Thanks to an internet friend who calls herself “a scrawny girl” for sending us this news item:
PORTLAND, Ore. – When Susan Kuhnhausen returned home from work one day 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 with her bare hands.
Neighbors praised the woman for her bravery, and investigators said they believed the dead man — Edward Dalton Haffey — was burglarizing Kuhnhausen’s home.
But after an investigation, police now say the intruder Kuhnhausen strangled was apparently a hit man hired by her estranged husband — Michael James Kuhnhausen Sr. — to kill her.
::snip::
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.
Whoa!!!!
Francesca says again: Whoa!!!
She is most gratified and moved by the end of the article:
Susan Kuhnhausen was out of town attending a nursing conference and did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
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.”
Kuhnhausen is large of body and of spirit.
DAYUM!! I admire her spirit.
Comment by Lolee — August 29, 2008 @ 10:09 am
Oh my goodness!
Francesca: I just found a book that I’m about five chapters into and it is *incredibly funny*! “This Book Isn’t Fat, It’s Fabulous” by Nina Beck is a teen novel about Queen Sized Queen Bee Riley Swain. Riley is hysterically funny, deadly attractive and proud of her plus-sizeness but her father is sending her to fat camp for two weeks. No idea what happens next, but I have a feeling it’s not a major diet and makeover event. Hopefully not.
Comment by Gabrielle — August 29, 2008 @ 11:17 am
Susan’s story is harrowing, and in light of that her outgoing message is even more inspirational.
I’m glad such a spirit was not snuffed out, and wish her peace from now on.
Comment by Twistie — August 29, 2008 @ 12:29 pm
Badass!
Comment by VerseFameBeauty — August 29, 2008 @ 6:06 pm
A friend of mine, an ex-Marine turned ER doc, sent me this story when it first happened. His take? “Nurses: The Best Friends, The Worst Enemies.”
As an RN and a non-scrawny girl myself, I gotta say: anybody who can strangle a man to death (which takes time and is not easy) *after* working a 12-hour shift in the ER is Bad. Ass.
Comment by Jo — September 1, 2008 @ 6:03 am
She is an inspiration to all women – don’t mess with us. Amazing that she took out a hitman; and after being hit with a claw hammer.
Comment by shiloh — September 2, 2008 @ 2:02 am
The guy was absolutely ignorant in thinking that even though she is bigger than he, he was still stronger. the bottom line, if she is bigger, she is going to be stronger. In this case, she was so much stronger that with little effort she killed him with her bare hands. Not sure what the husband was thinking either. Maybe it was a setup to knock off this guy instead. And what better person to do the job than his big strong wife.
Comment by Brad — July 10, 2009 @ 12:03 pm