Pod Insights Murder With My Husband 252. The Hitman Survivor - Susan Kuhnhausen About this episode In this episode, Payton and Garrett explore the gripping case of Susan Kuhnhausen, a dedicated nurse who invested 17 years in her marriage, only to face a shocking betrayal.
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Case Sources:
AdultFYI.com - https://www.adultfyi.com/fantasy-adult-video-guy-hatched-murder-plot/
BlurredBylines.com - https://blurredbylines.com/articles/susan-kuhnhausen-walters-survivor-hitman-portland/
KATU ABC - https://katu.com/news/local/woman-susan-walters-who-killed-hit-man-hired-by-husband-helping-victims-track-their-offenders
NBCNews.com - https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna16443209
The Associated Press - https://kpic.com/news/local/man-who-hired-hit-man-to-kill-wife-dies-in-prison
The Oregonian - https://www.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2008/03/woman_who_strangles_attacker_w.html
https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2008/09/man_convicted_of_hiring_hitman.htmlhttps://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2014/06/portlander_who_hired_hitman_to.html
https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2014/04/woman_who_fatally_strangled_hi.html
True Crime Magazine - https://thecrimemag.com/susan-kuhnhausen/
The Seattle Times - https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/police-say-portland-intruder-strangled-by-nurse-was-a-hit-man-1/
I Survived, Episode #502 - https://youtu.be/p7dpLmMg3tI
Nothing Personal: Murder for Hire, Episode #201 “Turnabout Is Fair Play” - https://tubitv.com/tv-shows/200066102/s02-e01-turnabout-is-fair-play
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Transcript Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
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0:27 Payton Moreland? If you are like me, protecting the people inside your home is a top priority. I have Daisy at home, I'm about to have a baby at home, and Garrett and me. And there are a lot of times where I've thought about our safety, but that is where SimpliSafe comes in and has had my back honestly for years. Unlike traditional security systems that only alert you after a break in is already underway, SimpliSafe is built to stop it before it starts, which is exactly what I'm looking for. I don't even want someone in my home. I want it stopped before the alarm has even gone off. We've partnered with SimpliSafe to offer our listeners their biggest savings of the year. 70% off your new system with
1:11 Payton Moreland? professional monitoring. If you've been thinking about a security system, it is now. 70% off, guys, when you visit simplisafe.com/husband. That is simplisafe.com/husband. And when you order, just write in Murder With My Husband at checkout. Tells them we sent you. Really helps the show. SimpliSafe, ahead of crime in real time. You're listening to an Ono Media Podcast. Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the podcast. This is Murder With My Husband. I'm Peyton Marlin.
1:40 Garrett Moreland? And I'm Garrett Marlin.
1:41 Payton Moreland? And he's the husband.
1:42 Garrett Moreland? And I'm the husband. If you're watching on YouTube, I do look like I just got out of bed. I didn't just get out of bed. I just have been in sweats all day.
1:50 Payton Moreland? I did.
1:53 Garrett Moreland? And we're recording because we love you guys and I have some good news. I got an MRI because we were pretty sure that something was wrong with me. And I'm okay.
2:04 Payton Moreland? Okay, what a way to just minimize that entire situation.
2:09 Garrett Moreland? It was a bigger deal than that.
2:11 Payton Moreland? Garrett was showing signs of neurological symptoms in his head. So we went and got an MRI, emergency, good news, no tumor, just a cyst.
2:25 Garrett Moreland? Yeah, non-cancerous cyst, that's okay, see what my next steps are, but good news is not a tumor. Cause I could lie, thought it was a tumor. I was having all the signs, kinda crazy, but.
2:39 Payton Moreland? Doctor was like, immediately, go get your head scanned.
2:45 Garrett Moreland? So it's kinda scary, but
2:48 Garrett Moreland? voided and we're here and I am healthy as can be. And that's been going on with us. That's about all I got. I also just ate a burrito that I made in the microwave real quick.
2:59 Payton Moreland? Microwave?
3:00 Garrett Moreland? Like when the, whatever it's called, what's it called?
3:03 Payton Moreland? Convection oven?
3:04 Garrett Moreland? Toaster oven.
3:05 Payton Moreland? Toaster oven?
3:05 Garrett Moreland? Yeah, I just made a burrito in the toaster oven and I burnt my mouth. That kinda sucks, but you know what?
3:10 Payton Moreland? You can't talk the whole episode.
3:12 Garrett Moreland? I want to be quiet the whole episode. How are you doing babe?
3:15 Payton Moreland? Oh, you know, this weekend is college dance team nationals. So I'll be watching that all weekend. That's basically like my Super Bowl.
3:24 Garrett Moreland? True, panel be glued to the screen watching that.
3:27 Payton Moreland? Super excited. Go UVU. That's my dance team I danced with. Let's go.
3:35 Garrett Moreland? Get pumped babe, come on.
3:36 Payton Moreland? I'm gonna do a hot take for anyone who watches and say Ohio's taking it this year. That's a different division than me. Um, I'm gonna, I'm gonna bank on Ohio, but I don't know, could be Minnesota. Those are normally the top two. You know what? If you're like, I don't even know what she's talking, go Google it and watch. Okay? So good. So good.
3:58 Garrett Moreland? We have a big announcement, huge announcement, ginormous announcement. We have new merch and it is unlike anything we've ever launched before. What?
