All language subtitles for Pillowcase Murders - S01E03 - Finding Justice-NH

- So this is my mom's
pillow and pillowcase.

It's been washed
many, many times,

but you can still see
the makeup on the pillow.

This was probably
the murder weapon.

- When they put
her on the gurney,

I was shocked to
see her nose pointing

to the side of her face.

You could see the break.

- I'll never forget that.

This is the pillow that Billy
Chemirmir smothered Mom on.

- It's crazy.

The scope of this, we may still
be just scratching the surface.

- I don't think there's
a number that would

surprise me in the hundreds.

- This man got away with
what he did for so long.

- Because he was attacking
population of citizens

that no one really cares about.

- Not only were our
moms victims of Chemirmir,

but they were victims
of the independent living

industry itself.

These places need to
be accountable as well.

- I don't know how
this doesn't haunt them.

♪ ♪

- We got started
on the investigations

through a single case,
through one death, Dr. Sinclair.

- And then we got
some more clients.

All the details in these binders

help us tell our
client's stories.

The amount of
time that we've spent

investigating this is a lot,

thousands of
hours of research...

- Probably hundreds of police
reports would be accurate.

We looked at facilities
all over the metroplex.

- Autopsy reports
and medical evidence.

- Police photos,
anything related to DPD,

Frisco PD,

Plano PD, all the information
we could from the families,

including death certificates.

So the actual document
gathering was pretty massive.

- We're investigators
in every case.

That's how we
approach litigation.

- This had a unique aspect just
because we were investigating

contemporaneously
with the police,

connecting Chemirmir
to potential victims.

- The number exponentially
went up fairly quick.

We know that
serial killers exist,

but the ones that
let them in the door

share some culpability.

- Chemirmir was a predator.

So he looked for places
where he could find people

he thought he
could easily murder.

These luxury senior living
communities, unfortunately,

were the easiest of targets.

- We brought claims on
behalf of those victims' families.

A lot of our clients
felt this was totally

unnecessary and preventable.

Now, a lot of them placed
the same, if not more,

blame on the communities
in which their loved ones lived.

And rightfully so.

- It was December 12, 2018.

I don't know which was worse,

finding Mom dead, or
getting that phone call.

Hi, my name is Trey Crawford,

and I'm calling
regarding your mom.

- We're able to
tell her who we are

and what we were investigating.

- He said there's
reason to believe

that your mom was
a victim of homicide...

At Tradition-Prestonwood.

- A light bulb went off for MJ.

- All of a sudden,
all those images

from the day Mom died...

oh, my God, she was murdered.

100%.

It all made sense.

- She was livid.

We met with her
probably the next day,

and she became
one of our clients.

- MJ, she was very close
with a lot of the employees

at Tradition-Prestonwood.

So she called them immediately.

- And the receptionist answered
the phone, wouldn't talk to me.

I remember getting off
that phone just furious.

So I left a message
for Jeff Wells.

- Jeff Wells was the
assistant executive director.

- So I was just waiting
for him to call me back.

And then Saturday, December 15,

I get a phone call late morning.

- A whistleblower at the
Tradition who MJ knew very well

called her.

- She was so
distraught, so upset.

She said, we have a script on
our desk in case anybody calls.

And she said, Perlman,

the owner of Tradition,
is scared to death

and that we'll be fired if
we talk to anybody about it.

Jeff Wells called me
that following Monday.

I didn't get a word out.

And I hear, safety and security

is of the utmost
importance to our family

here at Tradition-Prestonwood.

And I'm like, oh, my God,
he's reading the damn script.

- Jeff Wells said
to her, there has not

been a single death that
was not natural causes

in the past four years.

- And I said, Jeff,

was Chemirmir ever at
Tradition-Prestonwood?

- No, never was he at Tradition.

He was at those
other establishments.

- This is coming from a man
who personally escorted Chemirmir

off the premises back in 2016.

- He was sort of publicly
congratulated for doing that.

- He just blatantly lied to me.

Then my rage turned from
Chemirmir to management.

