Latest / Murder Files Unsealed / Texas Investigators Link Senior Citizens’ Deaths to "Horrendous" Jewel-Stealing Serial Killer

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Texas Investigators Link Senior Citizens’ Deaths to "Horrendous" Jewel-Stealing Serial Killer · Murder Files Unsealed

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the deep dive. Today, we are taking a
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necessary but pretty unsettling look into a case that exposed
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some truly well terrifying vulnerabilities in our society, specifically in
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this seemingly secure world of elder care.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, we're examining a really chilling chapter. This played out
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between roughly twenty sixteen and twenty eighteen, mostly in those
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you know, affluent, independent living communities scattered across suburban Dallas
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and the surrounding counties. And the horror of it, it
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really lies in this paradox. The deaths looked quiet initially.
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They were all ruled natural, you know, elderly women just
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passing peacefully in.
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Speaker 1: Their sleep, right the expected narrative exactly.
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Speaker 2: But those assumed natural deaths were actually masking something much darker,
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a methodical, years long pattern of well predatory violence and murder.
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Speaker 1: And the man responsible, Billy Kimermeer. He was quickly and
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I think appropriately, dubbed one of the most horrendous serial
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killers in Texas history.
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Speaker 2: Horrendous is the right word.
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Speaker 1: We have to state the scale right off the bat.
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It's just tragic. Kimer Mehr allegedly smothered nearly two dozen
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women the sources confirm at least twenty two lives violently taken,
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and the motive cold calculated robbery. He wasn't just exploiting
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their frailty, but their trust, their isolation.
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Speaker 2: And crucially, the system, the profound, systemic failures of the
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very system that was supposed to protect them.
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Speaker 1: That's the core of our deep dive today, isn't that
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It's multi layered.
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Speaker 2: Absolutely, We're going beyond just the headlines. We're looking at
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detailed sources that reveal khmer Mir's unsettling profile, the shocking
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efficiency of his methods, his modus operandi, and.
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Speaker 1: The investigation, grueling multi agency work required to finally connect
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these dots that seemed so separate.
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Speaker 2: Right, But, as you said, the critical analysis the mission
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here is really to focus on those systemic failures, the
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breakdown and elder protection, the lack of police coordination between jurisdiction.
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Speaker 1: And the agism, that underlying bias that let this spree
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continue totally unseen for so long.
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Speaker 2: It really did, that systemic failure. It's almost the main
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character of this story in a way.
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Speaker 1: It really is, because if it hadn't been for like
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a perfect storm of chance events. Yeah, the incredible courage
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of one survivor just miraculous. And the discovery this one
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seemingly small object, a discarded red jewelry box. Well, the
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violence might have just kept happening, dismissed as just you know,
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the sad reality of getting old. So let's unpack the
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man himself, the one who made these realities so incredibly deadly. Okay,
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So to really get the method, we need to understand
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the man first. Billy Kip Courier Kim Rmer born nineteen
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seventy two and not in Texas, far from it, actually right.
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Speaker 2: He was raised in kibone Uni Village. It's a rural
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area near Eldama Ravine in Kenya's Rift Valley. His background
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is well, it's a study in contrast, isn't it.
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Speaker 1: Definitely it suggests this life steeped in traditional authority but
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also marked by huge change. He was one of twenty
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nine children.
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Speaker 2: Twenty nine from a polygamous family. His father, Joel was
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apparently quite respected, a village chief of prosperous farmer, so
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there was a certain standing, maybe even privileged within his
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community back home, but then.
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Speaker 1: He completely cuts those ties. It makes this huge move
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to the US in the early two thousands.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, ends up settling in North Texas, drawn it seems,
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by the booming healthcare sector there. Physically, he wasn't imposing
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or anything. Six feet tall, lean build he could blend
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in easily, seem unassuming, especially in a professional context.
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Speaker 1: And that's where the terrifying perfect cover comes in. He
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didn't just move there, He very deliberately entered a profession.
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When they gave him maximum access with minimum suspicion, he.
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Speaker 2: Went and got certified as a home health.
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Speaker 1: Carried exactly and then worked for legitimate agencies providing care
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services to the elderly across major suburbs Dallas, Plano, Frisco. Richardson.