4:07 Payton Moreland? You say that every time, but it is, but it's like you say it every time.
4:11 Garrett Moreland? It is.
4:11 Payton Moreland? It's because we have to keep changing it.
4:13 Garrett Moreland? Is this not unlike anything we've ever launched?
4:14 Payton Moreland? Yeah, different type of sweaters. We've got some crew neck sweaters going on embroidered ghost embroidered MWMH. Definitely a different kind of look for our merch. Again, just another merch drop, something fun, something different. If you want to check it out, go ahead, links everywhere.
4:29 Garrett Moreland? It's also one of the merch drops where you can wear anywhere. It doesn't have like murder all over it. Like you'll have no idea. Super cute. Go check it out, links everywhere, only a certain amount. Like we're only doing a certain amount because we. It's not. Drop shipping like we ordered a certain amount of blanks and we're embroidering a certain amount of sweatshirts. And we're really excited.
4:52 Payton Moreland? Was that your 10 seconds talking about?
4:53 Garrett Moreland? Yeah, I kind of did my 10 seconds early. Um, I hope all you guys are doing amazing. I don't know, I feel like I'm, I'm not on it today. So hopefully I get on it and the episode starts. How about you?
5:05 Payton Moreland? Dang burrito.
5:06 Garrett Moreland? Dang burrito just messed me up. Let's get into today's case.
5:11 Payton Moreland? Our sources for today's episode include adult FYI.com blurred by lines.com K A T U A B C NBC news.com. The Associated Press, the Oregonian, True Crime Magazine, the Seattle Times, I Survived, Episode 502, Nothing Personal, Murder for Hire, Episode 201. Okay, so I think a common question with people who watch or listen to true crime that can definitely come off weird to the non true crime people out there is how do you get away with murder? Like, what is the perfect murder? How would you do it? How do you make sure you have an alibi?
5:41 Garrett Moreland? Ask OJ.
5:43 Payton Moreland? He did not commit the perfect murder. If there is. In theoretical speaking, there is no perfect murder. But a way to get away with murder.
5:53 Garrett Moreland? Yep.
5:54 Payton Moreland? And after doing so many episodes, I do have a little piece of advice for you. If you are going to kill someone.
6:01 Garrett Moreland? That's crazy.
6:02 Payton Moreland? Well, I'm just saying, when we're thinking about this question, after doing so many episodes, do not hire a hitman.
6:08 Garrett Moreland? Hmm, okay.
6:09 Payton Moreland? It just, it don't do it. It never works out well. It creates an evidence trail. It leaves witnesses, at least one beside you. It makes you a witness, or more accurately, a co-conspirator. It is a bad plan. So many things go wrong, and usually they do. However, they rarely go as badly as they did for the hitmen in today's case, who conspired to take a life, but actually ended up losing their own. That is the story we are talking about today. And it actually begins in an emergency room at Providence Portland Medical Center in Portland, Oregon.
6:50 Payton Moreland? The year was 1988. An ER nurse named Susan Collins was going through her day. She was assessing patients' conditions, administering meds, communicating with doctors. She was basically saving lives in this Portland, Oregon hospital in 1988, okay? And she loved her job. She liked the fast-paced, thinking on her feet. She liked helping people. But at age 33, Susan was beginning to want a little bit more out of life. She wanted to go out more. She wanted to fall in love. So one day, after getting off from her shift, Susan went home and she decided to place a personal ad in the newspaper. This is basically like the 1988 version of Tinder, okay?
7:35 Payton Moreland? So she wrote a little profile on herself. Single, white, female, 33. Overweight, but not over life. If you're interested in a bright, funny woman who wants to explore the Northwest, give me a call. Then she sent it off and waited for the results. She was a little anxious. Susan had nerves of steel in the emergency room, but she'd never put herself out like this in the dating world. She wasn't sure what to expect. So she was very pleasantly surprised when she got a response from a kind, soft-spoken man named- Mike Kuhnhausen. Now, Mike didn't exactly look like Prince Charming.
8:16 Garrett Moreland? Mike Wazowski.
8:18 Payton Moreland? He was stocky, bearded with long sandy hair, oversized glasses. But he shared a lot of Susan's interests as well as her taste for adventure. He liked getting out in nature, spending time at the beach. Susan actually had a great time with him, so much so, in fact, that she overlooked his personal baggage, okay? Mike Kuhnhausen was divorced with two kids from a previous marriage, and that wasn't a problem for Susan. But the sticky part was, he was kind of bitter about it, okay? Mike equated divorce with failure. He resented his ex for making him fail. He also felt that she had taken advantage of him financially.
8:59 Payton Moreland? These were maybe not red flags, but warning signs, things that you want to keep an eye on. Susan saw them, but she remained undeterred. Throughout her career in the ER, Susan had seen people make incredible recoveries. And she believed Mike was capable of anything he put his mind to. So on December 11th, 1988, they actually made it official. She gave Mike her hand in marriage, becoming Mrs. Susan Kuhnhausen.
9:26 Garrett Moreland? Okay.
9:27 Payton Moreland? So for the first few years of matrimony, Susan and Mike got along great, okay? They continued their adventures, going bird watching and butterfly spotting. They took a nice trip up the Oregon coast. But every now and then, those warning signs that she saw about Mike in the beginning would pop up. Mike could become extremely negative and bitter, especially when things were not going his way. I mean, Mike often felt like the world was against him. And he was obsessed with money. And this might have been the real first red flag. To Susan, money in itself had little value. She didn't really care about possessions. She cared about people and experiences.
