3. The Sisterhood

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Unforgotten, Episode 3 – "The Sisterhood"

Podcast: The Unforgotten
Host: Charlie Scudder
Episode: 3. The Sisterhood
Date: October 28, 2024

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Main Theme

This episode delves into the personal stories of women whose mothers were victims at the Tradition Prestonwood, an upscale Dallas senior living community that became the hunting ground of serial killer Billy Shamirmir. Through the perspectives of bereaved daughters, the episode explores the intersection of personal loss, systemic neglect, the vulnerabilities of senior residents, and the tension between corporate interests and resident safety. The narrative reveals how a pattern of thefts and unexplained deaths was minimized or ignored, raising questions about oversight, accountability, and profit motives in the senior living industry.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Norma French's Story: Routine, Loss, and Missing Jewelry

• Ellen House shares memories of her mother, Norma French, and their close relationship.
  • Anecdote about a cherished, irremovable wedding ring:
    • “She said, oh, I don’t take it off anymore. She said, I can't get it over my knuckle.” – Ellen House [00:38]
  • In Fall 2016, Norma, then 85, visited Ellen in Indianapolis.
  • Norma expressed concerns about the rising death rate among her neighbors at the Tradition; she considered moving for safety.
  • Norma’s worries:
    • “Oh, I don’t want to be sitting there for days.” – Norma French (recounted by Ellen House) [02:41]
• Norma died unexpectedly just weeks later. Ellen and her sister Laurie could not reach her and asked staff at the Tradition to check on their mother.
  • Daughter’s aftermath:
    • “I wanted to see her earthly body before I never saw it again.” – Ellen House [05:13]
• Upon preparing the body for donation, the family realizes Norma’s wedding ring (and other jewelry) is missing.
  • A tense, awkward search for valuables ensues, with staff suggesting to “Check her panty drawers. Old women hide their jewelry in their panty drawers.” – Ed Sanchez, facilities manager [06:20]
  • Family becomes suspicious: “It’s obvious it was pried off her finger.” – Ellen House [07:34]

2. Pattern of Deaths and Thefts at the Tradition

• Ellen’s fears heightened by missing keys and the absence of other valuables (Rolex watch, gold cross, cash).
• The police report is underwhelming and fails to accurately portray the substantial losses. For a suspect, the officer checks “victim” and “unknown.” [08:21]
• The first official investigation into possible foul play at the Tradition is initiated after Ellen and Laurie’s claims of theft.
  • Notably, this comes after multiple deaths had already occurred at the facility.

3. Doris Gleason's Story & The Sisterhood

• Shannon Dion recalls the charisma and presence of her mother, Doris Gleason.
  • “At 5’2” and tiny little lady, she just had a command about her.” – Shannon Dion [10:05]
  • Doris was a beloved member of the Tradition, participating in clubs, activities, and family routines.
• Doris’ death is discovered by her daughter, who also cannot find an item of deep emotional significance—a guardian angel necklace that Doris never removed.
  • On missing jewelry:
    • “All I got were her wedding rings… and the necklace is nowhere to be found. And that was a big alarm.” – Shannon Dion [13:34]
  • The necklaces were a family symbol of guardianship and resilience, particularly after Doris’ other daughter Nancy had survived a violent abduction decades earlier.
  • Police fingerprint and autopsy are done, but cause of death is labeled as natural and Shannon suspects a post-mortem theft before learning of a wider pattern.

4. The Discovery of a Larger Pattern & Police Inaction

• Shannon requests two years of police records at the Tradition, uncovering a “pattern of deaths and thefts, of suspicious person reports and more.” [16:49]
  • After reviewing the reports, she finds strikingly similar cases—multiple deaths, jewelry missing, sparse follow-up.
• Dallas police's Public Integrity Unit takes on the French case but, without evidence, files no charges.
  • The Tradition had no interior surveillance, and staff deflected blame onto first responders or hidden stashes.
  • “Our protocol has always been the same. I call them unattended deaths. That we had one event, two where two others that have claimed that their mom had jewelry and was missing. ... Oh, no, not another one.” – Ed Sanchez [20:25]
  • Despite patterns, there’s “no further information” and families told to “look closely” at the reports. [24:00]

5. The Role of Corporate Ownership and Profit Motive

• Analysis of The Tradition’s ownership structure:
  • Heavy emphasis on luxury, financial returns, and occupancy—sometimes at the expense of resident security.
  • Lawsuits argue the Tradition “put profits over people.”
  • “You can rest assured [your loved one is safe]. It presents a dangerous situation for a very vulnerable group of citizens.” – Trey Crawford, attorney [32:48]
• Facilities advertise high-end amenities and security. In reality, cost-cutting and lack of transparency are endemic problems. [28:00–29:54]
  • Expert Dr. Michael Wasserman offers a blunt assessment: “When you look at senior housing where the health and well being of the residents are not being achieved, I think comparing the ownership to slumlords is still very apt.” [31:03]

6. Family Lawsuits and Calls for Accountability

• Many families, including Ellen’s and Shannon’s, file lawsuits against the Tradition seeking transparency and accountability. [32:06–33:49]
• Legal battles often stymied by arbitration clauses and aggressive corporate responses.
  • “The lawsuits... are dramatic 150-page critiques of the community, its promises of security, and the gaping holes that let Shamirmir have, quote, virtually unfettered access to its residents.” – Charlie Scudder [33:49]
• Whistleblowers and attorneys assert that the Tradition conducted its own internal investigation but never alerted residents or police about the risk.