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Speaker 2: That certification, it was basically his key, his license to operate,
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almost literally. I mean think about what that give you,
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total access legitimate professional acts us to seniors' homes, their facilities.
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He learned their routines when they were vulnerable, where they kept.
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Speaker 1: Valuables, and he had that air of legitimacy, that professional
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veneer that just disarmed everyone, the victims, their families, the
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staff at the facilities.
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Speaker 2: The one person you're supposed to trust implicitly in that situation.
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Speaker 1: But looking back, this wasn't some sudden snap into violence,
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was it? There was an escalation, definitely not sudden.
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Speaker 2: His earlier criminal history in Texas. It clearly foreshadows the
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extreme violence to come. Starts relatively small, maybe predictable. Twenty ten,
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twenty eleven Dui Convictions finds a bit of jail time,
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but then the sources show this huge jump in brutality.
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What happened July twenty twelve and arrest for assault on
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a female companion and the details in the court records
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they're vicious, how so repeated kicking, punching, beating her with
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a cooking pot, and then escalating the rage stabbing a
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knife into a chair near her, just pure uncontrolled anger.
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Speaker 1: And he avoided fellony charges for that.
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Speaker 2: Bafflingly yes, which is you know, another filler we can't
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just gloss over, but it clearly establishes this documented tendency
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for explosive, extreme brutality against women years before the smothering started.
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Speaker 1: So that raw violence was there, why did it channel
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into this this colder, targeted strategy and what was the driver?
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Was it still that rage or something else?
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Speaker 2: Well, by twenty sixteen, that raw, maybe uncontrolled volatility seems
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to have been channeled right into something much more focused,
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much more dangerous. The sources, yeah, they speculate on motive.
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They talk about a toxic mix opportunism, resentment towards perceived privilege,
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maybe some thrill seeking. But the key thing, the defining
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detail that comes through, is that his actions were ultimately
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coldly pragmatic.
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Speaker 1: Pragmatic death is a tool, exactly.
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Speaker 2: It wasn't about the emotional release of rage, not like
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some killers. It wasn't sexual sadism. For kemyrmir The smothering
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was just efficient, a silent way to achieve his real goal, robbery.
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Speaker 1: He wanted the stuff that died and rings, the cash,
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the heirlooms, that's right.
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Speaker 2: And the murder. It was just the neatest way to
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get it. Plus it staged the death scene to look natural,
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covering his tracks.
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Speaker 1: But you can't just boil it down to money, can you?
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Choosing only women all elderly seventy six to ninety four,
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that feels like something deeper.
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Speaker 2: No, you're right, It suggests deeper pathologies, maybe misogyny amplified
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by his own resentments, maybe cultural dislocation. After immigrating, he
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found a group he knew society often overlooked or didn't prioritize,
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and he exploited that vulnerability ruthlessly. And if we link
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that profile to the actual crimes. He chose his hunting
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grounds so carefully. He focused on these places you'd think
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we're safe, upscale, well kept, independent living facilities in North Texas.
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Speaker 1: Places like Preston Place, Canterbury Court, names that keep coming
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up exactly.
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Speaker 2: And he wasn't just targeting anyone. He was specifically looking
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for affluent, older women, often widows, living alone in units
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that seemed accessible. Promised high value returns for his effort.
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Speaker 1: And it wasn't random, was it? He was actively scouting?
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Speaker 2: Oh yeah? The investigation later showed he'd just linger in
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parking lots, studying the environment, watching routines. He used cell
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phone tracking data, surveillance footage from nearby areas, figuring out
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when residents were likely alone, when staff levels.
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Speaker 1: Were low, looking for those visible signs of wealth, a
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nice ring, a necklace, making sure the risk.
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Speaker 2: Paid off, precisely, making sure the intrusion was worth the
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potential reward, and the technique he perfected. It was just
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the ultimate betrayal, wasn't.
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Speaker 1: It Totally built entirely on exploiting that professional trust he
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was supposed to have right so to.
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Speaker 2: Get in, he relied on that disarming term, plausible disguises,
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posing as a maintenance guy, oh just check in, a leak,
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or a utility technician, and sometimes even tragically pretending to
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be another resident who just needed help for a second.
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Speaker 1: And once the door was open, the charm vanished.