10:08 Payton Moreland? That was how she preferred to spend her money, which was indeed hers, given that she worked long hours at a strenuous job to earn it. Mike, on the other hand, cared a lot about money. And about things. So get this, this is how their marriage was, okay? At the same time as he was getting on Susan for spending money to go see a movie, Mike had spent huge sums of money on a collection of sports memorabilia. Old baseball cards, jerseys, autographed gloves. He considered it an investment, believing his collection was worth tens of thousands of dollars. Now Susan wasn't so sure, but it wasn't his delusion that bothered her, nor the expense.
10:51 Payton Moreland? Susan eventually began to worry that Mike was spending way too much time in the basement poring over his collection. To Susan, it seemed like he was becoming obsessed. He was withdrawing from the world. And this was the man that she'd fallen in love with while exploring nature. It didn't seem good for him or their marriage to spend so much time locked in the basement. So Susan tried talking to Mike about her concerns. She said, hey, she'd noticed him pulling back. She asked what was wrong. She said if he didn't feel comfortable talking about it with her, maybe he could go see a therapist. Now unfortunately, Mike refused to admit that there was anything wrong, at least with him. But he certainly found plenty of fault with others.
11:35 Garrett Moreland? Sounds like a good guy.
11:36 Payton Moreland? This was another concerning trait of Mike's, maybe even another red flag. He had a tendency to blame other people for his own problems, which, yeah, not fun to be around. If Mike was angry, somebody made him angry. If Susan was unhappy, well, she was just a nag. Not wanting to fight with her husband, Susan decided to just let the matter drop and she focused instead on what she could control. So she accepted Mike's new interests. She tried to show that she loved and supported him. She kept encouraging him to get out in the world, to spend time with her and her friends. Susan believed that with proper care, Mike would eventually heal whatever was ailing him and go back to being the man that she'd originally fallen in love with.
12:20 Payton Moreland? She spent 17 years nurturing that hope.
12:24 Garrett Moreland? Oh my gosh.
12:25 Payton Moreland? And although Mike did change during that time, sadly, it was for the worse.
12:30 Garrett Moreland? Time to, we gotta move on. We gotta cut cords and we gotta move on.
12:34 Payton Moreland? Well, she just believes in him. She loves him.
12:37 Garrett Moreland? 17 years.
12:39 Payton Moreland? So
12:39 Garrett Moreland? Yeah.
12:40 Payton Moreland? As time goes on in their marriage, Mike starts becoming suspicious of Susan. He developed this belief that like his ex, Susan was going to leave him and take all of their money.
12:53 Garrett Moreland? Well.
12:54 Payton Moreland? Never mind that most of that money was Susan's from her job as a doctor. Mike had various odd jobs over the course of their marriage, but he rarely brought in as much as she did. That may have contributed to his insecurity. It might also have increased his bitterness about the world. Mike came to feel that he'd been cheated out of a fair chance at life. And in a way, he might have had a point. He and Susan rarely talked about this, but Mike had served in Vietnam. He opened up about his experience only one time in their entire marriage. And on that occasion, Mike told Susan that he was on long range patrols. There came a day when his team was ordered to attack a village.
13:37 Payton Moreland? He was told that the town was occupied by enemies. But upon executing his orders, Mike discovered this town was full of children. He didn't go into what happened next, but Susan could see it still affected him. Thinking he might have PTSD, she suggested he talk to someone at the vet center or veteran affairs. Once again, Mike refused. He told Susan he didn't need therapy because he had devised his own way of dealing with these harmful memories. As he put it, he would simply put them all in a room and lock the door.
14:07 Garrett Moreland? Um, I've tried that. It doesn't work.
14:09 Payton Moreland? Once again, Susan backed down in the face of resistance. But she couldn't forget her concern. Mike could very well think he could manage his pain by just shoving it away.
14:20 Garrett Moreland? Nope.
14:20 Payton Moreland? But as someone who'd spent her whole life saving victims of trauma, Susan knew those doors rarely stayed locked forever. So by 2005, Susan was reaching the end of her rope in her marriage. She'd spent 16 years trying to make this marriage work. She felt like Mike was not doing the same. He continued to withdraw and reject her efforts to help him. What was more concerning was he was also just getting angrier and becoming threatening. Mike had always had a tendency to lash out when he was angry, but now his outbursts were coming from out of nowhere and they often targeted Susan. As much as she didn't want to give up on the marriage, Susan feared they were veering toward domestic violence.
15:04 Garrett Moreland? Okay.
15:05 Payton Moreland? So sometime around the holiday, she said, hey, you need to move out and he did. And Susan was relieved. For the first time in years, she felt like she could finally relax. And I do want to say, although she asked him to move out, she still hadn't given up on Mike. Susan didn't necessarily want to get back together, but she didn't want this to be some ugly divorce. She was like, maybe we can remain friends. And she showed that in a variety of ways by continuing to communicate, inviting Mike to friendly get togethers and trusting him with the code of her home security system. Now it used to be theirs, but now she's living there alone. The alarm code had always been their anniversary, 12 11 88. And when she asked Mike to leave, Susan didn't change this.
