The family of slain University of Wisconsin student Brittany Zimmermann said Wednesday they oppose the release of the audio from the 911 call made from their daughter’s cell phone on the day she was killed.
In a court hearing between Dane County and several media companies — including the Wisconsin State Journal and WISC-TV — Dane County Circuit Court Judge Richard Niess ruled to seal the audio until a private hearing.
“The Zimmermanns do have a very strong interest in the outcome of these decisions,” said Robert Elliott, the family’s lawyer.
The companies filed the lawsuit after being denied more than 20 open records requests to obtain documents with information related to the Zimmermann homicide investigation and the mishandling of the 911 call.
The hearing Wednesday was scheduled when media lawyer April Barker filed a motion for the immediate release of the audio after several search warrants with details from the investigation were made public last week.
The warrants included a sworn statement from a police officer saying the 911 call began with “sounds of a woman screaming and sounds of a struggle for a short period of time.”
Dane County District Attorney Brian Blanchard requested to intervene in the lawsuit on behalf of the city of Madison. Niess ruled early in the hearing to allow the intervention.
Dane County Corporation Counsel Marcia Mackenzie said the report from the 911 internal investigation was released last week after a recent open records request, but the names of other 911 callers had been blacked out and the four-page interview was withheld.
Niess ruled to release four pages from the internal investigation with the approval of Rita Gahagan, the dispatcher who took the call from Zimmermann’s phone.
Niess also ordered the release of calls made by Zimmermann’s fianc?, Jordan Gonnering, when he discovered her body, as well as the calls made immediately after the call from Zimmermann’s phone, which caused police to investigate the wrong suspects for two weeks.
After more details were made public last week, the Dane County Public Safety Communications Center released a statement saying they “found no evidence the dispatcher who took a call from Ms. Zimmermann’s cell phone heard anything that indicated an emergency was occurring.”
According to parts of the 911 Center internal investigation documents, the call from Zimmermann’s phone lasted 57 seconds and the location of the phone was determined within 24 seconds. No return call was made, violating center policy.
Niess said after the hearing, scheduled for next Friday, the media lawyers can make a recommendation to their clients on how to proceed.
Capt. Carl Gloede of the Madison Police Department carried a CD with the 911 audio on it to Niess, where he sealed it until next week’s hearing.
Niess said he had heard a recording of the audio but believes it may not have included all parts of the call.
“My role under this statute is to decide what the public interest is,” Niess said. “We have information in the tapes that I didn’t hear, but they’re going to tell me somehow, that it’s in there, that is critical to the Zimmermann murder investigation.”
