1: The Unlocked Door

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Unforgotten - Season 2, Episode 1: "The Unlocked Door"

Introduction

The Unforgotten, presented by Free Range Productions, delves deep into the harrowing true story of one of Dallas's most prolific serial killers targeting senior living communities. In the premiere episode of Season 2, titled "The Unlocked Door," host Charlie Scudder unpacks the chilling details of these unresolved murders, the systemic failures that allowed them to continue, and the personal stories of the victims and their families. Released on October 14, 2024, this episode serves as a critical examination of ageism and vulnerabilities within senior care systems.

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Setting the Scene: Preston Place Apartments

The narrative begins at Preston Place Apartments in Plano, Texas, an independent living senior community designed to offer autonomy to its residents. Charlie Scudder introduces listeners to the community, highlighting its open-air hallways and accessible amenities. Despite its appearance as a safe haven, Preston Place becomes the epicenter of a series of tragic events.

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The Attack on Mary Bartel

On March 19, 2018, Jackie Midkiff discovered her friend Mary Bartel unconscious in her apartment at Preston Place. The episode recounts the tense moments as Jackie contacts emergency services:

• Dispatcher (00:01:07): "Are you inside with your neighbor?"

• Charlie Scudder (03:07): "Paramedics rushed to Mary's side..."

Mary's initial testimonies at the hospital reveal a terrifying encounter:

• Mary Bartel (03:57): "I knew instantly when I saw those two green rubber gloves. Number one, I should not have opened the door. Number two, my life was in grave danger." [03:57]

She describes how an unknown assailant forced her onto the bed, making her unable to move or call for help. This account was puzzling to the paramedics, who initially dismissed it as a nightmare since Mary was found in her bed, not at the gym where she attended classes.

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The Tragedy Strikes Again: Ann Conklin's Death

Simultaneously, Jenny Bassett arrives at Preston Place to find her mother, Ann Conklin, lifeless across the hall from Mary Bartel. Jenny recounts the shock of discovering her mother's body:

• Jenny Bassett (07:07): "She just was very rattled by the whole thing, like I said. And then she called me immediately and she said, oh my goodness, you're going to be so mad at me..."

The coincidental timing of these two deaths raises suspicions, hinting at a serial pattern that had gone unnoticed.

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A Prolific Serial Killer Emerges

Charlie Scudder delves into the broader series of murders targeting seniors across multiple communities in North Texas. Beginning in early 2016, a string of deaths marked by missing valuables suggested a pattern:

• Catherine Propst Sinclair (04:00): An 87-year-old physician found dead, with valuables missing. Her nephew suspected foul play, but authorities attributed her death to natural causes.

• Solomon Spring (08:11): The only male victim found dead in a pool of blood, yet still declared a natural death.

The pattern continued with multiple women found dead in various senior living communities, all initially ruled as natural deaths despite evidence of theft.

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Investigation and Uncovering the Truth

As suspicions grew, Plano detectives began investigating the anomalies:

• Detective Insight: "If this string of robberies and deaths had happened on a college campus like Southern Methodist University, it would have been a top news story..."

The breakthrough came with Mary Bartel's detailed testimony, leading police to identify Billy Kipkorir Shamirmir, a 45-year-old Kenyan immigrant and former senior caregiver. His modus operandi involved smothering victims to avoid detection by mimicking natural deaths and stealing valuables.

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Systemic Failures and Ageism

A critical theme explored in the episode is the role of ageism in allowing these crimes to persist:

• Linda Prickett (22:25): "Ageism first, second and third ageism... because no one cares about this population."

• Dr. Michael Wasserman (22:29): A geriatrician emphasizing the need for societal change in how elders are perceived and protected.

The episode argues that societal indifference and systemic oversights facilitated the continuation of Shamirmir's killing spree, highlighting the urgent need for better security and respect for senior communities.

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Personal Stories and Community Impact

Through interviews with victims' families and community members, the episode paints a poignant picture of loss and resilience:

• Karen Harris (25:36): Describes discovering her mother's body and the unique grief of knowing her death was a result of malicious intent.

• Jenny Bassett (32:17): Reflects on her mother's pragmatic approach to safety and the dismissive attitudes towards early warnings.