15:48 Payton Moreland? She believed that once they were apart, Mike would take the opportunity to heal. Sadly, he did not. He apparently put on enough of a front to convince Susan he was fine and worthy of being trusted.
15:59 Garrett Moreland? Gosh, dude.
16:00 Payton Moreland? But when he was alone, Mike just sat and simmered in his rage. He felt that he was failing at marriage a second time and he blamed Susan, just like he had blamed his first wife. He was also more convinced than ever that she had kicked him out and she was planning to screw him over in the divorce. He was determined to stop her from doing so he wasn't going to let this happen again. But how? How do you prevent someone from doing something that's only happening in your head? All right, guys, we are getting into an ad and it is I am eight. Now tell me if you have felt this headache that I'm about to describe. You want to start taking care of your body. You start looking into supplements.
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18:27 Payton Moreland? Sadly, Mike made up his mind that the only way to avoid losing face and money and the house and his sports memorabilia collection, despite the fact that Susan had been completely civil this entire time, was to murder Susan before she could divorce him.
18:43 Garrett Moreland? It's crazy what, it's just crazy what money can do to people because.
18:49 Payton Moreland? This is just a bad attitude.
18:50 Garrett Moreland? This is more caused, like what he's about ready to do is more caused by him. By a financial issue in his sports collection, which is a financial issue than anything else. Not really so much like it sounds like he doesn't really care if she goes and sleeps with someone. If she goes and does other stuff, it's wait, money, finances, what am I gonna do?
19:11 Payton Moreland? And I think that, you know, when you're always the victim, you're never responsible for your feelings or your emotions or your life.
19:18 Garrett Moreland? Yeah.
19:19 Payton Moreland? You're walking a slippery slope of in your mind, starting to justify murder. Like, and I know that that was a huge leap, but I just mean, when you're always the victim and everyone's always picking on you and duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, and you live that for seventeen, twenty, thirty years. At what point is, is your, are you so bitter that you start to do things that are outlandish? You know what I mean?
19:41 Garrett Moreland? Yeah.
19:41 Payton Moreland? So in the months that followed their separation, Mike started mulling over how he was gonna kill Susan before she could divorce him.
19:50 Garrett Moreland? That is so wild.
19:52 Payton Moreland? Having most likely killed people in combat before, Mike may not have balked at committing an act of violence, but he knew that if Susan turned up dead, police are obviously gonna look at him first, they're in the middle of a divorce, she made more money than him. So he had to be smart about this in his head, okay? For a while, he seemed to have considered making it look like an accident. He invited Susan repeatedly to the beach where she could easily fall off a cliff, but Susan always declined his invitations. So Mike needed a different plan. And here's where the story takes an absolutely crazy turn, okay? For the past few years, Mike had been working for a chain of adult novelty stores called Fantasy Adult Video.
20:35 Payton Moreland? He was the maintenance supervisor and part of his job was to hire and fire custodial staff. Now, how insane is it that at this particular moment, when Mike is looking for a way to murder his wife? A man who was recently released from prison comes into Mike's job to apply for a job as a cleaning guy. And tells Mike, oh, I was incarcerated for conspiracy to commit murder.
21:05 Garrett Moreland? Oh, wow.
21:07 Payton Moreland? So Mike's like, oh, my gosh, I've been trying to figure out how to kill my wife. And then this just falls in my lap. He must have been blown away. It probably seemed like divine intervention. Even more so after he hired the guy and found out more details. Okay, so the man who applied for this custodial job, his name was Ed Haffey. He had done 10 years for hiring a hitman to torture and murder
21:32 Garrett Moreland? Holy crap.
21:32 Payton Moreland? his ex-girlfriend. He also had previous convictions for robbery and assault. And he was addicted to crack cocaine. Clearly not the kind of guy you'd want working for your business. But exactly the type of person you would hire to do a dirty job. Mike promptly struck up a friendship with Ed. Okay, he goes out of his way to try to get close with him. He found they had certain things in common. They had both served in the military. They both felt like the world was against them.
21:59 Garrett Moreland? They're both narcissists.
22:00 Payton Moreland? They both blamed other people for their problems. So with all of this common ground, it didn't take long for Mike to open up and share what was on his mind with Ed. Okay, these are two people whose negativity, bitterness, resentment just fed off of each other to the point where they could openly discuss that they wanted to murder people.
22:18 Garrett Moreland? That's so crazy.
22:19 Payton Moreland? He told Ed his wife was planning to screw him over in a divorce and he was going to be the victim and he wasn't about to let that happen. So he said, hey, Ed, obviously I'm going to be the first suspect, but I'll pay you $50,000 to murder Susan.
22:34 Garrett Moreland? I just feel like that's a lot more than some of the other cases we do.
22:37 Payton Moreland? He said.
22:37 Garrett Moreland? 10,000, 5,000, 50 grand? I wouldn't do 50 grand, obviously, but you know, that's a What?
22:44 Payton Moreland? There's not a price.
22:45 Garrett Moreland? No, there's not a price. I'm just saying, if I were John Wick.
22:49 Payton Moreland? Okay.
22:50 Garrett Moreland? I would potentially think about it.
22:53 Payton Moreland? You'd kill someone's ex-wife or current?
22:54 Garrett Moreland? No, no, no, no, I'd kill like.
22:57 Payton Moreland? A bad guy?
