‘I didn’t murder anybody’: Jurors hear from Billy Chemirmir, family of another alleged victim

Billy Chemirmir said he thought it looked like something out of Hollywood.

The multiple plainclothes cops with guns drawn coming toward his car to arrest him seemed like a lot for his outstanding public intoxication warrant, he told a Dallas police detective later that night in March 2018.

The hours-long taped interrogation with police officers from Dallas and Plano was played for jurors Wednesday in Chemirmir’s capital murder trial. He is on trial this week in the smothering death of 81-year-old Lu Thi Harris at her Far North Dallas home.

When Dallas police Detective Brian Tabor explained to Chemirmir that he was suspected of murder, he appeared surprised.

“What?” Chemirmir asked.

“You’re going to jail for murder,” Tabor repeated.

“For murder?” Chemirmir asked. He denied killing anyone.

“I just can’t believe this,” Chemirmir said. “Where I come from, our culture, we don’t even think about that. ... I didn’t murder anybody.”

Chemirmir is a Kenyan immigrant with permanent resident status in the U.S. He told Tabor he has been in the U.S. since 2003. He has a young son who was born in the U.S., he said.

Police have said Chemirmir could be among Texas’ most prolific killers. He has been indicted on 18 counts of capital murder in Dallas and Collin counties. In all, he has been linked by police records, civil lawsuits and medical examiner reports to at least two dozen deaths.

Jurors this week are tasked with determining Chemirmir’s guilt in Harris’ death. If convicted, he will automatically be sentenced to life in prison because the Dallas County district attorney’s office is not seeking the death penalty.

Chemirmir’s defense lawyers, who did not provide an opening statement, had few questions for witnesses. The defense team will have a chance to present its own evidence after lead prosecutor Glen Fitzmartin closes his case.

‘You had their property’

Earlier in the trial, jurors heard that after Chemirmir fell under police suspicion in an attempted murder in Plano, investigators waited at his Far North Dallas apartment to arrest him. Before they approached him, a detective saw him throw a jewelry box into a dumpster. Officers also testified that Harris’ house keys, documents with her name, $2 bills and jewelry were found either in the dumpster or in Chemirmir’s car.

Prosecutors showed jurors the jewelry box and Harris’ son-in-law said he recognized it as hers. He also said Harris collected $2 bills and gave them as gifts.

Chemirmir was questioned about those items in the taped interview. He told Tabor, the Dallas detective, that he bought and sold jewelry for a living. He said that a man delivered the jewelry box to him that same day and he picked up the $2 bills from another man in Fort Worth days prior.

Tabor told Chemirmir his story didn’t make sense. Tabor said police followed him all day — even though that wasn’t true — in an effort to get Chemirmir to say he killed Harris. Chemirmir denied being inside Harris’ house.

“The person that you murdered — you had their property, you had their money, you had their jewelry, and you had their jewelry box,” Tabor said.

Security footage aired

Prosecutors also showed jurors surveillance camera footage Tuesday from a Walmart at the corner of Coit and Arapaho roads that showed that Chemirmir and Harris were in the store at the same time.

Defense lawyers challenged the video evidence by pointing out Harris arrived at the Walmart nearly 40 minutes before Chemirmir and in no footage do the two appear to speak with each other. Chemirmir drove out of the parking lot about two minutes before Harris, defense lawyer Kobby Warren pointed out.

Scott Sayers, another Dallas police detective, testified that Chemirmir stalled his car while Harris walked the grocery cart from her car to the cart corral. Warren suggested Chemirmir was yielding to pedestrian right of way.

Prosecutors sought to prove Chemirmir had a pattern of choosing victims at the Walmart. Richardson police Detective Kelly Pagel testified that on Jan. 30, 2018, Chemirmir targeted 88-year-old Mary Brooks, following her home from the store and fatally smothering her. Prosecutors showed security footage from Walmart showing a car similar to the one Chemirmir drove following her out of the parking lot.

Surveillance footage from another day showed Chemirmir standing outside the same Walmart in dark slacks, a white shirt and a blue tie with a phone to his ear, watching the parking lot intently.

Brooks was active and in good health when she died, said her daughter, Ann Brooks, and grandson, David Cuddihee. They testified that they hadn’t heard from Brooks for a while but figured she was out and about.

Then family members grew worried and asked Cuddihee to check on her. Cuddihee testified that he knew something was wrong as he approached her home. Her back gate was propped open and her office light was on. He said he opened the door and saw her lying on her side on the floor.

He said he tried to do CPR as he called 911, but she was already dead.

“I called my mom back with the unfortunate news that it was not just a wellness check and that my grandmother was dead,” Cuddihee said.

Brooks was wearing the same blue jacket and red scarf that she wore in the footage at the Walmart, Richardson police Officer Shane Harris said. Groceries were still out on the stove top, he said, some in plastic Walmart bags.

Ann Brooks testified that her mother’s safe was missing from the home, as was the jewelry she kept.

For the families of other alleged victims watching from a livestream on the 10th floor of the Frank Crowley Courts Building, it was a day of mixed feelings. Anger, some said, as they watched Chemirmir being interviewed by detectives. Horror, said others, watching him crack his knuckles and seeing close-up photographs of his hands. Hands that they say killed their mothers.

Loren Adair is the daughter of Phyllis Payne, whom Chemirmir is suspected of killing at the Edgemere independent living community in May 2016. She said watching Walmart security footage of Chemirmir was emotional. She said she wished she could speak through the screen to Harris, just a few hours before she was found dead.

“She was alive. She was shopping. She didn’t know what was about to happen,” Adair said. “Run! Get away!”

Mask debate delays testimony

Testimony was delayed Wednesday morning while lawyers argued over whether Chemirmir should wear a face mask.

Dallas County prosecutor Glen Fitzmartin argued that his witnesses may not be able to identify Chemirmir because of the mask he has been wearing in accordance with COVID-19 safety protocols. On Monday, a witness who allegedly saw Chemirmir at Preston Place Retirement Community in Plano failed to identify him. Fitzmartin offered to provide Chemirmir a clear plastic face shield instead.

“I think it’s on fairness that my witnesses be able to look at him as he looked at the time,” Fitzmartin said. “He’s wearing a mask. That’s what robbers do so they’re not identified.”

But defense lawyers Kobby Warren and Mark Watson objected. They argued that Chemirmir needs to be able to wear his glasses to see and that the face shield doesn’t accommodate glasses. Warren also objected to asking Chemirmir to briefly remove his mask if witnesses are asked to identify him in the courtroom.

“I think its prejudicial to force him to do that, and we’re going to object to it,” Warren said.

After hearing arguments, state District Judge Raquel “Rocky” Jones left the courtroom and did not announce her decision publicly. Later, Chemirmir slipped his mask beneath his chin during the testimony of several witnesses when they were asked to identify him.

Watson asked the judge to declare a mistrial because the debate was broadcast on the local media livestream. Jones denied the request.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said Walmart security footage showed Billy Chemirmir getting out of his car and watching Mary Brooks, and gave an incorrect date. The footage of Chemirmir out of his car was at another time from the footage showing a car similar to his following Brooks the day she died.