A Texas man convicted of murdering two elderly women and suspected of killing many more was killed by his cellmate, state authorities said.
Billy Chemirmir, 50, was found dead in his prison cell on Tuesday after his cellmate attacked him, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice told media outlets, according to ABC News. Chemirmir was being held at the Coffield Unit in Tennessee Colony, Texas.
The cellmate, who has not been named, is currently serving his sentence on a murder conviction from Harris County. It is unknown how the cellmate allegedly killed Chemirmir, but Texas’ Office of Inspector General is investigating.
Chemirmir was a Kenyan citizen whose citizenship had been questioned in the past. In 2020, The Dallas Morning News reported that Chemirmir had permanent resident status, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
He was arrested twice for driving while intoxicated, in 2010 and 2011, and also had an arrest for a family violence charge in 2012, for which he spent 70 days in the Dallas County Jail. In 2016, he was arrested for criminal trespassing and sentenced to 70 days in jail but was released after just 12 days for good behavior.
Michelle Saenz-Rodriguez, a Dallas immigration attorney, told the Morning News that those charges wouldn’t get Chemirmir deported. And while domestic violence is a deportable offense, assault is not.
When Chemirmir was arrested and charged with capital murder in 2018, an immigration hold was placed on his file, meaning that when he was released from state custody, ICE could begin deportation proceedings.
In 2022, Chemirmir was convicted by two separate juries of killing two elderly women, Lu Thi Haris, 81, and Mary Brooks, 87. Chemirmir, who worked as a home health care aide in North Texas, was accused of murdering his elderly patients and stealing their valuables.
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He was also indicted on 22 capital murder charges in Dallas and Collin Counties, ABC reported.
Last month, prosecutors in Collin County said they would not seek the death penalty for Chemirmir on the nine capital murder charges he faced.
“I won’t be mourning the murder of convicted serial killer Billy Chemirmir. Rather, my thoughts today are with the families of the precious ladies he murdered,” Collin County Criminal District Attorney Greg Willis said in a statement, according to ABC. “These families have been through more than we can imagine, and I pray that someday they can find peace.”
In addition to murder charges, Chemirmir was also accused of killing six additional victims in lawsuits from family members against the senior living complex where Chemirmir worked. The family members – representing five women and one man who were killed – filed separate lawsuits in 2018.