“There was another kid, named Dallas, from the halfway house that day with Alex. “This was the only time they didn’t take him to the hospital.”īrown said that someone else whom Billmeyer knew had also been using drugs that day. “The ambulance he’s called before, when he did so much meth, he would have panic attacks,” Brown said. When Billmeyer previously overamped, he was treated differently. People who are overamping can die from cardiac arrest, strokes and/or overheating. Physically, effects may include a racing pulse, irregular breathing and convulsions. Symptoms of meth-induced “mental distress” can include panic, hallucinations and extreme paranoia. Sheriff Kennedy declined to comment on any other details of how Billmeyer was behaving in his cell prior to his death.Īccording to Billmeyer’s sister, Rachel Brown, Alex had overamped before on crystal meth-a distressing and potentially life-threatening condition. “The deputies saw when they checked on him-until they found him sitting in the corner of the cell where he ultimately died.” “I think Alex was checked on three or four times,” he said. Iowa law requires that correctional officers check on incarcerated people every hour, and Sheriff Joe Kennedy told Filter that Dubuque County Jail requires staff to do checks every 30 minutes. “They basically throw you in there and hope you don’t die.” Lynn-Rodriguez said that Grigler told her, “They wouldn’t help him.” Lynn-Rodriguez also shared with Filter what she heard from Chondra Grigler, who had been jailed in the drunk tank at the time of Billmeyer’s death: “Yeah, yesterday this boy screaming: ‘Help me! Help me! I’m having a panic attack! I can’t breathe!’ Just pounding and pounding on the door.” I had no clue somebody had died,” she recalled. The sheriff announced that the final results may “not be available for several months.”īut Carmen Billmeyer believes that the cause of death is clear: negligent behavior by law enforcement towards someone experiencing a drug-related health crisis.ĭaphne Lynn-Rodriguez was also arrested on May 26, and was detained in the “drunk tank” five hours after Billmeyer’s death. Toxicology results are pending and the Department declined Filter’s public records request for video footage of the jail at the time of death because the incident remains under investigation. The Sheriff’s Department reported that the preliminary autopsy reports came back, but were not conclusive enough to determine the cause of death. Unfortunately, he didn’t make it to that time.”Ī little over an hour later, at 5:10 pm, he was found dead in Dubuque County jail.
Generally, they put them in the cell and wait until they come down from their high. When he got up to the jail floor, he was becoming uncooperative. “His mugshot and fingerprints were not taken. “He was in a paranoid state when he came in,” confirmed Sheriff Joe Kennedy of Dubuque County.
The police did not listen to her pleas for medical care for her son, she said instead, an officer moved her down the street.īillmeyer was booked into the so-called “drunk tank” of the jail around 4 pm that day, according to the police report for the incident. Both she and Brown told Filter that Alex appeared to be having visual hallucinations, asking his mother why her untouched face looked like it had black and blue bruises. He needs to go to the hospital,” she recalled pleading. She begged the officers to not take him to jail. For her, she said, it was self-evident: The effects of the meth that he was experiencing seemed life-threatening. In the hours leading up to his death, he was visibly high and was paranoid-“window peeking,” as Carmen called it. His mother had checked him into drug treatment facilities in Iowa City and Waterloo multiple times. I don’t know what exactly happened.” One thing she did know, though, was that he needed medical attention following his most recent use of methamphetamine.Īlex had been using the stimulant frequently for the past few years. “I don’t know if he swallowed the bag of dope. “His eyes were bulging out of his head,” said Carmen Billmeyer. His family members, including his mother Carmen Billmeyer and sister Rachel Brown, were at the scene, calling for him to come out.Įventually, four police officers carried him out of the house, according to witnesses, who observed that Billmeyer could barely stand on his own. The 29-year-old (pictured above) had entered the house illegally, after leaving a Qwikshop just across the street where he had previously been hiding. Alex Billmeyer was panicking when police swarmed a house in Dubuque, Iowa on May 26, yelling that people were shooting at him.
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