7. A Sisterhood Forms

• Ellen, Shannon, and Mary Jo Jennings join together in the aftermath, forming a support network—“The Sisterhood”—of women whose mothers died under suspicious circumstances at the Tradition.
• The pain of not being believed, being patted and patronized rather than taken seriously, is a repeated theme.
  • “I accused everybody that was in the room. I told the paramedics to empty their pockets. ... I think I said to the police, is this normal?” – Mary Jo Jennings [36:10]
  • “We’re paying premium price to have our mothers protected there. ... And then to have nine murders. It’s just unbelievable.” – Mary Jo Jennings [37:45]

8. The Industry’s Response, or Lack Thereof

• David Schless, President of the American Senior Housing Association, provides context from the industry perspective:
  • “You don’t invest in senior housing without being very aware of who ultimately is living in these settings.” [30:11]
  • Claims majority of senior communities provide “wonderful care” and argues it’s unfair to judge the industry by one tragic case.
  • Confirms “the case was widely discussed” in the industry, despite minimal national press. [39:12]
  • Admits: “As horrible as that situation was... I really can’t even get my mind around, you know, that whole situation.” [39:22]

9. The Truth is Uncovered

• Only after a survivor (Mary Bartel, in 2018) does the full scope of Billy Shamirmir’s crimes become apparent.
  • “Over a four month span in 2016, he killed eight people at the Tradition Prestonwood. ... He killed at least eight more at three senior communities in Dallas and its suburbs.” [40:15]
• Families’ suspicions ultimately proved correct, though systemic failures meant vital warning signs were ignored.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “She said, oh, I don’t take it off anymore. She said, I can't get it over my knuckle.”
  – Ellen House [00:38]

• “It’s obvious it was pried off her finger.”
  – Ellen House [07:34]

• “I want my mother’s jewelry. And when we come out, all I got were her wedding rings. ... The necklace is nowhere to be found. And that was a big alarm.”
  – Shannon Dion [13:34]

• “Our protocol has always been the same. ... Oh, no, not another one.”
  – Ed Sanchez [20:25]

• “You can rest assured will protect your loved ones. It presents a dangerous situation for a very vulnerable group of citizens.”
  – Trey Crawford [32:48]

• “When you look at senior housing where the health and well being of the residents are not being achieved, ... comparing the ownership to slumlords is still very apt.”
  – Dr. Michael Wasserman [31:03]

• “We’re paying premium price to have our mothers protected there. And he was in there all the time, and they did nothing. And then to have nine murders. It’s just unbelievable.”
  – Mary Jo Jennings [37:45]

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Important Timestamps

• 00:26 – 01:01: Norma’s flour-dusted hands and cherished wedding ring anecdote
• 03:18 – 04:03: Discovery of Norma’s death at the Tradition
• 04:57 – 06:57: Search for missing jewelry and suspicions
• 07:34: Ellen examines photo of mother’s hand—realizes ring was forcibly removed
• 13:34: Doris Gleason’s missing angel necklace discovered by her daughter
• 16:13 – 17:38: Shannon requests and reads police records, uncovering a pattern
• 19:03 – 22:29: Police interview with Ed Sanchez, Tradition’s facilities manager
• 24:00: Sergeant Davis warns Ellen and Laurie: “Something is fishy here.”
• 27:18: Jonathan Perelman highlights focus on amenities and financial structure
• 31:03: Dr. Michael Wasserman critiques the industry’s profit-focused model
• 32:06 – 33:49: Attorney Trey Crawford explains scope of lawsuits and industry failures
• 36:10 – 38:12: The Sisterhood reflects on being dismissed and their demand for accountability
• 39:12 – 40:15: David Schless (industry rep) confronts the reality and limited recognition of the case
• 40:15: Revelation of Shamirmir’s crime spree at the Tradition and beyond

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Tone & Language

• Personal, Intimate, and Frank: The episode is marked by personal testimonies, emotional transparency, and a sense of shared grief and outrage among the daughters.
• Investigative and Critical: The host and contributors take a probing look at institutional neglect, corporate priorities, and failures in policing/reporting.
• Somber, Reflective: Moments of sadness and regret are frequent, underscoring the magnitude of loss and the systemic failures that exacerbated it.
• Urgent: Calls for accountability and reform are voiced repeatedly by guests and the host.

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Summary

Episode 3, "The Sisterhood," intimately profiles daughters who lost their mothers at the hands of a serial killer operating undetected in a luxury Dallas senior living community. Through detailed personal stories, the episode exposes how complaints and warning signs were dismissed, how police and property managers passed blame, and how the financial interests of property owners and investors often took precedence over residents’ safety. The “Sisterhood” formed by these daughters highlights the ongoing struggle for truth, closure, and a higher standard of care for the vulnerable elderly in senior communities. The episode leaves listeners questioning to what extent profit motives and image management contribute to such tragedies—and what it will take for institutions to genuinely put people first.