22:57 Garrett Moreland? Yeah, a bad guy that's gonna kill a bunch of other people.
23:01 Payton Moreland? Okay Dexter.
23:01 Garrett Moreland? Yep.
23:03 Payton Moreland? He said, "Half upfront, half upon completion." And of course, you'd been down this road before, and he might have wondered where Mike was gonna get the money. Well, as it turns out, the job of porn shop maintenance supervisor, he's pretty well. In addition to salary and benefits, Mike got a bonus every year at the holidays for $4,000 or $5,000. And every year when he took it home, he told Susan he'd only gotten $1,000. So he contributed a grand to their joint account and basically hid away the rest, okay? As a result, Mike now had a pretty big nut set aside. Okay, he had a little egg with lots of green in it.
23:44 Garrett Moreland? A nut, okay.
23:45 Payton Moreland? Enough to give Ed the upfront money, okay, $25,000. And the backend, he said, "I have another 25 if he completed the job." Ed agrees. Just like that, Mike's plan was finally in motion with the porn shop custodial worker and the porn shop maintenance man. So on September 6th, 2006, Mike drove Ed to his former home, the home where Susan now lived alone in southeast Portland. He let Ed into the house using the alarm code of his and Susan's anniversary.
24:19 Garrett Moreland? That sucks, man.
24:20 Payton Moreland? Then he reset the alarm to bypass mode, allowing Ed to move around inside while the security system was still armed. Okay, so he placed a note for Susan in the mudroom, and he left. He went to the beach, got a nice little motel room by the water, obviously setting up an alibi, and there he waited for the hired hitman to call him and tell him it was done. Meanwhile, Susan was hard at work at Providence Medical Center. She had a busy day in the ER. After a nine-hour shift, she headed home.
24:53 Garrett Moreland? Dude, Susan is just the nicest person in the world.
24:57 Payton Moreland? No idea.
24:58 Garrett Moreland? Trusted him so much, kept the alarm the same, was just giving him the benefit of the doubt the entire time. It just sucks.
25:07 Payton Moreland? I just don't underst- like, how
25:08 Garrett Moreland? I know.
25:09 Payton Moreland? How confusing and just betraying it must feel
25:12 Garrett Moreland? Oh.
25:12 Payton Moreland? when you learn that someone you loved
25:15 Garrett Moreland? Betrays you.
25:15 Payton Moreland? was trying to kill you.
25:16 Garrett Moreland? Yeah.
25:17 Payton Moreland? So, she walks into the house and heard the telltale beep letting her know the security system was armed, okay? So she turns off the alarm and then she finds Mike's note. This wasn't the first time they had communicated that day. Mike had also called her earlier to say he was gonna go to the beach. So, she was a little puzzled, but not surprised when she read this note he had left in the house saying, "Sue, haven't been sleeping, had to get away, went to the beach, just losing it, don't know what to do. Love, me." Now, with a pang of sympathy for her ex, Susan set the note aside and went to the bedroom to change. On her way down the hallway
25:59 Garrett Moreland? I can't, man.
26:00 Payton Moreland? She notices something odd, okay? She's walking to her bedroom and she notices the bedroom was dark. This is weird because Susan always opened the curtains in the morning to let in the light. She's like, "Did I just forget this morning?" So shrugging off the air, she continued down the hallway and into the bedroom. As soon as she walks in, a man steps out from behind the door. It's Ed, of course, but Susan doesn't know that. All she knew was that a strange, scraggly-looking man, wearing yellow rubber gloves and holding a claw hammer, was standing in her bedroom. She reacted on impulse, blurting out, "Who are you? What are you doing here? What do you want?" The man doesn't respond. Instead, he swung the hammer at her.
26:48 Payton Moreland? At her head, hitting her on the side of the head in the temple. Susan, who was now age 51, fought back. She started wrestling with the man who she assumed was a burglar. She shoved him against the wall, trying to get the hammer away from him. All the while, Susan kept expecting this man to be like, where's the jewelry? Give me the code to your safe. But he doesn't say anything at all. In fact, he doesn't speak. So as they struggled, Susan began to feel, I don't, is this man a burglar? Like, I'm fighting with this man and she's having this out of body thought loop of like, what does he want? Who was he?
27:21 Garrett Moreland? Did she wrestle in high school?
27:22 Payton Moreland? What was he here for? No, she's fighting for her life.
27:25 Garrett Moreland? No, but she's, she's putting up a good fight.
27:28 Payton Moreland? Eventually, she managed to use her weight to pin him against the wall. Okay. And at that point, the man said the only words he uttered during this entire attempt to kill Susan.
27:42 Garrett Moreland? What, what words?
27:44 Payton Moreland? Looks her in the eyes and says, you're strong.
27:47 Garrett Moreland? Oh, that's so cool.
27:49 Payton Moreland? No. What? The guy says that to Susan.
27:53 Garrett Moreland? Yes. As in like, she's strong, like she's fighting back.
27:57 Payton Moreland? I think that's creepy. You're trying to kill me and you're just surprised about my strength.
28:01 Garrett Moreland? But it's Susan's, it's good for Susan. He's gonna win this.
