911 call: 'I just had an intruder ... and I shot him' says woman convicted of killing husband
A woman who fatally shot her husband in their Ypsilanti Township apartment last year can be heard on a 911 call crying hysterically as she lied to a dispatcher, claiming she shot an intruder.
Katharine Mishler, 24, used her maiden name “Kat Jackson" to identify herself after she shot her husband once in the head during an argument.
Mishler
In a roughly five-and-a-half minute 911 call early March 23, Mishler reported that a man, armed with a knife, entered her unlocked apartment on Stevens Drive and was trying to kill her.
Claiming she was fearing for her life, she said she grabbed a revolver from her bedroom and shot the man in the living room.
"I just had an intruder, he came into my apartment and I shot him," Mishler told the dispatcher.
“He was trying to hurt me. He came in with a knife.”
At one point, the dispatcher asked, “And you’ve never seen this person before?” Mishler replied, “No. I've never seen him."
Mishler said, “I didn’t know if he was gonna kill me.”
AnnArbor.com obtained a copy of the 911 call through a Freedom of Information Act request that was filed with Washtenaw County after Mishler was convicted last month of killing her husband, 20-year-old Samuel Mishler.
On Dec. 14, she pleaded guilty in Washtenaw County Circuit Court to second-degree murder, making a false report of a felony and possessing a firearm during the commission of a crime.
She is scheduled to be sentenced in February. The victim's family member's have told AnnArbor.com that they harbor no hard feelings against Mishler.
Court records show Washtenaw County sheriff’s deputies were suspicious of Mishler's story when they responded to her apartment at Tuscan Creek apartment homes.
The shooting victim had no shoes on, which would be unusual if he had been walking around on a cold night, looking to break into an apartment, sheriff's Detective Everette Robbins testified last June at Mishler's preliminary hearing, where the 911 call was played. In addition, there were pictures of the victim on the wall, Robbins said, and the victim’s name was on the lease.
After waiving her Miranda rights at the sheriff's department and continuing to mislead investigators, Mishler ultimately explained what happened, Robbins testified.
She acknowledged that she was married to Samuel Mishler, not engaged, as she initially said, Robbins testified.
Court records show the couple had been arguing all week about an engagement party they missed and household chores. Mishler told Robbins that she asked her husband to leave, pushing him toward the door. He wouldn't leave, pointing out that his name also was on the lease. When he refused to go, Mishler told him that if he didn't, she would shoot him, Robbins testified.
She went to the bedroom and grabbed a .357 caliber revolver. Her father gave her the gun as a gift and the couple kept it loaded for self-defense. While in the bedroom, she cocked it back, thinking it was loud enough for her husband to hear, Robbins testified.
She gave her husband another chance to leave. When he approached her, she pointed the gun at him at waist level, Robbins testified. Her husband pushed up her arm, putting the gun to his head, saying something to the effect of "if you want me to leave so bad, pull the trigger," Robbins testified. She shot her husband.
Initially, Mishler planned only to scare him by firing at a wall or window, Robbins testified.
Mishler admitted that she lied on the 911 call and to investigators because she didn't want to get in trouble, Robbins said. She believed the easiest way to get out of trouble was to make up a story involving self-defense, Robbins testified.
Mishler claimed that her husband had been physically abusive toward her before, but she never filed a police report, Robbins said. The morning of the shooting, her husband didn't touch her, other than to push her out of the way on one occasion, Robbins testified. Her husband didn't have a knife or other weapon.
"She stated that it wasn't even close to self-defense," Robbins testified.
Mishler is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 1 by Washtenaw County Circuit Judge Archie Brown. Under a sentencing agreement with Brown, she is expected to serve between 15 and 30 years in prison.
911 call" (MP3).
Lee Higgins covers crime and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached by phone at (734) 623-2527 and email at leehiggins@annarbor.com.
Comments
Bertha Venation
Wed, Jan 11, 2012 : 6:01 p.m.
She used to work at the bagel shop at University Hospital... Scary.... not sure I would trust her with a knife, knowing what I know now.
djacks24
Tue, Jan 10, 2012 : 10:48 p.m.
