Pillowcase Murders (2024), directed by Randy Ferrell, Texas Crew Productions.
Pillowcase Murders is a three-part documentary presently streaming on Paramount + that tells the story of Billy Chemirmir, a black man who murdered greater than 20 aged white folks within the Dallas, Texas, space from 2016 to 2018. His murders all adopted the identical sample: He would stalk a sufferer, get her (all however one have been feminine) to open her entrance door, get inside the house, and smother his sufferer with a pillow. Then he would steal any jewellery he may discover.
Usually on the identical day because the homicide, he would take the jewellery to a pawn store to have it appraised, after which he would flip down the pawn store’s provide. Realizing the worth of the jewellery, he would both promote it on-line or promote it to one in all a number of jewellery shops he frequented. Detective Jon Hoffman of the Plano Police Division mentioned Mr. Chemirmir handed himself off as somebody who purchased and offered jewellery for a dwelling and would use the cash from his thefts “to assist a picture of a excessive curler.” He frequented 5 African golf equipment in Texas, shopping for drinks and giving $20 ideas, spending $200-$300 each day.
There could also be as many as 28 victims, a number of of whom survived, ranging in age from 79 to 94. As famous above, all however one of many victims have been girls, and aside from one Asian lady, the victims have been all white. A listing of all recognized victims is supplied under. The documentary and this overview cowl most however not all the victims.
The documentary isn’t straightforward to look at. Other than the grotesque subject material and crime scene photographs, it may be onerous to comply with due to the big variety of victims mentioned, the many individuals interviewed, and its tendency to leap forwards and backwards in time. The filmmakers interviewed kin of the homicide victims, their neighbors, legislation enforcement, safety guards, and attorneys linked to the case.
Billy Chemirmir had three homicide trials, however about two-thirds of the documentary focuses on a civil go well with introduced by victims’ households towards the senior dwelling communities the victims lived in. The households declare that these communities didn’t present sufficient safety to forestall Mr. Chemirmir from getting access to their family members, and that they tried to cowl up the murders. The documentary subsequently spends a disproportionate period of time blaming white house owners of unbiased dwelling communities for the deaths, fairly than the black man who really dedicated the crimes. Pillowcase Murders provides solely the plaintiffs’ facet of the civil go well with.
Billy Chemirmir
Trey Crawford, the lawyer representing 13 of those households, mentioned of the assassin: “Billy Chemirmir is for sure probably the most prolific serial killer in Texas, if not the US.” (Probably the most prolific serial killer in US historical past is definitely one other black man, Samuel Little, who confessed to murdering 93 folks.)
Billy Chemirmir was from a small city in Kenya. His father, a village chief, had three wives and 28 kids. His sister had a house healthcare enterprise in the USA; she helped him to immigrate in 2003 and discover work as a caregiver for the aged. Mr. Chemirmir was a authorized resident with a inexperienced card when he dedicated the murders. This can be a case of chain migration with lethal penalties.
Mr. Chemirmir had a document earlier than he began killing folks. He was arrested for Driving Whereas Intoxicated in 2010 and was given 18 months of probation. He had one other DWI in 2011 however failed to seem in courtroom, so a warrant for his arrest was issued. In July 2012, he was arrested for home abuse and assault on his girlfriend, Margaret Ayiera, additionally a Kenyan who labored as a caregiver.
Miss Ayiera described the incident. Sooner or later, getting ready to go away for house, her boyfriend was drunk however insisted on driving and grabbed the automotive keys from her. He drove house erratically. “He went into the kitchen and acquired a pan. He hit me and stepped on me, and took a knife. That’s once I dialed 911. He took a knife and minimize all of the chairs that have been in the home,” Miss Ayiera mentioned, crying. “He informed me, ‘Don’t discuss to me like that. A girl won’t ever discuss to me like that. I may even minimize your throat.’”
Nonetheless, Miss Ayiera stayed within the relationship and had a baby with Mr. Chemirmir, though he had wished her to get an abortion. After she refused the abortion, he left her however returned when their son was six months outdated.
