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The 43-year-old Whitehouse resident and mother of four, Kimberly Cargill, was under pressure from Child Protective Services when she had allegedly taken the life of her 4-year-old son's disabled babysitter, Cherry Walker.
A licensed vocational nurse by profession, Kimberly alleged that Cherry had suffered a seizure in her car which led to her death. According to her testimony, she had set Cherry's body on fire unable to figure out how to get rid of the DNA from her clothing as she avoided taking her to the hospital based on how the situation may look like.
The upcoming episode of Who the (Bleep) Did I Marry? showcases Cherry Walker's story as Kimberly Cargill was put on death row. The episode airs on January 8, 2024, at 9 p.m. EST and the synopsis reads:
"Recently divorced Brian Cargill thinks he's met the woman of his dreams; however, Kimberly Cargill is a master manipulator, and her abusive and violent nature tragically leads to murder."
Who was Kimberly Cargill and what did she do?
The 45-year-old Kimberly Diane Cargill was the mother of four sons - all of whom testified to being abused by their mother. Kimberly was married to James Cargill from June 1993 to December 1995. She was married two more times and per court documents, the abuse extended to her ex-husbands as well. Cargill lived at the 1800 block of Waterton Circle in Whitehouse.
Kimberly Cargill worked as a licensed vocational nurse (LVN) at ETMC in Athens. According to reports prepared by Dr. Antoinette McGarahan, Cargill demonstrated borderline personality disorder with anti-social and narcissistic tendencies.
Kimberly was undergoing a child abuse investigation from Child Protective Services when her 4-year-old son, Luke, was being looked after by the 39-year-old Cherry Walker. She had already lost custody of one of her two children by the time she was on trial.
Cherry Walker, the babysitter with a developmental disorder, had been served with a subpoena to testify at the custody hearing scheduled for June 23, 2010, which allegedly turned Kimberly frantic, according to Walker's caregiver Paula Wheeler. Kimberly offered to hide Walker in her apartment as she was afraid she would lose the custody of her son, Zach if the court found out that Luke was in the hands of a person with a mental disorder.
The Smith County District Attorney Matt Bingham in his statement shared,
"For twenty years, she has hurt husbands, her mother, children. She has hurt almost everyone in her life. What you're also going to see is that no matter what problems her and her husbands had, her children bore a lot of it."
Kimberly Cargill offered to take out Cherry for dinner and promised her a huge sum of money for cleaning her apartment. The two went out for dinner even though Cherry was reportedly full only for her burnt body to be found by the side of the rural Oscar Burkett Road at 3:18 p.m. on June 19, 2010, per CBS19 TV.
Why was Kimberly Cargill arrested?
Kimberly Cargill was arrested for the capital murder of her son's babysitter, Cherry Walker, in June 2010 and was kept at the Smith County Jail. She was held on charges of felony injury to a child but her hearing scheduled for May 2012 convicted her of capital murder.
In her testimony, Cargill mentioned that Cherry Walker had suffered a seizure in her car when she noticed Kimberly taking her back home instead of the bar she wanted to visit in the hopes of meeting her boyfriend. Kimberly drove her to the parking lot of her apartment building where she fell to the ground and became unresponsive. Kimberly performed CPR on her but to no avail.
She allegedly drove Cherry to the hospital which was a few blocks away but when noticed her stay unresponsive for over ten minutes, she realized how the situation may look like for her. Kimberly was allegedly unable to make a call for she had left her phone behind. She mentioned knocking on doors for help as well.
Kimberly Cargill drove around for almost 40 minutes before she pulled up by a rural road, doused Cherry Walker's body with lighter fuel and set her ablaze to remove any DNA evidence from Walker's clothes. Kimberly made up a false story of Walker going for dinner with a white man instead of her. She had her car washed and also checked the police station under the pretense of reporting a lost dog.
The authorities found some of Cherry’s belongings when they searched Kimberly’s home and car. A coffee cream container close to Cherry’s partially burned body was recovered with Kimberly's DNA on it. Besides, she made phone calls to her friends from jail to get rid of evidence at her Whitehouse home.
Where is Kimberly Cargill now?
Kimberly Cargill was sentenced to death by lethal injection on June 7, 2012. She did not plead guilty during her hearing and her lawyers failed to establish that Cherry Walker had passed away due to an epileptic seizure. Moreover, Cargill had raised 15 claims by 2017 - all of which were rejected by The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, per AP News.
She presently remains incarcerated at the Mountain View Unit in Gatesville, Texas.
