --> 00:17:36,920
already defined by violence, a
handwritten list in Ed's pocket.

308
00:17:37,760 --> 00:17:39,560
Reporters called it a death
list.

309
00:17:40,240 --> 00:17:44,640
There were names, targets,
instructions that did not belong

310
00:17:44,640 --> 00:17:46,640
in the context of theft or
impulse.

311
00:17:47,240 --> 00:17:50,680
The existence of that list
reframed everything about Hafi's

312
00:17:50,680 --> 00:17:54,640
presence in the house.
It wasn't about taking anything.

313
00:17:54,800 --> 00:17:59,440
This was about removing someone.
And Susan Kunhausen's name was

314
00:17:59,520 --> 00:18:03,360
on that list.
So now investigators need to

315
00:18:03,360 --> 00:18:07,360
reconstruct his final moments.
They were sure that this was a

316
00:18:07,360 --> 00:18:10,360
contract killing.
They just need to figure out who

317
00:18:10,360 --> 00:18:15,600
wanted Susan dead and why.
At first, the scene raised more

318
00:18:15,600 --> 00:18:18,320
questions than answers.
The investigators working the

319
00:18:18,320 --> 00:18:20,920
home of Susan, we're not just
documenting a violent encounter.

320
00:18:21,200 --> 00:18:23,080
They were trying to reverse
engineer it.

321
00:18:23,600 --> 00:18:27,440
And in that sense, every detail
becomes a threat, and every

322
00:18:27,440 --> 00:18:29,840
thread has to lead somewhere,
right?

323
00:18:30,960 --> 00:18:33,560
And at the center of this, they
keep coming back to the same

324
00:18:33,560 --> 00:18:35,000
question.
Why her?

325
00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:37,720
Why Susan?
So they start with the basics.

326
00:18:37,720 --> 00:18:39,480
Money.
Was this a robbery that

327
00:18:39,480 --> 00:18:41,960
escalated?
Nothing had been touched in the

328
00:18:41,960 --> 00:18:44,440
home.
Nothing had even been opened.

329
00:18:44,440 --> 00:18:46,760
Searching for valuables, No
ransacking.

330
00:18:47,400 --> 00:18:50,720
So that thread ended quickly.
Then the connections.

331
00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:54,400
What people know her routine?
Who knows that she comes home

332
00:18:54,400 --> 00:18:56,440
after very long shifts and would
be tired?

333
00:18:56,720 --> 00:19:00,240
Who knows the layout of her life
well enough to put someone like

334
00:19:00,240 --> 00:19:04,320
Ed Hathi inside of it?
So the investigation shifts from

335
00:19:04,320 --> 00:19:08,760
the house to outside the house.
Detectives start mapping

336
00:19:08,760 --> 00:19:11,800
relationships and they start
with the immediate circle.

337
00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:16,320
Friends, Co workers,
acquaintances and family.

338
00:19:17,080 --> 00:19:19,360
And that's where the pattern
shifts.

339
00:19:19,880 --> 00:19:23,840
Because while the attack itself
looks like just chaos in motion,

340
00:19:25,040 --> 00:19:28,960
what little they can reconstruct
does suggest familiarity,

341
00:19:29,720 --> 00:19:32,920
access, timing, and confidence
that their target would be

342
00:19:32,920 --> 00:19:36,440
exactly where she was supposed
to be and when she was supposed

343
00:19:36,440 --> 00:19:39,120
to be there.
And that kind of certainty can't

344
00:19:39,120 --> 00:19:44,000
come from a stranger.
This is about proximity and as

345
00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:46,920
the investigators dig deeper,
they begin to trace financial

346
00:19:46,920 --> 00:19:50,520
and personal strain in Susan's
life, friction points that

347
00:19:50,520 --> 00:19:54,320
explain motive if this were
domestic in nature.

348
00:19:55,160 --> 00:19:58,760
The conversations that they have
on file get re examined.

349
00:19:59,320 --> 00:20:03,680
Relationships are now reviewed
under a different light and then

350
00:20:03,680 --> 00:20:07,080
the divorce proceedings come out
and are included in the

351
00:20:07,080 --> 00:20:09,880
timeline.
They double check insurance

352
00:20:09,880 --> 00:20:13,080
policies, paperwork that seemed
routine.

