A 49-year-old man accused of killing at least 18 elderly women in the Dallas area will have to face a trial all over again as the jury had failed to reach a majority verdict in the case.

Billy Chemirmir, 49, was being tried for the death of 81-year-old Lu Thi Harris when the jury failed to reach a verdict in November last year. He was arrested in 2018 while he was allegedly trying to break into another woman's apartment.

91-year-old Annis Bartel had also reported him, saying that he had attacked her after forcing his way into her apartment at an independent living community in Dallas.

As the investigation into the case continued, other cases were also probed, which eventually led to him being charged with the murders of 18 elderly women. The police have linked him to a string of deaths that took place at luxury senior living communities in Dallas and Collin counties between 2016 and 2018.

Thirteen of these eighteen deaths took place in Dallas County, while five occurred in nearby Collin County.

Currently, he is being tried for the death of Harris only. However, Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzo says that he wants to try Chemirmir for at least one more death, according to a report in The Mirror.

Chemirmir, since the beginning, has maintained that he is innocent and that he did not kill anyone. In an interview with the Dallas Morning News, he said that he was "100 percent sure I will not go to prison."

"I'm not at all what they're saying I am. I am a very innocent person. I was not brought (up) that way. I was brought (up) in a good family. I didn't have any problems all my life," he said. "I am not a killer," Chemirmir added.

The suspect is in Dallas County Jail awaiting the retrial scheduled to take place on Monday after the first jury to hear one of the murder cases against him reach a deadlocked verdict.

Crime Scene
Crime scene police line | Representational Image Photo: GETTY IMAGES / SCOTT OLSON GETTY IMAGES/SCOTT OLSON