These personal narratives underscore the human cost of the systemic failures discussed earlier.

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Conclusion: Lessons and Moving Forward

Charlie Scudder concludes the episode by contemplating what could have been done differently to prevent these tragedies. He emphasizes the importance of vigilance, better investigative practices, and societal respect for the elderly to ensure such stories do not repeat.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Mary Bartel (03:57): "I knew instantly when I saw those two green rubber gloves. Number one, I should not have opened the door. Number two, my life was in grave danger."

• Linda Prickett (22:25): "Ageism first, second and third ageism... because no one cares about this population."

• Karen Harris (31:02): "If I thought that my mom had died of natural causes, I would have still been sad, but I could have been joyous knowing that she was in heaven with my dad. It's such a different level of grief when you know that someone has mistreated your loved one."

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Final Thoughts

"The Unlocked Door" serves as a gripping introduction to Season 2 of The Unforgotten, blending investigative journalism with deeply personal stories to shed light on a dark chapter in Dallas's history. Through meticulous research and compelling storytelling, Charlie Scudder not only recounts the events but also challenges listeners to reflect on societal attitudes towards aging and the imperative to protect our most vulnerable populations.

Transcript

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[Dispatcher]

We have a neighbor if we cannot awake.

[Charlie Scudder]

It's Monday, March 19, 2018 at Preston Place Apartments in Plano, Texas, about a half hour north of downtown Dallas.

[Dispatcher]

Are you inside with your neighbor? Yeah. Okay. And I'm going to be asking you two questions, okay?

[Charlie Scudder]

Yeah.

[Dispatcher]

Okay. So we could have the paramedics on the way while I ask you any questions. All right. And are you with the patient now? Yes, I am with the patient now. Okay. And how old are. She was dying.

[Charlie Scudder]

Preston Place isn't an assisted living facility or a nursing home, but what the senior industry calls independent living. Its 15 buildings have open air hallways. And although there is a big gate at the front of the complex, visitors are free to come and go. Six days a week, Jackie Midkiff walked down the hall to the apartment of her friend Mary Bartel. And the pair would walk to the community's central building for a workout class. But this morning, Jackie found the door slightly ajar. When she knocked, Mary didn't answer. She peeked inside and found her friend lying on the bed, unconscious. That's when she called 911.

[Dispatcher]

Is she awake? No, she is mild. Weight? She is freezing. Okay. Is everything completely normal? No, don't think so.

[Charlie Scudder]

The dispatcher had Jackie count Mary's breaths. Then she told Jackie how to keep Mary's airway open until paramedics arrived. Jackie put her ear next to Mary's mouth and could feel her breathing.

[Dispatcher]

Now the next one now. Okay, good. Is her head still close to that? Yes, her head is still good. Bag and keep her like that. The paramedics are starting to pull into the first one you'll see those are 41. That. She's just like that till they get there. Okay? Okay. Come in. Are they there? Yeah. Okay, I'll let you show. You did a great job. Thank you so much.

[Charlie Scudder]

Paramedics rushed to Mary's side, placing four sticky tabs to her body to monitor her heart with an EKG test. They saw she had a pacemaker that was forcing her heart to beat to keep her alive. One paramedic took his knuckle and pressed it hard into her chest bone, just enough for it to hurt, just enough for her to wake up. It worked, and Mary slowly opened her eyes. As she started to wake up, she started to speak. First, she said that a man had attacked her at the gym. The paramedics thought it was a bad nightmare. She obviously was on her bed, not at the gym, which was in a completely different building. But unlike a dream, Mary's story didn't drift away. As she gained consciousness, it became more real with more details. She said that a man had come to her door, a black man with green gloves.

[Dispatcher]

I knew instantly when I saw those two green rubber gloves. Number one, I should not have opened the door. Number two, my life was in grave danger.

[Charlie Scudder]

This is from Mary's sworn testimony about the attack.

[Dispatcher]

I tried to push the door shut. He said, don't fight me. Lie on the bed. So I did as he said because I knew I could not overpower him physically. He just smashed toe down hard over my face and my chest.

[Charlie Scudder]

Mary tried to reach for her medical alert button, but couldn't get to it.