"For every woman in Oklahoma that defends her son with a gun there is a guy in Ohio who takes out the whole family over an orange. Read today's headlines." Also read today's headlines and people are killing other people with cars, knives, bats, rocks, fists, etc..Long before guns existed, people killed other people. A gun is simply a tool to do the job and it's convenient. But just as a gun is convenient to commit a crime, a gun is also convenient to defend ones self and family (in a split second life or death situation) in well trained hands.
Diane
Tue, Jan 10, 2012 : 7:25 p.m.
Seems like a good excuse LOL
Jack
Tue, Jan 10, 2012 : 5:47 p.m.
"The victim's family member's have told AnnArbor.com that they harbor no hard feelings against Mishler." Really? Why? I think I certainly would.
Nathaniel
Thu, Jan 12, 2012 : 9:04 a.m.
Because they are good kind people who understand there are only victims here. I think you are right tho it would be so hard to come to that point.
JustMyOpinion
Tue, Jan 10, 2012 : 8:50 p.m.
Forgiveness for someone obviously mental? Just a guess.
unclemercy
Tue, Jan 10, 2012 : 4:17 p.m.
im baffled by all of this but mostly how the recorded call begins before the operator answers?
Matt Cooper
Tue, Jan 10, 2012 : 4:32 p.m.
It's all part of an automated digital system where the recording starts the moment the call is connected (which happens before the 911 dispatcher answers the phone). This system is also the reason that when you dial 911 and then hang up immediately you get a phone call back from 911, usually within a few seconds.
outdoor6709
Tue, Jan 10, 2012 : 3:04 p.m.
November and Decmber set new all time highs in gun background checks. In Michigan 1 in 49 residents have a Carry Pistol Liscense (CPL). Michigan also has recipical carry agreements with most states.
Soothslayer
Tue, Jan 10, 2012 : 2:55 p.m.
Gee I hope this incident gets the national media attention like the one last week where the woman shot and killed an intruder at her trailer home. <a href="http://gma.yahoo.com/video/news-26797925/oklahoma-mother-18-kills-intruder-breaking-into-her-home-while-on-phone-with-911-27777235.html" rel='nofollow'>http://gma.yahoo.com/video/news-26797925/oklahoma-mother-18-kills-intruder-breaking-into-her-home-while-on-phone-with-911-27777235.html</a>
JustMyOpinion
Wed, Jan 11, 2012 : 2:21 p.m.
@Matt Cooper: Perhaps its prophylactic for the rabid anti-gun comments sure to come over this since it couldn't possibly be the woman's fault instead of the guns.
Matt Cooper
Tue, Jan 10, 2012 : 4:38 p.m.
And your point in this comment, and in attaching the other story, is what? Are you trying to compare a mother defending her home and her baby from a stalker breaking into her home in the middle of the night to a murdering young woman who lied to the police about her knowledge of the man she tried to call an intruder who was in fact her husband and whose name was also on the lease?
smokeblwr
Tue, Jan 10, 2012 : 1:56 p.m.
Who gives somebody a gun as a gift?!!??!
Vette96drvr
Fri, Jan 13, 2012 : 2:31 a.m.
Who gives a gun as a gift? Maybe a loving father that was concerned about his daughters safety. Unfortunatly she was just not responsible enough to own one. I have bought both my son and my daughter a gun as a gift (for hunting purposes). When they are not hunting, I keep them locked up. They are in their mid & late teens and when they move out someday, they will take those guns with them. If I ever worry about their safety, I would buy them a pistol also. I pray I have properly taught them how to respect guns and lives and how to properly resolve differences so they never do something like this.
Hot Sam
Wed, Jan 11, 2012 : 12:09 p.m.
My birthday is coming up...a Kimber 1911 .45 would be just fine...thanx in advance
Diane
Tue, Jan 10, 2012 : 7:26 p.m.
I did, but my husband is a cop
drut_ferguson
Tue, Jan 10, 2012 : 4:26 p.m.
