Lu Thi Harris liked to dress up when she went out, even for a Walmart shopping run.
A spry 81, Harris was known as fun and friendly.
She was just a hoot to be around, he said.
The man blended into the background like a security guard, probably because hed worked as one.
He exited the parking lot first and drove away in a gray sedan, security footage showed.
A few hours later, police following a tip arrived and discovered her lifeless body on the bed.
It looked at first as if Harris had passed away peacefully in her sleep.
Her house keys had disappeared, too.
The most likely murder weapon: her pillow.
A homicide investigation began immediately.
He often pretended to be a maintenance man to gain entry, authorities said.
They had long ago buried loved ones who were assumed to have passed away peacefully.
Loren Adair-Smith heard from a Dallas homicide detective in April 2018.
Her mother, Phyllis Payne, had died two years earlier.
I have some shocking news for you, the officer said.
We believe she may not have died of natural causes.
I said, If this is a joke, this is really sick, Adair-Smith recalls.
He repeatedly proclaimed his innocence.
I just cant believe this, he said.
Where I come from, our culture, we dont even think about murder.
His first trial for Harris murder, in November 2021, ended in a hung jury.
The families of other people Chemirmir allegedly killed were not sure theyd ever get their day in court.
So they gathered to hear the verdict.
Elated, ecstatic, thrilled, relieved!!!!
Finally…….SOME justice.
It was so wonderful to hear GUILTY!!!!!
He faces additional murder charges in two counties for allegedly killing 20 more victims, all in similar circumstances.
Victims families suspect he is linked to two more deaths, though he has not been indicted.
Our shocking conclusion: because the victims were old.
Ultimately, two things became clear.
Time and again, the deaths were attributed to heart attacks and strokes.
Doris Gleasons suspicious death in 2016 was instantly attributed to natural causes.
In Chemirmirs first trial, he conceded that his office rarely orders autopsies for anyone over 65.
Otherwise, he asserted, the workload would be overwhelming: No office can handle that.
So you have decisions based on those cases, the findings and the medical history.
And the same is true of an upscale living facility.
News of a serial killing there is bad for business.
The beginning
Who did the killer target?
Chemirmir was not dumb, says Dallas lawyer Trey Crawford, who represents 13 victims families.
We counted 30 or 40 [suspicious deaths] within a 5- to 10-mile radius of where Chemirmir lived.
Billy Kipkorir Chemirmir, 49, could face trial in an additional 20 murders.
After working through health care agencies, he grew tired of paying commissions and began recruiting his own clients.
That company communicated with him only as Koitaba, and Chemirmir frequently took short nighttime assignments.
He was repeatedly stopped and questioned as an intruder but left free to continue.
We go to work to produce, Creuzot said.
He goes to work to kill, strip, steal, sell.
She was still working ER shifts when her husband contracted cancer and died.
For a while, Sinclair kept rattling around their big old house.
Together they settled on Edgemere, near the exclusive Dallas neighborhood of Highland Park.
The place was luxurious.
It was as nice as any five-star hotel, Probst says.
Sinclair soon settled in.
She dined with them in early April 2016, and the 87-year-old seemed in perfect health.
So both were astonished when they were notified only a week later that their aunt had died.
When they entered her apartment, things got stranger.
We saw blood on the bed, Probst recalls.
Sinclair is believed by her family to be Chemirmirs first victim.
Paynes brunette hair remained naturally dark, and she rarely complained of aches or illnesses.
Payne provided welcome support to Adair-Smith, whose husband had terminal cancer.
But Payne was too busy to go on the trip.