[Dispatcher]

There was no way I could even move my hand toward the medical alert button. He was just using all his weight to keep me from breathing at all. After, I don't know, three minutes, I pass out.

[Charlie Scudder]

The paramedics weren't sure what to make of Mary's story about this man with the green gloves. Police had arrived, too, as part of their normal routine after her friend Jackie's 911 call, the officers interviewed Jackie, taking down details as Mary was loaded into an ambulance and driven away to the hospital. That's around the time that another woman named Jenny Bassett got to Preston Place. Two years earlier, she had moved her mother, Ann Conklin, there from the Miami area.

[Jenny Bassett]

My mom is very independent. We chose that place because, really, it's about as independent as you can get.

[Charlie Scudder]

Jenny didn't work, and Ann was widowed. Being so close to Jenny and the grandkids was a perfect situation for both of them. And Ann wasn't alone at Preston Place. She had an older dog that she'd adopted before moving to Texas.

[Jenny Bassett]

Helen is a blind dog. Helen Keller. That's the humor my mom has. She got him from the pound because she was blind. And they were going to just euthanize her and my mom wasn't going to have any part of that.

[Charlie Scudder]

Jenny. Jenny was supposed to take her mother garden shopping that morning, but was surprised when her mom's door was locked. Ann never kept her door locked. Jenny had to drive home to get a key and was starting to get nervous by the time she got back. So nervous that she didn't even notice the ambulance in the parking lot and the cops outside Mary's apartment just across the hall from her mother's. Jenny heard Helen barking as she put her key into the lock. She expected to hear her mother telling the dog to calm down and at any second open the door.

[Jenny Bassett]

And she was on the floor right there, like right when you walk in. Helen's on her leash, kind of running around my mom barking up a storm. My mom has a jacket on her vest and she's face down, one side's up, and I mean, she didn't look right. Right away I knew it wasn't good. And so I guess I threw everything. I threw in my purse, my keys, and panicked and started screaming and I backed up. And as I'm backing up, I run into the policeman that was at Mary's. So he goes in there and I said, is she alive? Is she alive? And he's like, no, she's not.

[Charlie Scudder]

She's passed two elderly women across the hall from each other. One dead, one left unconscious. In the moment, it might have seemed like an awful coincidence, but it wasn't. What happened to Mary Bartel and her neighbor Ann Conklin had happened to dozens of older adults across north Texas. They were victims of one of the most prolific serial killers in Texas history. When you think of a serial killer, what comes to mind? You may think of fictional characters like Hannibal Lecter and Norman Bates, or real life killers like Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer. In the true crime world of pop culture, we think of charismatic killers, psychopaths working in darkness to leave cryptic, blood stained clues for intrepid investigators to piece together just before the credits roll. This story isn't that these murders happened in broad daylight in communities built to protect some of society's most vulnerable people. But few people even noticed it was happening. It's the kind of thing that could happen anywhere.

[Dispatcher]

Charlie.

[Charlie Scudder]

I'm Charlie Scudder, and I've spent the past five years reporting this story for the Dallas Morning News and the Guardian newspapers, breaking stories about the case, building sources and trust among victims, families, attorneys and investigators. In the next nine episodes, I'm going to take you behind the scenes of that investigation to tell this story. I've spent countless hours poring over thousands of pages of documents, including police reports, depositions, criminal affidavits, crime scene photographs, property records and autopsy reports. My team and I have interviewed dozens of people connected to the case, including Dallas attorneys, Texas lawmakers, police detectives, forensic pathologists, prosecutors, victims and their families, and even the man accused of one of the deadliest killing sprees in Texas history.

[Jenny Bassett]

Hello, this is a collect call from.

[Sponsor]

Really an incarcerated individual at Dallas County.

[Dispatcher]

Jail.

[Charlie Scudder]

But we'll get to him later. In the meantime, we'll do what the police, medical examiners, senior living facilities and more either failed or refused to do. String together evidence that points to systemic flaws in the way all of us care for our aging relatives. Why were officials so quick to assume that these active, healthy women had dropped dead of natural causes? Why was it so difficult to protect them and all our older loved ones while still preserving their independence and autonomy? And what can be done to make sure it doesn't happen again from free range this is season two of the Unforgotten Unnatural Causes Chapter one the Unlocked Door.

