After more than a year of investigation, the charges against suspected North Texas serial killer Billy Chemirmir are starting to come in. Already this week, a Dallas County grand jury has indicted Chemirmir for six murders, according to court documents. Multiple media outlets report that Chemirmir will soon be indicted for another five murders in Collin County, too, bringing the total number of women he is believed to have killed to 12.
Chemirmir first came to public attention in March 2018. That month, a 91-year-old woman told Plano police that a man forced his way into her apartment, ordered her to lay on her bed and then smothered her with a pillow until she lost consciousness. Some of her jewelry had been stolen, she told police.
During their investigation of the attack, Plano police began to watch Chemirmir, eventually spotting him tossing a jewelry box in the trash. The jewelry box, Plano and Dallas police said at a joint press conference last year, belonged to the only woman Chemirmir was indicted for killing in 2018, Lu Thi Harris.
With Chemirmir in Dallas County jail facing capital murder charges for Harris' killing, police began investigating hundreds of deaths of elderly women, many initially determined to have occurred from natural causes. Chemirmir, a former healthcare aide, used his experience to target and attack elderly women, Plano Police Chief Gregory W. Rushin said last March.
In addition to Harris, Chemirmir's suspected victims now include Phyllis Payne, 91, Norma French, 85, Phoebe Perry, 94, Doris Gleason, 92, all who were killed in 2016, in addition to Rosemary Curtis, 76, and Mary Brooks, 87, who police believe were murdered in 2018. Police believe each of the victims was smothered to death by a pillow, according to court documents.
As he has since March 2018, Chemirmir remains in Dallas County Jail. With the additional murder charges, his bail now exceeds $9 million.