353
00:20:13,120 --> 00:20:16,480
Becomes a potential motive
structure, and without anybody

354
00:20:16,480 --> 00:20:19,280
saying it out loud at first, the
focus shifts.

355
00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:23,520
Because now it's not who would
do this.

356
00:20:24,120 --> 00:20:29,800
It becomes who will benefit from
Susan's death, who would gain

357
00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:33,120
control financially or
personally if she didn't

358
00:20:33,120 --> 00:20:37,840
survive, And then even more
settling, who had enough access

359
00:20:37,840 --> 00:20:41,200
to Susan to make it look like it
was something else.

360
00:20:41,960 --> 00:20:45,520
The early assumption that it was
a random act of violence that

361
00:20:45,520 --> 00:20:49,920
disappears immediately.
But still, no one wants to say

362
00:20:49,920 --> 00:20:52,680
it directly yet.
It's not in the initial reports,

363
00:20:52,680 --> 00:20:55,280
not in the early interviews, not
in the room where the detectives

364
00:20:55,280 --> 00:20:57,680
are still sorting possibility
from evidence.

365
00:20:58,760 --> 00:21:01,960
But the shape of the answer is
beginning to form, and it points

366
00:21:01,960 --> 00:21:04,320
closer than anyone really wants
it to.

367
00:21:06,200 --> 00:21:08,560
By the time the.
Detectives follow the financial

368
00:21:08,560 --> 00:21:11,480
and relational threads far
enough to make sense of them.

369
00:21:12,440 --> 00:21:16,360
The chase, the case changes
completely.

370
00:21:17,120 --> 00:21:18,960
It's not about an unknown
intruder.

371
00:21:19,080 --> 00:21:20,960
It's not about a random act of
violence.

372
00:21:21,520 --> 00:21:27,360
This is something very, very
personal, because the man at the

373
00:21:27,360 --> 00:21:33,080
center of this entire situation
is Mike Kuhnhausen, and the

374
00:21:33,080 --> 00:21:37,720
conclusion the investigators
arrive at is as direct as it is

375
00:21:37,720 --> 00:21:40,640
difficult to absorb.
The man who wanted Susan

376
00:21:40,640 --> 00:21:48,400
Kuhnhausen dead was her husband.
It's not a sudden.

377
00:21:48,400 --> 00:21:53,360
Revelation, but a tightening
circle of evidence building from

378
00:21:53,360 --> 00:21:56,240
the start.
Their marriage was already under

379
00:21:56,240 --> 00:21:58,760
strain.
Reports describe a relationship

380
00:21:58,760 --> 00:22:01,840
collapse marked by separation in
the breakdown of once had.

381
00:22:03,840 --> 00:22:06,320
Reports describe a.
Relationship and collapse marked

382
00:22:06,320 --> 00:22:09,520
by separation and the breakdown
of what had once been shared

383
00:22:09,520 --> 00:22:12,040
stability.
Divorce was not really a

384
00:22:12,040 --> 00:22:14,440
possibility.
Susan had already put it in

385
00:22:14,440 --> 00:22:16,640
motion.
And where a marriage ends,

386
00:22:16,880 --> 00:22:21,000
financial questions begin.
Property, assets, insurance.

387
00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:24,000
The practical architecture of
separation that turns emotional

388
00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:28,200
rupture into legal and economic
consequences, and the

389
00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:30,920
investigators start mapping
those consequences against the

390
00:22:30,920 --> 00:22:34,680
timing.
What remains If Susan were gone?

391
00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:37,800
Who gets to control what was
left?

392
00:22:38,560 --> 00:22:41,760
And that line of inquiry brings
into focus the elements that

393
00:22:41,760 --> 00:22:46,840
transform suspicion into theory.
Life insurance policies, shared

394
00:22:46,840 --> 00:22:50,920
property, and the slow
unraveling of a relationship

395
00:22:51,640 --> 00:22:54,400
where separation doesn't always
mean detachment.