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Speaker 2: The attack was quick, silent, designed, as you said, to
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look like a peaceful passing overpower the victim, often smothering
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them with a pillow, usually their.
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Speaker 1: Own pillow, specifically to stage that natural death exactly.
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Speaker 2: Then he'd methodically steal the valuables, small stuff, easily ponned jewelry, cash.
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Speaker 1: And that efficiency that's why he got away with it
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for so long, striking it out hours, using the victim's
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own bedding, so no foreign DNA, no forced.
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Speaker 2: Entry, leaving minimal traces. It was just a horribly calculated
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crime against a group that, let's face it, often gets
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less forensic scrutiny.
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Speaker 1: That lack of scrutiny makes the timeline just bone chilling.
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Investigators now think he might have started even earlier, but
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the confirmed systematic killings seemed to kick off in early
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twenty sixteen. Let's pause and really remember the first confirmed
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victim here, February nineteen, twenty sixteen, ninety two year old
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Doris Gleason in Dallas. Her case is just it's the immediate,
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painful proof of the system's failure.
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Speaker 2: Absolutely, Her daughter, Shannon Dion arrives and notices right away
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her mom's favorite coral necklace diamond rings gone.
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Speaker 1: But Doris was ninety two. Minimal signs a struggle apparently,
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so the ruling natural causes heart failure.
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Speaker 2: Plausible medically speaking for someone her age, But it meant
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the daughter's immediate alarm bells about the missing heirlooms totally dismissed,
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completely disconnected from the death investigation itself.
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Speaker 1: And that just set the pattern that dismissal became the template.
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Speaker 2: It really did. June twentieth, twenty sixteen, eighty seven year
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old Mary Brooks in her Dallas condo, found with the
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pillows slightly askew. And here's that subtle, terrifying detail that
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was tragically missed at the time. A smear of lipstick
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on her face.
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Speaker 1: Lipstick, yeah, suggesting a struggle, not a peaceful.
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Speaker 2: Sleep exactly, A tiny clue, screaming something was wrong but
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it was overlooked amid the assumption of a quiet death. Again,
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family reports missing heirlooms. Again, no connection made, not across departments,
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not across time.
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Speaker 1: And over the next two years, the volume is just staggering.
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It becomes this spree, covering multiple counties. April twenty seventeen,
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seventy six year old Norma Heywood in Richardson murdered her
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missing sapphireing only traced back to Krameir's sales records.
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Speaker 2: Years later, July twenty seventeen, ninety four year old Helen
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Donahue at Canterbury Court, her antique brooch vanishes.
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Speaker 1: And then the victim who ultimately led to his capture.
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Speaker 2: Luthigh Harris, eighty one years old in Dallas, October twenty seventeen.
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She was a victim of just cruel opportunity. Kamimeir literally
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followed her home from a Walmart parking lot after watching
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her shop, just doked her. And what's so crucial about
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her murder is that distinctive red jewelry box he took,
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along with the contents that became the tangible physical piece
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of evidence that finally nailed him.
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Speaker 1: The audacity though, even when a scene looks suspicious, like
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December twenty seventeen, eighty nine year old Virginia Cokaines found
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with a pillow over her face.
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Speaker 2: Necklace gone and still certified as natural causes because of
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her age, her frailty. The system just saw what it
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expected or maybe wanted to see.
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Speaker 1: And the money, all that stolen jewelry estimated in the millions. Yeah,
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but he wasn't living.
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Speaker 2: Large, No, not at all. He was stmatically fencing it
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online through pawnshops, funding a pretty modest, unremarkable life in
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a Dallas apartment, which again reinforces that coldly pragmatic idea
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the immense costs in human lives was just the price
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he paid to keep living his quiet, non suspicious life.
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What's really fascinating here, and why this is such a
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deep dive into institutional failure, is figuring out why why
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could Khmyer Mayer operate completely under the radar for almost
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two years killing women across what four different jurisdiction.
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Speaker 1: Yet twenty two victims cross Dallas colin other counties. That's
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not just a blind spot, that's a profound structural breakdown.
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We need to dig into that what specifically allowed this well.