So these are just some
pictures that I've gotten

through my attorney,
Billy Chemirmir entering

and exiting the garage
in the basement,

looking very comfortable,

probably pretending
to be on the phone.

Who knows if he followed
somebody in right there?

Because these doors,
you need a fob to get in.

There was his car in the time
in the garage, in a guest spot.

I was just blown away.

They all knew, and
they covered it up.

- There is no question
that he is there.

I mean, he was there,
like, 50, 60, 70, 80 times.

Google location-tracking
data put him

not just on the
premises or near it,

literally in the location
of the residences' rooms.

- Google data from
Billy Chemirmir's phone

shows red dots of
where he walked

throughout the building

with different timestamps.

- Each one of
those dots represent

a phone call or an email,

just some type of
activity on his phone.

- Law enforcement
tracked that to see

if Chemirmir's
Google location data

puts him where a
murder occurred.

Without exception, it did.

- My mom's murder, on that day,

his Google coordinates
shown him to enter

Tradition-Prestonwood
around 11-something.

Mom had gotten her
hair done that day at noon.

Then she went back
to her apartment.

And then Chemirmir
was in her room.

My sister called
her about 1:17 PM.

And she got Mom's voicemail.

He exited the building at 1:36.

And by 3:12, he had
posted the description

of my Mom's ring on Craigslist.

- October 29, 2016,

it shows him wandering around,

and then he stops in one place,

where the French
doors are, with windows

looking into the dining room.

Mama had signed her lunch ticket

out of the dining room at 12:30,

and she left.

And then at 1:00 PM, it
shows him at the location

of Mama's apartment.

No doubt in my mind that Billy
Chemirmir smothered my mother.

- It was maddening to watch

what was happening at Tradition.

- Trey and Ali had a list of
Tradition-Prestonwood victims.

And at that point, there
were seven women.

But when the
whistleblower called me,

she said there were
a total of nine victims.

There was one in 2017.

Then also, she said
a man, Sol Spring.

- We had no idea that
there was a male victim.

- He lived down the hall,

a couple of apartments
from my mom.

And the whistleblower
told me, quote,

"He caught him in the act."

- Sunday morning,

when I go up to my
dad's apartment...

I looked into his room, and
his room was covered in blood.

He was just laid out flat

with his head up
against the door,

which I thought
was very strange.

I couldn't imagine how
he had gotten there.

I had conversations
with the police

and with the homicide detective.

Could he have been attacked?

And the police responded, no,
who could have gotten in here?

- Somehow medical examiners
looked at that and decided

that the cause of
Sol's death was a fall.

- Trey and I have
probably studied

these photos for 100 hours.

The ME's working theory
was that he fell in the bathroom.

And then he walked out,
and he fell and hit his head

on the lamp over there.

- Without hitting the shade.

- And then he crawled
across his bedroom floor.

His body position
is straight line.

- He had broken ribs.

He had the hit to his eye, an
injury in the back of his head.

- His watch is
taken off of his wrist,

and then his wrist is
laid back on top of it.

- So he must have taken
his watch off, apparently,

at some point during falling.

- This is obviously not a fall.

- And then there was a 2-by-4
clamp on his bathroom counter.

The Tradition
confirmed that there

were no maintenance orders.

- The medical examiners,
they are looking at this scene.

And they said, because
he was on a blood thinner,

that would cause all that
blood to be in his room.

- Think about if the
homicide detective

who showed up at Sol
Spring's apartment had been told

by Tradition-Prestonwood,

this is the fifth
death that we've had

in basically two months
and that all the prior deaths

at Tradition-Prestonwood
had jewelry missing.

They said nothing.

What we had with Sol
was the unique opportunity

to collect evidence,
and that was lost.

- No fingerprints, no DNA,
no interviews of key witnesses.

- The investigation just
stopped at that point.

And after Sol Spring was killed,

at least 17 more
people were murdered.

- My dad was an amazing guy.

He was drafted
into the Korean War,

and he was an
accountant and built

a great career for himself.