396
00:22:55,560 --> 00:22:58,240
But the money alone?
Doesn't fully explain what the

397
00:22:58,240 --> 00:23:01,320
investigators uncover.
There's something else embedded

398
00:23:01,320 --> 00:23:06,000
in this pattern.
Control, witness accounts and

399
00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:08,880
contextual evidence begin to
paint a picture of a

400
00:23:08,880 --> 00:23:13,320
relationship where separation
may not have meant US acceptance

401
00:23:13,800 --> 00:23:16,280
and where divorce did not equal
distance.

402
00:23:16,640 --> 00:23:20,920
The idea of losing access
financially, emotionally and

403
00:23:20,920 --> 00:23:26,160
structurally may have carried a
weight far greater than the law

404
00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:29,360
allowed to resolve cleanly.
And when that control was

405
00:23:29,360 --> 00:23:32,600
threatened, the motive became
something else entirely.

406
00:23:32,960 --> 00:23:39,120
Not logical, just a reaction.
By the time the.

407
00:23:39,120 --> 00:23:42,240
Detectives fully connect the
timeline between Haffy and Mike.

408
00:23:42,640 --> 00:23:45,880
The story stops feeling like a
chain of isolated incidents, and

409
00:23:45,880 --> 00:23:50,600
it's a single, direct outcome.
One man was hired, one target

410
00:23:50,600 --> 00:23:53,040
was selected.
One life was intended to be

411
00:23:53,040 --> 00:23:55,480
ended quietly enough that no one
would question it.

412
00:23:56,200 --> 00:23:59,560
But instead of silence, the plan
left behind something else, a

413
00:23:59,560 --> 00:24:02,760
survivor and a truth that could
not stay buried.

414
00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:08,440
When the focus shifted to Mike
Kunhausen, the investigation

415
00:24:08,440 --> 00:24:13,240
stopped being speculative and it
became about documenting as much

416
00:24:13,240 --> 00:24:17,040
as they could about his life and
his behavior, because the truth

417
00:24:17,040 --> 00:24:19,600
left the trail here.
Not emotional and not

418
00:24:19,600 --> 00:24:21,920
psychological, but the financial
was massive.

419
00:24:22,240 --> 00:24:25,160
The first hard link came through
money, specifically a payment

420
00:24:25,160 --> 00:24:30,760
reported of $5000, a figure that
in isolation probably seems

421
00:24:30,760 --> 00:24:35,360
ambiguous.
But in context, the $5000

422
00:24:35,360 --> 00:24:40,760
payment between Ed Haffy and
Mike Kuhnhausen looks like a

423
00:24:40,760 --> 00:24:44,480
murder for hire payment.
And see, Hathi wasn't just

424
00:24:44,480 --> 00:24:48,080
drifting towards Susan's home,
he knew exactly where she lived.

425
00:24:48,600 --> 00:24:51,960
The relationship between these
two men became a focal point of

426
00:24:51,960 --> 00:24:55,640
the case.
Investigators.

427
00:24:55,640 --> 00:24:58,600
Began reconstructing how that
connection formed their all of

428
00:24:58,600 --> 00:25:03,280
their communication opportunity,
prior association, every piece

429
00:25:03,280 --> 00:25:06,200
adding more weight to the theory
that this wasn't spontaneous.

430
00:25:06,800 --> 00:25:09,520
But the paper trail doesn't
announce itself too loudly.

431
00:25:09,520 --> 00:25:13,200
It builds gradually.
They find fragments, little

432
00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:16,240
financial records here,
behavioral inconsistencies,

433
00:25:16,600 --> 00:25:20,120
timelines that at first looked
coincidental but really weren't.

434
00:25:20,600 --> 00:25:23,480
Every new document they find
tightens the frame around what

435
00:25:23,480 --> 00:25:26,400
happened there.
And then the physical evidence

436
00:25:26,400 --> 00:25:29,120
starts to match.
There are statements from

437
00:25:29,120 --> 00:25:33,720
witnesses, involved parties
compared against forensic

438
00:25:33,720 --> 00:25:36,880
findings from the scene, the
timeline of when Susan would

439
00:25:36,880 --> 00:25:40,640
come home, the intrusion, the
short, violent duration of the

440
00:25:40,640 --> 00:25:44,880
struggle, the lack of theft, the
specificity of the encounter.

