911 Dispatcher: 'It didn't register as a scream'
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The operator who mishandled a 911 call from a slain college student's cell phone said she didn't know why she didn't hear a scream or sounds of a struggle, according to records released Thursday.
"If I heard the initial 'scream,' it didn't register as a scream," Rita Gahagan said during a personnel interview in April. She said she heard later background noises that police have said indicate a struggle but they "didn't register as anyone in obvious distress."
The interview was conducted days after Gahagan mishandled the 911 call from University of Wisconsin-Madison student Brittany Zimmermann, who was stabbed to death in her apartment on April 2. Her murder remains unsolved.
Until Thursday, the county had refused to release Gahagan's interview and provided the four pages documenting after it was ordered to do so by Dane County Circuit Court Judge Richard Niess. A group of media outlets is suing the county for access to records related to its handling of the call, which has been at the center of controversy for months.
The newly released records show county officials have not been candid with the public about the call.
They show they realized within days of Zimmermann's homicide that the call contained a scream. Yet weeks later, then-911 center director Joe Norwick insisted the dispatcher had no way of distinguishing the call from dozens of accidental and "hang-up" calls the center receives daily.
Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk later acknowledged the call contained significant sounds but refused to describe them. Norwick has since resigned.
The county did not even acknowledge the existence of the call until nearly a month after Zimmermann's slaying and then only after a report about it appeared in Isthmus, a weekly newspaper.
The call lasted nearly a minute, and Gahagan inquired three times whether an emergency existed.
After it was disconnected, Gahagan answered a landline call that was a hang-up call. She called back the second call as required under 911 center policy but never called back the Zimmermann phone. She told her bosses she failed to call Zimmermann back because she moved on "to other 911 calls waiting to be answered."
Police did not arrive at Zimmermann's apartment for more than 40 minutes, after her fiancee found the 21-year-old dead and called 911.
Also, 911 center officials mistakenly told homicide investigators Gahagan had called back Zimmermann's cell phone and two men answered (that was the call back to the landline), and investigators spent days searching for those innocent men.
In a second interview, Gahagan told county officials she would have dispatched police had she heard any "signs of a serious situation." She was asked again how "she missed the initial 'scream' sound."
"Rita shrugged her shoulders and indicated that she had no new or different recollection of the incident," according to the summary prepared by Gahagan's supervisor for the 911 center operations manager, Rich McVicar.
Gahagan has since been transferred, at her own request, to another department in the county. After mishandling the call, she told her bosses "that she is second-guessing herself and her actions and said that her self-confidence has been rocked."
Niess has scheduled a hearing next week on whether to release audio of the call, which police and prosecutors say would jeopardize their search for Zimmermann's killer and re-victimize her friends and family.
The only phone listing for Gahagan had been disconnected when The Associated Press tried to call her Thursday night.
Dec 13, 2008 at 4:50 p.m.
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Cell phones don't always lock on 911 they are suppose to but they don't always. The recordings start before Dispatch picks up. I don't know enough about this particular case to have an opinion just stating the facts that the technology doesn't always work as designed. I feel bad someone passed away and I feel for the families affected.
Dec 12, 2008 at 3:19 p.m.
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MrScott: You're absolutely correct. The phone 'locks' when you call 911 so dispatch can call you back if the call is dropped, which was not done in this case. I know some folks think I'm bashing dispatchers with my comments, but that's not the case. I appreciate all you do and I know it takes a special person to do your job. But, I also believe, in this case, the dispatcher should have at the very least admitted she made a mistake. As I've stated before, I don't know if an immediate response would've saved Brittany, but it may have given investigator's a better chance to find the killer.
Dec 12, 2008 at 1:51 p.m.
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hoops, why your phone goes into lock mode after calling 911, only 911 is able to call you back, that's the point of the lock.
Dec 12, 2008 at 12:50 p.m.
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If a 911 call is placed on your cell phone, doesn't your cell phone automatically go in an 'emergency lock' mode...therefore, would the 911 operator be able to call back? When I've placed a call to 911, I was able to hang up, but, was unable to make/receive calls for awhile.
Dec 12, 2008 at 12:32 p.m.
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Happycamper: I sure would like to know where you got your information re: Brittany "befriending" the homeless, etc. I have followed this story closely and what you wrote is news to me. Also, if an officer had been able to get to Brittany's house, he/she would have immediately known something was wrong. Whoever entered did so by breaking down the outside front door! But back to my question: Where did you get that information regarding her and the homeless?
Dec 12, 2008 at 12:11 p.m.
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KathrynSullivan...