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Speaker 2: The sources point to a kind of perfect storm of failures,
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a convergence of several issues. Okay, like what first, just
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baked in agism in the investigation process. Assumptions about age
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about frailty meant deaths were rarely scrutinized forensically, the way
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a younger person's death might be just written off pretty much. Second,
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you had overburdened medical exams, corners maybe lacking resources or
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specific training to spot subtle signs of foul play, and
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elderly things like smothering can be hard to detect without
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close examination.
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Speaker 1: Right.
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Speaker 2: Third, and this is huge, you had completely siloed police departments.
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Dallas PD wasn't immediately sharing info with PLANOPD, who wasn't
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necessarily talking to Richardson Pede about weird deaths and retirement homes.
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Speaker 1: So the pattern stayed invisible. Each murder looked like an
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isolated tragedy and natural death, maybe with a small theft tacked.
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Speaker 2: On exactly, And the most heartbreaking part, when families like
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San and Dion did with her mother actually reported the
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stolen jewelry, those legitimate concerns were often dismissed, chalked up
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to you know, memory issues, senior moments, maybe blaming staff,
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completely disconnected from the possibility of homicide.
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Speaker 1: The system just didn't prioritize their voices, their observations.
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Speaker 2: It really didn't. It took well, it took incredible resilience
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from a victim herself to finally break that cycle.
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Speaker 1: The turning point. March nine teen, twenty eighteen, Preston Place
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in Plano. Yeah, tell us about the survivor, Mary Annis Bartel.
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She was ninety one.
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Speaker 2: At the time, ninety one and an absolute hero. She
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answered a knock, saw Kamier mir pretending to be a handyman.
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Before she could even react, he forced his way in,
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and he was meticulous even then, immediately pulled on green
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rubber gloves, pressed a pillow to her face to muffle
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her start.
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Speaker 1: The smothering, but she fought back. She did.
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Speaker 2: Described as feisty a former teacher, she didn't give in.
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She fought back ferociously, biting him, clawing at him until
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he actually panic and fled. He only managed to grab
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her rings.
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Speaker 1: Wow, and she called nine to one one right.
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Speaker 2: Away, immediately gasping for air. But she gave a crucial
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detailed description, tall black man maybe forties, the green rubber gloves,
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and importantly details about his vehicle.
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Speaker 1: And that description, Yeah, that was the key.
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Speaker 2: That was the catalyst. Cross referenced immediately with security footage
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maybe some prior loitering complaints at that facility. It allowed
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Plano PD to quickly put a name to the suspect,
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Billy Kimermere.
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Speaker 1: And it wasn't just her, right, there was another survivor.
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Speaker 2: The sources mention another unnamed resident at Preston Place who
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also survived an attack around that time by playing dead.
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But Bartel's detailed account her immediate nine to one one call,
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that's what put Kimmermeir squarely in their sights.
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Speaker 1: So PLANOPD moves fast, but carefully. They used a minor warrant, yeah, a.
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Speaker 2: Public intoxication warrant, almost as a pretext, just to get
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him under intense round the clock surveillance. They wanted to
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catch him red handed or with definitive.
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Speaker 1: Proof, and it worked quickly.
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Speaker 2: Immediately the very next day, March twentieth, twenty eighteen, detectives
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are tailing Kimiermir to his apartment complex in Dallas, and
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then comes the critical moment the dramatic break.
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Speaker 1: What do they see?
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Speaker 2: They watch him rummaging around in a dumpster outside his complex,
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and they see him toss something specific distinctive, that red.
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Speaker 1: Jewelry box, the box belonging to Luthi Harris.
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Speaker 2: He panicked, must have a moment of desperate disposal. The
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detectives moved in right then arrested him, recovered the box,
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an inside, cash, gems and documents papers bearing the name
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luth High Harris. Wow. Officers immediately raced her home and
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they found her. The eighty one year old woman dead,
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smothered just hours earlier, and on her pillow that signature
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smear of lipstick, the subtle sign of struggle that had
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been missed so many times before.
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Speaker 1: The evidence was literally still warm in the trash. Unbelievable.
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Speaker 2: Kimermea's arrest finally triggered the response that should have happened earlier,
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Operation jewel Thief, a massive multi agency task force was formed,
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finally connecting the dots.
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Speaker 1: Dallas PD alone reviewed seven hundred and fifty cold cases
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just looking for anomalies.
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Speaker 2: Yeah searching death certificates, police reports, looking for anything suspicious.
