A Texas man accused of attempting to kill two elderly women has been charged with capital murder as police continue to comb through old unsolved cases to see if he could be involved.
Billy Chemirmir, 45, who worked as a nurse in his native Kenya, is at the center of an investigation into nearly 1,000 unexplained deaths in Texas, KRLD reported.
A grand jury granted his capital murder indictment on Tuesday after he allegedly smothered an 81-year-old woman to death with her pillow and stole her jewelry box.
Police had been watching him in relation to another woman, 91, who he had allegedly tried to smother to death in the same fashion and robbed before fleeing.
Officers observed Chemirmir putting something in a dumpster at his apartment block before executing an arrest warrant they had out on him in relation to the attempted capital murder.
Inside the dumpster, police found a box with jewelry inside, and a piece of paper they were able to link to a woman in Dallas, Lu Thi Harris, Dallas News reported.
They contacted local police to do a welfare check on Harris, and officers found her dead inside.
Former nurse Billy Chemirmir (left) has been indicted by a grand jury for the capital murder of Lu Thi Harris (right), who was found smothered to death in March at her home in Plano
Chemirmir’s attempted murder charge stems from an incident in Frisco in October last year, and he is accused, but not believed to have been charged, of a similar act in March in Plano.
In October, Chemirmir allegedly posed as a maintenance worker at the home of a 93-year-old woman living in assisted care in Frisco.
The woman told police she was smothered with a pillow, and robbed of jewelry.
Afraid for her life, the woman said she was praying out of fear she would die.
In March, the former nurse allegedly stormed into a 91-year-old woman’s home and told her: ‘go to bed, don’t fight me’.
After her face was covered with a pillow, she lost consciousness, but was later revived by Plano Fire and Rescue, where she revealed her attacker had stolen jewelry from her.
Chemirmir was named a suspect after his car was seen on CCTV leaving the scene, and it was just one day after the attempted murder of the woman in Collins County he was busted throwing out Harris’ effects.
The 45-year-old is now being investigated for nearly 1,000 unsolved deaths or attacks, and the victims are mostly elderly women who were in nursing homes.
A general view showing Block 6600 of Warm Breeze Lane, where Dallas Police conducted a welfare check and found Harris murdered