Suspected Serial Killer Accused Of Smothering Elderly Women Indicted On 18th Capital Murder Charge

A suspected serial killer accused of killing numerous elderly women at assisted living facilities in Texas has now been indicted on his 18th capital murder charge.

Billy Kipkorir Chemirmir, 48, has now been indicted by a Dallas County grand jury, the Dallas Morning News reports. A grand jury had, just last month, bumped up his capital murder charges to 17 from 14.

His alleged victims are all elderly women he's accused of smothering at North Texas senior living facilities. He’s accused of attacking the women, all residents of the facilities, while either working as health care staff or allegedly impersonating maintenance personnel.

The most recent charge relates to the 2016 death of Glenna Day, the Dallas News reports. She died at The Tradition-Prestonwood, a luxury senior living community in Far North Dallas, where she was a resident.

While Chemirmir has now been charged with 18 deaths, he’s accused of causing 24 deaths in all. Medical examiner reports and civil case filings have alleged that he was involved in seven other deaths, in addition to the criminal court filings, the Dallas News reported last month.

If convicted of the charges, Chemirmir could face the death penalty. The alleged serial killer, who remains in jail on a bail of $17.6 million, has maintained his innocence. Regarding the newest charge, Chermirir’s lawyer Phillip Hayes told the Dallas News on Tuesday that he is “sure it’s more of the same: accusations based on having the medical examiner change his/her mind.”

He previously told the outlet that the evidence against his client is circumstantial.

“It seems like every unexplained death they come up with, they’re pinning on him,” Hayes told the Dallas News in December. “If you look at all of it, it doesn’t stand up.”

Chemirmir was first eyed as a possible attacker in 2018 when he was suspected of trying to smother a 91-year-old woman to death, The Star-Telegram in Fort Worth reported at the time. Before police arrested him in connection with that alleged incident, “they observed him walk to a dumpster and toss unknown items in the dumpster. [...] In the dumpster officers found a jewelry box containing jewelry and a name. Officers were able to associate the name found in the jewelry box to an address in the city of Dallas,” according to a 2018 press release posted on the Dallas Police Department’s website.

That jewelry box led them to the body of an entirely different woman and, after an investigation, officials linked him to the murders of multiple elderly women between 2016 and 2018. Initially, the victims are believed to have died of natural causes. Investigators allegedly found jewelry, cell phones, and other belongings of the victims in Chemirmir’s apartment when it was searched in 2018.