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| Billy Chemirmir, a suspected serial killer, enters the courtroom on Monday, October 3, 2022, during his third trial at the Frank Crowley Courts Building in Dallas. DNA evidence has connected Chemirmir, who is accused of murdering 22 elderly women in the Dallas area and stealing jewelry and other valuables, to one of the deaths, a prosecutor said on Monday. (Shafkat Anowar) |
According to a prosecutor, DNA evidence has connected a man accused of killing 22 elderly women in the Dallas area and stealing jewellery and other valuables to one of the deaths.
The death of Mary Brooks, 87, is the subject of a capital murder trial for Billy Chemirmir, 49.
Chemirmir is in his third trial. His initial trial, which involved the 81-year-old Lu Thi Harris's suffocation death, was declared a mistrial last November due to a deadlocked jury. He was tried again, found guilty, and given a life without parole sentence in April. He will be given a second life sentence without the possibility of parole if found guilty in Brooks' death.
In his opening remarks, the prosecutor, Glen Fitzmartin, stated that in addition to presenting evidence regarding the deaths of Brooks and Harris, he would also demonstrate how Chemirmir's DNA is connected to the passing of 80-year-old Martha Williams.
Chemirmir has remained blameless. On his behalf, his attorney Monday entered a not guilty plea; however, they chose not to make an opening statement.
The process leading to his arrest began in March 2018, when Mary Annis Bartel, 91 at the time, reported that a man had broken into her apartment at a senior independent living complex, tried to suffocate her with a pillow, and stolen her jewellery.
Bartel, who passed away in 2020, described the assault in a recorded interview that was played to the jury on Monday. She claimed she knew she was in "grave danger" the instant she opened her door and noticed a man wearing green rubber gloves.
Don't fight me, he said; lie on the bed,'" Bartel recalled.
According to the police, Chemirmir was holding cash and jewellery when they discovered him the following day in the parking lot of his apartment complex. He had also just thrown away a sizable red jewellery box. Documents in the box helped them find Harris' house, where they discovered her dead in her bedroom with lipstick all over her pillow.
Police in the Dallas area began reexamining older people's deaths that had previously been deemed natural after Chemirmir's arrest, even as their families discovered missing jewellery.
He faces 22 counts of capital murder for fatalities that occurred between May 2016 and March 2018. This summer, four additional indictments were added.
Harris and Chemirmir checked out at the same time at a Walmart a few hours before she was discovered dead, according to evidence presented at prior trials.
Brooks had shopped at the same Walmart just a few weeks earlier, according to the evidence. Fitzmartin claimed that Chemirmir was observing people while he was parked in his car in the parking lot while Brooks was inside the Walmart.
He departs, she departs. You'll hear that his phone travels from the Walmart to her home," Fitzmartin said. She arrives at her house, and nobody ever hears from her again.
Brooks' grandson discovered her dead in her condo the day after that trip to Walmart, with her groceries still in bags on the counter.
The majority of the victims Chemirmir is accused of killing resided in apartments at senior independent living facilities. He is also charged with murdering women in their homes, including the widow of a man he had looked after while working as a home health aide.
Chemirmir revealed to a detective in a police video interview that he had worked as a caregiver and a security guard in addition to buying and selling jewellery to make money.
Williams and Bartel shared a community, according to Fitzmartin, who also revealed that Williams was discovered dead in her apartment about two weeks prior to Bartel's attack.
Williams' family found "there was something not right" as they cleaned out her house, including missing items and a pillow with an odd stain, he claimed.
According to Fitzmartin, the DNA found on that pillow cannot rule out Chemirmir, and a search of Chemirmir's car produced gloves with DNA that matched Williams.
When prosecuting Chemirmir in two of his 13 capital murder cases, Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot, a Democrat, sought life sentences rather than the death penalty.
In an interview with The Dallas Morning News, Creuzot stated that while he is not opposed to the death penalty, he weighs several factors before deciding whether to pursue it, including the length of time it would take for someone to be executed, the expense of any appeals, and whether the person would still pose a threat to society if they were to remain in prison. He continued, "Chemirmir is going to die in the prison."
In Chemirmir's prior trials, the defence claimed that the prosecution had not established its case beyond a reasonable doubt.
The nine capital murder cases against Chemirmir that are pending in the neighbouring Collin County have not yet been decided by the prosecutors there.
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