A heavily edited recording of the 911 call from Brittany Zimmermann's fiance after he found her stabbed to death was released today on the orders of a Dane County judge.

Officials have edited out about 68 seconds of the five-minute recording. The recording is first release to the public of audio from the scene in Zimmermann's West Doty Street apartment on April 2.

Jordan Gonnering called 48 minutes after the 911 center received a call from Zimmermann's cell phone. Recording equipment in the dispatch center picked up screaming and sounds of struggle, but the 911 operator didn't hear anything that registered with her as an emergency, and police were not dispatched.

County officials say they can't explain what happened, but insist they can find no indication of equipment failures.

"I just came home, the door was bashed in and my girlfriend has been shot," Gonnering told the 911 operator, who directed police and an ambulance response to the scene within four minutes.

The recording confirms information previously made public.

Previously unsealed police warrants revealed that Gonnering thought Zimmermann had been shot, even though she had been stabbed multiple times in the heart. Police said there were signs of forced entry after being prodded by the Wisconsin State Journal in April to release that information.

Gonnering's attorney had asked Judge Richard Niess not to release the audio saying it would traumatize Zimmermann's family and others. The city also argued it would have a chilling effect on the public's willingness to dial 911 if their calls for help were made public.

Niess rejected those arguments as not being based in law, and said most documents pertaining to the call and the subsequent internal investigation should be released so that the public could have important information about the performance of the dispatch center.

The judge agreed with Madison police that certain portions of the audio have value as evidence because they describe the homicide scene. Those details conceivably could be used to elicit a confession from the killer, the city argued. State law provides an exemption to the open records law for ongoing law enforcement investigations.

Niess blocked release of the entire recording of the call from Zimmermann's cell phone until the police find the culprit.

After county officials in May acknowledged multiple errors related to the call that sent police on the wrong trail, a group of media organizations, including the Wisconsin State Journal, filed a lawsuit to obtain documents not initially released by the county.

The judge ordered the release of several of those documents, including portions of the Gonnering call.

Audio: 911 call made by Jordan Gonnering. Blank passages are portions withheld by authorities.