He was just so very,
very precious to me.

But according to the
medical examiner's office,

my dad is not a victim.

- Yet we learned
from the ME's office

about the Google data
connected to Sol Spring.

Chemirmir had
been on the property

three days before
Sol was murdered,

all around Sol's home.

And the day that
Sol Spring was killed,

Chemirmir was
there in the property,

at least three hours.

The data supports some
type of confrontation

between the two of them.

But the ME's
office did not agree

to the cause of death change.

In my view, it's just not right.

- I feel like my
dad was dismissed.

Without a change in
my dad's cause of death

by the medical examiner's
office to either homicide

or even undetermined,
nothing further can be done

exploring my dad's murder.

- You can't get an indictment

when there's a natural
cause as the cause of death.

- It was extremely
important for our clients

to get recognition
through Chemirmir

being formally indicted for
the death of their loved one.

- The family is saying, I know
that my parent was murdered,

but all I have is
a death certificate

that says either natural
causes or undetermined.

And the indictment was
to give them something

to point to and say,
yeah, you are a victim,

and we do recognize
that this happened to you.

- A lot of the victims,
you don't have an autopsy.

You don't have forensic
fingerprints, DNA analysis

at the time because
they were originally

reported as natural deaths.

Collin County and Dallas
County were different,

but the medical
examiner's office

for both of these
counties informed us

that to change
the cause of death,

they wanted some
evidence that Chemirmir

was there and then some evidence

that there was jewelry stolen.

And the district attorney
said, if the medical examiner

decides to change to homicide,

we will bring
indictments on those.

- The medical examiner
flipped the cause of death

on several death certificates.

That led the DA's
office to present

these cases in front of a
grand jury multiple times.

- I was at church, and
I'm looking at my watch.

OK, it's 9 o'clock.

Grand jury is probably
getting started.

About 10:15, 10:30,
this incredible peace

just washes over me.

OK, everything
must be all right.

I came home and
waited for the call.

The assistant district
attorney, Mr. Fitzmartin,

called me and told me
the grand jury has put

an indictment on
your mother's case.

And I said, about what time
did the grand jury come back?

Was it anywhere
around 10:30 or so?

And he said, that
was exactly the time

the grand jury
returned their verdict.

- Billy Chemirmir, who
posed as a caregiver,

indicted last year for the
murder of an 81-year-old woman

found smothered to death,
has now been indicted

by the Dallas County
grand jury just this afternoon

on six more murder charges.

- In Dallas County, we
had a total of 13 indictments

against Mr. Chemirmir.

- It was like a celebration.

There was an indictment for Mom.

- It was validation for all we
had endured and suspected.

- But in my case,
they didn't even indict.

That's when I said,
hey, this is really wrong.

- There are multiple victims.

I know for a fact it's over 20.

Dr. Sinclair and Sol Spring,

those are the only two
who don't have indictments.

- Come on.

In 2020,

we received a new finding
of undetermined death.

The medical examiner
won't say, yeah,

that was a murder unless a
police department supply him

with all the evidence that he
gives to the district attorney.

Everybody's pointing at
somebody else for the cause.

And because of that,
Catherine's death

is still undetermined.

- If the medical examiner
can't say that it's homicide,

it would be unwise to try that
case when you have other cases.

So we didn't try any cases where

they didn't know definitely.

- Can you say chicken shit?

That's the way I feel about
it, about them not indicting.

- We had discussions
between Dallas County

and Collin County about
who would proceed first

and when we could
possibly try the case.

My predecessor said
that we would go first.

So that was fine.

- 3 and 1/2 years after

Chemirmir was arrested,
Chemirmir was finally tried

for the murder of Lu Thi Harris.

- The trial of Billy Chemirmir

starts in just a
couple of hours.

- Good morning, Karen.

Jurors are going to hear
the details of only one case

despite Chemirmir's
alleged involvement

in 18 other murders.

And that's because
prosecutors believe

that the evidence against
Chemirmir in the murder

of Lu Thi Harris
is the strongest.

