DALLAS — A man charged with killing 22 women over two years in the Dallas area was found guilty Friday in one of the deaths.
The ruling automatically served 49-year-old Billy Kemilmere to a second life sentence without parole, this time for the asphyxiation death of 87-year-old Mary Brooks. The jury took less than half an hour to reach a verdict against Chemirmir, who had already been sentenced to life in prison without parole for being found guilty in April of the death of 81-year-old Lou Ti Harris.
Authorities claim he preyed on an elderly woman, murdered her, and stole her valuables. has been repeatedly determined to be due to
Dallas County District Attorney John Clouseau said in closing arguments, “This is a conscious, dedicated effort to sneak, watch, kill, steal, strip and sell.
Clouzot opposed seeking the death penalty. After Friday’s sentencing, he said his two sentences meant Chemirmir would “die in prison.”
Creuzot said 11 additional capital murder cases against Chemirmir in Dallas County will be dismissed. Prosecutors in neighboring Collin County have yet to say whether they will try his nine murders against Kemyrmir, who has pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors told jurors that evidence showed Chemirmir tracked Brooks home from Walmart, choked her, and took her jewelry.
A woman survived an attack in March 2018, prompting the arrest of Chemirmir. Her then 91-year-old girlfriend, Mary Annis Bartel, told police a man broke into an apartment in an independent living community for seniors, tried to smother her with her pillow and took her jewelry. rice field.
After Chemirmir’s arrest, Dallas-area police reviewed the fatalities and increased charges against him. Many of the victims’ children say they remained embarrassed by the deaths at the time because their mothers, despite their advanced age, were still healthy and active. it was done.
Most lived in apartments in independent living communities for seniors. A woman who lived in a private home was the widow of a man for whom Chemirmir worked as a home caregiver.
Defense attorneys told jurors that prosecutors had not presented enough evidence to convict.
In closing arguments, defense attorney Philip Hayes said, “They beg to plug the holes they can’t.
After the verdict, he told reporters he planned to appeal.
A jury this week was convicting Kemilmere only for Brooks’ death, but they also heard evidence that led to his conviction for Harris’ death, as well as details related to the death of 80-year-old Martha Williams. For the first time, officials have presented DNA evidence linking Chemirmir to one of the dead, Williams.
The jury also heard testimony that Chemirmir had or was selling women’s jewelry and valuables.
Before Bartel died in 2020, she described the attack in a taped interview played at the Chemirmir trial. She said she knew she was in “grave danger” the moment she opened her door and saw a man in rubber gloves.
Police testified the next day that they found Chemirmir with jewelry and cash in the parking lot of his apartment complex where he had just dumped a large red jewelry box. led them to Harris’ house, which was found. Her pillow was smeared with lipstick.
According to evidence presented at the trial, Kemilmere was at the Walmart where Harris was shopping just hours before Harris was found dead.
A grocery bag from the same trip to Walmart was sitting on her counter when Brooks’ grandson discovered her dead body in her apartment a few weeks earlier. I pulled out and saw a car that matched the description of going in the same direction.
Brooks’ daughter, Anne Brooks, said after the verdict that her family was “thrilled that this defendant can never hurt another family again.”
“Our beloved mother, Mary Sue, her life is over and her jewelery is gone, but her love and memory will live forever in all of us,” she said. I was.
