Search warrants show that a college student slain in her off-campus Madison apartment was lifeless and cold when her roommate found her, but she had called 911 about 50 minutes earlier – only to have the call mishandled.
A published report details contents of the long-sealed search warrants it obtained Monday in the unsolved murder of 21-year-old Brittany Zimmermann.
The University of Wisconsin student from Marshfield was found dead on the apartment floor April 2 by roommate Jordan Gonnering.
The 911 call from Zimmermann’s cell phone was believed to have been made around the time she was attacked, but a dispatcher lost contact, didn’t call back and didn’t send police to investigate.
The search warrants state that the 911 call came at 12:20 p.m. At 1:08 p.m., Gonnering called 911 to report finding Zimmermann. Police were at the scene at 1:15 p.m.
Authorities have said Gonnering is not considered a suspect in the death.
The warrants also show that Gonnering thought his girlfriend had been shot in the chest. Records show she was stabbed.
The warrants have been sealed and resealed by judges at the request of police and Dane County prosecutors, but the latest seal on all of them expired last week and no request was made to extend the seals.
Among other information from search warrants and sworn affidavits:
– A police detective gave a chilling account of what could be heard on the 911 call.
– The police investigation has included gathering DNA samples from several men considered possible suspects. One warrant notes that another person’s DNA was found on the body.
– Investigators took 23 swabs for DNA and 10 fingerprints. They also took nine partial footwear prints from the apartment and two sink traps and their contents.
– Gonnering told police he didn’t immediately have time to notice whether anything was missing from the apartment, but their computers were still there. Among valuables in the inventory of items taken by police were also a backpack, a purse, a digital camera, an Ipod and a diamond ring.