She's the last victim
he's accused of killing,

about an hour before
his arrest back in 2018.

- Ms. Harris, it's
a strong case.

I said, my goal is to
get two convictions.

I want to try two cases,
get two convictions.

More likely, one
or both will stick.

- We didn't want to
fly down to Texas.

I was at the place where I
was already pretty terrified,

triple checking the locks and
making sure that no one was

following me wherever I went.

It was truly paranoia.

We'll never understand or know
why he chose her of all people.

- This is in the
middle of COVID.

So we weren't allowed
in the courtroom.

- We were upstairs
in the holding room,

watching on closed circuit TV.

The trial was the first
time, I think, a lot of us

had ever seen anything
besides a mug shot of Chemirmir.

- He walked in and just chills.

- Oh, to see him,
this evil little man

with these beady little eyes.

There's nothing in
there. There's no soul.

- Ladies and gentlemen,
this is a case about stalking,

smothering, and stealing.

- The prosecution began
its case focusing on the day

before Billy Chemirmir's arrest,

when he's accused of
attacking 91-year-old Mary Bartel.

- It was some of the
strongest evidence we had.

Ms. Bartel told us exactly what
he did, how he went about it.

- You can very clearly picture

exactly what
happened to your mom

from the time Chemirmir
walked up to her door

till he smothered
her until he felt the life

go out of her body.

- It's horrifying.

It's horrifying to
think that that's what

our dear moms went through.

- Today was marked
by powerful images.

The jury was able
to see a picture

of Lu Thi Harris's body
on the floor of her bedroom,

where it was found.

They saw images
from her autopsy.

- You're just listening
to every single word.

It's painful.

- Lead prosecutor
Glen Fitzmartin

showed jurors the lipstick
stains found on a pillow

in Harris's bedroom, where
her body was discovered.

- Seeing the pillowcase,
seeing a murder weapon

was very difficult.

- It's a circumstantial
evidence case,

which is a little
bit of a hurdle.

But we have our own
video tape at Walmart,

and he's right with her.

In fact, looking at her.

- What the video does show
us is that just hours before

Lu Thi Harris was found dead,

she and Chemirmir were at the
same Walmart at the same time

and left at the same time,
leaving in the same direction.

That is where police think,
really, that he spotted her

and where he followed her home.

- They showed
the interrogations.

- That's the first time we
actually saw his demeanor.

- He was just smirking.

This was just another day.

He's going to get off.

There's no actual
proof, smirking.

- And tomorrow the jury
will be back here at 8:00 AM.

If convicted of capital murder,
Chemirmir faces life in prison

without parole.

- If you've been
following along all week,

you know this is day four
of the Billy Chemirmir trial.

- This morning, testimony
focused on cell phone records

placing him in the
area of victims' homes

around the time of their death.

- It all matches up.

And then we had video of
him going inside the facilities

where he sold jewelry.

Diamond & Gold did
have evidence that

he had exchanged in there.

- They actually had the
gold exchange person

testify that he had
purchased this jewelry

from Billy Chemirmir.

- I work at Diamond
& Gold Exchange.

- Were you one
of the owners there

in the Diamond & Gold Exchange?

- Managing partners, yes.

- They flashed his records

of transactions on the screen,

and we all grabbed our
cell phones so that we could

take pictures of the dates.

- So these list off
all of the transactions

that Mr. Chemirmir was
making with your establishment

starting in 2015 all the way
down to March 19 of 2018?

- Yes.

- You can track specific
pieces of jewelry.

And in some cases,
circumstantial evidence

can be stronger than
eyewitness testimony.

- So you look at
these transactions

as they're flashed
on the screen,

and you can
correlate the date with

someone that had been murdered.

You see he's there September 3.

Helen Lee was
killed on September 2.

- When I was having
the absolute worst day

of my entire life,

he was selling her jewelry
for a couple of grand.

- He was there September 17.

My mom was murdered
on September 16.

It was an excruciating,
horrible, terrible process

to have to go through.