Well, she got the "point this end at the thing you want to go boom" part.
outdoor6709
Tue, Jan 10, 2012 : 2:55 p.m.
Apparently a father that thought his daughter lived in a rough neighborhood. Unfortunately he did not teach her the basic responsibilities of gun owenership.
justcurious
Tue, Jan 10, 2012 : 1:19 p.m.
It is scary that people who think like this walk among us.
Rose Garden
Tue, Jan 10, 2012 : 1:15 p.m.
I feel sorry for a woman with low intelligence and lack of good sense. How could she possibly not know that the police would investigate and find out she had been married to the "intruder" that she had "never before seen"? And to think his photograph was on the wall of her apartment is amusing. Perhaps the public schools could offer a class in how to deal with life as an adult. I can think of a lot of topics it could cover. One would be alternatives to dealing with a person who crosses you other than killing him/her.
EyeHeartA2
Tue, Jan 10, 2012 : 4:10 p.m.
Really? Our public schools should teach how to cover your tracks after a murder? Honestly, her level of ignorance probably speaks to an overal very low IQ. You can't teach dumb, only ignorance.
outdoor6709
Tue, Jan 10, 2012 : 3:08 p.m.
Sorry our public schools cannot teach math or science. Maybe if the government did not push policeis that have destroyed the family, the family could teach teach other family members about the responsibilities of modrn life.
Blue Marker
Tue, Jan 10, 2012 : 12:09 p.m.
How many of these "self-defense" guns end up killing someone that lives in the house?
Vette96drvr
Fri, Jan 13, 2012 : 2:26 a.m.
How many of these "self defense" guns end up saving an innocent victims life? A RESPONSIBLE gun owner is a big difference from someone who doesnt know how to deal with lifes conflicts and resolve things without violence.
Nathaniel
Thu, Jan 12, 2012 : 8:54 a.m.
Because people who are mentally unstable or lacking in common sense own them. There is nothing wrong with guns, just people.
JustMyOpinion
Wed, Jan 11, 2012 : 2:19 p.m.
@Blue Marker: Which proves my point - its not the gun then, is it. It's the person, who can also stab, choke, run over or otherwise murder all his family as well.
Blue Marker
Tue, Jan 10, 2012 : 9:51 p.m.
@ djacks24, I made no such statement, I simply asked a question. Don't put words or opinions in my post that are not there. @ justmyopinion, For every woman in Oklahoma that defends her son with a gun there is a guy in Ohio who takes out the whole family over an orange. Read today's headlines.
djacks24
Tue, Jan 10, 2012 : 9:09 p.m.
So according to LDH and Blue Marker, if private gun ownership didn't exist, she would've never found another way to kill her husband or may not have ever wanted to. Essentially, the gun made her do it and just wasn't more convenient than pouring gas over him in his sleep or stabbing him to death in his sleep.
JustMyOpinion
Tue, Jan 10, 2012 : 8:48 p.m.
Maybe ask the woman from Oklahoma who saved herself and her infant child with one last week. Seems to me its not the gun that's the problem. That woman and her child would surely be dead if she had not had guns and known how to use them.
hammer
Tue, Jan 10, 2012 : 6:20 p.m.
Last time I checked, no gun has ever loaded, cocked, and fired itself. Each one of those acts is intentional. Guns don't kill people. People kill people.
Angry Moderate
Tue, Jan 10, 2012 : 3:30 p.m.
LBH, where did you get the "statistical fact" if there isn't any published data?
smokeblwr
Tue, Jan 10, 2012 : 1:57 p.m.
I think a more interesting comparison would be of all guns fired inside a house how many actually shoot an innocent person compared to a big bad scary guy breaking in?
cinnabar7071
Tue, Jan 10, 2012 : 1:29 p.m.
Cars kill more loved ones then guns, swimming pools kill a few also. What was your point again?
ez12c
Tue, Jan 10, 2012 : 1:06 p.m.
At least one.
5c0++ H4d13y
Tue, Jan 10, 2012 : 12:18 p.m.
I would guess the vast majority collect dust and rust.