441
00:25:46,120 --> 00:25:49,440
Investigators conduct the dots
and the case moves from

442
00:25:49,440 --> 00:25:53,800
suspicion to action.
Interviews intensify.

443
00:25:54,640 --> 00:25:58,800
They begin to subpoena records.
Financial activity is examined

444
00:25:58,800 --> 00:26:01,280
in closer detail, going back
years.

445
00:26:02,120 --> 00:26:07,280
The structure of the plot, once
theoretical, is now very real.

446
00:26:09,960 --> 00:26:12,960
And then they cross.
The threshold, the arrest that

447
00:26:12,960 --> 00:26:16,040
follows is not very dramatic.
No one is surprised.

448
00:26:16,040 --> 00:26:17,680
I mean, we all say it all the
time.

449
00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:24,720
It's usually the husband.
But the police?

450
00:26:24,720 --> 00:26:30,400
Have a lot of evidence.
Financial, relational, forensic

451
00:26:30,400 --> 00:26:34,040
testimonial.
By the time they actually arrest

452
00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:37,240
him, they already have the
outline of the case in place.

453
00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:48,960
The state's.
Position when it comes to Mike

454
00:26:48,960 --> 00:26:52,600
Kunhausen is straightforward.
He orchestrated a murder for

455
00:26:52,600 --> 00:26:55,400
hire plot that sent Ed Haffey
into the home of Susan

456
00:26:55,400 --> 00:26:59,600
Kunhausen, and rather than
resolve this through a plea,

457
00:27:00,160 --> 00:27:03,720
Mike Kunhausen chooses to go to
trial.

458
00:27:04,240 --> 00:27:08,800
He thinks he can beat it.
Inside the courtroom, the

459
00:27:08,800 --> 00:27:10,960
narrative that has been
carefully reconstructed by the

460
00:27:10,960 --> 00:27:12,920
investigators gets laid out in
full.

461
00:27:13,280 --> 00:27:17,600
Financial motive, $5000 payment.
The connection to Hafi, the

462
00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:19,880
chain of the events that led
directly to the net of that

463
00:27:19,880 --> 00:27:22,280
attack.
Every piece presented not as

464
00:27:22,280 --> 00:27:25,880
theory, but that this was the
sequence and it's been supported

465
00:27:25,880 --> 00:27:28,840
by records, testimony and
forensic alignment.

466
00:27:29,560 --> 00:27:32,440
Now the defense, they attempt to
challenge intent and

467
00:27:32,440 --> 00:27:34,880
interpretation, but the
structure of the case has

468
00:27:34,880 --> 00:27:37,880
already been established.
The jury is not being asked to

469
00:27:37,880 --> 00:27:40,280
imagine what might have happened
that night.

470
00:27:40,880 --> 00:27:44,920
They know what happened.
They are allowed to see the

471
00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:47,920
evidence that shows what
actually occurred.

472
00:27:50,320 --> 00:27:55,320
Unsurprisingly, the verdict is
guilty with conviction.

473
00:27:55,560 --> 00:27:58,800
Mike Cunhausen is sentenced to
prison where he later dies.

474
00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:03,520
While incarcerated, we never get
AY from his next of kin, but his

475
00:28:03,520 --> 00:28:05,440
death closes the legal chapter
of the case.

476
00:28:05,960 --> 00:28:09,120
It just doesn't define how this
story gets remembered.

477
00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:12,440
The public reaction is shaped
less by the courtroom outcome

478
00:28:12,440 --> 00:28:14,640
and more by the nature of the
original event itself.

479
00:28:15,200 --> 00:28:17,920
A murder for hire plot that
ended not with the victim's

480
00:28:17,920 --> 00:28:23,440
death, but with the hired
attacker killed in the act, A

481
00:28:23,440 --> 00:28:27,400
reversal so rare it resists
categorization.

