Overview of Sword and Scale Episode 356
This episode examines the 2008 murder of University of Wisconsin student Brittany Zimmerman in downtown Madison and the 12-year investigation that ultimately led to the arrest, guilty plea, and life sentence of David Call. It follows the case from the first 911 call and the chaotic early response, through years of stalled leads, disputed DNA evidence, public-records litigation, and renewed forensic work that finally connected Call to the crime.
Case Summary
- Victim: Brittany Zimmerman, 21, a microbiology student with plans for medical school
- Date of murder: April 2, 2008
- Location: Her apartment on West Doty Street in Madison, Wisconsin
- Initial discovery: Her fiancé, Jordan Gonnering, found her body after coming home from class
- Final outcome: David Call pleaded guilty in 2022 and was sentenced to life in prison without parole
What Happened on April 2, 2008
The day of the murder
- Brittany was in class that morning while Jordan briefly saw her on campus.
- Jordan returned home around 1:00 p.m. and found:
- The security door appeared forced open
- The apartment door was unlocked
- Their cats were missing from the entrance
- Brittany lying on the bedroom floor, bleeding and unresponsive
- He called 911 and tried to help her with CPR under dispatcher guidance.
Early scene findings
- Detectives found:
- Signs of forced entry
- No obvious theft
- Brittany’s damaged phone, with the battery removed
- Evidence suggesting the attack happened during daytime and may have been interrupted
Investigation Challenges and Missteps
Initial theory: random stranger or transient suspect
Because there was no apparent motive, police initially focused on the possibility of a stranger crime involving people wandering the neighborhood and asking for money.
David Call becomes a person of interest
- Call was a known panhandler with a long criminal history.
- He told police he had been in the area asking for money and possibly entering homes with two other men.
- He identified two other men he said were involved in burglaries and window-entry scams.
- Detectives pursued those leads for months, but they went nowhere.
Major problems in the case
- The case changed hands several times over the years.
- The first lead detective eventually left due to the emotional toll.
- Police leadership prematurely told Brittany’s parents they “had the guy,” but no arrest followed.
- Public trust was damaged when records were delayed or withheld.
- A key 911 call from Brittany’s home was initially treated as incomplete, despite later revealing obvious sounds of struggle.
The 911 Call and Public Backlash
A major turning point in public understanding came when records were forced out through litigation.
What the released audio revealed
- Brittany had called 911 nearly an hour before Jordan discovered her body.
- The call captured:
- A woman screaming
- A voice saying “stop”
- Sounds consistent with an assault
- The call was not properly recognized in real time by dispatch.
Legal fallout
- Brittany’s parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city.
- The case settled, and the money was used to create a scholarship in Brittany’s name.
- The city later improved 911 equipment and training.
DNA Evidence and the Long Delay
Why the DNA was difficult to use
- The samples from Brittany’s apartment were mixed and degraded
- Early testing could not isolate a clean profile
- Call could be included but not definitively charged based on the original results
Later testing
- As forensic methods improved, re-testing made Call’s connection harder to dismiss.
- A breakthrough came when detectives revisited an anonymous letter from 2009:
- The envelope DNA matched David Call
- This gave investigators stronger evidence tying him to the case
Final Breakthrough and Arrest
What finally broke the case
- In 2020, detectives returned to Call with improved DNA interpretation.
- They told him the evidence strongly suggested his DNA was on Brittany’s clothing.
- Call eventually changed his story and admitted:
- He had entered her apartment
- He asked her for money
- Brittany resisted and tried to call 911
- He strangled her with a sweatshirt and stabbed her repeatedly
Charge and conviction
- Call was charged with:
- First-degree intentional homicide
- As a party to a crime
- With a dangerous weapon
- In 2022, he pleaded guilty.
- He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of release
Key Takeaways
- Brittany Zimmerman’s murder was not “cold” in the minds of investigators or her family, but it was delayed by years of fragmented handling and weak forensic technology.
- The case shows how critical early 911 response, evidence processing, and inter-agency persistence can be.
- The Zimmerman family played a major role in keeping the case visible and pushing for accountability.
- The episode underscores how advances in DNA analysis can revive old cases that once seemed unsolvable.
- Wisconsin law was later updated to expand DNA collection in the criminal justice system, in part because of this case.
Notable Impact
- Brittany’s parents turned their grief into advocacy, pushing for:
- Better emergency dispatch systems
- Greater transparency in police records
- Stronger use of forensic evidence in future cases
- The episode frames the outcome as partial justice: the family got a conviction, but not Brittany back
Bottom Line
Episode 356 is a detailed true-crime account of how a young woman’s daylight murder remained unresolved for more than a decade, and how persistent family advocacy, improved forensic science, and renewed detective work eventually exposed the killer. It is also a critique of investigative delays, communication failures, and the long emotional cost of waiting for justice.