Serial killer who killed 12 elderly Dallas women suspected of murdering 6 more residents in senior living home, states lawsuit
A suspected serial killer, who has already been charged in the alleged murders of 12 elderly women in Texas, could also be behind the killings of six more elderly people, including one elderly man, according to multiple lawsuits filed against him on Tuesday.
The suspect, identified as 46-year-old Billy Chemirmir from Kenya, has been in police custody since March 2018 after he was arrested for the death of 81-year-old Lu Thi Harris in Dallas. According to Dallas County District Attorney's spokesperson Kim Leach, Chemirmir was charged in the deaths of 11 other women last month. The women's ages ranged from 75 years to 94 years. According to authorities Chemirmir posed as a health care provider or maintenance worker and stole jewelry and other valuables from his victims.
In the six lawsuits filed on behalf of the family members of the victims who died in 2016, an independent living facility The Tradition-Prestonwood has been accused of failing to keep residents safe and hiding suspicious circumstances surrounding the deaths of the victims. The facility is an upscale senior living complex where eight of the victims have died. The suit claims that all the eight deaths occurred in a four months span in 2016.
"As a direct result of The Tradition's hollow assurances of safety and security, Chemirmir had virtually unfettered access inside The Tradition-Prestonwood for months," the lawsuits say, according to Dallas News.
Chermirmir was arrested in 2018 after a woman identified him as the man who attacked her and he was already linked to the death of a Dallas woman. Shortly after his arrest, authorities reviewed hundreds of deaths that occurred in the region and had been blamed on natural causes. Subsequently, he was indicted on 11 more capital charges last month.
Officials believe that the previously identified victims were smothered with a pillow while they were alone in their apartments or home. The lawsuits say that at least five new alleged victims at The Tradition-Prestonwood died under similar circumstances. The suit also states that one man was found in a pool of blood and the complex suggested that he had fallen and hit his head. The suspect has not been charged in the latest allegations, however, according to the suits, police have told the families that cellphone evidence links him to these cases.
An attorney for the victims' families, Trey Crawford, while speaking to Fox4, said: "What was shocking is that this person was allowed to be there in the first place. He literally roamed freely, stalking his next victim, posing as a maintenance man, walking around, knocking on doors. None of this should ever happen. Somebody like this should never be allowed unfettered access to elderly people in their own homes. It should never happen.”
The retirement home released a statement, calling the deaths "a true tragedy" and said that it relied on the Dallas police investigations "and other reputable, established governmental entities, including the Dallas County Medical Examiner, the Collin County Medical Examiner."
"Any death was investigated by Dallas police and the Dallas County Medical Examiner and ruled as attributed to natural causes," the facility said in a statement. "Additionally, there were two autopsies which also confirmed death by natural causes. Those rulings stood for more than 27 months."
Chemirmir is currently being held in the Dallas County jail, with bail set at $11.6 million as he awaits more possible indictments.