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[Charlie Scudder]

There's something really familiar about Mary Bartell's story to me. She was born and raised in rural northwestern Illinois. I grew up in a suburb of the Dallas Fort Worth area, but my grandparents hail from southern Wisconsin and northern Indiana, not far from Mary's hometown. The moment I first heard A recording of Mary's sworn testimony. I recognized the Midwestern accent. Not quite as harsh as how they talk in Chicago. Not the long vowels of Fargo, but softer, more subtle. Can you please introduce yourself and spell your name?

[Dispatcher]

I'm Mary A. Bartel. Mary is the usual spelling. M A, R, Y. And Bartel is B, as in ba.

[Charlie Scudder]

It was my grandmother's accent, but it wasn't just that. The way she spoke, her sense of humor. It was clear that Mary and my mom were cut from the same cloth. Around the time that Mary was found unconscious in her apartment at Preston Place, my family was starting to consider moving mom into a similar independent living community. She had fallen a few times and was about to start chemotherapy treatment. My grandfather had died years earlier, and her big house was a lot to manage. We worried about her slipping down the long stairwell to the basement. My dad and his siblings wanted to make sure she was well cared for, of course. But there was more than that. Mom didn't want to leave the house, and we wanted her to be somewhere that felt like home. She was dubious of strangers, and we wanted somewhere secure where she'd be protected but not imprisoned. I'm sure your family has had similar concerns about someone you love. We try to find somewhere they'll be taken care of, where the food is good and they'll be comfortable. Somewhere that has a knitting club, throws holiday parties. Sometimes the move is their idea, but often it's not. The best of us. Bring groceries, fix the computer, take them to church. We understand that this will likely be their last chapter. Even in places of comfort, Especially in places of comfort, death finds a way in. When that day comes, we reassure ourselves that it was peaceful, natural. Even if there was pain, we hope it was brief. There's a wide range of options for families trying to make those difficult decisions with and. And sometimes for their older relatives. Some estimates suggest that the senior living market is worth over $900 billion in the U.S. that's more than the GDP of Switzerland. And it makes sense why there's so much money in it. One out of every four Americans is a baby boomer. And the boomers are getting older. By the end of this decade, all of them will be over the age of 65. That's a huge influx of older Americans. At last count, there are more than 30,000 residential communities nationwide to house them. There's sprawling retirement towns exclusively for older adults. There's the very wide range of nursing homes, from the disturbingly dingy to the luxurious spa like residences of the ultra wealthy. Then there's places like Highland Springs. Hi. Visiting Linda Prickett. Oh, yeah, I'm that guy. Yeah. I'm at a small guard shack outside Highland Springs Senior Living community in far north Dallas. It's an independent living community, a lot like Preston Place. My host, a fairly new resident named Linda, wants to show me around. She's already called ahead to make sure the security team knows that my producer Monique and I are coming. You guys know where to go. We have been given directions. The guard hands us a map and raises the gate as we drive into the huge apartment complex. It includes 18 interconnected buildings spread over 90 acres. There's a few more buildings currently under construction. The hallways have names like Main street and Market street to help residents know where they're going. But still, it feels like a maze. Linda's building, called Cypress Landing, is one of the newer ones. She greets us outside and we walk through a wide set of automatic doors into a big open foyer with a fireplace and comfy seating. We got good directions.

[Linda Prickett]

Oh, good.

[Charlie Scudder]

They were. They were expecting us.

[Sponsor]

Sounding like, oh yes, they were.

[Linda Prickett]

You don't get in here, they don't expect you.

[Charlie Scudder]

First things first. Linda shows me around.

[Linda Prickett]

Slow down just a little, Charlie. Slow down just a little bit. This is our fitness center. This is our coffee room. This is the young man that takes care of us if we have a problem, we tell him. This is our pickleball court.

[Charlie Scudder]

Linda's tour is comprehensive.

[Linda Prickett]

And this is the library. And this is all the newspapers in the whole world. There are two lunch restaurants. There's the pub, which we love. On Friday night, this man teaches us aerobics every morning at 10:00.