- Looking at what
they had documented,

those 55 sales...

- And the total of
the amount that you

all bought from him, $91,350?

- Yes.

- Diamond & Gold, over $90,000
he had exchanged in there,

it leads to the conclusion that
he was a cold-blooded killer.

And he's walking
into these places,

getting pennies on the dollar.

That's a lot of activity.

That's his job.

- The evidence seemed so
clear that he was the murderer.

You think
it's a slam dunk.

- We thought they would
come back in 30 minutes

and have a guilty verdict.

- Breaking news
right now, at 5 o'clock,

jury is about an hour
or so into deliberation

in the capital murder
trial of Billy Chemirmir.

What's the latest?

- Well, you know, a
prosecutor asked these jurors

to come back
with a quick verdict,

and we're certainly curious
to see if that happens.

- I knew we were in
trouble when we went home

Thursday night
without a verdict.

- The jury's been
deliberating now for six hours,

far longer than many
people expected.

- The jury sent the
judge a note saying

they could not change
one lady's mind.

And we all said, what?

- I was surprised, shocked,
concerned, and wondering why.

- How in the world 12
people couldn't come

to a united conclusion
this man was

guilty was just devastating.

- It was so unbelievable.

We were crying.
We didn't understand.

- We are devastated at
the outcome of this trial.

We are sickened that we
have to come back and hear

the same evidence again.

- Billy Chemirmir will remain
in jail, where he has been

/since his arrest in 2018,

now awaiting a retrial

for the capital murder
of Lu Thi Harris.

- Chemirmir seemed to
think he was vindicated.

- After the mistrial,
he did a podcast

and was very arrogant
about how he was innocent.

- But that was just more
lies coming from him.

- Billy Chemirmir has
made the statement

after the first trial,

"I'm never going
to the penitentiary."

- I said, as many
trials as it takes,

one way or the other,
he's going to die in prison.

- Victims of an
accused serial killer

are preparing for his retrial.

Billy Chemirmir will be
back in front of a jury Monday

after a first attempt
to convict him

ended in a mistrial.

- It will be the same
suspect and the same victim,

Lu Thi Harris.

- After the mistrial, there
was some trepidation as to,

OK, how long is
this going to go for?

- We're just, like, emotionally,

physically exhausted.

And then you have to wait,
then you have to wait again.

- Well, the first
trial it looked like,

man, great evidence.

And then all of a sudden, it
comes back as a hung jury.

And it's like, oh, my goodness.

Are you kidding me?

So the fear and trepidation
was like, you know,

I hope that they can see that
this evidence is really solid.

- The jury selection
in any case,

it makes or breaks, in my mind.

And then this retrial,
the most important thing

for the jury was understanding
circumstantial evidence,

that circumstantial evidence
does not equal weak evidence,

and to be able to apply that,
that we only have to prove it

beyond a reasonable doubt.

We don't have to
prove it a certain way.

- We are still all very worried

that it's going to
be another mistrial.

- The last time around,

family members were not
allowed inside this court

because of the COVID
precautions that were in place

at the time, and they described

that experience
as gut wrenching.

But several told me this
time feels even more intense.

- The second trial,
we actually were

able to go into the courtroom.

We were seated behind
him, and he would never

turn around and look at us.

- I've been retired from pro
football for a number of years.

But when I think
about Billy Chemirmir,

if I was a younger guy
back in the football days,

I might have hurdled over
that bench and got him.

- The second trial was kind
of a rerun of the first trial.

A lot of the same
testimony was presented.

But interestingly, this time,

the DA decided not to play

Billy Chemirmir's
interrogation video.

- Even though it's
accepted technique

to tell someone
something that's not true

in order to coax information...

-... apparently, there were
some people on the jury

in the first trial who
expressed reservations

about the interview
by the police.

So we didn't put that
back on in the retrial.

And we had enough
evidence. We didn't need it.

- They tried to really
hammer home the similarity

between what happened to
a woman named Mary Brooks

and Lu Thi Harris, that
they were both trailed

from Walmart to their
homes by Billy Chemirmir.

