Trial Begins for Caregiver Accused of Killing 87-Year-Old Texas Woman

The trial for a caregiver accused of killing an 87-year-old Texas woman and 24 others begins in Dallas on Monday. A Texas court convicted him earlier this year for the smothering death of 81-year-old Lu Thi Harris.

The trial for Billy Chemirmir, a 48-year-old Kenyan national, begins in Dallas on Monday morning, WFAA ABC8 reports. He is accused of murdering 87-year-old Mary Brooks. Police initially believed the elderly woman died of natural causes. After family members reported missing jewelry and an attack on another woman, police reopened the case.

Her grandson, David Cuddihee, found her body on January 31, 2018.

Two months later, 91-year-old Mary Annis Bartel survived an attack after Chermirmir forced his way into her apartment at an independent living complex. He attempted to smother her with a pillow, the woman said in a taped interview before her death in 2020.

Police found Chermirmir the next day in his apartment complex, the Dallas ABC affiliate reported. They found him with cash and jewelry. He had also just thrown away a large red jewelry box. That discovery led police to the body of Lu Thi Harris. Police investigators discovered that Chemirmir was at a Walmart store at the same time as Harris hours before her death.

A Dallas County jury convicted Chermirmir for killing Harris in May and sentenced him to life in prison, Breitbart News’ John Binder reported

In July, Binder reported that a grand jury in Collin County, Texas, indicted the Kenyan man for the murders of four senior citizens. Those news charges stem from the deaths of 90-year-old Marilyn Bixler, 79-year-old Diane Delahunty, 93-year-old Mamie Miya, and 82-year-old Helen Lee. He has five previous indictments in Collin County

Binder compiled a list of 24 alleged victims of the man who preys on the elderly — many under his care:

• 83-year-old Leah Corken
• 82-year-old Juanita Purdy
• 88-year-old Mary Brooks
• 84-year-old Minnie Campbell
• 82-year-old Ann Conklin
• 75-year-old Rosemary Curtis
• 85-year-old Norma French
• 92-year-old Doris Gleason
• 81-year-old Lu Thi Harris
• 81-year-old Carolyn MacPhee
• 81-year-old Miriam Nelson
• 91-year-old Phyllis Payne
• 94-year-old Phoebe Perry
• 80-year-old Martha Williams
• 82-year-old Joyce Abramowitz
• 87-year-old Glenna Day
• 89-year-old Solomon Spring
• 90-year-old Doris Wasserman
• 86-year-old Margaret White
• 79-year-old Diana Delahunty
• 93-year-old Mamie Dell Miya
• 86-year-old Catherine Probst Sinclair
• 90-year-old Marilyn Bixler
• An 81-year-old “Jane Doe”

In November 2021, a Dallas County jury became deadlocked during a trial for two of his alleged victims. The judge dismissed the cases after one juror would not budge, Binder reported.

Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot, a Democrat, decided not to seek the death penalty in the cases brought to trial so far, WFAA reported. The Republican district attorney in neighboring Collin County, Greg Willis, has not yet indicated if he will seek the death penalty in the nine cases indicted in his county.

Breitbart began covering the cases against Chemirmir in May 2019. At that time, he stood accused of the murders of only 12 people.

Chemirmir entered the U.S. on a B-2 tourist visa in July 2003. His immigration status became illegal when his visa expired. However, in 2007, the federal government issued him a green card after he married a U.S. citizen.