A man from Kenya, who was alleged to have murdered 22 women in the US, has passed away while incarcerated in a Texas prison.
Billy Chemirmir, aged 50, was purportedly killed by his fellow inmate, who is serving time for a separate murder conviction.
According to Hannah Haney, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Chemirmir was discovered deceased in his cell.
The spokesperson stated that she was unable to disclose the identity of the cellmate or the method by which Chemirmir was killed, as reported by the Associated Press.
Originally from Eldama Ravine, Kenya, Chemirmir had settled in Texas during the 1990s after marrying an American citizen.
He faced charges of capital murder for the deaths of 14 individuals, while additional lawsuits accused him of killing eight more.
Detectives arrested him while he was attempting to dispose of a stolen gold chain, which he had taken from a residence after smothering the elderly homeowner with a pillow.
Acting on a tip-off, homicide detectives discovered the deceased 91-year-old victim in her bed. A pillow, stained with her lipstick, was found nearby.
Although many of the victims had initially been attributed to natural causes, the arrest prompted police to reexamine hundreds of deaths for potential connections to the Kenyan suspect.
Chemirmir reportedly masqueraded as a maintenance worker in order to gain access to homes before suffocating his victims using pillows.