Convicted murderer Billy Chemirmir killed while serving prison sentence

• The Collin County district attorney announced last month he would not seek capital punishment for Chemirmir because "he will never be a free man again."

Context: Chemirmir was convicted in the deaths of 87-year-old Mary Brooks and 81-year-old Lu Thi Harris and was accused of killing nearly two dozen people.

• Authorities said he targeted the elderly in his killings, stole their jewelry, and then sold it.
• At one point, Chemirmir faced 22 capital murder charges. He was convicted in 2018 in two of those killings.

Between the lines: The slayings of elderly women in high-end independent living communities, including The Tradition-Prestonwood, went unnoticed for nearly two years until Chemirmir's arrest in March 2018. The causes of death were initially classified as natural.

• The cases inspired Marilyn's Law, which requires medical examiners to alert the next of kin when a cause of death is changed on a death certificate.

Details: Chemirmir arrived at the Coffield unit near Palestine in May 2022 to start serving his life sentences.

• The 50-year-old was found dead in his cell early Tuesday.
• The Texas Department of Criminal Justice said in an email that his cellmate, who was serving a sentence for a Harris County murder, was the "assailant." The cellmate hasn't been publicly identified.

What's next: The inspector general's office is investigating the death. The cause of death hasn't been released yet.