A 47 year old Kenyan man identified as Billy Chemirmir is facing the gallows for killing 22 elderly women in Texas.

Chemirmir who is originally from Eldama Ravine in Kenya settled in Texas in the 90’s after getting married to an American citizen.

He has been indicted on capital murder charges in the deaths of 14 people, while civil lawsuits accuse him of killing eight more.

If found culpable, he faces the death penalty or life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

The suspect was arrested by detectives while trying to dispose off a gold chain he had stolen from a home after smothering its elderly owner with a pillow.

Many of the victims had been certified as having succumbed to natural causes but following the arrest, police have scrutinized over hundreds of deaths for potential links to the Kenyan.

Homicide detectives acting on a tip-off found the 91-year-old victim lying at her bed, dead. A pillow with her lipstick was lying close by.

Chemirmir would reportedly pose as a maintenance worker to access homes before smothering his victims with pillows.

He is said to have stolen valuables which he sold off online and at pawnshops across the city for a fortune.

His lawyer Phillip Hayes who declined to talk to the press however said his client had said he was innocent.