Life prison sentence for man who murdered UW-Madison student Brittany Zimmermann in 2008

MADISON − Nearly 15 years after brutally strangling and stabbing University of Wisconsin-Madison student Brittany Zimmermann to death, David Kahl will spend the rest of his life in prison, a Dane County judge ruled Friday.

Kahl, 56, decided to forgo the opportunity to be considered for parole after serving 20 years in prison. His attorney, Ben Gonring, told the court that Kahl said he had taken a life and he deserved life.

"He owns it," Gonring said. "He deserves it. He's telling you that this is the day he gets what's coming to him."

Zimmermann's parents, Jean and Kevin, said they were relieved he would remain behind bars forever. But they said they, too, are serving their own life sentence, one without their daughter. In an emotional press conference held after the sentencing, they described an overwhelming sense of loss while attending others' weddings and meeting others' grandchildren.

"There's never going to be closure for us," Jean Zimmermann said. "This is over and we are thankful because this has been a nightmare for us for 14 1/2-plus years."

The Zimmermann family also doubted the sincerity of Kahl's gesture, calling it "self-serving" and a way to prevent Kahl's mother from hearing the gruesome details of what her son had done.

Kahl murdered Zimmermann, of Marshfield, in the middle of the day on April 2, 2008, at the West Doty Street apartment she shared with her fiancé. He was a suspect in the case immediately, questioned by police just hours after the homicide.

Dane County Circuit Judge Chris Taylor questioned whether Kahl understood the magnitude of his actions on that spring day. The case caused panic and fear across campus and throughout the city. She acknowledged Kahl's guilty plea last fall, which spared the Zimmermanns the anguish of a trial slated to begin this month.

But Taylor said the plea doesn't negate his yearslong obfuscation in the case. Kahl pointed police to false suspects, provided fake police sketches, denied involvement and repeatedly changed his story as detectives closed in on him.

Only after being criminally charged and in the face of overwhelming DNA evidence did Kahl admit to taking the 21-year-old's life, Taylor said. He has also tried to shift the blame to others.

"It wasn't the police's fault. It wasn't 911's fault," she said. "They didn't cause you to do what you did. That was you."

Kahl apologized to Zimmermann's family at the hearing and said he felt "horrible."

A junior at the time of her death, Zimmermann had attended classes earlier in the day and talked to a professor about starting a charity to help homeless children. She was a lover of animals and photographed some bunnies on the way back to her apartment on April 2 to work on a financial aid application. Her fiancé told police Zimmermann was safety-conscious and always deadbolted the door.

Kahl was a career criminal with a rap sheet that began in 1991 and "basically continued non-stop since then," according to a sentencing memo filed by state prosecutors. He is believed to have forced his way inside Zimmermann's apartment, one stop on a loop he took around the neighborhood bumming for money to buy drugs. While in Zimmermann's bathroom, Kahl heard her call police and "snapped."

“It is the nightmare of every parent who sends their child to college," the memo said.

In conversations last year with his mother and a fellow inmate, Kahl said he had been awake for eight days and taken methamphetamine and crack when he encountered Zimmermann, according to the state's memo. Kahl told his mom he had "no clue" why he killed her. But he also blamed 911, saying if officers had appropriately responded, Zimmermann would still be alive.

There were sounds of a struggle and a female screaming in the call made to 911 from Zimmermann's cellphone, but Dane County operator Rita Gahagan said she didn't hear anything that registered as an emergency so police were not dispatched. The Zimmermanns sued and settled with the county for $5,000 that went to the reward fund the family set up to find their daughter's killer.

Madison Police Capt. Dan Nale, the investigator on the case since 2017, said the department never classified it as cold and had at least one investigator on it since her death. Asked about the time it took to charge Kahl, he said police were waiting for DNA technology to catch up to us.

The Zimmermanns were "so afraid Brittany would be forgotten," Jean said. The family put up billboards and contacted media to ensure their daughter remained in the public's attention. They host a dog walk, Paws for Brittany, every Mother's Day in Marshfield. The event has raised more than $60,000.

The family also established a scholarship for Marshfield students attending UW-Madison.

Zimmermann studied medical microbiology and immunology at the university. She had hoped to become a doctor, and the sentencing memo said she had recently come across a scholarship for students interested in practicing medicine in rural Wisconsin.

Another "big dream" of Brittany's, according to Jean Zimmermann, was to work for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Her family and friends felt an even greater sense of loss during the pandemic. They wondered what contributions she could have made to save lives.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: David Kahl sentenced in murder of UW-Madison student Brittany Zimmermann