Transcript

[Charlie Scudder]

Norma French and her daughter Ellen House had a routine whenever she came to visit. Norma lived in one of Dallas's most luxurious senior living communities. Ellen lived in a suburb of Indianapolis. A few times a year, Norma would fly to Indy for an extended visit. While visiting her daughter in early fall 2016, they planted flowers in Ellen's garden, stayed up late talking, and cooked dinner for the family every night.

[Ellen House]

And one night we pulled something up on Google and it was like Chicken Marsala.

[Charlie Scudder]

That's Ellen, Norma's daughter.

[Ellen House]

Anyway, we attempted to make it and we had flour and working with flour and we both had just floury hands. And after dinner we were doing dishes and I said, take the lay off and I'll go clean it and clean mine as well. And she said, oh, I don't take it off anymore. She said, I can't get it over my knuckle. And I said, really? You know, here's some dawn soap. Let's get this baby off. I mean, there was no getting it off.

[Charlie Scudder]

Norma was 85 years old. Her hands had wrinkled and her knuckles had grown around the wedding band her husband had placed on her finger more than a half century earlier. To Norma and her daughter Ellen, it seemed like the ring would never leave her finger. I'm Charlie Scudder and this is the unforgotten unnatural causes. Chapter 3 the Sisterhood Norma French had lived much of her life in Dallas. In 2014, when she was looking to downsize, she toured several senior living communities in the area. The Tradition, Prestonwood stood out as the most luxurious. It had the best ambiance and appeared to have the best security of the ones she visited.

[Ellen House]

It was just pretty. The ambiance, it was clean, the antiques in the hallway, it was beautiful.

[Charlie Scudder]

Norma had other children in Texas, but Ellen was primarily in charge of helping her mother with her affairs. For that reason, Norma's financial advisor was in Indianapolis when she visited in August 2016, the same trip when she couldn't get the ring off her finger, Ellen could tell her mom was concerned about renewing her lease at the Tradition, partially because she had noticed that her neighbors had been dying at an unusual rate. When they visited her financial advisor, Norma asked about finding a new place to live. Do you feel safe? The advisor asked. Norma said she did. That's all your kids want for you, he said.

[Ellen House]

We were sitting outside one night, a tennis court, talking. We would do that. About five o' clock that day, one of her friends had died. She was like, oh, I don't want to be sitting there for days. I Said, oh, mother, don't worry about it. We talk every day, you know.

[Ed Sanchez]

Yeah.

[Ellen House]

You're not going to be sitting there dead for a couple days. Right?

[Charlie Scudder]

Norma flew back to Dallas, back to the Tradition. One day, just two months later, Ellen couldn't get a hold of her mom. Neither could Ellen's sister, Laurie. Ellen called the Tradition and asked the woman at the front desk to check on Norma. Minutes later, the worker made another call.

[Ellen House]

Dallas 911. This is Kitty. Word emergency. Yes, this is Kathy at 15250 Prestonwood Boulevard. A senior living community. One of my residents has passed away.

[Charlie Scudder]

The Tradition front desk worker had found Norma lying on the floor of her apartment. She'd been dead for the better part of a day. Ellen was the executor of her mother's estate, so her sister had her on speakerphone as police and paramedics arrived at the apartment. Her mother's body was in the center of the living room, near the couch. She was face down, lying in a straight line with one arm tucked under her body. One of the paramedics had already covered her with a green bed sheet.

[Ellen House]

So then the police asked us questions. Yeah, asked us her medications, asked if she'd felt sick, you know, that kind of stuff. No, no, on all that. They said, well, what do you want us to list as her cause of death? And I said, well, I don't know. And, of course, you know, Ed was in the background talking, saying, well, you know, it's a heart attack or a stroke. Just. She died before she hit the ground.

[Charlie Scudder]

Ed. Ed Sanchez was the facilities manager at the Tradition. He had come up to the apartment.

[Ellen House]

Too, and he said that several trying times, trying to, you know, make us feel better, I think, and making us believe that. And that was comforting. I think over the next couple days that it was sudden and that she didn't feel any pain.

[Charlie Scudder]

At some point, Ellen asked her siblings to take a photo of her mother's body. One of her brothers had died years earlier, and she never had the opportunity to view the body. She didn't want to miss that chance with her mother, just needed it for closure.

[Ellen House]

I wanted to see her earthly body before I never saw it again. And so they did, and they sent it to Michael, my husband, and he said, you don't want to see this? I said, yes, I do want to see it. She got to show it to me. Of course, I'm acting like it wasn't just sobbing. This is Derek Lee.

[Charlie Scudder]

Norma had arranged to donate her body to UT Southwestern Medical center to help train Future doctors. And soon the hospital workers were there to take her away. They asked her family to step outside while they prepared to move the body.

[Ellen House]

I said, make sure that she doesn't have any jewelry on or she didn't have a ring on.

[Charlie Scudder]

Lori is Ellen's sister.