Edgemere
Billy Chemirmir killed his first recognized sufferer in 2016. Dr. Catherine Sinclair, 87, lived in a neighborhood for senior residents in Dallas referred to as Edgemere. He focused 4 such communities, killing a number of residents at every. The documentary is usually essential of the safety at these communities, however Edgemere is notable for having a diligent safety employees.
Josh Aleman, a former Edgemere safety guard, mentioned that in February 2016, Billy Chemirmir started working underneath the alias “Benjamin Koitaba” as an unbiased aide for a resident at Edgemere. On April 8, a housekeeper discovered Dr. Sinclair unresponsive. Responding to her condo, Mr. Aleman discovered her chilly and referred to as 911. The sufferer’s niece and nephew additionally went to the condo, the place they discovered blood on their aunt’s sheets. In addition they famous that her protected, which contained jewellery and collectible cash, was lacking. Insisting on an post-mortem, the household was informed she had died of pure causes, however they have been by no means given a duplicate of the post-mortem report.
Catherine Sinclair’s nephew at all times felt her loss of life was suspicious. After Mr. Chemirmir’s arrest two years later, he employed lawyer Trey Crawford, who obtained the post-mortem report. It confirmed Catherine Sinclair had burst blood vessels across the eyes, which could be a signal of strangulation. She additionally had an abrasion on the left cheek and “inexperienced discoloration of the stomach,” which may have been attributable to a killer holding her down together with his knee.
On April 18, ten days after Dr. Sinclair was discovered lifeless, Mr. Aleman obtained a name from a resident who mentioned a black man carrying a maroon shirt and pants had simply come to her condo, claiming to be with upkeep. Mr. Aleman checked the surveillance cameras and, seeing Billy Chemirmir within the constructing in maroon medical scrubs, referred to as the police. The police escorted Mr. Chemirmir to his automotive and informed him Edgemere had banned him from the property and to not come again.
On Might 15, when one other Edgemere resident, retired 91-year-old inside designer Phyllis Payne, didn’t present up for breakfast, safety guard Amber Hill went to examine on her. Getting into the condo, Miss Hill discovered Mrs. Payne mendacity in mattress, “peaceable as could be, it regarded like she was simply sleeping.”
Notified of her mom’s loss of life, Mrs. Payne’s daughter, Loren Adair Smith, seen that her mom’s silverware, which she stored in a espresso can within the fridge, was lacking. Miss Smith mentioned, “The actually onerous factor to consider is that he needed to ask her, ‘Present me the place your good jewellery is.’ . . . She was four-foot-eleven and 99 kilos. This defenseless, candy lady. To study that her final moments on earth have been horror, it’s simply greater than you’ll be able to bear.”
On June 5, one other Edgemere resident, Phoebe Perry, 94, was discovered slumped beside a chair, lifeless, subsequent to a blood-stained pillow. Her jewellery was additionally lacking.
With three girls lifeless, all with jewellery lacking, Mr. Aleman and Miss Hill grew to become suspicious that the ladies have been murdered. Checking the digital door logs, Mr. Aleman discovered video of Billy Chemirmir close to the lifeless girls’s flats, having snuck in by following staff at shift change. He was carrying a manilla envelope every time.
Mr. Aleman and the upkeep crew, decided to catch a presumed killer, surrounded Mr. Chemirmir the following time he entered the complicated. “My boss places him in a headlock,” Mr. Aleman mentioned, “and we take him to this convention room. I name the police.”
Opening the manilla envelope Mr. Chemirmir had been carrying, the police discovered an unloaded handgun and a telescopic magnet, which he may have been utilizing to find out which jewellery was priceless since valuable metals aren’t interested in a magnet. The police have been sluggish to place all the proof collectively, nonetheless, and nonetheless thought the ladies had died from pure causes. They did cost Billy Chemirmir with legal trespass, for which he was sentenced to 70 days in jail.
Launched from jail, the suspected killer once more started loitering round Edgemere. When Mr. Aleman once more referred to as the police, they questioned Mr. Chemirmir however launched him when he defined he had been working close by.
“I felt like I used to be alone,” Mr. Aleman mentioned, “The one one that might see this.”
Nonetheless, because of Josh Aleman, that was the final of the Edgemere murders, however Billy Chemirmir’s killing spree had simply begun.