[Charlie Scudder]

She walks us through the hallways past apartment doors and big glass windows. Outside there are picnic areas, a pond with a whitewashed gazebo, a putting green Frisbee golf course. In front of each apartment door is a little shelf decorated by the residents to show off a bit of their personality. Some include framed Bible verses or an American flag. Others have faded wedding Pictures proudly celebrating 65 years. 70 years. Linda hands me an eight page activity guide for the community. There's 18 faith groups, including a Catholic mass, Episcopal communion and a weekly Torah talk. Classes include watercolors with Jan on Wednesdays and a one day workshop on discovering the inner child. There's two billiards groups, six bridge clubs, five dominoes and mahjong groups and two chess clubs. There's support groups for Alzheimer's caregivers, AA support, grief support, low vision, Parkinson's and more.

[Linda Prickett]

And I will have to say this, it took us a little while to figure it all out. It's tricky.

[Charlie Scudder]

At one point, we pass a sign touting a referral program to encourage residents to get their friends to move to Highland Springs too.

[Linda Prickett]

And if you will live here, we'll get some money, but you have to be 64.

[Charlie Scudder]

Oh, okay. Well, I might need a way to. Linda takes us up to her place, a spacious two bedroom, two bath apartment with bright white carpets and gray granite countertops. Linda has invited a couple friends over.

[Linda Prickett]

I'm Linda Prickett. I will be 83 in August. And I am Ruth Hunt.

[Dispatcher]

I'm 86 in May.

[Jenny Bassett]

I think that's it.

[Dispatcher]

I'm Susie Kimbrough. I am B82 in October.

[Charlie Scudder]

As we chat, they tell me something I hadn't expected to hear.

[Linda Prickett]

It's kind of a freedom. There's something about a freedom being here.

[Charlie Scudder]

So that's really interesting because I think that again, from the outside looking in, I think people think going to a retirement community, going to a senior community, it feels like you're trapped. Do you not not feel that way?

[Linda Prickett]

No, absolutely not. Freedom to go and do what we want to, but be secure. When we're here, the children don't have to take care of us. We don't have to worry about the houses. We don't have to be as frightened about health care because it's here meals, wonderful meals here that we don't have to cook if we don't want to.

[Charlie Scudder]

Another reason I reached out to Linda in particular is because in 2016, one of her church friends was murdered in a similar independent living community not far away. I reached out to Linda because I knew that when she was looking for a new community to live, the death of her church friend was on her mind. Part of why she settled on Highland Springs is because of that big guard gate I drove through and the strict security the community provides. But when we sat down in Linda's apartment, I didn't know, and she didn't know that her two neighbors, Ruth and Susie, were also close friends of two other victims. Would you mind talking a little bit about your friends, about Carolyn and Sue?

[Linda Prickett]

Sue was a doctor's wife, and she.

[Jenny Bassett]

Was just a very vibrant person who.

[Charlie Scudder]

Liked people and was doing things all the time.

[Jenny Bassett]

She was a happy spirit.

[Charlie Scudder]

She was a smile. She was a sunflower.

[Dispatcher]

Carolyn. We got into more trouble together because we were such close friends. And both of us just loved doing and going and all of that. It's just hard for me to believe that she had to go through that because she was a very vibrant, fun person and everybody loved her.

[Charlie Scudder]

What was your reaction when you found out what really happened?

[Dispatcher]

It made me realize it's a scary world and you can't trust anybody.

[Charlie Scudder]