[Ellen House]

And I said, she has to have a ring on because she couldn't get it off. And she said. And I said, like, she has to have a ring on, like Laurie. I said, when she was here, we had been cooking. Remember I told you that story? And she said, well, she didn't have it on. And that's when Ed said, oh, let's start looking for it. Check her panty drawers. Old women hide their jewelry in their panty drawers. And my brother was like, really? Did he just say that? I said, where is the bean jar? So my mom had made this, like, jar, glass jar, and she had put this glue on it, inside of it, and then put all the beans that you cook with so it looked like a jar that you pour beans out of. And she would put her jewelry in there. Top cabinet, all the way back, there's the bean jar. And there was A lot of her jewelry was still there, but her ring wasn't there, nor was her gold cross.

[Charlie Scudder]

Ellen flew down from Indianapolis two days later to help prepare for the funeral, clean out the apartment, and look for the missing jewelry. When she arrived, she saw that the Tradition had printed a large memorial photograph of Norma propped up on an easel in the lobby. At night, she slept in the empty apartment, trying to be close to her mother in spirit. She barricaded the door with a laundry hamper and luggage because she already harbored suspicions about the missing jewelry and a missing set of keys that hadn't been found. In the darkness, she would pull up the photo of her mother's body, zooming in to see every detail.

[Ellen House]

I would look at the picture, and I. She didn't have a ring on. I could look at that picture and go look at her finger, like someone I knew. Someone took the ring off of her finger. It's obvious it was pried off her finger.

[Charlie Scudder]

In a case of inexplicable timing, Ellen's nephew, Norma's grandson, was set to be married that winter. Norma's memorial service, a small, simple gathering of family at friends at the Tradition, was just one day before. They had already planned to throw a shower for their newest family member, the nephew's bride. As the family gathered in the lobby of the complex to go to the shower, red and white lights reflected through the Window. Paramedics and police were back at the Tradition. Another resident had died in an apartment not far from Norma's. Natural causes. They said soon, Norma's memorial photograph, the one the Tradition staff had propped up on an easel in the lobby, would be replaced by another woman to mourn. Finally, a week after her mother died, Ellen and her sister Lori called Dallas police again, this time to report the stolen jewelry. The responding officer typed the basics into his report. He listed Lori, not Norma, as the victim and wrote down the major stolen items that the sisters had. A $15,000 wedding ring, a $5,000 Rolex, $400 in cash, and a $1,000 necklace. He didn't write that Norma was missing nearly $30,000 worth of property altogether for a suspect. He checked two boxes associated with victim and unknown. He wrote that Laurie was looking through all her mother's property and hadn't found the property. NFI no further information. The sisters told the officer what Ed Sanchez, the facilities manager, had told them. It was likely paramedics, the only ones they knew of, who were alone in the room with her mother's body, that stole the jewelry. By this point, at least seven people had been murdered at the Tradition prestonwood, including an 87 year old woman just the day before. But it was Ellen and Lori's accusation that Dallas paramedics had stolen jewelry from the body of a dead woman that launched the first official investigation into these crimes and the only one of substance until after the actual killer, Billy Shamirmere, was arrested two years later.

[Shannon Dion]

You know, at 5 foot 2 and tiny little lady, she just had a command about her.

[Charlie Scudder]

This is Shannon Dion talking about her mother, Doris Gleason.

[Shannon Dion]

She had a presence. One of my favorite things is my cousin was a colonel in the army. My brother in law was chief warrant officer level four in the army. And they individually both told me that when Doris entered the room, they sat up a little bit straighter and they were both afraid of her. And she just had a great sense of humor. But nothing was more important than her faith in her family. She loved getting us all together.

[Charlie Scudder]

Doris and Shannon's father, Jerry Gleason, spent their final years at the Tradition Prestonwood, just like Norma French.

[Shannon Dion]

It was beautiful. It's a wonderful, welcoming feel to it. The staff was very, very friendly, kind. It truly felt like a community. The first year they moved in, Daddy being an avid. Well, is there anything but avid? Texas Aggie found a couple of other Aggie residents there and set up a muster, their reunion type event. Mom did tai chi. They would go and hear all the speakers. We would be included to come over for happy hour, which was entertaining because the people with walkers would get wine and put it on the seat of the walker back to their table. The property would sometimes have to do an all call, return the wine glasses, or we can't have happy hour any longer. They just really, really enjoyed the community and the culture that was provided.

[Charlie Scudder]

Doris husband Jerry died in 2015. It took a while, but soon Doris was back to her normal routine. She went to her sit and sew club and tai chi classes at the Tradition. She went back to bingo night and often won the grand prize, a cheap bottle of wine that she'd share with Shannon and her husband. On Fridays, Shannon would pick her up promptly at 10am for a trip to the hair salon, a stop at the bank, and to stock up on groceries for the week. On Sundays, Shannon would be there to take her to church. Same service, same pew, every week. On October 30, 2016, Shannon drove to the Tradition to pick up her mother for church. But she wasn't sitting on the bench out front like normal.

[Shannon Dion]

I get my cell phone, call her apartment. There's no answer. And now I'm a little worried. So I park and I go in and there's a young lady behind the front desk and says, my mother's not downstairs for church. I think something's wrong. Get a key. And I went on up and got there. The newspaper was out on the floor and the door was unlocked. And I went in. I'm looking in her bedroom and her bathroom. Well, by now the staff member had come up behind me and she saw mom on the floor. And she said, she's here. And she went over and she came back to me and she said, she's gone.