Custom-Prestonwood
Billy Chemirmir now started murdering folks at one other unbiased dwelling complicated in Dallas, Custom-Prestonwood. He killed a complete of 9 residents there, together with his solely male sufferer. The deaths at Custom have been all attributed to pure causes at first, however some relations have been suspicious of foul play.
The primary sufferer was Joyce Abramowitz, 87, who was discovered lifeless on July 18, 2016.
Subsequent, Juanita Purdy, 83, was found lifeless, however Custom employees informed her skeptical daughter she had died “peacefully in her sleep.”
On August 19, Leah Corken, 83, was discovered face-down on the ground, with the bottoms of her naked toes going through up. Her daughter discovered her place and mussed hair and make-up suspicious and requested a employees member about them. She was informed, “That’s simply how folks die.” With out performing an post-mortem, the health worker issued a loss of life certificates declaring that Mrs. Corken had died from “heart problems.”
Just a few days later, on August 28, a good friend and neighbor of Mrs. Corken, Margaret White, 87, was additionally discovered lifeless.
Then, on October 2, a Custom resident, Solomon Spring, 89, was discovered bloodied on the ground of his bed room together with his head towards the door. Each his wedding ceremony ring and wristwatch have been lacking.
Despite the violent scene, the truth that Mr. Spring had suffered damaged ribs, an injured eye and cranium, and a considerable amount of blood loss, the health worker blamed his loss of life on a fall. With the way of loss of life thus declared “unintended,” the case was closed. Two years later, the police studied monitoring knowledge from Billy Chemirmir’s telephone and located he had been close to Mr. Spring’s house three hours earlier than his loss of life.
On October 9, 2016, every week after Solomon Spring was killed, Norma French was discovered lifeless, her wedding ceremony ring lacking and with a blood stain on her carpet. But her loss of life was additionally declared to have been from pure causes.
On October 16, Glenna Day, 87, was found mendacity on her mattress, deceased. Her daughter thought it unusual that her mom, who was a painter, would have lain down in her soiled smock and with out washing the paint from her arms.
Then, on October 30, Doris Gleason, 92, was discovered lifeless on the ground of her condo. A necklace she wore day by day and different jewellery have been lacking. Police discovered no signal of compelled entry and theorized that the jewellery had been stolen by somebody who wandered in after Mrs. Gleason had died.
On November 13, 2016, a suspicious black male was reported having been seen on Custom’s fourth ground, falsely claiming he was there to examine for pipe leaks. Police suggested the ability to “tighten safety.”
However, on December 23, Doris Wasserman, 90, one other Custom resident, was discovered lifeless. Google monitoring knowledge would later place Billy Chemirmir on the Custom throughout Wasserman’s time of loss of life, however nonetheless the police couldn’t join the dots.
Doris Gleason’s son-in-law mentioned, “The Dallas Police have been investigating these deaths as one-offs; they weren’t in search of a serial killer.” In the meantime, Mrs. Gleason’s daughter tried unsuccessfully to curiosity a reporter within the mysterious cluster of deaths.
Parkview in Frisco
In September 2017, Mr. Chemirmir moved onto Parkview in Frisco, a neighborhood for seniors in Frisco, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. There, he first killed 82-year-old Helen Lee, who was discovered on September 3.
Then, on September 17, Mrs. Lee’s finest good friend, Marilyn Bixler, 90, was discovered murdered in her Parkview condo, her physique mendacity between a sofa and low desk.
Kay Lawson, 93, survived an assault on October 29. A black man she had seen within the hallway compelled his method into her condo, knocked her down, dragged her into the lounge, and tried to suffocate her with a pillow. She performed lifeless, each then and later, when he returned in search of a chunk of bijou he had dropped. When he had lastly left, Mrs. Lawson referred to as police, who despatched the pillow for testing. It contained the DNA of a black man, however they may not discover a match.
Caregiver Daybreak Lewey might have prevented different killings at Parkview by scaring Billy Chemirmir off. She testified in a deposition that at one level, she had seen a “well-dressed, dark-skinned gentleman” within the constructing, apparently with out having signed in. When questioned, he mentioned he was there “to see Maria.” Miss Lewey informed him he was within the fallacious a part of the constructing, and he left. She noticed him twice extra and referred to as the police after the third time, however he had disappeared by the point they arrived.