28:06 Payton Moreland? She could tell he was surprised by her resistance, but he was also excited. Again, that's creepy. So Susan's stomach turned as she realized the man was probably there to kill her. And the thought came to her mind, you are not going to kill me in my own home. So suddenly, all of this anger that she had been tamping down throughout her marriage, all this patience and, and waiting for her husband to change, came roaring up to serve her in this moment when she needed it the most. Susan wraps her hands around the hitman's throat, who's still holding a hammer, and squeezes. So Ed begins to struggle in her grasp, but she holds strong, using her weight to pin him against the wall.
28:51 Payton Moreland? And his face starts to turn blue. He can't breathe.
28:54 Garrett Moreland? No, what? She kills him?
28:55 Payton Moreland? Well, finally, he releases his grip on the hammer. Susan lets go of his neck and grabs the hammer. And she remembered something her father used to say. Susan's dad was a carpenter. In the days before home alarm systems, he told her that if anyone broke into their home, she could defend herself with a hammer. And in the event that she was unfortunately a force to do so, she should use the claw end of a hammer because that would work the best to defend yourself.
29:27 Garrett Moreland? Oh.
29:28 Payton Moreland? So Susan flips the hammer and starts hitting Ed with it, with the claw end. And her dad was right. It was a highly effective weapon. Unfortunately, however, after a few strikes, I mean, she's nervous. This is scary. The hammer slips from Susan's hand and instead of like picking it up and continuing, she decides, I'm gonna escape. She turns and runs screaming for her neighbors, hoping to get their house to call 911. Now Ed, who has been hit with the hammer, is right behind her, obviously. Like, he's gonna go to prison for attempted murder if she gets away.
30:00 Garrett Moreland? Yeah, yeah.
30:02 Payton Moreland? So he chased her into the hall and grabbed her from behind. He spun her around, starts punching her in the face. Now, by this time, there is no hammer involved and this struggle, like this fight, has lasted longer than a UFC match, okay? Susan is tired. She's dizzy. They're both exhausted. She falls to the floor. Okay, she has no strength left.
30:23 Garrett Moreland? Okay.
30:23 Payton Moreland? She could see the phone in her home, only a few feet away from her. She said, there's no way I can reach it. Hearing footsteps behind her on the hardwood floor, Susan looked back and saw her attacker standing over her. He still had those rubber gloves on and he had retrieved the hammer.
30:39 Garrett Moreland? Oh, no.
30:40 Payton Moreland? And was holding it in his hand. And as he raised the hammer to deliver the final blow, Susan feels a surge of rage and adrenaline. Again, she's like, he's not gonna kill me.
30:51 Garrett Moreland? Dude, you're, you're a throw- You're throwing me for so many loops right now.
30:56 Payton Moreland? She lunged for his legs that's standing over her, okay? And grabs his calves and yanks his feet out from underneath him, okay? He falls down to the floor. They wrestle, both trying to get the hammer. Susan screamed until she was hoarse, but no one came.
31:17 Garrett Moreland? Dude, where are the neighbors?
31:19 Payton Moreland? So in the middle of this struggle, she decides to start biting her attacker, okay? Thinking that if he killed her, at least her teeth marks and saliva would identify him. So she bit Ed several times as hard as she could in the arm, the thighs. Even like that area that's really gonna hurt a guy to bite. She starts biting everywhere she can. He still won't let go of this hammer. They're fighting over, okay? At last, when Susan was coming to terms with the thought that she would probably never get this hammer back, she had another idea. She's like, maybe I can just become this weapon, okay? So with one last surge of strength, Susan manages to get Ed onto his stomach.
32:03 Payton Moreland? She climbs onto him, wraps her arms around his neck again in a chokehold. This worked for her last time. So Ed began thrashing for his life. Susan managed to hold on and as she's choking him from behind, she says, "Tell me who you are and I will call you an ambulance." But her attacker never responded. After a few minutes, he slumped down, motionless. Susan staggers to her feet. She grabs the hammer, ran with all her remaining strength through her neighbor's house. Thanks to Rover for sponsoring today's show. If you have a dog like ours, you know they can be quirky. Dogs can have their quirks and so when you're trying to find someone to help you take care of them, that can be hard.
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33:44 Payton Moreland? As you guys know, I was just at a hospital stay and what do you think I wore the entire time after giving birth and taking care of my new baby?
33:54 Garrett Moreland? I know.
33:55 Payton Moreland? What?
33:56 Garrett Moreland? Diapers.
33:57 Payton Moreland? I wore my Skims sleep soft lounge sets, cotton fleece sets. Honestly, they are the most comfortable thing and I had to bring them to the hospital.
34:08 Garrett Moreland? They're amazing. Skims is, Skims is the best. Come on.
34:12 Payton Moreland? Ah, their sleep sets are just the perfect way. They stay cool. They're such great quality. There's something about just having nice pajamas or loungewear that makes you feel put together, especially at a time like where I am in postpartum. You guys know how much we love Skims. Again, I have really been into their sleep soft lounge and cotton fleece sets. I got the cutest like chocolate fleece set that says Skims is really cute. I think I posted about it on my Instagram. So you have to go check it out. Shop my favorite loungewear and pajamas at skims.com. And after you place your order, be sure to let them know we sent you. Select podcast in the survey and be sure to select our show in the dropdown menu that follows. Again, that's
34:56 Payton Moreland? after you've already checked out. Please take the extra step of letting them know Murder With My Husband sent you. And if you're looking for the perfect gifts for everyone on your list, the Skims Holiday Shop is now open at skims.com. 14 minutes had passed since this attack had began. That is a very long struggle. And somehow this 51 year old woman had survived a man, a grown man with a hammer who was trying to kill her. She waited with her neighbor on his porch as police and paramedics arrived. The adrenaline, which she calls a gift, was still obviously coursing through her veins. So she was highly alert despite her exhaustion when a police officer came over from her house.