[Charlie Scudder]

Shannon sank into a couch. Someone called 911. Her husband Eric arrived, so did her priest. Police came and went. Natural causes, they said. And soon funeral workers were there to take her mother's body away.

[Shannon Dion]

When they move the body, they ask you to leave the room because it's not pleasant. So. And I told them, I want my mother's jewelry. And when we come out, all I got were her wedding rings. And I was like, no, wait, there's a necklace that she wore all the time. And no, we didn't see it. And we unzip the bag and we're looking and the necklace is nowhere to be found. And that was a big alarm.

[Charlie Scudder]

This wasn't just any necklace. Doris always wore her gold necklace with the little guardian angel charm. She never removed it, not even to sleep. Shannon had an identical one around her own neck. Every woman in their family did. It was part of how they saw each other as guardians, especially after everything that they'd been through together. See decades earlier, Shannon's sister Nancy was getting ready to go for her daily run through the neighborhood on a sunny fall morning. Before she left, a man who said he was a delivery driver arrived with a big cardboard box. When he set it down, he pulled out a gun and forced Nancy into a car. Over the next several hours, he drove her around the state aimlessly. He threatened to kill her. To bury her in a shallow grave in the piney woods of East Texas. He took her to his apartment and raped her. He drove her to a motel and made her check in to a room where. Where he held her hostage. Police officers found Nancy and her attacker after 1am the next morning and arrested the man. Her attacker was sentenced to 99 years in prison in 1989. In the years after Nancy bought the gold angel medallions for her mother and sister, she wore one too until her death in 2003 from pancreatic cancer. Ever since, Doris had never taken off her necklace. Neither had Shannon. So when the guardian angel necklace was missing from Doris body, Shannon knew instantly that something was wrong. Her husband called police while she searched the apartment and noticed that other jewelry was missing from her mother's drawers.

[Shannon Dion]

And then they sent a detective and he came and there were. They took fingerprints. So they were doing an investigation and they put a hold on mom's body. An autopsy was ordered. I got a call a few days later that there was no physical trauma.

[Charlie Scudder]

After the cause of death was determined as natural causes, Shannon wasn't satisfied at this point. She assumed that someone had broken into her mother's apartment after her death and rated it and her body of its most precious valuables. Shannon wanted to know more. So she used a page from every good reporter's handbook. One that's available to anyone in the United States who wants to know more about their government or police. She filed an open records request for two years worth of police reports from the tradition Prestonwood. The documents didn't arrive for several weeks. When they did, Shannon was stunned at what they showed. A pattern of deaths and thefts, of suspicious person reports and more. I recently asked Shannon to read from some of the reports that she'd found.

[Shannon Dion]

August 6, 2016 report arrived at the property due to the death and found that listed property had been taken from the bathroom counter. In November of 2016, a staff member called to report a trespasser. The responding officer advised the reporting person to tighten security and possibly go door to door. There's a report of missing wedding ring was reported in a day. Unattended robbery. Later found of missing jewelry all spring found in pools of blood. He also was missing a watch.

[Charlie Scudder]

Meanwhile, the investigation into Ellen and Lori's allegations about their mom Norma's missing wedding ring was. Was well underway because it mentioned the theory about the paramedics. The officer's brief report made its way through Dallas Police headquarters to the Public Integrity Unit, or piu, a secretive, siloed group that investigates criminal allegations against city employees. Their documents are marked secret and ferried not through a traditional organizational chart, but directly to the chief of police. Dallas Police Sergeant Helena Davis was assigned the case. In her report, she documented every step she took in trying to ascertain who had taken Norma's jewelry. After talking to Lori on the phone, she started with Jeff Wells, the executive director of the Tradition. He said there were no cameras in the facility except on elevators and entrances. He said that Dallas Fire and Rescue had been there when other thefts had been reported, but couldn't provide any more details. A few days later, on October 31st, Sergeant Davis and a Detective Leigh Allen talked to Ed Sanchez, the Tradition facilities manager, who had told Ellen Laurie and the paramedics to list Norma's cause of death as a heart attack or stroke, that she had died instantly, and that the missing jewelry was likely hidden in Norma's panty drawer. Here's a recording of that police interview with Sanchez.

[Ellen House]

Did you know Ms. French? Just from sitting around, and I don't know if you paid attention to these kind of details. Did she normally wear jewelry, you know, that.

[Ed Sanchez]

I don't remember. I don't recall at all if she wore. You know, there's a few pe. Few of our residents that do wear, you know, nice jewelry, you know, and there were an upper scale senior living community. And she was very conservative, okay? And so her dress was conservative, her apartment was very conservative. And they're that generation. You know, you don't. A lot of them don't flash a lot of the stuff they have.

[Charlie Scudder]

Sanchez described the key card system that the Tradition used and that the door logs didn't show anyone unusual opening Norma's door that day. Sergeant Davis also brought up the fact that there had been a string of deaths and thefts on the property. She had pulled police reports from the Tradition, the same reports that Shannon Dion had requested and found 30 calls for service in the past year seven of which involved thefts. Sanchez acknowledged it and even mentioned the death of yet another woman named Juanita Purdy three months earlier today. We know that she was also killed by Billy Shamirmere, but at the time, her death was attributed to natural causes.

