Major update on ‘serial killer behind 22 deaths’ whose calling card was a huge clue
A SUSPECTED serial killer accused of murdering 22 people is scheduled to face his second capital murder trial next week.
Billy Chemirmir, 49, goes on trial for allegedly murdering 87-year-old Mary Brooks on Monday.
Brooks is just one of 22 women he has been accused of killing, according to the Associated Press.
Chermirmir first faced trial in April, when he was convicted of killing Lu Thi Harris, 81, and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
If convicted of killing Brooks – who was found dead in her Dallas home in January 2018 – he will reportedly receive the same sentence.
Initially Brooks’ death was allegedly attributed to natural causes.
But the cause was changed to homicide after Chermirmir was linked to a similar death via to a stolen jewelry box.
Two months following Brooks’ death, Chermirmir was arrested after attacking and attempting to suffocate Mary Annis Bartel, 91.
A day after the attack, Chermirmir was confronted by police.
Reports indicate he was holding jewelry and cash and that he also allegedly threw away a red jewelry box that contained documents which were connected to Harris.
After tracking the documents to Harris’ home, police found her dead.
Upon his arrest, police revealed investigators began reviewing cases of approximately 750 unattended deaths of elderly woman for potential links to Chermirmir, the Associated Press reported.
Since 2018, he has been connected to 22.
As of June, the 49-year-old also faces four additional capital murder charges in the deaths of Marilyn Bixler, 90; Diane Delahunty, 79; Helen Lee, 82; and Mamie Miya, 93. All four women were killed in 2017, according to NBC News.
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In a taped interview with police, Chermirmir denied killing anyone and claimed he had been making money through buying and selling jewelry, per the Associated Press.
He reportedly claimed that the jewelry on him at the time of his arrest was purchased from a man he met just 20 minutes before.
However during the April trial, a Dallas detective reportedly testified that Chermirmir “struggled for the details of who he met, how much he paid for the jewelry box.”
The prosecution also provided evidence that Chermirmir attempted to sell jewelry belonging to Bartel and Brooks online.
Chermirmir has repeatedly maintained that he is innocent, telling The Dallas Morning News in March, “I am not a killer,”
“I’m not at all what they’re saying I am,” he added. “I am a very innocent person. I was not brought (up) that way. I was brought (up) in a good family. I didn’t have any problems all my life.”
