The man behind the deaths of over 20 elderly women has now become a victim of his own fate after he was murdered by another cellmate where he was being held.
On Tuesday, authorities found the body of Billy Chemirmir, a felon who was indicted on 22 counts of murder. Before he was convicted and sent to prison, the 50-year-old was accused of pursuing elderly women, invading their homes, then suffocating and robbing them. Of the 22 counts, 13 of them were based in Dallas County, while the remaining nine stemmed from Collin County, according to a report in AP News.
After Chemirmir’s body was found, it was discovered that his cellmate was suspected to have killed him. Authorities have not released the cellmate’s name to the public at the time of this writing.
According to Hannah Haney, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the Office of Inspector General is investigating the case.
Police have not provided details into how Chemirmir was murdered, but what remains to be clear is that he was convicted of killing Mary Brooks and Lu Thi Harris—87 and 81, respectively – to name a few.
Chemirmir’s murders became so widespread at one point that NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth produced a series about him called Stranger at the Door.
Although he was accused and convicted of several murders, he has consistently maintained his innocence. In a Dallas Morning News report, he was quoted as saying, “I am not a killer.” Before he died, the convicted felon was serving two life sentences at the H.H. Coffield Unit prison in Anderson County, Texas.
According to a document produced by the Department of Justice, a serial killer can be defined as someone who “has committed two or more murders separated in time and often in widely different geographic areas, and involving victims who are usually strangers. The murders are usually compulsive acts for gratification based on fantasies. Although the exact number of serial murders is unknown, they are included within the 4,200 murders, or 20 percent of the total reported annually, for which motives are unknown. It is impossible to deter serial murders.”
