The parents and fiance of Brittany Zimmermann sued Dane County, County Executive Kathleen Falk and former 911 dispatcher Rita Gahagan on Tuesday, alleging that their negligence led to Zimmermann's murder in her Downtown apartment last year.

The wrongful death lawsuit, filed by Kevin and Jean Zimmermann and Jordan Gonnering, claims that Falk failed to properly staff and equip the 911 center, despite a 2004 consultant's report calling for changes at the center.

It also alleges that Falk and Dane County "negligently or intentionally" caused emotional distress to the Zimmermanns by initially denying they knew about a 911 call from their daughter's phone that was made just before she died, when they actually knew of it within seven hours of her death on April 2.

When the county admitted that such a call had been received, the lawsuit states, it publicly stated that "nothing was heard" by Gahagan, who ended the call in accord with 911 center procedures.

But Gahagan did not follow proper procedures, the lawsuit claims, and she ended the call despite there being "clear, audible sounds of distress on the phone call from Brittany Zimmermann which should have alerted Rita Gahagan that Brittany Zimmermann was in distress and in need of the immediate dispatch of police."

Screaming and the sounds of a struggle could be heard on the recording, according to a search warrant issued as part of the homicide investigation and unsealed last month in Dane County Circuit Court.

Gonnering came home to find Zimmermann dead in their apartment, which appeared to have been broken into. A search warrant unsealed last month indicated that she had been stabbed repeatedly in the chest.

The lawsuit does not state any specific monetary demands, but in a claim filed with Dane County in June, which is the legal precursor to a lawsuit against a government entity, the Zimmermanns and their daughter's estate asked for more than $50 million in damages. Gonnering's claim, filed in July, sought $2 million for negligent infliction of emotional distress.

In a written statement, Dane County Corporation Counsel Marcia MacKenzie said Tuesday that the lawsuit will be referred to the county's insurer.

"Given the family's unimaginable grief, I understand their action," MacKenzie wrote. "The community continues to mourn their loss."

This is the third lawsuit the Zimmermanns have filed in their daughter's death. They filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the county in June, but withdrew it the following month. Also in June, they sued the owners and property managers of the apartment house at 517 W. Doty St. where their daughter was killed, claiming security was inadequate. That case is still pending.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday also claims that the county caused the Zimmermanns emotional distress by failing to protect the contents of a 911 call made from Brittany Zimmermann's cell phone before her death on April 2, 2008.

A letter sent on Dec. 2 from MacKenzie to Dane County Circuit Judge Richard Niess, written after the unsealing of the search warrants, stated that the county would allow Niess to decide whether to release the recordings, citing stronger public interest in their disclosure.

Media outlets, including the Wisconsin State Journal, had sued Dane County for copies of 911 calls made by Zimmermann and Gonnering. Because the county failed to perform its duties to prevent release of the tapes, the Zimmermanns and Gonnering had to incur costs to fight their release, the lawsuit states.

Niess ruled last month that nothing in state law allows victims to stop the release of a 911 recording. Niess instead cited law enforcement concerns when he blocked the release of Zimmermann's call and released only a redacted version of Gonnering's call.