A serial killer currently serving two life sentences in prison has been killed by his cellmate. Billy Chemirmir was only convicted of two murders in 2022, though he was originally indicted on 22 separate counts. However, he’ll never get a chance to serve his sentence as a fellow inmate also behind bars for murder ended up taking Chemirmir’s life, AP reports.
- Chemirmir’s attacks were targeted. He’s said to have posed as a maintenance worker or medical professional in order to get into the homes of his elderly white victims. He often robbed the homes of their valuables and took the lives of those who lived there.
- He was caught when a 91-year-old woman survived one of his attacks. She contacted the police and told them that Billy Chemirmir broke into her house, took her jewelry, and then smothered her with a pillow until he believed she was dead.
- Chemirmir was arrested the following day. Police found him at home at his apartment and found a recently discarded red jewelry box. That jewelry box belonged to an 81-year-old woman who’d been found dead in her home. Soon, the horrific extent of the killer’s crimes became evident. They eventually connected him to 22 murders in total.
- His first trial ended in a mistrial. However, prosecutors wanted Chemirmir to face justice and retried him. He was eventually convicted of murdering Lu Thi Harris and Mary Brooks and sent to H.H. Coffield Unit prison in Texas to serve two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.
- Billy Chemirmir’s lawyer has condemned the act of violence. Attorney Phillip Hayes said in a statement that it was wrong for the other inmate to take his client’s life regardless of his crimes. “Nobody deserves to be killed at any point, especially when you are in a place you’re being held against your will,” he said.
- However, his victims’ families don’t agree. Shannon Dion, the daughter of 92-year-old Doris Gleason, thought to be one of Chemirmir’s victims, found comfort in the death. “My mother died in fear. This man did not have a peaceful passing. There’s some relief in feeling that he didn’t get off easily,” she said, per Fox News. “I’m surprised it took so long. God’s got him now,” added Robert McPhee, a family member of another victim.
