Investigators say convicted murderer Billy Chemirmir stalked women living in North Texas senior living facilities over a two-year span and then killed them so that he could steal their jewelry. Now families of the victims are calling on state lawmakers to pass laws that will protect the thousands of Texans that call these communities home.
Dressed in red and wearing photos of their mothers, Loren Adair-Smith and Shannon Dion prepared to speak Tuesday at the Texas State Capitol in support of legislation related to senior living communities.
Smith and Dion are among some of the family members of Chemirmir's victims who started Securing Our Seniors' Safety, an advocacy group pushing for legislation they believe could have saved their mothers and will save lives in the future. Both women now serve on the group's board of directors.
The legislation they're supporting includes requiring background checks for employees and contractors at senior living communities, along with ID badges for visitors, and requiring facilities to report crimes on the property to residents and police.
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“Just like a neighborhood crime watch, when you hear of something going on you talk about it, you don’t just ignore it,” said Dion. “They allude that everyone is safe and they’re not."
Prosecutors said Chemirmir targeted senior living communities, stalking his victims to kill them and steal their jewelry. However, because reports of Chemirmir trespassing on the property and reports of stolen jewelry were never shared with police, the deaths of the women were ruled "natural causes" and the murders went unnoticed.
“It has haunted us that if we had known that prior to my mom’s murder that there had been another murder in the facility perhaps 23 more lives might have been spared,” Smith said.
They hope their efforts will better protect seniors and save other families from heartache.
“We could not bear to wake up one morning and hear on the news of a similar story and that we had not done anything to try and prevent it," said Smith.
Dallas County prosecutor Glen Fitzmartin, who tried the cases against Chemirmir, voiced support for the legislation to lawmakers Tuesday.
"[Chemirmir] was able to walk into these facilities unmolested," said Fitzmartin. "He stayed on the facility for hours at a time, just wandering the halls picking out his next victim."
Chemirmir is currently serving two life sentences in state prison after Dallas County jurors convicted him of capital murder last year. It wasn’t until a woman survived an attack on her life and Chemirmir was arrested that dozens of cases of "unattended deaths" were re-examined.
Chemirmir has been indicted on 22 capital murder charges but has been linked to other deaths, one of whom was a man, through medical examiner reports and civil case filings.
A house bill filed by State Rep. Julie Johnson also calls for changes in how victims can pursue civil action against senior living communities. The families have been involved in ongoing litigation against the facilities.
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