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After sharing a long-held secret, David Kahl pleads guilty to killing Brittany Zimmermann

The 14½-year mystery about the killer of UW-Madison student Brittany Zimmermann ended Thursday when David Kahl, who had been running a door-to-door scam in Zimmermann’s neighborhood the day she died, pleaded guilty to first-degree intentional homicide.

Ben Gonring, one of the attorneys for Kahl, 56, said during a plea hearing Thursday for Kahl that last week, after a series of meetings between Kahl, Gonring and Kahl’s other attorney, Guy Cardamone, “and really a lot of soul-searching from David, he let go of a secret that he had been keeping for 14½ years.”

Kahl told his attorneys what happened on April 2, 2008, when he was going door-to-door in Zimmermann’s neighborhood, running a scam to collect money to repair a non-existent flat tire. He was really collecting money for crack cocaine, and was already high when he went to Zimmermann’s apartment in the 500 block of West Doty Street, Gonring said.

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“He certainly didn’t go there with the intent to kill anybody or even harm anybody,” Gonring said. “And she was kind. The evidence has always been clear that she was a kind-hearted person and was that day.”

But once Kahl was in Zimmermann’s apartment and ran his scheme unsuccessfully, Gonring said, he stepped into the bathroom for a moment and when he came out, Zimmermann was on the phone.

“He basically lost it, for lack of a better phrase,” Gonring said. “He was in the throes of a lot of drug usage and was paranoid and had not been out of prison for all that long, was very worried about what was happening on the other end of that line, and then proceeded to do acts which absolutely fit the criteria for first-degree intentional homicide.”

Gonring did not describe what Kahl did, but court documents state that Zimmermann, 21, died from stab wounds and strangulation.

The secret was not an easy one for Kahl to share, Gonring said, but he has “felt some relief in telling it” and will feel more relief by coming to court and pleading guilty.

Kahl said he had never told anyone the story, but that he wanted to “stop the speculation, I want to stop the false accusations that I’ve made over the course of time, I want people to know the truth about what happened, and I don’t want people to wonder.”

Kahl, of Madison, who was charged about 2½ years ago with killing Zimmermann, was considered a suspect almost from the start of the case and had been interviewed multiple times. He had been set for a three-week trial that was to begin in mid-January.

Dane County Circuit Judge Chris Taylor sentenced Kahl to the mandatory life prison sentence and set a hearing for Jan. 12 to determine when, if ever, Kahl would be eligible for release on extended supervision.

Under the terms of a plea agreement, prosecutors will ask that Kahl be made eligible for extended supervision consideration after serving 20 years, but Taylor can set his eligibility for any period of time after 20 years, or rule that he can never be eligible.

This story will be updated.

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