ANCHORAGE, Alaska -
Police tapes released Thursday detail a critically wounded woman's harrowing 48-minute wait for help as confused officers wandered nearby streets and dispatchers disregarded the address she gave them, relying instead on inadequate computer information.
Minutes into Patti Godfrey's 12:30 a.m. 911 call on Aug. 3, she also gave dispatchers the name and phone number of her daughter and repeatedly begged them to call her. They didn't make that call, nor did they ask Godfrey for specific directions to her house until about 40 minutes into the call.
As Godfrey pleaded and prayed on the phone, one floor below was the body of her husband, Glenn Godfrey, 53. Just before 12:30 that morning, police say, he was shot to death by a distraught Karen Brand, with whom he'd had an affair. Brand, 33, then shot Patti four times in an upstairs hallway and retreated downstairs. Police say Brand had entered the Godfreys' home while they were gone and waited in a closet for their return.
"I've been shot, please," Godfrey, 52, said in her first words to the 911 dispatcher.
Dispatcher Billy Miller grilled her: Who shot her? Where was Karen? What did Karen look like? Where was the gun?
Less than two minutes later, Godfrey said, "I - she just shot herself, I believe."
"Did you hear more shots?" asked Miller, one of two who would talk to Godfrey during the call.
"Yes. Just now."
"From where?"
"Downstairs. Please hurry. Please hurry."
Godfrey at that point was alert and responsive to questions. She gave dispatchers her daughter's name and phone number. She described Brand - her hair color, her job - and recited by memory the last three numbers of the license plate on Brand's tan Jeep Cherokee.
She also confirmed the Godfreys' address: 22953 Eagle River Road, at Mile 4.6.
But dispatchers did not ask her for directions, which they typically do, Deputy Police Chief Mark Mew said. Because the address Godfrey gave did not appear in the database, the computer gave similar but incorrect addresses and officers could not find the right house.
Several minutes into the call, believing cops were at Godfrey's door, dispatchers assured her help was just outside.
It wasn't.
They told Godfrey to hang on.
Godfrey often prayed.
"I'm begging," she said, drawing deep breaths. "Save Glenn's life. Save Glenn's life. Lord Jesus, please help us. Save Glenn's life. Give us another chance. Lord Jesus. Please God, help him."
She described her injuries in detail. One bullet had ripped through her stomach, another through her leg, and her right arm was nearly severed, she said. Later, doctors had to augment the bone of her right arm with a metal plate.
More than once during the 911 call, Godfrey announced she would soon die.
She swung between meditative prayer and utter hopelessness.
"Would you please . . . somebody out there to help me?" she said.
"Yes, they are out there to help you, Trish," dispatcher Jeri Wallin said. "They are. We're coming in to help you as soon as we can get in the door, OK?"
"Please just break it open."
"Listen to me," Wallin said. "We've got officers out there. The medics are out there, and as soon as we can get in that door that's what we're going to do."
But there were no officers or medics in front of the Godfrey house. With each passing minute, Godfrey sounded more angry, telling them they weren't helping her and she thought they were lying. She began mumbling in another language as dispatchers asked her what her house looked like.
"We just got to make sure we're going to the right house," Wallin said.
"I don't hear any battering," Godfrey said.
"OK, they're all out there. Trust me. They're out there."
"Well, then get up the stairs. She's not here."
"OK, did you hear her leave?"
"I - I quit," Godfrey said.
Dispatchers began repeatedly asking Godfrey whether her house was at Eagle Glacier Loop and Columbia Glacier Loop.
It wasn't.
Late in the call, Godfrey hung up on the operators. They called her back immediately and heard the sound of dialing. When Godfrey realized she was on the phone with them, she again killed the connection.
When dispatchers successfully got through again, Godfrey, sounding tired, said, "Please let me talk to my kids." And a moment later, she hollered, "I want my kids!"
Wallin, speaking firmly, told Godfrey they needed her to tell them exactly how to get to her home.
"We can't find your house!" Wallin said urgently.
And Godfrey gave broken directions, mumbling.
"Why, why, why can't they find it?" Godfrey asked.
"I don't know the answer to that question," Wallin said. She said help was coming. "Stay with me."
Wallin encouraged Godfrey to yell if it helped.
And Godfrey yelled.
"Please! Pleeeeeeease! Glenn! Glenn!"
"I want you to stay with me, stay mad, OK? Stay mad. . . . Keep yelling. . . . Keep talkin' . . . "
"I'll talk to . . . if you get somebody else here now. . . . I'll talk to you if you . . . break the door down! God!" Godfrey yelled. "Where . . . Man! I cannot believe how long it's taking you."
"Hey, c'mon, keep goin' on . . . keep on goin', keep goin'," Wallin said.
"In the name of Jesus I'm hurting."
"OK. We're gettin' ready to make entry right now, OK?"
"I hear 'em," Godfrey said quietly. "I hear 'em."
It was nearly 1:19 a.m.
Mew again apologized Thursday for that night. He urged people to remember that most 911 calls go smoothly.
"It was a horrible night," Mew said.
The department is conducting an internal review, both of its staff and its technology, he said. It also plans to have an improved, updated database in place in as soon as a year, he said.
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