Now I want to pause here and tell you a bit more about this case. Our story starts in early 2016. That's the earliest death we know of anyway. It could have started even earlier, but there's no way to say for sure. On April 8, 2016, Catherine Propst Sinclair, an 87 year old retired physician, was found dead in her apartment at Edgemere, a senior living community in Dallas. Her nephew, who helped settle her estate, suspected foul play after her safe and other valuables couldn't be found and demanded a police report be filed. No one really took it seriously and an autopsy said her death was due to natural causes. Over the next two months, two more women died at Edgemere and valuables reported missing. Both deaths were attributed to natural causes. In July 2016, more seniors started dying at the Tradition Prestonwood, another luxury senior living community in Dallas. All natural causes. On October 1st, Solomon Spring, the only alleged male victim, was found dead at the Tradition Prestonwood despite being found in a pool of blood. His death was attributed to natural causes too, and still is, according to the Dallas medical Examiner. That month, three more women were found dead. All were missing jewelry and other valuables. All natural causes. Then, a year later, in September 2017, the deaths began at a senior living community in the suburb of Frisco, Texas. Two women were killed there that month. On October 29th, a woman at Parkview Frisco named Ella Lawson survived an attack saying a man had come in and tried to smother her with a pillow. Police took a report, but no one followed up. For years, most of the victims of these serial killings were very wealthy and secure in their housing at high end senior living communities. Yet they were specifically targeted because of their age and where they lived. Because they were older adults living in senior living communities, Police, medical examiners, property managers and more ignored the evidence of these crimes over and over. That means we have no clue how many victims there really are. To this day, I'm a journalism professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. It's not far from the neighborhoods where a lot of these senior communities are. Can you imagine if this string of robberies and deaths had happened on a college campus like that? It would have been a top news story. Parents would pull their kids from the dorms. Politicians would get involved demanding better security at communities for young people. What made these killings so different, so easy to overlook.

[Linda Prickett]

Ageism first, second and third ageism.

[Charlie Scudder]

This is Dr. Michael Wasserman. He's a geriatrician and an advocate for older adults.

[Linda Prickett]

And the industry is like, well, you know, that's a one off. That's not what happens every day. Well, true, but it's a symptom of a bigger problem. And the reason this happened, the reason this guy got away with it, is ageism. We need stories like the one you're telling, which in its own way shows that one person could get away with murder because no one cares about this population. Society just in general doesn't care. There's a lot of people who care. The families care. Those of us in the field of geriatrics, which is a dwindling field, we care. But from a policy perspective, from a political perspective, from a society perspective, we have to look in the mirror and say, how do we view our elders?

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[Charlie Scudder]

In late 2017, the attacks against seniors in and around Dallas started to pick up frequency. Minnie Campbell, Diane Delahunty and maybe Delmia were killed at Preston Place in Plano between October and December. Back at the tradition Prestonwood, Doris Wasserman was killed two days before Christmas. Three more women were all found dead in their private homes in the Dallas area over the next six weeks. Which brings us to March 2018 at Preston Place. A resident was found dead there on Sunday, March 4th. That Wednesday, March 7th, a stranger knocked on Miriam Nelson's door at Preston Place. Miriam was 81. She could play the piano by ear and did so in church. Growing up, she was a die hard Texas A and M Aggies fan and would always prepare a huge spread for game days at her house. Her daughter, Karen Harris, and son in law Cliff Harris, the Dallas Cowboys hall of Famer, lived just a few minutes away from Preston Place.

[Karen Harris]

My mom had just had groceries delivered and the grocery delivery person had just left. And within a minute there was a knock at her door and she said, come in. Assuming it was them returning with something.

[Charlie Scudder]

That they'd forgotten, Karen said that her mother didn't recognize the man who entered. He said he was there with maintenance to check for a pipe leak. That made her nervous. So she stayed sitting in her recliner, gripping her cell phone and pointed to the bathroom.

[Karen Harris]

It wasn't that off that this person came in, but it was off that she didn't recognize him. And she knew all of the workers at Preston Place. She'd been there a year and a half, so she knew everyone in maintenance. And she never got it from her chair. But he did get out of her vision. He went into her bathroom in her bedroom, probably was in her apartment less than five minutes. And as he was walking out, she said, now, I'm sorry, tell me your name again. And he left. And she immediately got up, locked the door and called the office to ask if they had dispatched him. They didn't answer the phone. She left a very detailed message and then she started calling all of her neighbors.

[Charlie Scudder]

One of those neighbors told Miriam that a year ago, the same thing had happened to her. A man had come to the door saying he was there to check for pipe leaks. When the neighbor got suspicious and said her daughter was on her way for a visit. The stranger left without a word.

[Karen Harris]

She just was very rattled by the whole thing, like I said. And then she called me immediately and she said, oh my goodness, you're going to be so mad at me that I said, come in. And I said, well, you know, Mom, I'm not mad at you, but let's try to be more careful, you know, keep that door locked and just look through the peephole and make sure it's somebody you recognize.

[Charlie Scudder]

Miriam asked that her adult grandson stay with her that night at her apartment at Preston Place. This wasn't unusual. Karen's son Jason often spent the night in his Mimi's apartment.