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Between twenty ten and twenty eighteen Collin County, other jurisdictions.
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They started auditing facility records, death reports.
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Speaker 1: Too, and the evidence they pulled together it was overwhelming,
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wasn't it, Finally linking all these separate incidents across counties,
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proving the spree that had been hidden in sight?
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Speaker 2: Absolutely? Let's detail that evidence, Chane, because it's how they
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built the case. Okay, First, the digital footprint. You just
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can't argue with cell phone data these days. Ping's placed
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Kimimir's phone at twenty four different crime scenes, correlating perfectly
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with the estimated times of the attacks. GPS tracked his
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scouting trips like following Luthi Harris from that Walmart. It
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literally mapped out his calculated movements.
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Speaker 1: Okay, so location data. What else?
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Speaker 2: The jewelry matches? This provided the physical proof. Investigators painstakingly
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matched items found in his apartment or traced through pawnshop
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records online sales back to specific victims.
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Speaker 1: Like Shannon Diana identifying her mother's necklace.
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Speaker 2: Exactly her mother's unique coral necklace found among his stash.
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These weren't just random trinkets. They were definitively linked to
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the women who had died.
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Speaker 1: And Finally, the forensics, the re examinations.
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Speaker 2: Yes, this was crucial for overturning those initial natural cause rulings.
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And this is where you really see the depth of
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the initial failure. Exhoomed body re reviewed autopsy reports. They
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found the markers of asphyxiation that had been.
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Speaker 1: Missed, specifically pateechual hemorrhaging and pillow fibers.
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Speaker 2: Precisely, let's clarify that term potechual hemorrhaging.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, what exactly is that It refers to.
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Speaker 2: These tiny pinpoint spots broken capillaries, usually in the eyes,
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the eyelids, or on the face. They're the classic telltale
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sign of suffocation or strangulation, caused when blood pressure spikes
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because the airway is blocked. Okay, Now, for an older person,
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especially one with existing heart conditions, these signs can be subtle,
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easily missed or misinterpreted, but when they're present medically, they
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confirmed death wasn't peaceful, it was caused by external pressure.
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Speaker 1: And the fact that this was routinely missed in elderly
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death rulings.
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Speaker 2: That's what gave Kmermeir his window. That's what allowed him
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to operate for so long.
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Speaker 1: So they have the evidence irrefutable links to twenty two
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murders two attempted murders. The legal process must have been daunting,
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a gauntlet.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, given the sheer number of victims across different counties,
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the prosecution had to be strategic.
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Speaker 1: What was the strategy?
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Speaker 2: Focus on securing just two convictions, one in Dallas County
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one in Colin County enough to guarantee life sentences without parole.
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Speaker 1: Ah, okay, so they wouldn't have to put all twenty
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two families through trials exactly.
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Speaker 2: Pursuing all twenty two cases could have meant years, maybe decades,
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of trials, appeals, forcing every family to relive the trauma
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repeatedly in different courtrooms. Two solid convictions would provide justice, closure,
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and permanent incapacitation much faster.
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Speaker 1: Smart. But it wasn't smooth sailing at first. Was it
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the first trial?
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Speaker 2: No, it wasn't. The first trial for the murder of
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eighty seven year old Mary Brooks was in April twenty
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twenty two. It ended in a mistrial, well mistrial. Why
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the jury deadlocked apparently ten two in favor of guilt,
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but they couldn't get a unanimous verdict.
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Speaker 1: Ah. That must have been devastating for the families after waiting.
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Speaker 2: All that time, absolutely devastating. A huge emotional setback raised
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fears that the system might fail them yet again.
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Speaker 1: But the prosecution didn't give up.
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Speaker 2: No, they regrouped quickly, came back stronger with even more
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detailed evidence, and the tide turned decisively. In the retrial
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October twenty twenty two, they secured the first conviction capital
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murder for Lutha Harris. That case was built on that
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really solid evidence, the Walmart footage, the recovered red jewelry
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box with her name, and crucially the powerful video testimony
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from the survivor, Mary Anna Spartel, which showed his signature
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method and the sentence immediate life without parole.
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Speaker 1: Okay, so one conviction secured.
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Speaker 2: Then the second conviction followed for Mary Brooks. This time
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prosecutor successfully used all that pattern evidence, the lipstick smear,
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the missing gems from other victims to show this was
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a systematic campaign. They painted a picture that was just overwhelming.
