New evidence has been brought against Billy Chemirmir, on trial since Monday for allegedly killing eighteen people in the span of two years. If Chemirmir is found guilty, he will spend his life in prison without parole.
Chemirmir has been indicted on thirteen counts of capital murder in Dallas County and five in nearby Collin County, but authorities believe he is connected to at least six other deaths between April 2016 and March 2018.
Police and prosecutors claim that Chemirmir posed as a handyman or maintenance worker and targeted elderly women in their luxury senior-living or private homes.
Chemirmir allegedly smothered his victims, causing police and medical examiners to assume they died of heart attacks. He is believed to have stolen their valuables after killing them.
This first case against Chemirmir is his alleged murder of 81-year-old Far North Dallas resident Lu Thi Harris in March 2018. At the time, Chemirmir had just been identified as a suspect in the murder of a 91-year-old Plano woman.
A Plano detective testified that police were waiting at his apartment when they allegedly saw him arrive home, approach the dumpster, and throw something into it. He was arrested, and Plano police recovered a jewelry box from the dumpster. Inside were documents with the name Lu Thi Harris.
Dallas police went to Harris’ home, located about 5 miles from Chemirmir’s apartment, to find her body on the floor in a bedroom. Dallas County charged Chemirmir with capital murder in Harris’ death.
Since the trial began on Monday, evidence of attacks on 81-year-old Lu Thi Harris and two other elderly women has been presented to the court. One of these women, 91-year-old Mary Bartel, survived her attack, leading police to investigate Chemirmir.
Since then, death records for dozens of women have been amended from natural to undetermined causes or ruled as a homicide.
On Wednesday, jurors watched a police interrogation from the day of Chemirmir’s arrest in March 2018. Jurors were also shown surveillance footage from the Walmart on the corner of Coit and Arapaho roads proving that Chemirmir and Harris were in the store at the same time.
Testimony from Richard Rinehart, Harris’ son-in-law, mentioned that Harris often gave out $2 bills as gifts, a detail noteworthy to the court because Chemirmir was found with an envelope containing $2 bills with Harris’ handwriting on it.
Plano police testimony additionally stated that Harris’ house keys, paperwork with her name on it, $2 bills, and jewelry were allegedly either in Chemirmir’s car or in the dumpster where he had been observed tossing items.
Despite accusations that he was present in Harris’ house and in possession of items belonging to her, Chemirmir maintains that he is innocent.
