At 21, Brittany Zimmermann was close to realising her dreams. A medical microbiology major at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the aspiring immunologist with a love of cats, Japanese anime and baking was looking forward to graduation and newly engaged to childhood friend and college classmate Jordan Gonnering, a man she called her soulmate. “They were going to get married in Hawaii,” says her mum, Jean. “She already had her dress picked out.”
A GIVING SOUL
Brittany Zimmermann “always thought of other people,” says her best friend, Jenna Krasselt. Below is a banner for an event in her honour.
But on April 2, 2008, all those dreams were shattered. At 11.30am Brittany waved goodbye to Jordan as she left campus to walk home and feed their three cats. At around 1 pm. Jordan returned from class to find the door to their Madison apartment kicked in and Brittany unresponsive and bleeding on the floor. She had been brutally beaten, strangled and stabbed in the heart. “My husband and I had all the money put away for her wedding,” recalls Jean. “Instead we had to use it for her funeral.”
DNA TO CATCH A KILLER
This story is from the September 7, 2020 edition of WHO.
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This story is from the September 7, 2020 edition of WHO.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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