The Lawson assault was the final of the recognized incidents in 2017. Early the following yr, nonetheless, on January 21, Mr. Chemirmir was again at it, murdering an aged lady who lived alone in a Dallas-area apartment, Mary Brooks, 87.
Preston Place
Quickly thereafter, in March, the serial killer started a sequence of assaults on aged girls at Preston Place, a senior dwelling complicated in Plano, Texas. These eight assaults lastly gave police the breaks they wanted to establish and catch the assassin.
Preston Place Senior Dwelling, which marketed itself as “a cruise with no ship,” had initially been a daily condo complicated. There have been no hallways; every condo’s entrance door opened to the skin. The car parking zone’s safety gate didn’t at all times work. There have been only some surveillance cameras, and a few of these have been damaged.
On March 7, 2018, Martha Williams, 80, was discovered lifeless on the ground of her Preston Place condo. Her household informed police her jewellery was lacking.
On March 9, 2018, Miriam Nelson, 81, one other Preston Place resident, was discovered lifeless in mattress. Officer Jennifer Chapman of the Plano Police Division investigated Nelson’s loss of life as a homicide, as a result of a suspicious black man having visited the condo two days earlier than. Officer Chapman despatched out a bulletin to her fellow officers.
On March 19, Ann Conklin, age 82, was discovered lifeless. Lastly, that very same day, 91-year-old Mary Bartel was discovered unconscious in her condo, unresponsive however nonetheless respiration. She informed police a black man had damaged in and tried to smother her with a pillow. Her wedding ceremony ring was lacking.
The arrest
Police arrested Billy Chemirmir on March 20, 2018, within the car parking zone of his Dallas condo. When arrested, he was clutching jewellery and cash. The arresting officers checked a dumpster into which he had been seen discarding an merchandise. There they discovered a pink jewellery field containing an outdated army tag inscribed with the title Harris. Additionally found have been some immigration paperwork within the title of Lu Thi Vang. Alerted to a attainable new sufferer, Dallas officers discovered Lu Thi Harris, an 81-year-old Asian lady, lifeless on the ground of her Dallas house. Purple lipstick was smeared on her pillowcase.
Police then searched the house of Margaret Ayiera, Mr. Chemirmir’s former girlfriend, in addition to his own residence, the place they discovered a Kenyan passport within the title of his alias, Benjamin Koitaba, blue rubber gloves, a number of cell telephones, and a inventory of stolen jewellery
Mr. Chemirmir was held on a one-million-dollar bond on the Dallas County jail.
The homicide trials
Dallas County District Legal professional John Creuzot, a fair-skinned, blue-eyed black man who appeared honest in desirous to prosecute Mr. Chemirmir, first sorted by the circumstances to establish people who had one of the best probability of succeeding in courtroom. As a result of lots of the murders had initially been reported as pure deaths, these circumstances had no autopsies. Mr. Creuzot reasoned, “If a health worker can’t say it was murder, it could be unwise to attempt that case when you might have different circumstances.”
Dallas County and Collin County each had circumstances towards the suspect. They agreed that he would first be tried in Dallas County, as a result of the Lu Thi Harris case had one of the best proof.
The trial started on November 17, 2021. The decide was a black lady, Raqual “Rocky” Jones. Mr. Chemirmir’s protection lawyer was a black man. The documentary makes no point out of the racial make-up of the jury and didn’t cowl the protection’s technique.
Due to Covid restrictions, the victims’ households weren’t allowed within the courtroom and needed to watch the trial on closed-circuit TV from a ready room. Mary Bartel testified remotely about being attacked. DA Creuzot confirmed the jury Miss Harris’s pillowcase, with the lipstick smudge. Different proof included safety digicam footage that confirmed the defendant stalking Miss Harris whereas she shopped at a Walmart retailer and mobile phone coordinates that positioned him at her home. Surveillance video from the Diamond & Gold Change confirmed Mr. Chemirmir promoting the sufferer’s jewellery. The Change supplied paperwork itemizing all the jewellery bought from Mr. Chemirmir, and the sale dates matched the murders. There was a complete of 55 gross sales, netting the assassin $91,350.