[Karen Harris]

I mean, he would go at least one day a week and spend the night with her and she would cook him a meal. My mom was a fabulous cook. They would Watch movies. One week it would be his movie, and the next week it would be her movie. You know, he would have to suffer through To Kill a Mockingbird, and then she would have to suffer through the Terminator. You know, they just would have a great time. And she said, you know what I'd like is for Jason to come spend the night. Can you call him? So I did. I immediately called Jason, explained what had happened, and he said, I'm there. He loaded up his truck and went over there. He actually took a gun and then sent me a picture of the gun on the counter, which I remember relevant my eyes laughing and thinking, oh, that's a little extreme, you know. And they had a great night together. And the next morning, he went up, went to the office, chewed them out, said, you know, you guys shouldn't be letting people walk around the property. You know, y'all gotta get these things fixed. The gates are always inoperable.

[Charlie Scudder]

That was Thursday. Karen and her mom talked a lot on the phone over the next two days. Miriam realized that a diamond necklace that her husband had made for her was missing.

[Karen Harris]

She did mention, she goes, you know, when that man came in, I think he stole one of my pieces of jewelry. She said, I think he stole my diamond necklace. And she said, you know, it didn't mean anything to anybody but me. And I said, oh, gosh, Mom, I'm so sorry. I'll file a claim on it for you. It wasn't my style. I'd kill for it now, you know, just for the sentiment behind it. But, yeah, And I was on my way in to buy my husband something at the store, and I said, can I get you anything? And she told me what she needed. We had a real good laugh about it. She needed bras. I mean, every time I tell that story, it just makes me smile because she was just giggling, telling me, yeah, I know it's weird that you're having to buy me bras, but just go in and get several and I'll try them all on and see if any of them fit, you know? I called her and I said, now tell me what size again. She said, I don't know, honey. Just find me the biggest one they have. I'm like, oh, my goodness, Mom. We just had a big chuckle. And that was the last conversation I had with her.

[Charlie Scudder]

Karen had meant to go straight from the store back to Preston Place after her shopping trip, but got distracted when her husband called and made plans to go out to dinner. She forgot to tell her mother. It wasn't until later that night that she tried calling Miriam, it went straight to voicemail. Karen decided to drive over and check on her mom.

[Karen Harris]

When I got to her apartment and I pulled in front of her apartment, I looked up and I saw a light on. And I thought, well, that's a good time. But then when I walked in the apartment, the light that I'd seen on was the kitchen light. And her living room was dark. Her bedroom was dark. And I just started shouting her name. And I even went in her bedroom and shouted her name, but I didn't flip the light on yet. And I kept running around trying, you know, looking in all the rooms, and went back to her bedroom and flipped the light on, and I saw her lying in her bed, and I knew instantly she was gone. You do get kind of blurry, and I don't know if that's God helping us, like, trying to fuzzy your memory a little bit. It was just horrible. It was. I was hysterical. And I remember when the police, the paramedics arrived first.

[Charlie Scudder]

Karen called 911 police and paramedics arrived. And that's when Karen remembered the intruder two days earlier and asked if her mother was wearing any jewelry. She wasn't. By this point, some Plano detectives had begun developing suspicions about what was happening at Preston Place. One of those detectives was at Miriam's apartment that night.

[Karen Harris]

He said, I need your permission to investigate this as a murder because there have been other incidents around this facility with deaths and missing jewelry. And I said, here at Preston Place? And when he said yes, I just almost fell to my knees. I felt like I had an elephant sitting on my chest. I just. Again, I was in shock. You know, if I thought that my mom had died of natural causes, a heart attack or a stroke or any natural cause, I would have still been sad to lose my mom, my best friend, this wonderful grandmother to my children. But I could have been joyous knowing that she was in heaven with my dad. It's such a different level of grief when you know that someone has mistreated your loved one.

[Charlie Scudder]

In the days after rumors started flying around Preston Place, someone put up flyers reminding residents to lock their doors. But Ann Conklin ignored the rumors as overdramatic gossip.

[Jenny Bassett]

She was very pragmatic when that. Situations like that arose.