[Ed Sanchez]

Our protocol has always been the same. I call them unattended deaths. That we had one event, two where two others that have claimed that their mom had jewelry and was missing. When I got to up to Mrs. Purdy's room, got up there with the paramedics. We all got there at the same time. Ms. Purdy passed away in her bedroom, in her bed. As soon as I walked in, I saw her, and she. I can tell she passed away here.

[Charlie Scudder]

Detective Allen interrupts Sanchez.

[Ed Sanchez]

You know, there was a ring because the family said, well, she normally wears a ring. In your mind, was that an issue then? Were you thinking, all right, someone removed her jury, or when did it come an issue for you? Was it two days later when a report was made? It was an issue for me at that moment. When she mentioned the ring missing, yes. Okay. The reason is because. And basically I said, oh, no, not another one. You know, that was like, if you know anything about spring. Older senior ladies, they hide things. They hide their jewelry. My wife's elderly aunts hide jewelry in underwear, coat pockets and everything.

[Ellen House]

So.

[Ed Sanchez]

So I'm hesitant. So whenever they say, can't find anything, I'm hopeful that they'll find it. Part of me saying, oh, great, not another one. But part of me is going, I hope they find it.

[Charlie Scudder]

The detective asked who he thought took the jewelry. Sanchez repeated his suspicion that the paramedics must have taken it, since they were the only ones in the room with the body unsupervised.

[Ellen House]

He.

[Ed Sanchez]

He said, it will come up in conversation within us, within staff, and we're all like, oh, no, come on, this has to stop. Well, one, the deaths have to stop. That's more important than no jewelry missing. But then also the jewelry missing, not again type of thing. Same thing, same reaction I had. They have, you know, because, you know, like I said, we're here to take care of him.

[Charlie Scudder]

That's three times that Sanchez said that he and others at the Tradition thought some version of oh, no, not again. Yet they never followed up with police or shared any other suspicions about the unusually high rate of deaths, Nor did police follow up with any questions about the cause of the apparently natural deaths. Sergeant Davis and Detective Allen also interviewed the cleaning staff at the Tradition and the paramedics and firefighters who had arrived. The first responders either didn't remember the call or said they didn't see any jewelry and said they certainly didn't take it. Six months after their mother's death, Ellen and Laurie got a call from Sergeant Davis. The secretive PIU investigation was nearly complete. They didn't have enough evidence to say if paramedics did or did not take the jewelry. The department wouldn't be pressing for criminal charges. But Sergeant Davis told the daughters to submit a public information request for the report as soon as it was filed and signed by the chief of police.

[Ellen House]

So we got all that, and Sergeant Davis said you need to look at them very closely. Something is fishy here.

[Charlie Scudder]

Why was the sergeant who investigated Norma's missing jewelry so suspicious? And why wasn't the Tradition staff more forthcoming with police when they knew about other reported thefts like Doris Gleason's guardian angel necklace? What did they have to hide? Who or what were they protecting? The Tradition Prestonwood has time and time again refused to comment on the murders that occurred on their property beyond a brief prepared statement, which has largely been unchanged since the news first broke six years ago. It calls the killings a true tragedy and says that the Tradition Prestonwood regards all our residents as family. It goes on to say that the property relied on the investigations of the Dallas police, its detectives and other reputable and established governmental agencies, including the Dallas County Medical examiner, the Collin County Medical examiner and more, and that the Tradition Prestonwood cooperated with authorities and continues to do so. But in a lot of cases, in many senior living communities across the country, concerns about the bottom line and shareholder interests encourage corporate owners to hide bad conditions and poor security while cutting costs. In November 2016, police were called to the property for a suspicious person who matched the description of Billy Shamirmere, a black man, five'10, 180 pounds, wearing a clean suit and carrying a leather satchel. The cops told property managers to tighten security and go door to door, but they still did nothing. It makes sense if staff didn't want to alarm residents. Just look at Edgemere, which declared bankruptcy after residents moved out during the COVID 19 pandemic. Even if a small group of residents decided to move out like Norma was considering in the months before her death, it could seriously impact the community's profit margin. But is that worth keeping residents in the dark? Jonathan Perelman is the president and CEO of Tradition Senior Living, which includes not just the Tradition Prestonwood but one other luxury community in Dallas, two in Houston and one in Fort Worth. He's a former big league pitcher who played in Chicago, San Francisco and Cleveland. After the mlb, he became a lawyer in Dallas and boasts on his official online bio that he has experience in all phases of senior living business and has negotiated structured financing for senior living properties with private equity participants, including conventional banks, insurance companies and major Wall street institutions. That's a fancy way of saying that he's deeply familiar with the financial rewards that come with senior living ownership. Perelman has also declined multiple requests for an interview, but in this promotional video from 2011, Perelman focused on the high end amenities that his property provides while downplaying the cost to live there. We're here today at the Tradition Dallas.

[Ellen House]

Crown jewel in retirement living.

[Mary Jo Jennings]

This active adult facility is the brainchild of Jonathan Perlman. Jonathan, where did the idea for the Tradition come from?

[Jonathan Perelman]

Honestly, a lot of thought and planning was involved in building Tradition. We really started with focus groups and it was not built on what we thought. It was built on what our residents thought was the right thing to do.

