Susan Kuhnhausen Killed the Hitman Sent to Kill Her

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1st April 2019  •  4 min read

Susan Kuhnhausen's estranged husband hired a hitman to take her out. In that terrifying moment, Susan "made a decision to live."


Susan Kuhnhausen Killed the Hitman Sent to Kill Her

Morbidology Podcast

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Morbidology is a weekly true crime podcast created and hosted by Emily G. Thompson. Using investigative research combined with primary audio, Morbidology takes an in-depth look at true crime cases from all across the world.


It was a brisk autumn afternoon in Portland, Oregon, on the 6th of September, 2006. 51-year-old Susan Kuhnhausen was returning home from her job as a nurse in the emergency room of Providence Hospital. She stopped at the hairdresser and quipped to the stylist that she needed a new hair colour since she was going through a tough divorce.

She arrived home at approximately 6:37PM and kicked off her shoes, ready to relax for the remainder of the evening. The house appeared eerily dark; Susan was sure she had opened the curtains that morning before going to work. She thought nothing of it. However, moments later, she spotted a man out of the corner of her eye. He was emerging from the shadows in her bedroom. He was wielding a red and black claw hammer and ran towards Susan, swinging the weapon wildly in her direction. The intruder smashed Susan across the head and face but miraculously, Susan was able to get the slight on the intruder after biting him. “If I died, I wanted it to be known that I fought to live,” she said. They fell to the floor, fighting over the claw hammer. “You’re strong,” the unidentified man said. But he truly had no idea just how strong Susan was… Moments later, Susan managed to climb on top of him and pin him to the ground. She placed the intruder into a choke-hold and yelled: “Tell me who sent you and I will call a fucking ambulance!”1 Susan got no answer. As the intruder attempted to throw Susan off, she strengthened her hold until he stopped moving. She had strangled him to death.

Susan fled to a neighbour’s house who called 911: “We have an intruder in the house next door.…The intruder was in the bedroom with a hammer. The woman who lives there thinks she may have strangled him. He was down when she left,” she said to the 911 operator. As Susan  lay in the same emergency room where she had worked as a nurse for the past 30 years, she wondered if somehow her estranged husband, Michael Kuhnhausen, could have been involved in this attempt at her life. Michael and Susan were in the process of getting a divorce and according to the affidavit “her husband was distraught but that she was insisting on the divorce.”2 As news of the attack circulated in the media, Michael wrote a suicide note and purchased a gun. He didn’t contact his adult children for over a week before asking if they could help him check in to a psychiatric facility. When police eventually got a hold of him, he claimed he hadn’t contacted his estranged wife following the attack because he had learned that she survived. His behaviour was certainly peculiar and raised a few eyebrows.

The man who had attacked Susan was identified as Edward Dalton Haffey and initially, police was believed that the man was quite simply a burglar who had targeted the wrong house. Susan scoffed at this theory because the man hadn’t attempted to steal anything or even ask her where her money was. He was hiding in the shadows, waiting for her to come home. He had targeted her. “He is here to kill me,” she said. “I don’t know why. I don’t know who he is. But his intent was clear.”After an intense investigation, Susan’s suspicions were confirmed:  Haffey had been hired as a hitman by Michael. According to an affidavit filed by the Multnomah County District’s Office, Haffey had once worked as  a custodian under Michael at an adult video store. Haffey was addicted to crack and desperate enough for money that he would commit murder. In Haffey’s backpack, police had found a note which read: “Call Mike. Get Letter.” Michael was arrested and charged with criminal conspiracy to commit murder.

Susan and Michael had split up in 2006 when Susan picked up enough courage to throw Michael out of their house because of his anger and anxiety issues. She had lived in fear for too long. At first, Michael was seemingly desperate for reconciliation but Susan refused. That heartache then turned to revenge and Michael started searching for a hitman to take her out. Three people denied his proposal before he turned to Haffey. In the wake of the attack, Susan was hailed as a hero. However, she took this title with a pinch of salt: “How can you be a hero when you took someone’s life?” she said.3 Susan described herself as “a middle-aged woman in bad shape with bad knees.” However, in that terrifying moment, Susan “made a decision to live.”

When Susan got the chance to face Michael at his trial, she said: “You were willing for me to share your small, miserable life until death we did part –the sooner the better, as it turned out.” At the end of her statement, she said: “I am damaged by what you have done to me. I am damaged. But I am not destroyed.” Michael Kuhnhausen pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. After his sentencing, Susan sued her ex-husband for $1 million, stating she wanted to make sure he didn’t have enough money to hire another hitman to “finish off the job.”

