Billy Chemirmir, a Kenyan-born convicted in the United States of killing 22 older women over two years is dead.
In a classic case of the hunter becoming the hunted, Chemirmir, 50, was killed Tuesday, September 19 by his cellmate.
Both Chemirmir and his killer were serving a life sentence for murder at the Coffield Unit in Tennessee Colony.
Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesperson Hannah Haney did not release the name of the cellmate or how Chemirmir was killed.
The death comes two weeks after Texas placed its 100 prisons on statewide lockdown because of the rising number of killings inside the correctional facilities. Prison officials have attributed these killings to drugs.
Billy Chemirmir the serial killer
Chemirmir, a native of Eldama Ravine – Baringo County, is said to have been posing as a healthcare provider of a maintenance worker to gain access into the homes of his elderly victims. They were mostly in their 80s and 90s.
After gaining their trust, Chemirmir would later smoother them, before stealing their jewelry and other valuables which he sold for cash.
So ‘professional’ was Chemirmir in murdering his victims that police in Dallas and nearby cities would determine them to be from natural causes.
The proverbial 40 days of a thief, however, reached for Chemirmir after one of his victims survived a 2018 attack.
The 91-year-old woman would later tell police how a man forced his way into her apartment, tried to smother her with a pillow and took her jewelry.
Billy Chemirmir arrested
The following day, Chemirmir was arrested at a parking lot, holding another loot.
He had reportedly disposed a large jewelry box where police got documents that led them to the home of Lu Thi Harris, 81.
They found her dead in her bedroom.
Most of the victims lived in apartments at independent living communities for older people.
‘His death is horrible’
Chemirmir’s lawyer Phillip Hayes rued the death of his client as “just a horrible tragedy.”
“Nobody deserves to be killed at any point, especially when you are in a place you’re being held against your will,” Hayes said.