35:39 Payton Moreland? She asked the officer if the man who had attacked her was dead. And the officer said, yes. Susan took this in. Suddenly, she was flooded with emotion, not relief, like you, like you might expect. Susan was struck with grief, okay? She didn't wake up that day planning to kill someone. Even though she was fighting with her life, she has this immediate thought that this guy probably had a family. Throughout her life and work, Susan had come to believe that everyone has somebody in the world who loves them. She was sure this man was no different. Someone out there would be mourning for him soon. Still, she had no idea who he was, what he wanted. But she had a pretty good idea who'd sent him, okay?
36:23 Payton Moreland? So at this point, as she's away from the attack, she's like, this man was in my house and my security system was armed.
36:29 Garrett Moreland? There's only one person who can.
36:31 Payton Moreland? There's only one person who can unarmed the system and then rearm it to get this man in her home. Someone she loved, by the way. So Mike had been on.
36:43 Garrett Moreland? Vacation, whatever you want to call it.
36:44 Payton Moreland? Well, basically edged for hours, waiting to hear from Ed how the kill had gone. So still at the motel by the beach, he eventually turned on the TV. And he saw something that must have probably come to his shock.
36:55 Garrett Moreland? That's so sick. Do you imagine, like, I'm so glad he didn't get caught.
37:00 Payton Moreland? His house was on the news, okay? Mike still called it his house, even though he didn't live there anymore.
37:05 Garrett Moreland? What a loser.
37:06 Payton Moreland? It was clear something had happened, but the reporters weren't giving out enough details. So he's like, is the house there because she was found dead? Like, what happened? Mike couldn't exactly tell if Ed had accomplished his mission or not. So he called Providence, the hospital where Susan worked, and asked the staff, hey, is my wife Susan there? Like, we don't know. The truth was Susan was there as a patient in the same emergency room where she worked.
37:33 Garrett Moreland? Wow.
37:34 Payton Moreland? But fearing that Mike might come for her again, she as she like as she was taken to the hospital had told everyone, do not tell anyone I'm here. Don't tell anyone I'm here. So Mike, of course, still has no idea that what is happening. So he tries calling Susan's friends and eventually he gets a hold of a woman named Helen. Helen had known Susan for many years and she harbored serious concerns about Mike. So much so that when Mike had tried to take Susan to the beach, Helen was actually the one who had warned her that she shouldn't be alone with him because they're separated and you don't know his intentions. Now, getting this call from Mike at almost 2:00 in the morning, Helen felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up.
38:18 Payton Moreland? She listened warily as Mike babbled, sounding almost manic. He told her over and over, I was at the beach. I've been at the beach. I was in a motel at the beach and I saw the house on the news. I can't reach Susan. Do you know what's going on? Helen told Mike she didn't know what was going on and she hung up. But from that moment on, she was convinced Mike knew what was happening. Like this is weird. If you're at the beach, why not just drive to your house and see what's going on? So the next day Helen accompanied Susan back to her house. Okay, she's out of the hospital. It was still a crime scene, but police were letting her in to pick up a few things. And while they were there, the friends noticed something out of place. Okay? Something Susan hadn't noticed when she'd come home from work that day. Mike's sports memorabilia collection was boxed up by the door.
39:00 Garrett Moreland? Oh my gosh, okay.
39:01 Payton Moreland? Apparently the hitman was supposed to take it and then give it to Mike, thereby making it look like a burglary gone wrong. So he was just like, oh, I'll just find a way to steal my memorabilia and then also make this look like a burglary while he's killing my wife.
39:16 Garrett Moreland? All he could think about was his sports memorabilia.
39:20 Payton Moreland? Yes.
39:20 Garrett Moreland? Dang, sports memorabilia.
39:22 Payton Moreland? Helen then spotted a backpack that seemed out of place and Susan confirms it's not hers. So police officers opened it up. Inside the backpack, they found a day planner that belonged to Ed. So this is how they figure out who the now dead hitman is. Okay? He had left his backpack. Obviously he was supposed to take it when he left, but he never left. So they find his backpack and on September 4th, two days before the attack, the hitman's.
39:50 Payton Moreland? Day planner has written in it, "Call Mike." Okay, so they opened this up and they're like, "So this hitman was supposed to call Mike two days before he happened to be in Mike's wife's house trying to kill her." "They also found Mike's cellphone number scrawled inside one of the folders." "So this must have been a punch in the gut for Susan." "She had already expected that Mike was involved, but when going back to get some things from her house, she basically found proof."
40:16 Garrett Moreland? Yeah.
40:17 Payton Moreland? "The man she had invested 17 years of her life in wanted her dead." "Police were convinced and they prepared to arrest Mike and charge him with conspiracy to murder." "Problem is, nobody knew where he was at this point, but Susan had a pretty good idea." "The beach had always been a refuge for Mike, a place where he could go to clear his head." "But now, as the hours ticked past and the truth that his plan had failed became unavoidable, Mike, who's at the beach, realized, "Uh, I probably can't go home." "It's probably not safe for me anymore." "I mean, if my plan failed and he's dead and she killed him, uh, this isn't good." "He'd made a mistake, not him, of course." "Ed, the hitman, had made a mistake and screwed things up." "And as a result of Ed's failure, Mike was now exposed, having left a note that told police exactly where to find him."
