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Law and Crime
Dying of Old Age—or Murder?
How family members spotted a homicide-in-disguise.
Posted March 4, 2021
Some “natural deaths” are not natural at all. While we tend to think of serial killers as preying on young men and women, there is a significant minority who either aren’t picky when it comes to the age of their victims or specifically target the elderly. On January 21, 2021, for example, 66-year-old Kevin Gavin was charged with the violent murders of three elderly women living in the same Brooklyn apartment complex over the past six years.
According to police, his modus operandi was to run errands and do chores for them, earning their trust and gaining access to their apartments. At some point in time, he murdered them, stealing money, bank cards, and benefit cards. The first victim’s death in 2015, that of 82-year-old Myrtle McKinney, was initially chalked up to congestive heart failure in spite of the fact that she had a stab wound in her neck (apparently noticed only by the funeral director), $800 disappeared from her bank account shortly after her death, and her apartment keys were missing.
Four years later, in April 2019, 83-year-old Jacolia James was found strangled to death. It was only on January 14, 2021, when 78-year-old Juanita Caballero was found, dead and with a phone cord still wrapped around her neck, that detectives found video surveillance pointing the finger at the alleged serial killer. Family members claim that, for a number of reasons, law enforcement didn’t thoroughly investigate the first two murders. Police claim they didn’t have sufficient evidence to solve the crimes. Whatever the truth, one thing stands out; this killer did not use subtle methods to kill his victims. Imagine how long he might have gotten away with it if he’d been sneakier in his approach.
A Senior Serial Killer in the Lone Star State
Unfortunately, we don’t have to imagine. Let me introduce you to Billy Chemirmir, a 48-year-old Nigerian immigrant living in Dallas who has been charged with murdering 22 seniors (and suspected of murdering more) since 2016. His ruses allegedly involved posing as either a home healthcare aide or maintenance man to con his way into assisted living facilities. Finding his victims alone, he would smother them with a pillow and then steal any valuables he could find, before sneaking out again. All of the death certificates listed “natural” as the cause of death.
Two things ended Chemirmir’s killing career. One, in 2016, daughters of three of his victims, who all lived on the same floor and died within three months of each other, each noticed valuable items missing from their mothers’ possessions and began asking questions. And, two, in March 2018, a woman who survived an attack helped put Chemirmir on police’s radar. While he was under surveillance, officers observed him putting something in a dumpster at his apartment block; inside it, police found a box with jewelry inside along with a piece of paper with a woman’s name on it. When local police were asked to conduct a welfare check on this woman, they found her dead inside her apartment. Chemirmir was arrested and detectives soon began reviewing hundreds of previously determined “natural deaths” to identify any other potential victims.
The Profile of Senior Serial Killers
So, is there anything unique about serial killers who target the elderly? Chemirmir and Gavin, if guilty, are certainly not alone when it comes to the advanced ages of their victims; in the U.S., just over 10 percent of serial killer victims are over 60. Unfortunately, there’s been very little research comparing serial killers who kill seniors to those who choose other victims.
What limited research that is available suggests a few key differences. First of all, it’s of note that, in the two senior serial killers discussed in this post, both of them were motivated by money. Consistent with these cases, a study of 40 international serial killers (40 percent were from the U.S.) who targeted the elderly found that financial gain was their number one motive (42 percent), followed by revenge, power and control. Interestingly, over a third of these offenders were women, which is significantly higher than we would expect given that only 11 percent of serial murders in the U.S. have been committed by women in the past century (and only 5 to 7 percent in recent decades). Female serial killers are also rare in other countries.
Alarmingly, this study found that the majority of these serial killers killed more than five victims and over 30 percent had killed more than 10. It’s hard to know what to make of these statistics given a) these researchers looked at serial killers from several countries and we don’t have a global victim average to compare it to, and b) their study spans several decades and, even within the same country, the average victim count per serial killer varies considerably by time period. In the U.S., for example, 42 percent of the serial killers operating in the 1900s killed five or more victims; in 2010, only 13 percent had that high of a victim count. But it’s hard not to think that serial killers who target the elderly might be able to fly under the radar longer than serial killers who target younger victims.
The Bottom Line
In theory, all sudden deaths are investigated as a homicide until proven otherwise. In reality, it’s understandable that the death of an elderly person would be chalked up to natural causes, especially if there’s no obvious indication of foul play. If there’s a lesson to be learned from Gavin and Chemirmir, it’s that family members are often the initial “detectives” in terms of spotting clues that a seemingly tragic-but-innocent death is not what it appears. Savvy family members collect those clues, examine them through the harsh light of skepticism, and keep asking questions until their suspicions have been either laid to rest or validated.
If you're interested in crime or forensic psychology, check out my new book Serial Killers: 101 Questions True Crime Fans Ask.
