The trial of Billy Chemirmir, a man accused of killing elderly women in the Dallas area, began Monday.
The 48-year-old is charged with the murder of 81-year-old Lu Thi Harris. The Associated Press reported that if convicted, he faces life in prison without parole. He pleads not guilty to the charges.
Chemirmir was arrested in 2018 when 91-year-old Mary Annis Bartel survived an attack on her apartment in a senior living community in Plano, Texas.
Although Bartel died last year, her statement was recorded earlier so the jury could hear her testimony.
“My eyes were just fixed on those green rubber gloves that I saw,” Bartel said in the video. “When I saw those two green rubber gloves, I knew immediately, firstly, I shouldn’t have opened the door, secondly, my life was in grave danger.”
Bartel said she tried to push him away but was overpowered.
“He said, ‘Don’t fight me, lie on the bed,'” said Bartel, who then passed out trying to smother her with a pillow.
When she woke up, her wedding ring, engagement ring and more were missing. She said she couldn’t remember the details of the man who attacked her.
The next day, police tracked Chemirmir to his nearby home, where they found jewelry and cash. The discovery of a discarded jewelry box led police to Harris’ home, where they found her dead after being smothered by a pillow.
“This is about stalking, choking and stealing,” prosecutor Glen Fitzmartin told the jury in his opening statement.
The AP reported that the defense did not issue an opening statement.
See more Associated Press reports below.
Billy Chemirmir’s trial began November 15 for the death of one of 18 women he allegedly killed in Texas over a two-year period. Above, this undated photo provided by the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office shows Chemirmir. File/Dallas County Sheriff’s Office via AP
In his opening statement, Fitzmartin said that earlier that day, Harris and Chemirmir checked out at a Walmart store at the same time.
After his arrest, authorities announced they would be investigating hundreds of deaths, raising the possibility that a serial killer had been stalking the elderly. In the years that followed, the number of people accused of Chemirmir’s murder grew.
Fitzmartin said jurors would also hear about the killing of 87-year-old Mary Brooks, who was found dead at her Richardson home in January 2018. Chemirmir was accused of her death.
Brooks’ death, Fitzmartin said, was originally described as natural causes, but following an inquest following Chemirmir’s arrest, the coroner changed the cause of death to homicide.
Fitzmartin said that the day before Brooks was found dead, she was at a Walmart, the same Walmart Harris had before her death later in the year. Fitzmartin said a model vehicle known to be driven by Chemirmir was parked next to Brooks’ vehicle.
“He follows her out of there, follows her to her house, kills her, steals from her,” Fitzmartin said.
Most of the victims were killed in independent residential communities for the elderly, where Chemirmir is believed to have broken into apartments or posed as a craftsman. He is also accused of killing women in private homes, including the widow of a man he had cared for in his job as a home caregiver.
Chemirmir’s lawyer described the evidence against Chemirmir as circumstantial evidence.
Update 11/15/2021 5:10 PM ET: This story has been updated to include quotes from Mary Bartel.
Billy Chemirmir is accused of killing 18 elderly women in Dallas and its suburbs over a two-year period. Above, jurors are shown recorded video testimony of victim Mary Bartel as she answers questions from the prosecutor and defense attorney during the murder trial of Chemirmir (second from right) at the Frank Crowley Courts Building in Dallas on November 15. Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News via AP, pool
