An inmate accused of killing 22 older women so he could steal from them was killed by his cellmate Tuesday in a Texas prison.
Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesperson Hannah Haney said Billy Chemirmir’s cellmate was also serving a life sentence for murder, according to the Associated Press. She did not release the name of the cellmate or provide other details of the slaying.
Chemirmir, 50, was convicted in the deaths of two women in Dallas County last year and sentenced to life in prison, as CrimeOnline previously reported. He was indicted on 20 more slayings, 11 in Dallas County and nine more in Collin County. After the convictions, Dallas County authorities dropped the remaining charges there.
Chemirmir’s reign of terror lasted for two years as authorities determined the deaths to be from natural causes even as family members pointed out missing jewelry and other valuables. He was finally caught after a 91-year-old victim survived an attack and told police a man forced his way into her apartment at an independent living community, tried to smother her with a pillow, and stole her jewelry.
Police found him the next day, with jewelry and cash. He had just thrown away a large jewelry box, which contained documents that led investigators to the apartment of 81-year-old Lu Thi Harris, who was found dead in her bedroom.
Chemirmir’s first trial for the death of Harris ended in a mistrial, but he was retried and convicted. A second jury convicted him of the murder of Mary Brooks, 87.
“My mother died in fear,” Shannon Dixon, whose 92-year-old mother, Doris Gleason, was among Chemirmir’s alleged victims, said at a news conference on Tuesday, according to the AP. “This man did not have a peaceful passing. There’s some relief in feeling that he didn’t get off easily.”
Chemirmir’s prison was among the 25 Texas prisons still under a lockdown initiated earlier this month in response to “a rise in dangerous contraband and drug-related homicides,” according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, which initially locked down 100 facilities. The lockdown limited inmates’ movements within the facilities and contact with outsiders, and also intensified searches and raised drug testing protocols.
Haney said the state’s Office of the Inspector General is investigating Chemirmir’s death.
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[Featured image: FILE – Billy Chemirmir/(Shafkat Anowar/The Dallas Morning News via AP, Pool, File)]
