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Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk said she believes a better official response to the call from Brittany Zimmermann’s cell phone could not have saved her life. Still, new details show the mistakes impeded the hunt for her killer by sending homicide detectives down a wrong trail.
The Dane County 911 Center initially gave inaccurate information about the call to police investigators, causing them to mistakenly focus their search on two innocent men, Falk said.
Zimmermann, 21, was found murdered in her campus-area apartment on April 2. Police continue to search for her killer in a case that has students and downtown residents on edge.
Authorities have faced intense criticism since last week’s disclosure that Zimmermann dialed 911 but a dispatcher lost contact with the caller, did not call back as required or send police to investigate. Police Chief Noble Wray said the call contains evidence that should have been enough to trigger a dispatch.
Trying to quell the controversy, Falk released additional details about the call’s handling at a news conference and answered questions for more than 40 minutes.
Falk said the veteran dispatcher inquired three times about whether an emergency existed and apparently heard nothing before the call ended. The call does contain sounds that have significance, Falk said, but she would not explain what they were and why the dispatcher didn’t hear them.
Police have refused to release the audio, time or content of the call, saying it would impede their investigation.
Falk said the dispatcher could have immediately traced the call to the apartment building next door to Zimmermann’s residence using tracking technology. Between 5 and 30 minutes, police could have linked the call to Zimmermann’s residence, she said, adding she believes that would have been too late to stop the murder.
The dispatcher did not call Zimmermann’s phone back. She then answered another 911 call from a landline where the caller hung up but called that residence back, Falk said. Two men answered who said their call was a mistake.
After reviewing an audio of the call, 911 center officials mistakenly told police investigators the dispatcher called Zimmermann’s cell phone back and the two men answered, Falk said.
“Police were extremely interested in finding the two male respondents, and focused some investigative efforts on that call back and the two males,” Falk wrote in a memo summarizing the response.
Nearly two weeks later, an additional review showed Zimmermann was never called back and that call actually had gone to a home in Middleton, about 10 miles away. Police tracked down the two men, who confirmed their call had nothing to do with the homicide, Falk said.
The dispatcher has voluntarily transferred to another department and remains the subject of a disciplinary investigation, Falk said. Her boss, Public Safety Communications Center Director Joe Norwick, will not be disciplined even though Falk said he had “misspoke” several times during a news conference last week.
Among other things, Norwick wrongly indicated the dispatcher remained in her job and said he had nothing to apologize for. On Tuesday, Falk said she had mailed official apology letters to the family and fiance of Zimmermann.