Though the victims’ households have been anticipating a fast verdict, the jury deliberated for greater than six hours. They ultimately despatched again a word saying they may not change the thoughts of 1 lady on the jury, in order that Decide Jones was compelled to declare a mistrial. The households have been devastated. This meant they must sit by one other trial, listening to the identical proof.
Billy Chemirmir appeared as a visitor on the Unforbidden Fact podcast after the mistrial. He declared, “I’m harmless. I’m not the killer; I’m not the assassin. My sister and my niece personal senior livings. Why hasn’t anyone been killed, any jewellery stolen in these senior livings? I may have gone there. That will have been the simplest place.”
When the podcast host confronted him concerning the jewellery that was stolen, Mr. Chemirmir mentioned, “These jewelries, I purchased them from totally different folks. That’s not their jewellery. They could say it seems to be like their jewellery, nevertheless it’s not theirs.”
He informed the host, “I’m not going to go to jail” and laughed.
DA Creuzot was decided in any other case: “I mentioned, as many trials because it takes, by hook or by crook, he’s going to die in jail.”
The second trial started on Monday, April 22, 2022. This time round, DA Creuzot was extra cautious with jury choice. “The jury choice, in any case, it makes or breaks, in my thoughts. On this retrial, crucial factor for the jury was understanding. . . that circumstantial proof doesn’t equal weak proof. . . . We solely should show it past an inexpensive doubt, we don’t should show it a sure method.” With Covid restrictions lifted, household of victims have been allowed into the courtroom. The defendant didn’t take a look at them.
This time, a responsible verdict was returned in a half hour. Mr. Chemirmir was given a life sentence with out the opportunity of parole. Though Texas has the loss of life penalty, which it makes use of greater than every other state, it was not thought of on this case, for unexplained causes. DA Creuzot was mentioned initially to have supposed to pursue a loss of life penalty, however then reconsidered, by no means publicly explaining why. One idea is that he hoped thereby to maintain the prices of the trial down.
The third trial, for the homicide of Mary Brooks, started on October 3, 2022.
Mary Brooks, 87, didn’t reside in a senior neighborhood. She was initially thought to have died of pure causes after returning house from Walmart. When she was discovered lifeless in her house, the eggs and frozen waffles she had purchased have been nonetheless on her kitchen counter. Safety footage from Walmart confirmed Mr. Chemirmir’s automotive following her automotive out of the Walmart car parking zone. His telephone knowledge indicated that he had been at her home. DNA proof from his blood was discovered on the crime scene.
The jury returned a responsible verdict in lower than an hour. Billy Chemirmir was given a second life sentence with no probability of parole. DA Creuzot declared he was “very pleased and happy and relieved” with the second responsible verdict. “I promised two convictions, and I stored that promise. Mr. Chemirmir will die within the penitentiary.”
Collin County’s district lawyer, Greg Willis, a white man, introduced in August 2023 that he would not pursue a loss of life penalty: “Billy Chemirmir is an evil one who preyed upon our most weak residents. Though he’s actually deserving of a loss of life sentence, my resolution in the present day is knowledgeable by the truth that he has already been tried thrice in one other county and he won’t ever be a free man once more.”
A number of the victims’ households have been relieved, too, however various them have been indignant and dissatisfied when their family members’ circumstances have been dismissed. Right here’s one instance of their responses: Doris Gleason’s daughter mentioned, “I perceive legally, financially, economically, that’s the right factor to do, however we have now felt dismissed all although this course of! At the very least we got, fortunately, the chance to make sufferer affect statements.”
The decide did permit the households to present sufferer affect statements. On October 15, 2022, lots of them introduced massive photographs of their family members to the courtroom together with messages for the convicted killer. The latter ranged from “Don’t be a coward. Apologize and confess your sins” to “Rot in hell, you piece of sh*t.”
Billy Chemirmir’s loss of life
Lower than a yr later, on September 19, 2023, Billy Chemirmir was killed in jail. He made a sexual comment about his black cellmate’s kids, so the cellmate, additionally a convicted assassin, beat him to loss of life. A relative of one in all Mr. Chemirmir’s victims commented, “I do know we acquired our avenue justice, however I really feel let down by the system.”
