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A Texas man who was charged last year with killing an elderly woman was indicted this week for the murder of six other elderly women.
A Dallas County grand jury Tuesday returned six capital murder indictments against Billy Chemirmir, 46, in connection with the deaths of the six women in 2016 and early 2018.
After Chemirmir was arrested last year and charged with the murder of Lu Thi Harris, Dallas police said they would take a fresh look at the cases of 750 elderly people who died unattended to see if any might be linked to Chemirmir.
Tuesday's indictments were for the killings of Phyllis Payne on May 14, 2016; Norma French on Oct. 8, 2016; Phoebe Perry on Oct. 29, 2016; Doris Gleason on Oct. 29, 2016; Rosemary Curtis on Jan. 17, 2018; and Mary Brooks on Jan. 31, 2018, according to court records.
Richard Arnold, a lawyer for Gleason's daughter, said his client's mother was smothered in her apartment at a senior living facility in Dallas. Jewelry and cash were missing from her home.
The daughter "had immediate suspicions something wasn't right," Arnold told NBC Dallas. "There was a particular piece of jewelry her mother always wore that was missing."
The victim's family is suing the facility where Gleason lived, accusing managers of allowing the suspect — who allegedly posed as a maintenance worker — into the building, according to NBC Dallas.
"We certainly think he should have been noticed on the day Doris Gleason was murdered," Arnold said.
Chemirmir was arrested for Harris' murder after another woman who was attacked in her home gave police in Plano, Texas, enough details to help them identify the suspect.
Prosecutors in nearby Collin County are also looking at Chemirmir for a series of unsolved slayings of elderly people there, law enforcement sources said.