- This idea that he
was outside of Walmart,

talking on the phone,
I don't think anybody,

before I asked, had
thought, was he really

talking to somebody
on the phone?

We got the FBI guy there
with all the phone records.

He said, no, he wasn't
talking on the phone.

To me, that's pretty important.

That means he stalks people.

- Dallas County DA
John Creuzot delivered

the state's closing
argument and held up

one of the pillows used
as a murder weapon.

- Lu Thi Harris went from
this kind and gentle and funny

and well-traveled
person to a dead body

left in the place
where she called home.

This is likely the
instrument of death.

- In the second trial,

with virtually the same
evidence presented...

-... the verdict came
back in a half an hour.

- I was ecstatic.

It was like, oh,
my God, finally!

Finally! Justice!

- Now he would get
what his actions deserved.

- Billy Chemirmir himself
seemed to have no reaction

at all to his guilty verdict.

With the death
penalty off the table,

he was immediately given
the only other possible sentence

for capital murder,
life in prison

with no possibility of parole.

- He's going to get
his comeuppance,

and there's going to be justice.

- We are incredibly
relieved that justice

is finally here,
especially after

the mistrial five months ago.

- We would hope that what
we've gone through here,

that these communities wake up

and hold themselves accountable.

- Even though this verdict
carries a life sentence

with no possibility of parole,

there will be a second
capital murder trial

to ensure that if this
conviction is, for some reason,

reversed on appeal, Chemirmir
will never get out of prison.

- I want him to go
directly to prison.

I want him to feel what
every one of our mothers felt

their last seconds
of their life.

But now, you know, we have
to go through another one.

- Billy Chemirmir
will stand trial

in yet another
capital murder case.

- Monday he will be
on trial for the death

of 87-year-old Mary Brooks.

- Mary Brooks
was our third trial.

- Billy Chemirmir
back in court today.

- They picked yet another
case involving somebody

killed in a private home.

Mary Brooks, her case
had been mentioned

in the Lu Thi Harris trial.

- Mary Brooks
was initially thought

to have collapsed and
died from natural causes

shortly after returning
home from a trip to Walmart.

The chicken, eggs, and
frozen waffles she'd bought

never got put away.

Walmart surveillance
video shows Billy Chemirmir

pulling out of the
store parking lot

behind Brooks the day she died.

- We had great video. He
parked, and she came in.

And he never
went in, as I recall,

and came out and followed her.

She left. He left.

And those phones are going
to the same place, in her house.

- They also brought
in DNA evidence.

The DNA was not Mary Brooks.

Police discovered DNA
that linked Billy Chemirmir

to Preston Place
resident Martha Williams.

- We put that on
in Ms. Brooks' trial

to show identity and motive.

- March 4, 2018,

Chemirmir murders and
robs Martha Williams.

And for some reason,
Billy Chemirmir kept

silver serving dishes she had.

Police found those in a car
associated with Chemirmir.

- And we found
gloves in the glove box.

And ultimately,
Martha Williams' DNA

was on the gloves.

- We discussed the power of DNA

and that it won't lie.

We found her DNA and
likely his DNA on the gloves.

Obviously, he did that.

- It was like 30 or 40 minutes,
and they had a verdict.

- The jury has
reached a verdict.

And that verdict is,

"We the jury unanimously
find the defendant

guilty of capital murder as
charged in the indictment."

- One juror told me as she
walked out of the courthouse,

"Justice was served."

- With today's conviction,
Chemirmir received

his second life sentence
with no chance of parole.

- I was very happy and
pleased and relieved.

I promised two convictions,
and I kept that promise.

- Mr. Chemirmir will
die in the penitentiary,

and that was my goal.

I stated it.

And I said we're going to
do this twice to accomplish it.

And here we are.

- The two convictions,
that was just a relief.

Justice for the two families.

- The Dallas County DA
says, with him now guaranteed

to die in prison, the
rest of the cases here

will be dismissed.

