Tag: billy chemirmir

Billy Chemirmir who was a suspected serial killer from Texas was the victim of a prison murder

According to court documents Billy Chemirmir was convicted of two murders however was suspected of murdering twenty two elderly women in the Dallas area who lived in Senior Living Housing. Billy would break into the residence where he would smother the elderly women. Finally a 91 year old woman would call 911 after escaping from the serial killer which would eventually lead to his arrest where he was charged with dozens of crimes including twenty two counts of murder

Eventually Billy Chemirmir would be convicted of two murders and was serving two life sentences without parole at the Coffield Unit in Tennessee Colony near Palestine. Prison officials have not released a ton of details other than Billy was found dead in his cell and his cellmate was the main suspect in the murder

Billy Chemirmir News

Billy Chemirmir, a man convicted of killing two people and accused in the deaths of nearly two dozen others, was found dead in his cell in a Texas state prison early Tuesday morning, NBC 5 has learned.

Charged with killing 22 North Texas women over a two-year span, Chemirmir was found guilty of capital murder in October 2022 in the death of 87-year-old Mary Brooks. His first trial, for the murder of Lu Thi Harris, ended in a mistrial. Chemirmir was later convicted of the murder charge.

Chemirmir, 50, had been serving two prison sentences of life without parole in the Coffield Unit in Tennessee Colony near Palestine.

Officials with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said Chemirmir was found deceased in his cell early Tuesday. The TDCJ said Chemirmir’s cellmate, who is serving a sentence for murder out of Dallas County, was identified as the assailant.

No further details about Chemirmir’s death have been confirmed and the TDCJ said the Office of Inspector General is investigating Chemirmir’s death.

The families of Chemirmir’s victims were notified of his death early Tuesday.

On Tuesday afternoon, some of the family members of Chemirmir’s victims said they were relieved to learn of his death.

“My mother died in fear. This man did not have a peaceful passing. There’s some relief in feeling that he didn’t get off easily,” said Shannon Dion, whose 92-year-old mother, Doris Gleason, was among those Chemirmir was charged with killing.

Chemirmir was caught after a 91-year-old woman survived a 2018 attack and told police a man had forced his way into her apartment at an independent living community for seniors, tried to smother her with a pillow and took her jewelry.

Police said they found Chemirmir the following day in the parking lot of his apartment complex holding jewelry and cash, having just thrown away a large red jewelry box. Documents in the jewelry box led them to the home of Harris who was found dead in her bedroom.

Prosecutors said the suspected serial killer targeted people inside their homes or at senior independent living centers, smothering them with pillows to steal jewelry.

Most of the deaths were initially ruled natural causes, despite families reporting odd circumstances and stolen jewelry. It wasn’t until a woman survived an attack on her life, leading police to Chemirmir that the cases were reopened and indictments were filed.

Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot planned to secure two convictions before dismissing the remaining cases. Earlier this summer Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis said he did not plan to try the nine capital murder indictments his office had against Chemirmir.

Billy Chemirmir was the subject of an NBC 5 streaming series, “Stranger at the Door,” that looked into the dozens of deaths attributed to Billy Chemirmir. The series can be watched online here or on TV following the instructions below.

https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/convicted-killer-billy-chemirmir-dies-in-texas-prison/3341467/

Billy Chemirmir is an alleged serial killer who is on trial for the murder of 18 women in the Dallas Texas area. According to police reports Billy Chemirmir was arrested after a 91 year old woman told officers that a man forced his way into her home and stole a number of items. When police arrested Billy Chemirmir he had a number of valuables and cash on him. Dallas police would later say that Billy Chemirmir was using a his job as an elderly aide to scope out women he would later rob and murder. Billy Chemirmir was later charged with eighteen murders.

However when he went on trial for the murder of Lu Thi Harris the jury would end up deadlocked when it came to the verdict. Now Billy Chemirmir is back on trial for the Lu Thi Harris and still faces seventeen more charges of capital murder

Billy Chemirmir More News

The retrial of a man charged with killing 18 older women in the Dallas area over a two-year span is set to begin Monday, after the first jury to hear a case against him deadlocked. Billy Chemirmir, 49, faces life in prison without parole if he’s convicted of capital murder in the smothering of 81-year-old Lu Thi Harris. Prosecutors have said he followed the widow home from Walmart, killed her, and stole her jewelry and cash. Chemirmir faces capital murder charges in all 18 of the women’s deaths — 13 in Dallas County and five in nearby Collin County. However, he’s currently only scheduled to stand trial in the death of Harris. Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot, who isn’t seeking the death penalty for Harris’ killing, has said he plans to try Chemirmir for at least one more death, though he hasn’t said whose. Chemirmir has maintained that he’s innocent. Loren Adair Smith, whose 91-year-old mother, Phyllis Payne, is among those Chemirmir is charged with killing, said she was shocked by the mistrial in November and plans to attend the retrial.

“We want justice and we want closure, and we want him to not be able to hurt anyone again,” Smith said. Billy Chemirmir was arrested in March 2018 after 91-year-old Mary Annis Bartel said a man forced his way into her apartment at an independent living community for older people and held a pillow over her face. Bartel, who survived the attack, later discovered she was missing jewelry. According to police, when officers tracked Chemirmir to his nearby apartment following that attack, he was holding jewelry and cash. Documents in a large red jewelry box that police say he had just thrown away led them to a home, where Harris was dead in her bedroom, lipstick smeared on her pillow. The number of people Chemirmir was accused of killing grew after his arrest, with most of the families of his alleged victims only learning months or years after their loved one’s death that authorities believed they had been killed. Most of the people Chemirmir is accused of killing were found dead in their apartments at independent living communities for older people, where he allegedly forced his way in or posed as a handyman. He’s also accused of killing women in private homes, including the widow of a man he had cared for in his job as an at-home caregiver.

Though Billy Chemirmir was only tried in November for Harris’ death, jurors were also told about the attack on Bartel and the killing of 87-year-old Mary Brooks, who was found dead in her home about six weeks before Chemirmir’s arrest. Chemirmir told police in a video-recorded interview that was played at his trial that he made money by buying and selling jewelry and had also worked as an at-home caregiver and as a security guard. Chemirmir’s attorneys rested their case without calling any witnesses or presenting evidence. They dismissed the evidence against their client as “quantity over quality” and asserted that prosecutors hadn’t proved Chemirmir’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Prosecutor Glen Fitzmartin disputed that assertion. He said he proved that Chemirmir and Harris were at a Walmart at the same time, that two-and-a-half hours later he was in possession of her property and that she had been smothered. Creuzot told The Dallas Morning News: “Circumstantial evidence can sometimes be stronger than eye-witness testimony. So, in a case like this, it’s very important that the jury and every individual juror understands that.”

Toby Shook, a former Dallas County prosecutor who now works as a defense attorney, said he expects that during the retrial, prosecutors might “change up their preparation or presentation of some of their witnesses in order to make their case clearer to the jury.” “It was surprising that a hung jury resulted in that the state had the advantage of putting on several offenses for the jury to consider and that’s a powerful weapon the state has in a case like this,” said Shook, who isn’t involved in the case. Smith said her family assumed that her mother’s death six years ago in her apartment in an independent living center was from natural causes, though it came as a shock because she was still so active. She said that while packing up her mother’s things, they discovered missing jewelry and filed a police report but assumed the items had been taken by someone after her death. Smith said a police detective called two years later to say investigators believed her mother had been killed. She said that after so many years, a conviction would bring closure and “a great feeling that justice has prevailed.”

https://www.thestate.com/news/nation-world/national/article260715337.html