Kenyan-born suspected serial killer linked to three more murders in US
Billy Chemirmir, a Kenyan man accused of smothering more than a dozen women living in North Texas retirement homes before robbing them of their jewelry, is now facing three more capital murder charges.
Authorities have charged Chemirmir, a former healthcare worker, in connection with the deaths of 14 elderly people in Dallas and Collin Counties between 2016 and 2018.
Chemirmir, who is from Eldama Ravine in Baringo County, now faces 17 accusations of capital murder and two counts of attempted capital murder.
The 48-year-old Kenyan has also been linked through medical examiner reports and civil filings in seven other cases — making it 24 deaths, Dallas Morning News reported.
“Chemirmir has now been charged with 17 counts of capital murder and two counts of attempted capital murder in Dallas and Collin counties. He has also been linked through medical examiner reports and civil case filings in seven other deaths, bringing the total to 24 deaths in North Texas,” read a publication posted on the Dallas Morning News website.
The three latest charges are all for women killed at The Tradition-Prestonwood, a luxury senior living complex in Dallas.
Chemirmir is accused of smothering elderly women and stealing their jewelry, cash and other precious items in Dallas and Collin Counties in Texas, US, to sell at Dallas-area pawn shops.
The additional charges come after police previously said they were looking into at least 750 seniors who died unattended during the period Chemirmir was working in the region.
According to People Magazine, Chemirmir would allegedly dress as a maintenance worker or health care aid to get into homes and kill his victims, whose deaths largely went uninvestigated at the time because they were assumed to have been natural causes due to their advanced ages.
READ: Suspected Kenyan-born serial killer faces death penalty in US
Chemirmir has pleaded not guilty, and his lawyers said the cases against him are largely circumstantial.
But authorities said they had a mountain of evidence against him, including surveillance video, DNA evidence and even an eyewitness account of a 91-year-old woman who survived one of his alleged attacks.
A Kenyan immigrant with permanent resident status in the US, Chemirmir is being held in the Dallas County Jail on a bond of $11.6 million (about Sh1.3 billion), pending a 2021 trial date.
If he’s convicted, he will become one of the most prolific serial killers in Texas history.