A Texas prisoner accused of killing 22 women was slain by his cellmate last week according to Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) spokesperson Hannah Haney. His death occurred during a prison lockdown.
Billy Chemirmir, a serial killer serving two life sentences for the murders of elderly women, was found dead in his cell at a prison in rural East Texas.
He was incarcerated at the Coffield Unit, a sprawling 3,818-bed prison located in Tennessee Colony, an unincorporated community east of Palestine. This facility is situated approximately 100 miles southeast of Dallas, where he committed his crimes.
News of Chemirmir’s death comes just two weeks after a highly unusual statewide lockdown of all Texas prisons.
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) initially cited concerns about drug-related issues within the prisons as the reason behind the lockdown. However, more recent reports from officials point to a concerning surge in inmate homicides and violence as the main reason for the lockdown.
