Billy Chemirmir Arrested After a Plano Smothering and a Dallas Woman's Death
Evidence in a dumpster led police to the body of Lu Thi Harris, 81. Police said he used healthcare experience to target the elderly.
Published
"Go to bed and don't fight me," the man said. On March 19, 2018, a stranger forced his way into the Plano, Texas, apartment of a 91-year-old woman, pressed a pillow over her face and left with her jewelry and belongings. Plano Fire-Rescue revived her, and from a hospital bed she gave police her account.
It led them to Billy Chemirmir within a day. Detectives got his license plate from a report of a suspicious vehicle, and on March 20 they began watching his apartment in Dallas. They saw him throwing things into the garbage, approached him and arrested him on outstanding warrants. In the dumpster they found a large jewelry box and a handwritten address on Warm Breeze Lane in Dallas. When Dallas officers went to check on the house and got no answer, they forced their way in and found Lu Thi Harris, 81, dead. Initial evidence suggested she had been smothered with a pillow, as the woman in Plano had been.
Chemirmir, 45, was charged with capital murder and attempted capital murder. Once he was in custody, Frisco police served a capital murder warrant on him over an October 2017 attack in which, the Plano police chief said, a 93-year-old woman was attacked in her home by a man posing as a maintenance worker, a pillow was held over her face, and her jewelry was taken.
"Chemirmir used his healthcare experience to his advantage in targeting and exploiting seniors, some of the most vulnerable people in our community," said Plano Police Chief Gregory Rushin. "This is terribly disturbing." Police said he had used that experience to get into senior retirement communities and then posed as a maintenance worker to get close to elderly women living alone. Plano, Frisco, Dallas, Richardson and other agencies began combing through past deaths of elderly residents, and a Dallas assistant chief said there were close to 750 unexplained, unexpected or natural-cause deaths since 2010 to look at. "We'll leave no stone unturned," he said.
What this story covers. It draws on the Plano Star Courier's report of March 23, 2018, based on the police briefing and arrest warrants; no police release could be opened. The 91-year-old woman who survived is not named here. Chemirmir was accused, not convicted, when this was reported; he was later convicted of the capital murders of Lu Thi Harris and another woman.
Sources
- Chief: 'This is terribly disturbing,' Murder suspect targeted elderly women, Plano Star Courier (Star Local Media)