[Charlie Scudder]

That's Jenny Bassett, Ann's daughter, who you heard from earlier.

[Jenny Bassett]

She felt that that was. There was a lot of gossip. I always called, like, my mom's place, like being a freshman in college, which, consequently, I wish they treated it like college and went into lockdown when some of this crap was happening. She was one of those people that would say, you can't live your life in fear. We would always, we would even giggle. We would just say, I know, but mom, you look at where you live. I mean, we would just say those jokes, like, look where you live. And she's like, yeah, they either go to the assisted living or they're in a coffin. I mean, I mean, we would just make jokes. My mom was very funny.

[Charlie Scudder]

On the morning of March 19, Jackie Midkiff found Mary Bartel unconscious. Then Jenny found her mother's body across the hall. While police consoled Jenny and began sealing off Ann's apartment, Mary began to describe her attacker to detectives at the hospital. Police used a suspicious vehicle report from Preston Place to identify a suspect, Billy Kipkorir Shamirmir, a 45 year old Kenyan immigrant who had worked on and off as an at home senior caregiver. He also had a habit of buying and selling jewelry online and at cash for gold shops, mostly selling. He was arrested the next day gripping jewelry and cash from one last victim, leading police to one last body. Only then did police start reinvestigating hundreds of cases as possible homicides, piecing together cell phone data, sales records and old reports of thefts and unattended deaths. They exhumed two women conducting new autopsies and the medical examiner pored over the evidence, slowly changing the causes of death. Police said Shamirmer used his experience as a senior caregiver and his friendliness with older adults to find his victims. He was often well dressed in slacks and a button up shirt. He wore gloves. He looked professional. But once inside, he'd force the women to the floor or to the bed and use a pillow to smother them to death. And in that method, Shamir Mir avoided detection. Strangulation can leave bright red marks or purplish black bruising and other signs, but smothering deaths do not Even trained forensic investigators with experience in smothering deaths like the ones in Dallas county wouldn't be able to tell unless they were already looking for a smothering case. Nearly all of the deaths were attributed to heart attacks, aneurysms, strokes and other natural causes and raised no alarm bells for those investigators to look more closely. Once the women were dead, Shamir Mir raided the apartment using a magnet. He'd check for real gold and silver rather than fakes. He left the costume jewelry and snatched up the valuables from their keepsake drawers and cash from their purses. Within minutes, he listed the diamond rings with online sales apps like OfferUp, and made plans to sell those precious metals at unscrupulous cash for gold shops in Dallas. He'd then walk out the back door, no one the wiser. In other cases, he'd case the parking lot of a Walmart in North Dallas, waiting for an older, single woman to park in the handicapped spots. Then he'd follow them inside, casually faking a phone call while trailing them from aisle to aisle. Once they checked out, he'd follow the car out of the parking lot and to their private home. Then the story was the same. He'd force his way inside, smother the women, raid the house, and leave undetected. Prosecutors would later summarize the case as one of stalking, smothering, and stealing. But what if the killing spree could have been stopped earlier? What if a security guard at one of those senior communities had noticed something odd about all these deaths and thefts? What if, after detaining a man for trespassing, that guard spent hours searching through grainy security camera footage and found the same man on the property at the time of every one of the suspicious deaths, nearly two years before Mary Bartel was attacked in Plano? Because that's exactly what happened. I thought, okay, he's got a pattern.

[Sponsor]

We know what day.

[Charlie Scudder]

We know what door.

[Sponsor]

We know what time.

[Charlie Scudder]

Next time on the Unforgotten. Unnatural Causes. I was obsessed.

[Sponsor]

I was obsessed.

[Charlie Scudder]

I just knew something was wrong with that guy. Did you suspect him of murder at that point? Yeah, I for sure did. The Unforgotten is a free Rage production Season two Unnatural Causes is created, written and hosted by me, Charlie Scudder. Our producer is Wes Ferguson. Associate producer is Monika Watkins. Audio, editing, engineering, mixing and mastering by Austin Sisler at Eastside Studios in Austin, Texas. Theme song and Sound design by AJ LeGrand. Wes Ferguson is the executive producer at Free Range. Special thanks to the Dallas Morning News and the division of Journalism at Southern Methodist University's Meadows School of the Arts. SA.