Civil fits
Unable to acquire satisfaction by the legal justice system, lots of the victims’ households pursued civil litigation towards the unbiased dwelling amenities the place their family members had been murdered. In doing so, they pivoted their animosity away from the assassin and onto the white house owners of these amenities.
Trey Crawford filed civil lawsuits towards Custom-Prestonwood and Preston Place. Edgemere agreed to a settlement and supplied condolences and apologies to the households. They employed new administration and put in 400 safety cameras. Parkview in Frisco additionally settled.
The lawyer puzzled, “Why does everybody not learn about Billy Chemirmir? As many individuals as he killed — I imply, everyone knows about Ted Bundy. Everyone knows about Jeffrey Dahmer. Why was this spree not on everybody’s lips?”
Nobody proven in Pillowcase Murders means that this was due to race. As an alternative, they blame ageism.
Billy Chemirmir by no means defined why he killed, so we don’t understand how a lot of an element racial animus was, however he had no recognized black victims. Whites aren’t the bulk in both Dallas, Plano, or Frisco. Dallas is, in actual fact, 24 p.c black — double the nationwide common. There actually may have been black residents on the senior communities and black buyers on the Walmart the place he stalked his victims. He appears to have most popular victims from different racial teams than his personal.
Billy Chemirmir’s recognized victims
(In alphabetic order. All are white girls until in any other case famous.)
- Joyce Abramowitz, age 87. Killed July 18, 2016, at Custom-Prestonwood.
- Mary Bartel, age 91 (on the time). Injured however survived tried homicide, on March 19, 2018, at Preston Place.
- Marilyn Bixler, age 90. Killed September 17, 2017, at Parkview in Frisco.
- Mary Brooks, age 87. Killed January 21, 2018, in her single-family house.
- Minnie Campbell, age 83. Killed on October 31, 2017, at Preston Place.
- Ann Conklin, age 82. Killed March 19, 2018, at Preston Place.
- Leah Corken, age 83. Killed August 19, 2016, at Prestonwood.
- Rosemary Curtis, age 76. Killed January 19, 2018, in her single-family house.
- Glenna Day, age 87. Killed October 16, 2016, at Custom-Prestonwood.
- Diane Delahunty, age 79. Killed December 3, 2017, at Preston Place.
- Mamie Dell Miya, age unknown. Killed December 8, 2017, at Preston Place.
- Norma French, age 87, Killed October 9, 2016, at Custom-Prestonwood.
- Doris Gleason, age 92. Killed October 30 2016, at Custom-Prestonwood.
- Lu Thi Harris, age 81. Killed March 20, 2018, in her single-family house. The one Asian sufferer.
- Kay Lawson, age 93 (on the time). Survived tried homicide, with accidents, on October 29, 2017, at Parkview in Frisco.
- Helen Lee, age 82. Killed September 3, 2017, at Parkview in Frisco.
- Carolyn MacPhee, age 81. Killed December 31, 2017, in her single-family house.
- Miriam Nelson, age 81. Killed March 9, 2018, at Preston Place.
- Phyllis Payne, age 91. Killed Might 15, 2016, at Edgemere.
- Phoebe Perry, age 94. Killed June 5, 2016, at Edgemere.
- Juanita Purdy, age 83. Killed July 31, 2016, at Custom-Prestonwood.
- Pauline Sanford, age 96 (on the time). Survived encounter with no accidents in 2018 at Preston Place.
- Dr. Catherine Sinclair, age 87. Killed April 8, 2016, at Edgemere.
- Solomon “Sol” Spring, age 89. Killed on October 2, 2016, at Custom-Prestonwood #440. The one male sufferer.
- Margaret White, age 87. Killed August 28, 2016, at Custom-Prestonwood.
- Doris Wasserman, age 90. Killed December 23, 2017, at Custom-Prestonwood.
- Martha Williams, age 80. Killed March 7. 2018 at Preston Place.
- Unnamed Sufferer, age unknown, killed at Preston Place.
