Police: Intruder strangled by nurse was hit man

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.

The 58-year-old husband was taken into custody Thursday and charged with conspiracy to commit murder and attempted murder. He was ordered held on $500,000 bail.

Haffey had worked as a custodian under Kuhnhausen at an adult video store, according an affidavit filed by the Multnomah County District Attorney’s office.

Kuhnhausen and his wife were in the process of getting a divorce, and she told officers “her husband was distraught about the divorce and wanting to reconcile but that she was insisting on the divorce,” the affidavit states.

A background check showed Haffey had served lengthy prison terms for conspiracy to commit aggravated murder and convictions for robbery and burglary.

Inside a backpack Haffey left at the scene was a day planner with “Call Mike, Get letter,” scribbled on the week of Sept. 4, the affidavit said. Michael Kuhnhausen’s cell phone number was jotted on the inside of a folder, it said.

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.

There was no sign of forced entry into the home, but according to the affidavit, Susan Kuhnhausen offered an explanation for the lack of evidence of a break-in: Her estranged husband had the security codes for the home’s alarm system, and would have been able to disarm it.

Michael Kuhnhausen denies any involvement, the affidavit states.

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.”

Motorist goes to the aid of a dying crash victim only to find it is his wife

James Peters, president of Twickenham Rugby Club, was on his way to pick up his wife Susan when he came across the wreckage of a crash in the street.

Not realising who it was he ran to the aid of the dying woman who had been knocked down just seconds earlier as she crossed the street.

It was only when another passer-by handed him a handbag that discovered the awful truth that it was the mother of his three children lying in the road.

"I didn't realise it was her for five, six even seven minutes," Mr Peters, who runs his own heating business, said.

"I had just stopped to help as I saw there had been an accident. Then another person who had stopped handed me a handbag and I recognised it. I couldn't believe it.

"It's no reassurance to me that I was there at her final moments, there's not much reassurance anywhere, I'm devastated. My wife was perfect."

Mr Peters, who had just celebrated his 40-year ruby wedding anniversary two days before the crash last Friday in Leatherhead, Surrey, was yesterday being comforted by his family.

He was making the short five minute drive from the couple's home in Leatherhead to a nearby bus stop where he picks his wife up so she does not have to walk home.

She was travelling back from work at Surrey County Council's offices in Kingston, Surrey, as normal when tragedy struck his 60-year-old wife.

Mr Peter's good friend and chairman of Twickenham Rugby Club e-mailed club members about the tragic incident.

He wrote: "It is with great sadness that I have to tell you that Sue Peters, Jim's wife, died last night as a result of a road traffic incident.

"Jim himself was not involved in the accident, but tragically came upon it when on his way to pick up Sue.

"Our thoughts are with Jim and his family."

The couple's home sits at the end of a private road and is surrounded by dense forest and a golf course.

A close neighbour, who did not wish to be named, said: "They are such a lovely couple.

"They were getting to that age where they could really start to enjoy what they had achieved in life.

"It's taken my breath away I cannot believe it. Jim must be destroyed."

A Surrey Police spokesman, said: "A 25-year-old man from Fetcham was arrested and has been released on police bail until 7 November in connection with this incident."