[Charlie Scudder]

Jonathan, talk to me about affordability.

[Jonathan Perelman]

When people first come, if it's their first time out, to look at a product like the Tradition, there is a little bit of sticker shock until they peel back and really understand the services and the amenities that we provide.

[Charlie Scudder]

For reference, when he talks about sticker shock, Shannon's mother, Doris, was paying about $5,600 a month to live at the Tradition in 2016, and the Tradition has over 200 units in its independent living community, according to public real estate records. The Tradition Preston woods property in North Dallas is worth $39.3 million. In 2021, it was sold to an investment group that owns senior living properties in states coast to coast, but it's still operated by Tradition Senior Living, Perelman's company. That ownership structure is not unusual. Many properties are owned by corporate investors and leased or managed by individual senior communities. Those shareholders can earn almost a 10% yield on their investments in commercial senior real estate, according to national market researchers. A much greater percentage of those profits go into the pockets of shareholders, then to the costs of properly managing properties and working directly with residents. That's part of the reason why property managers at Edgemere said they had to declare bankruptcy in 2022. In its lawsuit against its landlord, Edgemere claimed that the Dallas based real estate investment group was seeking a windfall profit at expense of senior residents who lived on the property. Last year, the Edgemere property was bought by another real estate fund, which itself is part of a different out of state group, an investment model that uses various firms to distance residents from property owners. That model is also growing more common in senior housing. In fact, Edgemere's financial problems are so common in the senior living industry that the property management firm that took over operations specializes in senior living communities in crisis. The Connecticut based Long Hill Co. Says it specializes in turnaround situations and advertises to property owners that they can stabilize, enhance and rebuild your senior living investment.

[David Schless]

Any type of real estate based business, one entity's misery is likely to be another entity's opportunity.

[Charlie Scudder]

This is David Schless, the president of the American Senior Housing association that you heard from in episode two.

[David Schless]

What I would say though, and I think this is, this is an important caveat over the course of the 30 plus years I've done this, is that, you know, people are very aware of, you know, who lives in these communities. You don't invest in senior housing without being very aware of who ultimately is living in these settings.

[Charlie Scudder]

Still, there's a gap between thinking of these communities as real estate investments and thinking of them as places for long term care. Even in independent living communities, the nature of housing older people means there is a certain vulnerability among residents. Where should the line be between a community that's just an apartment complex and one that's actually something more? It's an ideological question and how you answer it may depend a lot on how you view the role of corporations in our lives.

[Dr. Michael Wasserman]

When you look at senior housing where the health and well being of the residents are not being achieved, I think comparing the ownership to slumlords is still very apt. I think it really describes the situation.

[Charlie Scudder]

This is Dr. Michael Wasserman, the geriatrician you've heard from throughout the series.

[Dr. Michael Wasserman]

If nursing homes and assisted livings and group homes are all about the real estate, well, the people aren't the real estate, okay? And then again, that's why the bad ones are slumlords.

[Charlie Scudder]

At least three of the communities that Shamir Mir targeted, the tradition, Prestonwood, Edgemere and Preston Place, along with at least one in home care company that he worked for, have changed ownership or property management since his killing spree. Some of them have changed security measures to differing degrees. Gates have been fixed, cameras have been added. But many of the families of the victims, including Shannon's and Ellen's, wanted more accountability and filed lawsuits against the communities where their mothers lived and died.

[Trey Crawford]

The number of police reports that we were getting back at a single location that's supposed to be kind of the Ritz Carlton of independent living facilities was a little bit shocking. Just the numerosity of it.

[Charlie Scudder]

That's Trey Crawford, an attorney who represents a large group of victims. His suits against the Tradition Prestonwood have been the most contentious and are still awaiting resolution in Dallas Civil Courthouse. Just like how police began investigating Shamirmya's crimes after his arrest, Trey and his team began looking into the crimes too. They identified and contacted more than a dozen families. Sometimes before police had called them to tell them about their loved one's real cause of death.

[Trey Crawford]

I'm not sure we'll ever know the exact number of the victims, but from what we know now, it's one of the most prolific serial killers probably in the history of the US he should never have been at these facilities to begin with. I mean, everybody knows that there are evil people in the world. That's a given. That's not going to change. But these facilities advertised and marketed themselves as, you know, high end independent living facilities with state of the art safety and security measures that you can rest assured will protect your loved ones. It presents a dangerous situation for a very vulnerable group of citizens. And if, if that goes unchecked, then there's no incentive for not just these businesses, but other businesses to make any changes to make it a safer place.