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I appreciate your comments, and I was in no way meaning to be cruel. For a person to blame Brittany for her murder is cruel and ignorant. I completely understand mistakes happen, but it is the cover up that bothers me. It seems every other day I'm turning on the news or reading in the paper that another tidbit of information has come out about the poor handling of this case. I really don't think even had the dispatcher recognized the scream in the call and realized what was happening that Brittany could have been saved, but maybe a suspect could've been found. Happycamper's logic would lead me to the conclusion that anybody who helps another, homeless or not, deserves to be killed for trying to help the wrong person. So, let me ask you this...if someone calls 911, can't get words out, and the dispatcher doesn't try to send somebody to the "general area", does that then make that person at fault for opening their front door and letting somebody in to murder them? As I said in my previous post, it is cruel and ignorant to blame Brittany for her own murder. I guess I'll think twice now before offering to help someone, lest I be blamed for my own murder.
Dec 12, 2008 at 12:06 p.m.
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"This is the true story of George Phillips of Meridian, Mississippi"
Entertaining story, not true, but entertaining. Check Snopes before you post.
Dec 12, 2008 at 10:36 a.m.
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jviers: You really are cruel as well as ignorant. If Brittany didn't blurt out her address, the police wouldn't know where to go. The GPS chip in her cell phone gives a general location, not specific address! I feel so bad for this dispatcher. Also, it's my understand that in Dane County dispatch, once a 911 line is released, another 911 call AUTOMATICALLY gets sent to your station that you have to answer. How the heck does that give a person time to call the first caller back? Untill you walk a mile in her shoes, DON'T BE SO QUICK TO JUDGE/BLAME THE DISPATCHER! I work for a dispatch center and feel totally gratified by the number of lives I have saved and the number of people I have helped. Just try staying on the phone with a caller who just found their loved one deceased in their home, or the suicidal subject you need to keep from harming themself until pd arrives, or the elderly person who is frightened because they heard a strange noise outside.
Dec 12, 2008 at 10:22 a.m.
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Without reading all of the comments..I will state that when you call 911 the county is already recording your call. So to explain this better you are being recorded even before a dispatcher answers the phone. If thats when the scream happened the dispatcher would have never heard the scream unless she hit playback and played the whole call over. I'm not saying thats what happened I am just putting that out there because most people aren't aware of that.
Dec 12, 2008 at 9:34 a.m.
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There is no way that officer's can respond to every hang up. If the operator had called back do you think that someone would have answered? Did they have a location based on GPS to even respond to? I feel awful for the family of Brittany. But I do not feel had things been done differantly at the 911 center that that would have changed the outcome. Yes, this will make for policy changes and learning experiance, however we can not put all of this on the dispatcher. I hope that there is as much investigation into the person who killed this poor girl, as there has been into the call.
Dec 12, 2008 at 9:21 a.m.
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happycamper....
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I've read some insensitive comments before, but yours may now be at the top. How dare you blame Brittany for what happened to her! This whole case has been botched from the beginning, and this story proves further that as soon as police responded to the home and found her dead, Dane County has been in complete CYA mode. The dispatcher screwed up, her supervisor tried to help cover it up (thankfully he resigned), and everyone involved has been trying to deflect blame from themselves from the day of the murder. It's impossible to tell whether she could've been saved had officers arrived shortly after the call, but to blame Brittany for this tragedy is absolutely absurd and ignorant.
Dec 12, 2008 at 9:02 a.m.
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The saddest part of this story is the way the dispatcher has been treated. Brittany chose to befriend the homeless,she fed them she invited them into her home, thats why they were all questioned. Even if officers responded to the hang up they would have gotten no response when they knocked on her door. If an officer knocks on your door and gets no response he's not going to break your door down or even start an investigation, he's going to leave and say he got no response. Madison has hundreds of 911 hang up's a day I bet if you doubled the police force you could'nt contact all the hang ups. Brittany chose poorly and the dispatcher is paying for it.
Dec 12, 2008 at 8:46 a.m.
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You can't dispatch every hang up or prank but the process in this incident broke down when the dispatcher failed to call back.
Dec 12, 2008 at 8:45 a.m.
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I don't understand why no one was dispatched. In my town, even accidental 911 calls and hangups get a call back from the 911 operator and a welfare check by the police.
Maybe at the moment Madison gets a lot of prank 911 calls, but if an officer showed up each time, I bet that would slow down a great deal -- plus, more people would be helped/rescued.
Dec 12, 2008 at 8:34 a.m.
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I think the question on many people's minds is why was no one dispatched regardless as to whether the 911 operator thought it was a prank or not??
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