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Speaker 1: And Kerriemer did he ever admit anything.
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Speaker 2: Never maintained his innocence right to the end, had this
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weak claim that he just bought the stolen loot from
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various sellers. Nobody bought it. The evidence was just too strong.
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Speaker 1: So two life sentences? What about the other cases? There
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were more indictments, right.
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Speaker 2: Nine more indictments were pending in Colin County alone, but
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with two life without parole sentences locked in, the other
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counties wisely decided not to pursue further trials or the
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death penalty, the main goal keeping him locked up forever,
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sparing families more pain had been achieved.
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Speaker 1: Right, seems like the end of the legal road. But
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then the story takes another twist, a really unexpected dark.
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Speaker 2: One, completely unexpected and yeah, pretty twisted. His end didn't
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come through the appeals courts.
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Speaker 1: No, after all that effort by the system, years of
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investigation trials, his life in suddenly in prison by violence.
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Speaker 2: It's almost surreal, isn't it. September nineteenth, twenty twenty three Kemermere,
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he was fifty by then, found dead in his cell
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Cawfield Unit, East Texas in the cause homicide, confirmed stad
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by his cellmate, a guy named Larry Blue, who was
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already doing life for murder himself. Sources said it involved
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a shank blunt for trauma. Brutal end.
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Speaker 1: Wow, and the reaction from the victims' families must have been.
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Speaker 2: Complex, very complex. Relief certainly a sense of finality, maybe
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grim vindication for some One quote really summed it up.
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I want more in a serial killer. It closed the
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chapter instantly. His appeals died with him. He couldn't drag
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them through any more legal processes.
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Speaker 1: It was over. As prosecutor Kelly Siegler said, Kimirion was
21:23
just horrifically prolific. But we can't just look at this
21:27
as a legal case or a forensic puzzle, can we.
21:30
We really need to shift focus now, humanize these statistics
21:33
again and look at the huge systemic reckoning this case forced.
21:38
Speaker 2: Absolutely, we need to remember Doris Gleeson ninety two. Her
21:42
daughter described her as this vibrant bridge player, and the
21:45
fact that her death was initially ruled natural. Discovering the
21:48
truth years later just floored. The daughter reopened that wound,
21:52
knowing her mother's final moments were violent and.
21:54
Speaker 1: Luthi Harris eighty one, a devoted gardner targeted just because
21:58
Kamier saw an opportunity while she ran in Aaron to Walmart.
22:01
Her life just reduced the value of her jeweler box.
22:03
Speaker 2: Mary Brooks eighty seven, an artist. Her creative life just
22:06
snuffed out, her body staged, her heirlooms stolen.
22:09
Speaker 1: And Marianna's broughtel Her survival made her this inadvertent hero.
22:14
Her clear testimony caped right after the assault. It blew
22:17
the case wide open.
22:18
Speaker 2: But the sheer number of victims her testimony helped uncover
22:22
that exposed these deep, undeniable cracks in the system, the
22:26
system meant to protect our most vulnerable.
22:28
Speaker 1: This case really became this stark indictment of multiple failures
22:32
in elder care in law enforcement priorities. Yeah, let's dig
22:35
into the medical side again.
22:36
Speaker 2: Well, that huge seven hundred and fifty case review by
22:40
Dallas PD, while necessary, it also just laid bare the
22:43
flaws in protocol. Serious autopsy backlogs, yes, but fundamentally a
22:48
failure to apply forensic suspicion to elderly deaths.
22:51
Speaker 1: Right, the assumption was always natural causes.
22:54
Speaker 2: Pretty much as we discussed, those subtle asphyxiation markers like
22:57
the proteculal hemorrhaging frequently missed or just explained away if
23:01
the senior had heart issues. Corners were looking for the
23:03
most likely cause, not necessarily searching for foul play.
23:06
Speaker 1: And beyond the medical side, the facilities security. Yeah, it
23:10
sounds like it was just shockingly.
23:12
Speaker 2: Lax, laughably lax in retrospect. I mean the fact that
23:14
a guy with a documented history of violent assault against
23:17
women could get certified as a healthcare aid and then
23:20
just roam freely through these facilities. It screams non existent
23:23
background checks.