[Charlie Scudder]

The lawsuits that Trey and his team have filed against the tradition are dramatic 150 page critiques of the community, its promises of security, and the gaping holes that let Shimir Mir have, quote, virtually unfettered access to its residents. The lawsuit filed by the family of Leah Korken, who was killed there in August 2016, claims that the Tradition put profits over people by advertising top of the line security. It claims that the community failed to follow its own policies to check broken gates and make sure no one snuck in through the community's parking garage like Shamirmir did. According to the lawsuit, an unnamed whistleblower who worked at the Tradition told Trey and his team that, quote, the Tradition had conducted an internal investigation on Shamirmer prior to his arrest, reviewed footage of him on surveillance cameras and knew he was all over the facility and even personally escorted him off the premises at one point. Yet they never told residents and they never called police to report the trespasser, according to the whistleblower. The lawsuit claims the Tradition staff did suspect Shoumerier of murdering several residents, but didn't share that information with police either. Leah Corkin's case, like many, has dragged on for years, especially after the Tradition sued the families of the dead to force them into arbitration, which is a legal dispute resolution process that keeps cases like these out of the courts. The Tradition's lawyers claim that because their deceased parents had signed contracts that included clauses to force arbitration in any disputes, their heirs were forced to follow the same requirements. Leah's daughter, Mary Jo Jennings, has been among the most outspoken of Trey's clients. She's been on the Dr. Oz show to talk about the case. She and her nephew have staged protests outside the Tradition with large signs and photos of Leah. Like many of the families, Mary Jo lives not far from where her mother lived at the Tradition Prestonwood, which is also not far from where Shamirmir lived. She's nicknamed the neighborhood Shamirmereville. A while back, I got Mary Jo, Shannon Dion and Ellen House together to talk about their experiences and their mother's deaths at the Tradition Prestonwood. Ellen had to call in from Indy, so you may hear that feedback here.

[Mary Jo Jennings]

I remember there were numerous thefts that my mom was talking about. She was like, I don't know what's going on here. And this is an independent living place. This isn't a dying place. She was saying, there's thefts. And her words were. They were dropping like flies around here. I just knew that something was wrong. But it's never a word that enters your mind when you see this. Even though she had. She had a beautiful 18 karat gold, very thick band with diamonds around it. And I'm like, where's your ring? I accused everybody that was in the room. I told the paramedics to empty their pockets. And they're just looking at me like, no.

[Shannon Dion]

Yeah, they look at, they look at you like, you don't.

[Ellen House]

You're.

[Shannon Dion]

That you're not saying.

[Mary Jo Jennings]

I. I think I said to the police, is this normal? Is this. I just kept saying, but everyone just kind of felt pity for me and patted me on the back and hugged me and told me how much my mother was wonderful. And, you know, and I struggled with that. When mom died, I struggled with that, but there was nothing I could do.

[Charlie Scudder]

I think you touched on something. It's kind of our cultural assumptions, I guess, that stuff goes missing in places like that. And when someone dies, it's almost easier to assume that everything's normal.

[Shannon Dion]

You know, there was no evidence of disturbance is what I was told by the police. You know, we would. If something had hurt your mother, someone had hurt your mother, we would have seen things in disarray, everything. You weren't alarmed when you walked in.

[Mary Jo Jennings]

We're paying premium price to have our mothers protected there. And he was in there all the time, and they did nothing. And then to have nine murders. It's just unbelievable when it comes out that Shamir Mir is arrested and they all knew he was all over the building. What did they do? Nothing. Nothing.

[Charlie Scudder]

David Schless, the industry group president, says it's not fair to critique the standard of care offered in senior communities based on one case, even though Shamir Mir took advantage of huge security flaws at many different communities.

[David Schless]

In any of these settings, you know, you're, you're taking care of a lot of people, you know, 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. What sells newspapers is, you know, I'm going to find that, you know, that tragic, you know, situation that took place and I'm going to, you know, focus on that. But, you know, the vast majority of these settings provide wonderful care.

[Charlie Scudder]

Well, speaking of one tragic case, which is part of what I'm looking at, the Billy Schmimer case, you're familiar with it, right?

[David Schless]

I am. Generally, I'm sure not nearly as familiar with the particulars and details as you are.

[Charlie Scudder]

Well, for one thing, it's a case that hasn't gotten a lot of national attention widely. Is it something that the industry knows of?

[David Schless]

Oh, yeah. I mean, the industry's, you know, I think the, the, the case was widely discussed and you know, again, I think a lot of, you know, a lot of operators of senior living communities paid very close attention. And as horrible as that situation was, and it was almost indescribably, even now, when I think about it all these years later, I, I really can't even get my mind around, you know, that, that whole situation. But yes, I think there was a lot of, you know, probably any company in the, in the senior living business, you know, began an immediate and very thorough evaluation of, of what they were doing and what they could do differently.

[Charlie Scudder]

When victims Leah Corkin, Norma French and Doris Gleason were all killed at the Tradition Prestonwood, Billy Shamirmir was still just a mystery. He was going door to door killing people, but no one knew who he was or what he was doing. He was never an employee of the Tradition and hardly anyone noticed him in the hallways. Even after getting her stack of police records. Shannon just thought it was somebody robbing from the dead, not a killer. However, over a four month span in 2016, he killed eight people at the Tradition Prestonwood. The next year, he killed at least eight more at three senior communities in Dallas and its suburbs. And then in 2018, one woman happened to survive. As Mary Bartel gained consciousness in the hospital Plano detectives began to realize a killer was out there. They needed to stop him. His crimes were so atrocious, we couldn't.

[Ed Sanchez]

Take a chance with him, you know, killing someone else.

[Charlie Scudder]

Next time on the Unnatural Causes. She got a little choked up because she goes, you know, I'm not afraid to die, but I thought I was going to die, and I didn't want to die that way. The Unforgotten is a Free range production. Season 2. 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 H.A. 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.