“Tell Me Who Sent You… And I’ll Call You a Fing Ambulance” – Nurse Chokes Hitman to Death After Brutal Attack
In September 2006, 51-year-old Susan Kuhnhausen, a dedicated emergency room nurse in Portland, Oregon, returned home exhausted after a long, grueling shift at the hospital. Expecting peace and quiet in her own house, she instead walked straight into a nightmare: an armed intruder—hired as a hitman—was lying in wait in her darkened bedroom.The attacker was 59-year-old Edward Dalton Haffey, a career criminal with a lengthy rap sheet. He had been paid $50,000 upfront by Susan’s estranged husband, Michael “Mike” Kuhnhausen, to murder her and stage the scene as a botched burglary gone wrong.
Vietnam veteran struggling with personal demons and financial issues, wanted to collect on Susan’s life insurance policy and avoid the complications of a divorce. The couple had separated about a year earlier but still maintained some contact—making the betrayal even more shocking.As Susan entered the bedroom, Haffey ambushed her from behind the door, swinging a claw hammer with brutal force. He struck her multiple times on the head and body, inflicting serious wounds. Blood poured down her face, but Susan—trained in high-stress medical emergencies and fueled by pure survival instinct—refused to go down easily.She fought back ferociously. Despite the blows, she tackled the much larger man, bit him hard, and wrestled him to the floor. In the struggle, she managed to wrap her powerful hands around his neck in a chokehold.
As Haffey gasped for air, Susan—calm, fierce, and refusing to let go—delivered one of the most iconic lines in true crime lore: “Tell me who sent you, and I will call you a fing ambulance.”*Haffey, refusing to talk even as his life slipped away, stayed silent. Susan held the choke until he stopped breathing. She then released him, checked that he was dead, walked (bleeding and battered) to a neighbor’s house, and calmly called 911 to report what had happened.Police arrived quickly. The investigation uncovered the murder-for-hire plot almost immediately—phone records, financial trails, and Haffey’s own connections led straight back to Mike Kuhnhausen.
He was arrested and later pleaded guilty to solicitation of aggravated murder. In 2007, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.Mike Kuhnhausen never made it to freedom. He died of cancer behind bars in June 2014, just months before his scheduled release date.Susan survived the attack with serious injuries but made a full physical recovery. She went on to become an advocate for domestic violence and crime victims, sharing her story to inspire others facing unimaginable threats. Her incredible self-defense turned a planned execution into one of the most extraordinary reversals in criminal history: the intended victim became the one who ended the threat—with her bare hands.This case stands as a powerful testament to resilience, quick thinking under extreme pressure, and the unbreakable will to survive against all odds. Susan didn’t just fight for her life—she won, and in doing so, exposed the betrayal that had been lurking in the shadows of her marriage.
