Officials have confirmed that a man who was convicted of two murders and accused of killing over 20 elderly people was killed by his prison cellmate on Tuesday morning.
According to Amanda Hernandez, a representative for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Billy Chemirmir, 50, who was incarcerated for the killings and was serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole, was found dead in his cell early in the morning.
Hernandez added in a statement to USA TODAY that his cellmate is also serving a life sentence for murder.
In 2018, Chemirmir was found guilty of killing Mary Brooks, 87, and Lu Thi Harris, 80. Authorities think he stole jewelry from older ladies over a two-year period and preyed on them.
In two counties in Texas, he had been charged with 22 counts of capital murder.
When Mary Annis Bartel, 91 at the time, survived an assault in March 2018 and told detectives about a man who broke into her apartment at an independent living facility for seniors, tried to suffocate her, and took her jewelry, he was finally apprehended. Although Bartel passed away in 2020, she claimed to have known she was in “grave danger” as she opened her door and noticed him.
The following day, after Chemirmir had just thrown away a jewelry box, police discovered him clutching jewels and cash. Investigators were directed to Harris’ residence by the contents of that box, where they discovered her dead in her bedroom with lipstick all over her pillow.
After being found guilty of causing her mother’s death, Ann Brooks, Brooks’ daughter, said that her family was “thrilled that this defendant will never be able to hurt any other family again.”
After the attack on Bartel, authorities reexamined the case and changed their earlier conclusion that Brooks had passed away naturally. In the years following his imprisonment, officials began looking more closely at cases of elderly ladies who were believed to have died naturally despite some families pointing out that jewelry was missing, leading to an increase in the number of suspected murders committed by Chemirmir.
“Our beloved mother, Mary Sue, her life is over and her jewelry is gone, but her love and her memories will live in us forever,” Ann Brooks said.
Since his capture, Chemirmir had maintained his innocence, and according to court documents, he made an attempt to get his convictions overturned. He was serving his prison term about 100 miles outside of Dallas, at the Coffield Unit.