- I didn't realize that
they would dismiss

the rest of the cases,
including my mom.

- We were just like, wow,

they're going to
drop 11 indictments.

- Then you're like, I
have no justice for Mom.

- I couldn't get
out of bed for days.

It was devastating.

- We were blindsided by
what Dallas County did to us.

Not that he didn't do a good
job getting two convictions,

but only two convictions
out of all these?

- I can understand the
word "dismiss" is offensive

when it's your mother
or grandmother,

but that is what we do.

The judges aren't going
to let a case just sit around,

and so we file a dismissal.

- We understand, legally,
financially, economically,

that's the correct thing to do,

but we have felt dismissed
all through this process.

- At least we were
given, thankfully,

the opportunity to make
victim impact statements.

- Families of 22 victims
linked to Chemirmir

have been invited
back to court next week

to give victim
impact statements.

That's where they will be
allowed to address Chemirmir

directly for the first time.

- Instead of just having

one or two victim
impact statements,

the judge allowed
all of the victims

linked to Billy
Chemirmir to testify.

- All right, everyone.

Good morning, good
morning, good morning again.

We are here to do the
victim impact statement.

- They did let us know that
we could send in a video.

We're choosing to forgive you.

It doesn't mean that we
don't think you deserve

to feel the consequences
of your actions.

But we are choosing
to not hold on to it

for our own well-being.

- We were given two or
three minutes to speak.

MJ, long ago, had gotten
these fabulous big pictures

of our moms for us to hold up.

- Giving a victim
impact statement,

they didn't have to let
the Collin County families

even do this.

- My mother was Miriam Nelson.

She was healthy and
vibrant, kind, funny,

and she loved life.

She taught me to always
look for the good in everyone,

but I can't find any
good in you, Chemirmir.

- My mother did not get to see
any of her grandkids graduate

or get married.

And for what?

Jewelry?

- You took her from us
for three pieces of jewelry.

- All these moms
were so precious.

The opposite of precious
is worthless, and that is you!

- Billy, you're a coward.

- When you're in that cell
and you need a Band-Aid

or you need brain surgery,

remember the name
Dr. Catherine Sinclair.

- I know I will be reunited
with my loved ones one day.

You, murderer, the only
way you will leave prison

is when the coroner comes
for your cold, dead body.

- Some of us
will never feel like

you got the justice
that you deserved.

An eternity in hell
will be far worse.

- Don't be a coward.

Ask for forgiveness
and confess to your sins.

Thank you.

- Rot in hell,
you piece of shit.

- Collin County
indications were,

now that Chemirmir has
life in prison without parole,

does it make sense

for them to put the
resources and the expense

into going to trial?

Technically, Billy Chemirmir
is viewed as a serial killer,

but a serial killer who's
only been convicted

of two of those crimes,
both of them in Dallas.

The same time, Collin
County had 11 indictments,

six known deaths
at Preston Place

and the attack on Mary Bartel,

the attempted
murder of Kay Lawson,

and the two women
murdered at Parkview-Frisco,

and also Carolyn MacPhee's
murder in her home.

- October 2023, the remaining
victims' cases were dismissed.

And that was excruciating.

- My mother's case
will never go to court.

By indicting him

and then turning
around and dismissing it,

you're dismissing
the life of that person.

You're saying that that
person had no value.

- They weren't
even listed by name.

They were listed by a number.

My mom was reduced to a number.

- For the murder trials,
prosecutors stuck with

the murders that
occurred in private homes,

not those we heard about at
independent living facilities.

Obviously, the family
members were really upset.

They wanted to
see the owners held

responsible for some
of these murders

and not just Billy Chemirmir.

- I'm not sure I can
even express the anger,

the sadness that
I've experienced

working on these cases.

The loss is so unnecessary.

It's so preventable.

- Our firm has
represented 13 families

in connection with the murders.

A lot of our clients place blame

on the communities in
which their loved ones lived.

Our clients wanted
to effectuate change

in an industry that
desperately needs it.

