A woman killed a killer who was sent to her (8 photos)

It was an ordinary day for Susan Kuhnhausen on September 6, 2006, as she returned from her duty at Providence Medical Center in Portland. The woman worked there for 30 years.





Susan came home and noticed that all the curtains in the house were drawn, which was very unusual. She saw a note on the microwave from her husband, Michael. He warned her that he had decided to go to the beach and would return in a couple of days. Susan took the letters from the mailbox and went into the bedroom to change clothes.



Edward Haffey

As soon as she entered the room, a man armed with a black and red hammer flew out from behind the door. Without saying anything, he simply pounced on Kuhnhausen and the first blow hit her in the temple. It's a miracle she didn't lose consciousness.

All medical staff of the center regularly took self-defense courses, because patients often turned out to be people under a variety of substances. Susan, who worked in the emergency department, honestly admitted that she did not think that this knowledge would ever save her life. The woman was considerably overweight and had bad knees; it was unlikely that she could give anyone a real rebuff. Although where else if not in this department can you meet the most diverse audience.



Susan after the attack

However, everything that the medical staff had been taught during the course was immediately remembered and Susan began to close the distance with the man, as she was recommended. Thus, he could not swing the weapon.

Kuhnhausen pinned her attacker against the walls with her body, to which he responded with the comment "Wow, you're strong." These were his only words.

Susan was even able to take the hammer away from the killer and hit him in the head several times. She hammered at him and asked who sent him until the man pulled out a hammer. Susan now grabbed his throat until her attacker's face turned purple. This scared the woman and she started running. In the corridor, the killer overtook Susan, knocked her to the floor, and out of desperation she sank her teeth first into his arm and then into his thigh. The surprise attack disorientated the hitman, giving Sue the opportunity to knock him down and sit on top of him. She strangled her attacker and screamed: “Tell me who sent you and I’ll call you a fucking ambulance!” The man was silent, and then strangely went limp.

Picking up the hammer, Kuhnhausen ran out of the house and rushed to her neighbor. They called 911.



The ambulance arrived along with the police and pronounced the killer dead. In the basement of the Kuhnhausen house, the cops found his backpack, which contained a diary. There was a note dated September 4 - "call Mike." And the number... of the victim's husband, Michael.

The killer's name was Edward Haffey, he fought in Vietnam and after finishing his service he decided to take a completely different path than a war veteran could have taken. At one time (15 years before the attack on Susan), he organized the murder of his own girlfriend, for which he served 9 years. And when he was released, he accidentally met Michael Kuhnhausen - he hired him as an employee in his small shop. A lethal dose of narcotic substances was found in Haffey’s body.



Susan and her husband

Michael, meanwhile, having learned that his wife survived and even killed the killer he hired, went on the run. But on September 13 he was detained and Michael stubbornly denied that he hired Edward to kill his beloved wife. But there was a witness: he shared with the police that Michael promised him five thousand dollars for his help in organizing Sue’s murder. And Huffy was promised fifty thousand dollars.

Based on data from the house's security system, it became clear that the husband let the killer into the house, and he went to the beach to guarantee himself an alibi. But why was it necessary to kill Susan at all?



The same hammer

The police began to understand the relationship between the spouses. It turned out that Susan, after 17 years of marriage, decided to file for divorce. Michael behaved contemptuously towards her, tracked all her expenses down to the last cent, and when his wife tried to kiss him, he pretended to be sick. Susan endured for a long time, but in the end she could not stand it. Having filed for divorce, she asked her husband to move out.

But it wasn't a matter of Michael's humiliated dignity. Everything was much more banal- money. In a divorce, the house would have to be divided, which Michael clearly did not want to share. And when insuring her life, Susan indicated not her beloved husband as the beneficiary, but her brother. Plus, he lost his job shortly before the attack on Sue. So, Michael wanted to appropriate the house for himself and take revenge on his wife for such mistrust (not without reason, it seems).



photo of Michael in court

On August 30, 2007, Kuhnhausen pleaded guilty to incitement to murder. Susan's husband received 10 years in prison. Then, for exemplary behavior, the sentence was reduced to 8 years.

A year after the trial, Sue reverted to her maiden name (Walters) and sued Michael for one million dollars. She justified her claim by saying that she did not want her ex-husband to have even a penny of money left, because then he would be able to organize another attempt on her life.

Susan moved into a new house, fearing Michael's revenge, and signed up for a shooting range to learn how to shoot. She installed a panic button in the house, and poured gravel around the house so that she could hear if someone decided to come closer



Poor Susan could not live in peace, even when Michael was in prison, because he was not imprisoned for life. And God knows who he could meet behind bars, who could finish what Huffy started. But Kuhnhausen did his ex-wife a favor and three months before the end of his sentence, on September 14, 2014, he died in prison from prostate cancer.

Susan, after coping with the horror she had experienced, began helping victims of the attacks. She used her bitter experience for good: in many interviews she talked about her experiences, where she always argued that one must fight until the very end. The police regularly invite Susan Kuhnhausen to give lectures on self-defense.

In 2017, in collaboration with the District Attorney's Office, Susie created a website where crime victims can find support and help. She was called a hero, but she sadly commented on this title: "How can you be a hero when you take someone's life?"