A man accused of the murders of nearly two dozen older women, and who was convicted last year for two of those killings, was found dead in his Texas prison cell on Tuesday. Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesperson Hannah Haney confirmed the death of 50-year-old serial killer Billy Chemirmir and revealed that his cellmate, serving a sentence for murder, was identified as the assailant. However, the cellmate’s identity and the method used to kill Chemirmir were not disclosed.
Billy Chemirmir had been accused of targeting elderly women in the Dallas area over a span of two years, murdering them, and stealing their belongings. His crimes came to light after a 91-year-old woman survived an attack in 2018 and reported that Chemirmir had forced his way into her senior living community apartment, attempting to smother her with a pillow and stealing her jewelry.
Following the survivor’s report, the police apprehended the serial killer in his apartment complex’s parking lot the next day, holding jewelry and cash, having recently discarded a red jewelry box. The documents in the jewelry box led them to the residence of Lu Thi Harris, an 81-year-old woman who was found dead in her bedroom.
Chemirmir’s first capital murder trial for Harris’s killing ended in a mistrial in Dallas County. However, he was convicted in a second trial for Harris’s death and found guilty of another killing in the case of Mary Brooks, an 87-year-old woman.
After Chemirmir’s second conviction, family members of his alleged victims gathered at a Dallas courthouse to confront him. In a victim impact statement, Ellen French House showed Chemirmir two photos of her mother, Norma French: one when she was alive and another after her murder. House spoke of her mother’s stolen wedding ring and the pain inflicted by Chemirmir’s actions.
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Throughout the legal proceedings, Chemirmir maintained his innocence. He was serving two life sentences without the possibility of parole and was incarcerated at the Coffield Unit in Tennessee Colony, located approximately 100 miles southeast of Dallas.
The Office of Inspector General is conducting an investigation into Chemirmir’s death, according to Haney.