23:24
Speaker 1: Poor vetting, and he exploited that, didn't.
23:26
Speaker 2: He Absolutely The sources say he exploited unlocked doors during
23:30
things like wellness checks. He took advantage of unmanned lobbies,
23:34
security systems that weren't working or didn't require checks for staff.
23:38
Speaker 1: So these places meant to be safe havens. They basically
23:41
opened the door for him through complacency cost cutting.
23:45
Speaker 2: Maybe seems like it systemic complacency is a good way
23:47
to put it, But this tragedy, it did force a
23:50
reckoning from the ground up. The victims' families, united by
23:55
this shared grief and anger, they formed an advocacy group,
23:59
Secure Our Senior Safety or SOSS, and.
24:02
Speaker 1: They've been pushing for real change.
24:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, very effectively. Their lobbying has pushed for things like
24:08
mandatory investigations into jewel thefts. Whenever an elderly person dies
24:12
regardless of the initial cause of death ruling, forcing police
24:15
to connect those dots makes sense, and they're pushing hard
24:18
for better facility security mandates, locked lobbies, mandatory digital badge
24:23
checks for everyone entering residential areas, better surveillance. Basic stuff.
24:27
Speaker 1: Really, and this got attention nationally too, right.
24:30
Speaker 2: AARP put out reports after this, urging much more attention
24:34
to unnatural causes among seniors, advocating strongly for federal elder
24:38
Abuse registries.
24:40
Speaker 1: A registry so someone like Kivermyer with prior assault records
24:43
couldn't just bounce from one care agency to another.
24:46
Speaker 2: That's the idea to stop them from slipping through the cracks.
24:49
And even legal experts like prosecutor Kelly Siegler weighed in,
24:52
pushing for major reforms like specialized geriatric forensics teams, teams.
24:57
Speaker 1: Trained specifically to spot those subtle sig in elderly victims exactly.
25:02
Speaker 2: And she also pushed for family advocacy hotlines so when
25:05
a family member calls worried about missing items or something strange,
25:09
their concerns aren't just instantly brushed off as grief or
25:12
senior moments. They get logged, investigated seriously as potential crime indicators.
25:17
Speaker 1: It really comes down to listening and prioritizing it does.
25:20
Speaker 2: The ultimate lesson here is painful. Our elderly are often
25:23
culturally deprioritized. Their vulnerabilities, physical and systemic, get exploited by
25:28
predators like cameramer and.
25:29
Speaker 1: While dedicated police work and the incredible courage of Marianna's
25:32
Bartell eventually caught him. Yeah, the systems failed repeatedly.
25:38
Speaker 2: Vigilance from families is critical, yes, yeah, but the systems
25:41
themselves have to be reformed so that societal neglect doesn't
25:44
enable the next camera mare. So we've walked through this
25:49
pretty harrowing story of prolific systematic crime spree. We detailed
25:54
how a certified healthcare aid carried out this campaign by
25:58
well ruthlessly exploiting lacks security and that pervasive assumption that
26:02
deaths in old age don't need much forensic scrutiny.
26:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, and unraveling it took meticulous police work, finally getting
26:09
counties to talk to each other, and just the sheer
26:11
grit of survivors like Marianna Spartel to expose the true
26:14
horrifying scope of it all. And as we wrap up
26:17
this deep dive we're left really staring at that core fact.
26:20
Those initial small alarms sounded by families about stolen rings, necklaces,
26:25
they were just routinely dismissed, senior moments, simple confusion. Yeah,
26:29
and that dismissal, that societal blind spot, It was maybe
26:33
the killer's greatest shield for two long years.
26:35
Speaker 2: It absolutely enabled him.
26:36
Speaker 1: So it forces us to leave you, the listener, with
26:39
a final provocative question, given that reality, what concrete steps
26:44
can you take now in your own family, maybe in
26:47
your community's institutions. How do we set up ways to
26:50
ensure that when an elderly person expresses concerned about small anomalies,
26:54
missing items, strange occurrences, that their voice isn't dismissed.
26:58
Speaker 2: How do we build systems that are actually forced to listen?
27:01
Something important for all of us to consider. It may
27:03
be act
27:04
Speaker 1: Upon, definitely something to think about, Stay informed,