Debra Davis.
Credit: US Attorney’s office
Stephen Flemmi couldn’t kill his 26-year-old girlfriend, so he said James “Whitey” Bulger did it for him.
Flemmi, during his second day on the witness stand Friday in Bulger’s trial, told jurors about how Bulger allegedly killed his girlfriend, Debra Davis, in 1981.
The reason she had to be killed, Bulger said according to Flemmi, was that Flemmi informed Davis of their relationship with FBI agent John Connolly.
“I blurted it out inadvertently,” Flemmi said, adding that once Bulger found out, he was not happy.
“He said he wanted to kill her several times,” said Flemmi. “I said no. Of course not.”
However, Flemmi said he eventually agreed after Bulger laid out a litany of reasons including how Connolly had protected them for years.
The duo planned out the murder. Flemmi and Davis walked into Flemmi’s mother’s house and that’s when Bulger grabbed Davis by the neck and began to strangle her.
“Who grabbed her,” asked Assistant US Attorney Fred Wyshak.
“Jim Bulger,” Flemmi said, adding that Bulger had to be the one to kill her because he couldn’t do it himself.
“He said ‘I’ll take care of it. I’ll do it,'” Flemmi said.
Bulger strangled Davis all the way to the basement of the home where she was then laid out on a tarp and Flemmi began the process of stripping her of her clothes to hinder identification efforts and wrapping her body in the tarp.
Flemmi said Bulger went upstairs and laid down on the floor.
“It happened. It’s affected me and it’ll affect me until the day I die,” Flemmi said.
Flemmi will continue his testimony Monday.
Follow Michael Naughton on Twitter @metrobosmike.