41:03 Payton Moreland? "So he went on the run for several days, trying to make a plan." "Luckily for Susan, Mike was spotted before he made his next move." "On September 15th, 2006, nine days after the attempted murder, Mike was arrested." "He insists he's innocent, tells the police he's suicidal." "Mike's daughter from the first marriage claims to police, "No, he'd left a suicide note." "Was it real? Was it just like the note he'd left at Susan's?" "Either way, the claim didn't help his case." "Mike was charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated murder, just like his friend Ed had been more than 10 years before."
41:37 Garrett Moreland? That's so ironic.
41:38 Payton Moreland? "He was held on a $1 million bail." "In January of 2007, his daughter raised the money to get him released on house arrest, but the landlord of the place where Mike was supposed to be staying refused to let him lodge there." "So, back to jail Mike went, much to Susan's relief." "She was now living with what she called two life sentences." "The pain of knowing that Mike had tried to kill her and might do so again." If he gets the chance and the pain of having taken someone's life.
42:03 Garrett Moreland? Yeah.
42:03 Payton Moreland? She expressed this to Mike during his September 2007 sentencing hearing, in which she was given permission to address him in the court, her husband, her ex-husband. Susan looked into his eyes, this man she had once loved, man she thought was kind. And she said, as long as you live, I will never have a measure of peace, but I will not be destroyed. Susan has remained true to her word. While Mike was sentenced to 10 years in prison, Susan dedicated herself to using that time to help people. She became an outspoken victims advocate. She started several organizations to assist victims of violent crime. She even helped create a website where people in her county can look up the status of their cases and the locations of their offenders.
42:47 Garrett Moreland? Only 10 years, which is so scary when someone hires someone to kill you because how do you know they're not going to do it again? And a restraining order, I mean, come on, if someone wants to kill you, restraining order isn't going to stop.
42:59 Payton Moreland? Right. And I mean, this is especially given, she still needed to watch her back, right? She creates this website because it's also going to help her. Mike was behind bars, but he could still get out. He could hire someone else to hunt her again. So Susan combated that unnerving thought by suing him. She was awarded over $1 million in damages and amount that Mike could never pay, which was exactly her intention. She didn't want the money. She just wanted to be sure that wherever he was, Mike would never be able to pay someone to kill her again. Like she wanted to drain his savings so he couldn't do it again. But that wasn't enough. In 2015, Susan learned Mike was getting out on early release.
43:40 Payton Moreland? She had moved, she had changed her name. So as a victim who almost died, she now also has to change her identity, which is devastating, just to be safe. And now she took additional precautions. She put in gravel outside of her house so she could hear if someone pulled up or was approaching. She installed cameras and started taking lessons at a shooting range. All these years later, Susan was still devastated by the fact that she had been forced to take a life, but she wasn't ashamed. She knew that if time came again, she would be ready. Fortunately, the need never arose because Mike died of prostate cancer a few months prior to his early release. Susan expressed mixed feelings when she learned of her ex-husband's death. She said, "I don't mourn his passing.
44:24 Payton Moreland? 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." So despite everything she'd been through, Susan still hadn't let it change her. She remained true to herself. She no longer loved her ex-husband when he died, but she would always wish that she had been able to save him. And that is the story of Susan Kuhnhausen.
44:46 Garrett Moreland? It'd be crazy to have someone that you think you love and loves you try to kill you.
44:52 Payton Moreland? I um.
44:53 Garrett Moreland? I know it happens a lot with husbands and wives, but not many times does someone survive. So I think that's why it's a little different.
45:00 Payton Moreland? I just heard about a case where a man had hidden cameras in the bathroom at his house and had been basically collecting child pornography on his own children and his wife's children, because they were married and she had had children with another husband, with another previous marriage. And um, he gets caught and really the nail in his coffin is going to be that his stepson, who he had been molesting, but also recording images of, was going to testify against him. So he tried to hire someone to kill his son.
45:34 Garrett Moreland? Gosh, I mean, he obviously doesn't care about him.
45:36 Payton Moreland? But that's like.
45:37 Garrett Moreland? He's abusing him.
45:37 Payton Moreland? Like, that's actually insane.
45:40 Garrett Moreland? It's insane. It's horrible.
45:41 Payton Moreland? And to find out, oh, my dad tried to kill me.
45:43 Garrett Moreland? It's so horrible. It makes me sad.
45:45 Payton Moreland? After ruining my life, basically.
45:47 Garrett Moreland? Yeah.
45:48 Payton Moreland? You know what, though? Susan's case just goes to show, like.
45:52 Garrett Moreland? She's a fighter, man.
45:52 Payton Moreland? She is a fighter. She wants to do good. She immediately felt bad about having to kill someone in self-defense.
45:59 Garrett Moreland? Yeah.
46:00 Payton Moreland? You know what I mean? All right, you guys, that is our episode for today and we will see you next time with another one. I love it.
46:05 Garrett Moreland? And I hate it.
46:06 Payton Moreland? Goodbye.
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