- So everything we've done

has been geared
toward accountability.

- I do think
accountability is possible,

and it's been achieved.

With Edgemere, Chemirmir
had murdered three people.

We resolved two
cases with Edgemere

without having to file suit.

- Edgemere were quick to settle,

and they proactively offered
condolences and apologies

to some of the families.

- Edgemere told us they
had all new management,

that they had added
400 security cameras,

changed the sign-in situation.

So they did take
ownership with us.

♪ ♪

- At the
Parkview-Frisco facility,

Chemirmir murdered two women.

There's also the
attempted murder.

- We settled our
claim against Parkview.

I promised I wouldn't say
anything bad about them,

and I'm not even going to
imply anything bad about them.

- Parkview-Frisco,
we filed a claim

on behalf of Marilyn Bixler,

and we were able
to get that resolved.

- There's no amount of money
that would have made it right,

but you just hope
that no one else has

to go through that experience.

- Parkview-Frisco
implemented changes

that have made and
hopefully continue

to make their residents safer.

There were seven victims

and an attempted
murder at Preston Place.

We did file lawsuits
on behalf of four victims

and actually took some
depositions and discovery,

and they were resolved too.

- I still definitely find
fault with Preston Place.

You have these
elderly people there.

You are responsible for them.

I'll never feel good in this.

None of us will ever feel good.

- Although you are
the actual murderer,

I also hold the
Tradition-Prestonwood

and its owner, Jonathan Perlman,

as equally accountable...

nine murders in
that complex alone,

as far as we know.

- Tradition-Prestonwood
settled some cases,

but they're still in litigation
with some families.

- We have six remaining cases
with the Tradition-Prestonwood.

They interestingly
had the most murders

and probably the most
personal culpability.

- There was never a
moment that the residents

were put ahead of profit.

♪ ♪

- Apologies need to be made.

Accountability
needs to be noticed.

You're responsible
for all these murders.

Perlman,

profit over safety and
security of your residences.

- Tradition-Prestonwood
have not admitted anything

they have denied that
anyone in their ranks

ever withheld any
information from police.

- My mom was
murdered here in 2016

along with eight other women.

- Yeah.

- Good.

The security that's
advertised doesn't exist.

There were no cameras.
I don't know how it is now.

- There are no cameras?

- Tradition have said
that they put their faith

in the authorities, sort
of blaming the authorities

for missing all of this.

- I blame Jonathan
Perlman, 100%.

- Billy Chemirmir
is, without a doubt,

the most prolific serial
killer in Texas, if not the U.S.

- Why does everyone not
know about Billy Chemirmir?

As many people as he killed...

I mean, we all know
about Ted Bundy.

We all know about
Jeffrey Dahmer.

Why was this story
not on everyone's lips?

- If these were children or
if these were sorority girls,

it would have been
headline news.

- Do people not care that
these were older women?

- Everyone from the
responding officers

to the medical examiner to
the retirement communities,

they excused away so much
of it because of their age.

- Absolutely, 100%, ageism.

- Welcome back. We
want to get you caught up

on some breaking news
that is just coming into

our newsroom from
our Andrea Lucia.

She has learned
that Billy Chemirmir,

a convicted murderer, is dead.

- The victims' families
got a call early this morning

from TDCJ with the news.

Billy Chemirmir was
found dead in his cell.

- Hell yeah. That
was my first reaction.

- He can never
hurt another person.

- His cell mate, a fellow
convicted murderer,

is believed to be responsible.

- It was anger because of all
that man has taken from me.

- I know we got
our street justice,

but I felt let down
by the system.

- Billy Chemirmir
died never admitting

doing this to our moms.

- Sources tell CBS News
Texas that Wyatt Ellis Busby

killed Chemirmir at some
point during the night.

- Mr. Chemirmir made
some inappropriate remark,

sexual in nature,

about the inmate's children
and what he would do.

And that triggered the response,

which was that his
roommate beat him to death.

- Well, I thought it was
a fitting death for him.

I hope he was scared to
death, like the women were.