Who was Billy Chemirmir, man accused of killing women in North Texas senior-living homes?

Billy Chemirmir, 50, convicted last year in the 2018 slayings of two women, was killed by his cellmate in a Texas prison Tuesday morning.

Chemirmir was accused of hunting and killing about two dozen elderly women and one man across North Texas.

Because Dallas County prosecutors did not seek the death penalty during the 2022 trials, he was automatically sentenced to life in prison without parole. He said he was innocent.

Police and prosecutors say Chemirmir posed as a health care or maintenance worker to gain access to luxury senior-living communities and the private homes of elderly people in Dallas and Collin counties. Once inside, they say, he smothered his victims and robbed them of jewelry and other valuables.

Although it was widely reported after his arrest, including by The Dallas Morning News, that Chemirmir is an undocumented immigrant, he has permanent-resident status, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He could face deportation if released from jail or prison.

In an interview with The News, Chemirmir spoke at length about his youth in Kenya, his immigration to the United States, and his steadfast belief that he would be found not guilty.

Chemirmir was born in Kenya, in a rural area between the major cities of Eldoret and Nakuru, in December 1972. Chemirmir said he was the son of a wealthy farmer and his second of three wives. He said he has 28 siblings.

He said he was generally well-liked and a good student, especially in math class. While in Kenya, he said, he began his work as a caregiver — taking care of his father, who he said was 100 years old at the time.

Chemirmir told The News that he moved to the United States in 2003, where he sold cars and worked as a caregiver.

In North Texas, the Chemirmir family owns several senior-living homes in McKinney and Allen. No suspicious deaths have been reported at those facilities, according to the Collin County medical examiner’s office.

Chemirmir was married in Denton County in 2004. His wife filed for divorce two years later, saying she didn’t know where he was. She tried calling family members and previous employers and searched for him online, but couldn’t track him down, according to court documents. The divorce was finalized in October 2006.

Chemirmir was arrested in 2010 on a charge of driving while intoxicated in Addison, and served 18 months of probation. He picked up a second DWI charge in Dallas in 2011, didn’t show up for court and ended up with a warrant for his arrest.

The next year, he and his girlfriend argued about him coming home drunk from a strip club, according to police records. She tried to walk away, but he began punching her in the face. He then beat her on the head with a pot and kicked her in the back. When she called 911, he grabbed a knife and began stabbing a red leather loveseat.

He was still there, angry, when police arrived. They arrested him, and he pleaded guilty in exchange for a 70-day sentence in the Dallas County jail.

Early in 2016, Chemirmir was spotted on the property of Edgemere, a high-end senior-living complex in Dallas. When confronted, he gave his name as Benjamin Koitaba and was told to leave. Dallas police instructed the staff to call back if he trespassed again.

According to police reports and court documents, it’s the first time police know of that Chemirmir was at a senior-living center.

That June, Edgemere staff called police and said the suspicious man was back. Chemirmir showed officers his wallet, which had IDs for Benjamin Koitaba and Billy Chemirmir. He was charged with criminal trespass and was sentenced to 70 days in the county jail but was released on good behavior after just 12.

Police have since re-examined the deaths at Edgemere during the period Chemirmir was hanging around there. Phyllis Payne, 91, and Phoebe Perry, 94, died within a month of each other, seemingly of natural causes. But now police say Chemirmir killed both women and stole their jewelry.

Another woman, Catherine Probst Sinclair, 87, died at Edgemere about a month earlier. Her death was also attributed to natural causes, but the Dallas County medical examiner now says her cause of death is “undetermined.” Chemirmir had not been indicted in the case, but Sinclair’s family says investigators have told them she was among his victims.

Eight days after he was released from jail for trespassing at Edgemere, police say Chemirmir went to The Tradition-Prestonwood in Far North Dallas and killed Joyce Abramowitz, 82. He was indicted in seven other deaths at The Tradition-Prestonwood senior-living community.

He was also accused of a total of eight deaths at Parkview Frisco and Preston Place in Plano, and four deaths at private homes in Dallas, Richardson and Plano.