Kenyan nurse charged with killing 22 women gets second conviction

Defence attorney Kobby Warren talks to his client Billy Chemirmir if he understands the motions and language being sent to the jury. [AP, Photo] A Kenyan man suspected of killing a dozen elderly women in the United States of America has been convicted of second capital murder. Billy Chemirmir, 49, was found guilty of killing 87-year-old Mary Brooks in her Richardson home in 2018. The Dallas Morning News reported that Chemirmir was automatically sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Dallas Morning News on Friday reported that Dallas County jurors in less than 30 minutes of deliberation found Chemirmir guilty of killing Brooks. The conviction followed a week-long trial at the Frank Crowley Courts Building in Dallas. Brooks body was found on January 31, 2018, by her grandson David Cuddihee. In April this year, Chemirmir was convicted of killing 81-year-old Lu Thi Harris in Dallas. He was sentenced to life in jail without parole. Dallas County District Attorney John Creutoz, according to the Dallas Morning News, had promised families that prosecutors would try Chemirmir for the deaths of Harris and Brooks as their cases had the strongest evidence. Creutoz said they have accomplished what they had set out to do and Chemirmir will spend the rest of his life behind bars."Billy Chemirmir will die in a state penitentiary," said Creutoz. Chemirmir is charged with the capital murder of 22 elderly women in North Texas. Most of his victims allegedly lived in apartments at independent living communities for older people. In November 2021, during the trial, Chemirmir told the trial court that his culture does not allow killing. Chemirmir, in a video recording during interrogation by Dallas police detective Brian Tabor, denied committing the offence. In the video recording played in court before Judge Raquel 'Rocky' Jones, Chemirmir appeared shocked when informed he is going to jail for murder. The video was recorded in March 2018 after his arrest."I can't believe this, where I come from, our culture, we don't even think about that. I did not kill anybody," he said. In the video, he further, asked Tabor why he needed a lawyer for a crime he did not commit."Why do I need a lawyer for something I did not do," he said. He said he earned a living through the sale and buying of jewellery. He also said he once worked as a caregiver for the elderly. When asked how he ended up with Harris' jewellery box and jewel, he said he had purchased them from someone earlier before his arrest. But he couldn't name those who sold him the items. Detective Tabor in his testimony said Chemirmir had told him that he bought the jewellery box that belonged to Harris with all its content, including the keys to her house at $700 (Sh78,540). He said he did not know the items belonged to a dead woman. Back in Kenya, tight-lipped relatives and friends say Chemirmir never showed any signs of being a serial killer. Would not hurt a fly Locals at the sleepy village of Kabunyony village in Eldama Ravine where he was brought up, described him as a man who would not hurt a fly. Close family members have been reluctant to speak about his childhood and life in general, before he left for the USA in 2003. Those who spoke reluctantly volunteered information. A relative and a neighbour, who claimed to have been close to Chemirmir, opened up to The Standard about what they knew about him but strictly requested to remain anonymous. "Chemirmir is one of the children of the late Paramount Chief Joel Chemirmir. Billy's mother was the second wife to the chief. He was the seventh born child to his mother," said the relative, adding that Chemirmir was the chief's favourite son. News that he is a serial killer the relative said has continued to puzzle everyone who knew him before he left the country for 'greener pastures' in the USA. According to the sources, Chemirmir left the country in 2003 at the invitation of his sister, who operated an elderly home in Dallas, where he worked before they differed. A family member revealed that Chemirmir's two brothers had left Kenya earlier in the year 2000 when the sister secured Visas for them. "The sister was keen on uplifting the living standards of the three brothers who were either idling in the village or working as farmers," said the relative. He added; " Chemirmir was a man of few words. He would love and hate in equal measure. He was generous to a fault", he said, adding, "This incident in the USA has shocked many of us because when he was in Kenya he never committed any crime. His record was clean". A friend who happens to be a neighbour of the family said Chemirmir after completing high school, ventured into small-time farming activities. "He would grow onions, tomatoes and other products that would earn him a few coins," the friend recalled. Chemirmir is reported to have fallen out with his sister and that is when he started doing home service between the years 2014 and 2016. News of Chemirmir's arrest broke out in March 2018. US channel Fox4 indicated that the man was being accused of smothering 81-year-old Dallas woman Lu Thi Harris. Billy's lawyer Phillip Hayes was quoted by the Dallas Morning News as saying that a lot of the evidence against his client is circumstantial. "It may put him in the area of an alleged murder, but it doesn't prove he was the killer. It seems like every unexplained death they come up with, they're pinning on him," Hayes said.

Kenyan nurse charged with killing 22 women gets second conviction

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