482
00:28:27,880 --> 00:28:30,160
The case spread through true
crime circles, news

483
00:28:30,160 --> 00:28:33,400
retrospectives, discussions
about survival, intent, and the

484
00:28:33,400 --> 00:28:36,800
unpredictability of violence.
But even as attention shifts to

485
00:28:36,800 --> 00:28:40,840
legal resolution and aftermath,
the focus repeatedly returns to

486
00:28:40,840 --> 00:28:43,720
a single point that refuses to
paid into the background.

487
00:28:44,720 --> 00:28:47,920
There is a person.
At the center of this case, and

488
00:28:47,920 --> 00:28:51,600
she lived through it.
Beneath the trial, beneath the

489
00:28:51,600 --> 00:28:55,800
conviction, beneath even the
notoriety of the case itself, is

490
00:28:55,800 --> 00:28:58,480
the center of gravity, and it
never moves.

491
00:28:59,360 --> 00:29:03,000
It remains with Susan, not as a
defendant, not as a witness, not

492
00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:05,480
as an abstract symbol in a
courtroom narrative.

493
00:29:06,080 --> 00:29:09,560
This is a woman who walked into
her home, encountered a planned

494
00:29:09,560 --> 00:29:13,840
attack, and survived.
The legal system closed the case

495
00:29:13,840 --> 00:29:17,240
on intended accountability, but
the story that stays with most

496
00:29:17,240 --> 00:29:21,280
people is so much simpler.
She didn't endure what was meant

497
00:29:21,280 --> 00:29:26,080
for her.
She stopped it after the trial,

498
00:29:26,200 --> 00:29:28,880
after the headlines, after the
case settled into the category

499
00:29:28,880 --> 00:29:32,640
of something people would later
reference as unbelievable, Susan

500
00:29:32,640 --> 00:29:34,640
Cunhausen was left with
something the courtroom could

501
00:29:34,640 --> 00:29:37,800
not actually address.
What happens after you survive

502
00:29:37,800 --> 00:29:39,760
something that was meant to
erase you?

503
00:29:40,960 --> 00:29:43,480
She was never framed.
As a symbol in her own life.

504
00:29:43,480 --> 00:29:46,480
Before the case, she was just a
working emergency room nurse,

505
00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:50,400
someone trained to step into
other people's worst moments and

506
00:29:50,720 --> 00:29:54,280
keep them functioning.
After the case, that part of her

507
00:29:54,280 --> 00:29:58,200
identity didn't disappear, but
it also didn't fully define what

508
00:29:58,200 --> 00:30:00,920
came next.
What changed was how the world

509
00:30:00,920 --> 00:30:03,800
looked at Susan.
To the public, she became a rare

510
00:30:03,800 --> 00:30:07,680
outcome in violent crime, Not
just a victim who lived, but a

511
00:30:07,680 --> 00:30:09,400
victim who actively stopped the
threat.

512
00:30:09,880 --> 00:30:13,720
That distinction is what made
this case stick most true crime

513
00:30:13,720 --> 00:30:17,760
stories.
And in loss, uncertainty, maybe

514
00:30:17,760 --> 00:30:20,920
partial resolution.
Sometimes we never even learn

515
00:30:20,920 --> 00:30:23,840
what happened.
This case.

516
00:30:24,040 --> 00:30:26,360
Inverted that expectation
completely.

517
00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:30,280
She.
Survived and he did not.

518
00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:34,040
And the person who was behind
the plan was held accountable.

519
00:30:35,760 --> 00:30:37,920
That's why this case.
Continues to surface in true

520
00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:41,560
crime discussions years later.
It disrupts the usual narrative

521
00:30:41,560 --> 00:30:44,000
structure.
It doesn't allow the audience to

522
00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:46,200
settle.
In particular, it doesn't allow

523
00:30:46,200 --> 00:30:48,000
the audience to settle into
predictability.

524
00:30:48,520 --> 00:30:51,320
Violence enters, but it doesn't
get the final word.

525
00:30:52,120 --> 00:30:55,040
And in the aftermath, Susan's
response was to not become a

526
00:30:55,040 --> 00:30:56,760
public figure in the traditional
sense.

527
00:30:57,240 --> 00:30:59,680
She didn't want to build her
identity around this event.

