Billy Chemirmir Trial, Day 3: The Jury Sees the Walmart Video and His Police Interview, WFAA, 2021

Name: Billy Chemirmir Trial, Day 3: The Jury Sees the Walmart Video and His Police Interview, WFAA, 2021
Uploaded: 2021-11-18T00:00:00Z
Duration: 1 min 31 s
Description: A WFAA report from the third day of Billy Chemirmir's first trial for the murder of 81-year-old Lu Thi Harris, as prosecutors showed jurors store surveillance video and his police interview.

A WFAA report from the third day of Billy Chemirmir's first trial for the murder of 81-year-old Lu Thi Harris, as prosecutors showed jurors store surveillance video and his police interview.

Subject: Billy Kipkorir Chemirmir
Recorded: November 17, 2021
Runtime: 1:31

Content warning: Concerns the smothering deaths of elderly women; no graphic detail.

The Report

This is a 90-second WFAA report by Rebecca Lopez from November 17, 2021, the third day of Billy Chemirmir's first trial for the capital murder of Lu Thi Harris, 81. It shows prosecutors taking the jury through store surveillance video and describes the police interview recorded after his arrest in March 2018, which was played to the jury that day. Chemirmir is not clearly heard in the report: the interview is summarized by the reporter, and the courtroom sound is of prosecutors, witnesses and a detective. The only words that may be his are "Yes, sir", and even those may belong to a witness.

Historical Context

Chemirmir, a Kenyan immigrant who had worked as a caregiver, was arrested in March 2018 after a 91-year-old woman at a Plano retirement community told police he had tried to smother her with a pillow. Investigators went on to link him to the deaths of many older women in Dallas and Collin counties, most of them smothered, and said he stole jewelry from some victims and sold it online. He was charged with 22 capital murders. Lu Thi Harris was found dead in her Dallas home on March 20, 2018, the day of his arrest.

Circumstances of the Recording

The trial in the Harris case opened in November 2021. Prosecutors told the jury the case would be about stalking, smothering and stealing. On day 3 they played surveillance video from a North Dallas Walmart showing Harris and Chemirmir in the store on the day she was killed, and the police interview in which, according to the report, he denied being near the crime scenes and denied killing anyone.

What the Report Covers

The report follows the Walmart video: Harris entering in a red jacket, Chemirmir entering minutes later in a baseball cap, both at the checkout at the same time, and Harris leaving about a minute after him. It then turns to the interview: Chemirmir told the detective that he bought and sold jewelry on the OfferUp app, and said he had bought the jewelry box that officers saw him throw into a dumpster from someone he met. A detective's account of those answers is heard. The reporter concludes that he "stumbled through the interrogation".

What Makes the Recording Significant

It records, on the day, the evidence prosecutors used to place Chemirmir with one of his victims, and how his own explanations were presented to the jury.

Archival Importance

This first trial ended in a mistrial on November 19, 2021, when the jury could not agree. At the retrial in April 2022 Chemirmir was convicted of Lu Thi Harris's murder and sentenced to life without parole; in October 2022 he was convicted of the murder of Mary Brooks. He was killed in prison in September 2023 and was never tried on the other charges.

Important Caveats

Chemirmir's own voice is not clearly heard; do not describe this as a recording of him speaking. The video is a short report, not the full interview or the full day of testimony. His statements in the interview are his claims, reported here by WFAA. Whether the detective's lines are courtroom testimony or come from the interview video itself is not yet settled (see WARNINGS). This trial ended in a mistrial; the conviction for Harris's murder came at the 2022 retrial.

Narrator: The last hours of Lu Harris's life played out on a screen inside a Dallas County courtroom.

Prosecutor: You know that to be Lu Thi Harris?

Witness: I do.

Narrator: Prosecutors walked the jury through the video from a North Dallas Walmart on the day Lu Harris was killed.

Prosecutor: You see her walk into the store. This is her in the red jacket.

Narrator: Minutes later, you see Billy Chemirmir walk through that same door.

Prosecutor: [unclear: "Is that an" / "Is the"] individual walking in with the baseball hat?

Narrator: The video also shows Harris and Chemirmir at the checkout counter at the same time. Then he leaves the store. About a minute later, Lu Harris walks out. During opening statements on Monday, prosecutors told the jury that this case was going to be about stalking, which is what most of the testimony was about this morning. They also said it would be about smothering and stealing. Jurors then heard the police interrogation videos after his arrest. The detective asked him what he did for a living. He said he sold jewelry on the OfferUp app.

Detective: So he's telling me he's using OfferUp and platforms like that to buy and sell jewelry?

Unidentified: Yes, sir.

Narrator: Some of the victim's jewelry was found through that app. Detectives also asked him about Harris's jewelry box officers saw him throw into a dumpster.

Detective: He told me that he had met someone and bought the jewelry box. And then when he got to this place, he didn't want it, so he threw it away into the dumpster.

Narrator: Chemirmir repeatedly told detectives he wasn't anywhere near the crime scenes and didn't kill anyone. But he stumbled through the interrogation, oftentimes unable to explain his actions. In Dallas, I'm Rebecca Lopez. [01:30 to 01:31: clip ends.] ---