Susan didn’t have long to worry, though, because in 2014, Michael died in prison from natural causes. While Susan felt relief from the news, she said “I don’t mourn his passing. Instead I mourn the life he could have had, if only he could have opened his heart for those of us who cared about him.”4

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Footnotes:

  1. The Oregonian, 8 September, 2007 – “‘I am Damaged, But I am not Destroyed”
  2. The Grand Rapids Press, 17 September, 2006 – “Police Say Intruder Killed by Nurse was Hitman”
  3. The Orgeonian, 14 September, 2008 – “Margie Boule Talks to the Woman who Killed a Hitman”
  4. The Orgeonian, 17 June, 2014 – “Prison Death is a Relief to Ex-Wife”

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Joanne
Joanne
5 years ago

Ah, I love a feel good story to start my morning. What a badass.

Keira
Keira
3 years ago
Reply to  Joanne

There’s always some asshole like you who tries to make it the woman’s fault. Had the tables been turned, I’m willing to bet she wouldn’t have thought to hire a hitman to kill him. She probably would’ve moved on with her life.

Adam
Adam
3 years ago
Reply to  Joanne

Learn how to spell before commenting you dyslexic dumbo. Second, if Mike or Susan(if the situation was reversed) had mental problems soooo bad that they would hire a fucking hitman like they Tony Soprano, no I wouldn’t root for her. I root for saving her own ass and suing that deranged fuckwad. It’s not her fault he was a lunatic. Glad he and his hitman are dead. May they rot in Hell.

Dyslexic
Dyslexic
3 years ago
Reply to  Adam

Dyslexia does make someone dumb, you moron.

Ralph
Ralph
2 years ago
Reply to  Dyslexic

Nor was her typo any form of dyslexia. Bela is certainly wrong but claiming she’s dumb because she pressed a letter next to the correct one didn’t deserve that vitriol. Bela’s comment however is what makes her dumb. Or at least just a troll for making such a comment.

Kiyana T
Kiyana T
8 hours ago
Reply to  Adam

Did I miss something or like
I literally dont see what they typed wrong

Amanda Willingham
Amanda Willingham
2 years ago
Reply to  Joanne

It said she left him because he was angry etc and she spent their marriage scared of him. And apparently her fear was grounded because he tried to kill her

dale
dale
2 years ago
Reply to  Joanne

Anger ? and if he didn’t do anything about it for years , he deserved the divorce

Nanaloke
Nanaloke
1 year ago
Reply to  Joanne

So hiring someone to kill you is a better option then divorce??! You are insane. Plus you forgot his ANGER ISSUES. Shit Some people get divorced just because.

Susanna Vesna
Susanna Vesna
5 years ago

“Tell me who sent you and I will call a fucking ambulance!”- what a line! Susan, you cant save everyone, especially when they are digging their own grave. You did the right thing and shouldn’t feel bad about it even for a second.

William Garmon
William Garmon
5 years ago
Reply to  Susanna Vesna

How true that is you did what you had to do to survive don’t for one second feel bad I know you feel bad it’s only natural but don’t

Jennifer Goode
Jennifer Goode
4 years ago
Reply to  Susanna Vesna

That’s the caring nurse coming out of her,unknowingly perhaps

Jax
Jax
5 years ago

Don’t mess with nurses for sure. Good on Susan. I know she must feel bad for killing this guy but I hope she remembers it was either him or her. Everybody would at least try do the same in this situation.

Kacie
Kacie
5 years ago

She did what she had to do.

Usino
Usino
5 years ago

One is fighting for her life, the other for the dope, big difference.

Jackie
Jackie
5 years ago

It must be hard to live with killing someone you didn’t want to but Susan had no other choice. If she didn’t, she would be dead today and her husband would probably have gotten away with it.

Siahn
Siahn
2 years ago
Reply to  Jackie

Exactly, it really was a case of kill or be killed. Her will to survive was strong after living with her husband’s anger & anxiety for so long.

trackback

[…] Susan Kuhnhausen’s husband hired a hitman to kill her. Susan overpowered him and strangled him to death while shouting “who sent you?” https://morbidology.com/susan-kuhnhausen-killed-the-hitman-sent-to-kill-her/ […]

Oral Allen
Oral Allen
4 years ago

This lady may have had some Judo skills!

Anne28
Anne28
3 years ago

A woman of courage!

Elle
Elle
3 years ago

And yet you bothered commenting..?

Llrox
Llrox
3 years ago

Watch her tell her story on I Survived season 5 episode 2. It’s one of the better episodes.

Lee Pelt
Lee Pelt
3 years ago

That was fresh hair color? I’m kidding–I came here because this woman is my hero.

Sasha
Sasha
3 years ago

The attack occurred in the evening, which means the temp had most likely gone down to 60ish degrees, so yes, brisk can be said. If you must be a bitch, maybe try being less of a dumb bitch.

Ralph
Ralph
2 years ago

This story is ripe to be produced into a made for TV movie. A good writer could go a long way with this.

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