528
00:31:00,280 --> 00:31:03,000
Reporting over time has
described her as continuing her

529
00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:07,680
life with a focus on recovery,
privacy, and perspective rather

530
00:31:07,680 --> 00:31:10,760
than constant visibility.
She never turned this into a

531
00:31:10,760 --> 00:31:13,520
platform, she did not remain the
center of attention

532
00:31:13,520 --> 00:31:16,960
indefinitely, and she didn't
appear to treat what happened as

533
00:31:16,960 --> 00:31:19,000
something to be continuously
relived.

534
00:31:19,680 --> 00:31:22,880
What she did reflect on, in the
ways that Susan has chosen to

535
00:31:22,880 --> 00:31:27,000
speak about this, is the idea of
survival itself, not as

536
00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:30,040
something heroic or cinematic,
but as something that is

537
00:31:30,040 --> 00:31:32,440
instinctive and immediate to all
of us.

538
00:31:32,920 --> 00:31:35,160
A sequence of decisions made
under pressure.

539
00:31:35,520 --> 00:31:38,680
Not this large narrative you
have control over in the moment.

540
00:31:39,160 --> 00:31:43,720
We don't know if Susan remained
in medicine after her attack.

541
00:31:44,560 --> 00:31:47,240
Things have been reported
differently in many ways over

542
00:31:47,240 --> 00:31:52,160
the years, but what has remained
consistent is that Susan did not

543
00:31:52,160 --> 00:31:55,840
want her identity to be reduced
to a single night in her life.

544
00:31:56,320 --> 00:31:59,600
She was a nurse before this
happened, and she was a person

545
00:31:59,600 --> 00:32:09,010
after it ended.
It started in silence.

546
00:32:09,010 --> 00:32:12,640
A house, a long shift, a woman
walking through her front door

547
00:32:12,640 --> 00:32:16,600
like any other night.
And then violence stepped out of

548
00:32:16,600 --> 00:32:19,680
the darkness.
And what was meant to be the end

549
00:32:19,680 --> 00:32:23,280
of Susan Cunhausen's life did
not happen.

550
00:32:24,400 --> 00:32:28,560
Because in the space between
intention and outcome, Susan

551
00:32:28,760 --> 00:32:32,000
broke the plan.
Ed Haffy was sent with

552
00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:34,760
instructions.
Mike Cunhausen believed the

553
00:32:34,760 --> 00:32:38,880
outcome was already decided.
But violence is never as

554
00:32:38,880 --> 00:32:41,640
controlled as the people who
plan it think it is.

555
00:32:43,160 --> 00:32:46,320
And the truth, always.
Leaves a trail, financial

556
00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:51,120
records, connections, a moment
of hesitation, and a decision

557
00:32:51,120 --> 00:32:52,800
that doesn't quite hold up under
light.

558
00:32:53,560 --> 00:32:56,360
And when investigators followed
that trail all the way back to

559
00:32:56,360 --> 00:32:59,360
the source, what they found
wasn't chaos.

560
00:32:59,400 --> 00:33:03,520
It was intent.
And when intent met reality

561
00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:06,560
inside that house, it didn't go
the way it was supposed to.

562
00:33:08,240 --> 00:33:12,480
Because they planned.
For absolutely everything except

563
00:33:12,520 --> 00:33:16,880
understanding the kind of woman
that Susan really is.

564
00:33:17,960 --> 00:33:19,920
Or maybe it's.
Something simpler than that.

565
00:33:21,240 --> 00:33:23,880
Haffy thought she'd be.
Easy to kill and that's why he

566
00:33:23,880 --> 00:33:28,040
lost.
I'm Brittany Ransom and this is

567
00:33:28,040 --> 00:33:31,120
when killers get caught.
I want to leave you with one

568
00:33:31,120 --> 00:33:33,480
final statement from Susan
Knhausen.

569
00:33:34,720 --> 00:33:37,600
She would later be.
Quoted as saying you don't rise

570
00:33:37,600 --> 00:33:41,920
to the occasion, you fall back
on what you already know.

571
00:33:45,480 --> 00:33:46,600
And what?
Susan knew.

572
00:33:47,920 --> 00:33:49,080
She knew how to.
Survive.