UPDATE: Strangled Montavilla intruder actually a hired hit-man, cops say

Neighbors in this quiet southeast neighborhood say they’re relieved to learn the thug that attacked Susan Kuhnhausen wasn’t a violent crook randomly on the prowl ‚Ä¶

Police say this home on a quiet Montavilla street wasn’t the scene of a burglary gone wrong ‚Äì but instead, the location of an attempted murder-for-hire plot.

Story and photo by David F. Ashton
When cops and detectives say little about a seemingly bizarre incident, it makes one wonder what information they’re holding back.

Previously we told you how, on September 6, Susan Kuhnhausen came home from her nursing job at Providence Medical Center and was attacked by an intruder, identified as 59-year-old Edward Dalton Haffey.

You learned then that 51-year-old Kuhnhausen put up a valiant fight that ended with her managing to disarm and strangle Haffey to death. Police said she acted in self-defense.

While reporting our story at the time, we wondered how Haffey got past the house’s alarm system. We noticed a sign, prominently posted in the front yard, that indicated that the residence was protected by a monitored alarm system.

And, when investigators checked the woman’s home, they didn’t find a broken window or a kicked-in door.

Murder for hire
Details only now being released indicate that Haffey had some help entering the house ‚Äì allegedly provided by none other than the victim’s estranged husband, 58-year-old Michael James Kuhnhausen Sr.

Michael Kuhnhausen was arrested on September 14, and charged with criminal conspiracy to commit murder and attempted murder ‚Äì an indication that police detectives feel he had even more to do with the attack on his estranged wife than merely letting Haffey into the residence.

After Michael Kuhnhausen has his first appearance in court September 21, many new details in this surprising and sordid case should come to light.

Neighbors with whom we spoke on Sept. 15, who asked not to be identified, said they were comforted to learn the intruder wasn’t a “violent criminal, breaking into homes randomly”.

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