Caught in Cell: Suspected Serial Killer Brutally Stabbed and Beaten

A Texas prisoner accused of smothering to death 22 older women in their Dallas-area homes for the purpose of stealing jewelry and other valuables experienced a fatal attack last month. The attack, which resulted in his death, occurred when his cellmate, Wyatt Busby, stabbed him. This incident is currently under investigation by the Office of the Inspector General. Billy Chemirmir, 50, had been serving a life sentence after being convicted of two of the women’s murders. According to a report released on Monday, Chemirmir was “stabbed/beaten to death.”

A report filed last week with the attorney general’s office revealed that Chemirmir’s cause of death was a “knife/edged instrument.” Although the means of death was blunt force trauma, the official cause of death is still pending. Wyatt Busby, 39, is currently serving a 50-year prison sentence for a murder conviction in the Houston area in 2016. Chemirmir was killed at the Coffield Unit, which remained on lockdown even after most prisons had resumed normal operations.

Chemirmir was arrested in 2018 after a 91-year-old woman survived an attack and reported that a man had broken into her apartment at a senior living community, attempted to smother her with a pillow, and stole her jewelry. Chemirmir was apprehended the following day with jewelry and cash in his possession. He had just discarded a large red jewelry box. Investigation led the police to the home of Lu Thi Harris, 81, who was found dead in her bedroom.

Chemirmir was convicted of capital murder in the deaths of Harris and Mary Brooks, 87, both of whom he maintained his innocence in. He was serving two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. After Chemirmir’s arrest, authorities reevaluated other deaths in the Dallas area, resulting in 22 additional capital murder charges being filed against him. (Read more Billy Chemirmir stories.)