The Texas serial killer, parts 2 and 3 — a victim survives, the jury won’t convict

Collage of victims. Click for story at AARP.org

“Mother had gone to lunch that week with her friends and she said…I may need to move. These people are dying around me.  I didn’t realize it was not a joke.”

Dozens of older Americans were murdered — in the end, the victims might really number into the hundreds — because institutions designed to protect them failed in the most horrific way. Instead of investigating reports of theft and violence, authorities brushed off a set of “unattended deaths” aside as natural cause cases.  As a result, serial killer Billy Chemirmir continued uninterrupted on a two-year killing spree in the Dallas area, hunting victims in various independent living facilities.

Chemirmir was recently sentenced to life in prison for two of the killings, but the story shouldn’t end there. At our podcast, The Perfect Scam, we are telling the story of victims and their families. What is it like to put your mom to rest, mourn her passing, and then learn two years later she was actually murdered? Thanks to the generosity and courage of the families involved, I spent a few months interviewing victims’ families, understanding who these women were, and why things went so terribly wrong. It’s a four-part series. Parts 2 and 3 just came out. In these episodes, you’ll learn how facilities involved initially blamed emergency personnel for the thefts — they were exonerated. Then you’ll hear how Billy Chemirmir was finally stopped — one of his suffocation victims miraculously survived and fingered him.  You’ll follow along as he is tried for his crimes, and you’ll hear the stunning conclusion the jury came to.

Click here to find Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3

Or click play below

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4, the conclusion, will be released on Friday.  I hope you’ll give this series a shot.

Don’t miss a post. Sign up for my newsletter

About Bob Sullivan 1612 Articles
BOB SULLIVAN is a veteran journalist and the author of four books, including the 2008 New York Times Best-Seller, Gotcha Capitalism, and the 2010 New York Times Best Seller, Stop Getting Ripped Off! His latest, The Plateau Effect, was published in 2013, and as a paperback, called Getting Unstuck in 2014. He has won the Society of Professional Journalists prestigious Public Service award, a Peabody award, and The Consumer Federation of America Betty Furness award, and been given Consumer Action’s Consumer Excellence Award.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*


This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.