Dane County released a transcript Wednesday of the 911 call Brittany Zimmermann’s boyfriend made upon finding the University of Wisconsin junior dead in her Doty Street home.
According to the Dane County 911 call log for April 2, UW student Jordan Gonnering called 911 at 1:08 p.m. and said his girlfriend had been shot.
“Gfriend been shot! 21-year-old, female, unconscious, not breathing. 1. She has received a gunshot wound,” the transcript said.
According to a source close to the investigation, speaking on condition of anonymity, police said Zimmermann was actually stabbed and not shot.
“Seeing his girlfriend laying in a pool of blood… he would probably think she was shot,” the source said.
Dane County Coroner John Stanley reported the cause of death last week as a “complexity of traumatic injuries.”
The coroner is not releasing specific details in the cause of death, as the investigation is ongoing.
MPD Public Information Officer Joel DeSpain said in the course of the investigation police have tried to identify a variety of individuals who were in and around the crime scene at the time of the murder but have not singled out a suspect or suspects.
“At this point, this investigation hasn’t started down one particular path yet,” DeSpain said.
Homicide cases like those of Zimmermann and Joel Marino, a man who was stabbed in his South Shore Drive home late January, are the hardest to solve, DeSpain said.
“Their associations, acquaintances, friends, family and behavior don’t indicate anything as why someone would want to harm them,” DeSpain said.
DeSpain added that police are trying to “beat the bush” and talk to everyone they can find, including the increasing transient population in downtown Madison, particularly the West Washington Avenue corridor near Brittingham Park.
Cieslewicz unveils proposed changes to Brittingham Park
Mayor Dave Cieslewicz announced a plan to improve Brittingham Park on Wednesday, including possibly banning “chronic offenders” causing trouble in the area between West Washington Avenue and Monona Bay.
City Council President Mike Verveer, District 4, said the transient presence has been an issue in Brittingham Park for years.
While Verveer said the plans to improve the park did not stem from the Zimmermann or Marino homicides, they come just as police have targeted the transient population for questioning concerning the unsolved murders.
In association with Ald. Julia Kerr, District 13, the mayor proposed a plan to improve the quality of life in the park where many Madison residents are wary to go because of the chronic alcoholics who reside there, Verveer said.
Capitol Centre Market on North Broom Street and Kelley’s Market on West Washington Avenue also announced Wednesday they will immediately stop selling four-packs of high alcohol content beer that cost around $2, Verveer added.
Verveer said many homeless people would purchase these four-packs and drink them in Brittingham Park.
“Neighbors were reporting to me that they were no longer patronizing [Kelley’s Market] because they were sick of being hassled by chronic alcoholics,” he said.
