The Radio Television Digital News Association has awarded The Dallas Morning News the National Edward R. Murrow award for a 2019 two-part true-crime series that tells the story of a woman searching for answers in her mother’s death amid a serial-murder investigation.
“Guardians,” by staff writer Charles Scudder, won the excellence in writing category for large digital news organizations.
“I am thrilled that The News has been recognized for this compelling work,” said Keith Campbell, managing editor of The News. “Charlie went deep beyond the breaking-news headlines to tell a story of evil, love and the painful, dogged search for truth.”
“Guardians” tells the story of Shannon Gleason Dion. She knew something wasn’t right about her mother’s death at a Dallas senior living community, and a missing necklace from her mother’s apartment sent her on a mission to find the truth.
Years after her mother’s death, Dion got a call from a Plano detective who told her that a serial-murder suspect, Billy Chemirmir, may have killed her mother.
Chemirmir is accused of killing more than a dozen women in senior facilities in Dallas and Collin counties, including Dion’s mother.
The Murrow awards, one of the most prestigious honors in broadcast and digital journalism, were selected this year from more than 5,000 entries. They are named for Edward R. Murrow, the CBS news journalist who gained fame for his reports as a World War II correspondent.
The News won last year in the same category for “Standoff," a 2018 story that chronicled the police response to the July 7, 2016, ambush in downtown Dallas that left five officers dead.
