Texas man receives death penalty after murder of three and horror 'cannibalism'
WARNING - GRAPHIC CONTENT: Jason Thornburg, 44, has been sentenced to death after he murdered three people in cold blood before dismembering their bodies and setting them alight
A 44-year-old man has been sentenced to death in Tarrant County, Texas, after a jury found him guilty of the gruesome murders of three people.
In addition to carrying out the brutal killings, he also dismembered his victims and set their bodies on fire.
Over a week-long period in September 2021, Jason Thornburg ended the lives of David Lueras, 42, Maricruz Mathis, 33, and Lauren Phillips, 34, later asserting that the trio needed to be sacrificed for religious reasons. During the extensive trial, horrifying details were revealed about what occurred at the Mid City Inn in Euless. The three victims were individually enticed into the room Thornburg was renting and subsequently killed.
The murderer slit the throats of two of the victims and strangled Phillips before sexually assaulting her lifeless body. He also ate part of David's heart and severed his penis, according to the Mirror US.
After the victims were dead, Thornburg dismembered their bodies in the motel bathtub and stored their remains in trash bags under the bed.
In the early morning hours of September 22, the killer transported their body parts, which he had kept in plastic storage bins, to a dumpster on Bonnie Drive in Fort Worth.
He disposed of the remains in a dumpster, set them ablaze, and then escaped. Firefighters responded to the fire and put it out, discovering the charred remains of the victims.
Authorities pinpointed Thornburg as the culprit who discarded and burned bodies in a dumpster, with surveillance footage capturing his Jeep Grand Cherokee near the scene of the crime. He chillingly cleaned and returned the containers he used to transport the remains to the store from which they were bought, displaying a disturbing level of disconnection.
In the courtroom, overwhelming evidence detailing the gruesome motel murders persuaded the jury of Thornburg's continued danger to the public, culminating in his death sentence following a rapid five-hour deliberation. Thornburg was silent as the sentence was read.
After the verdict, the judge proclaimed: "Therefore, Jason Allen Thornburg, you have been adjudged by a jury to be guilty of capital murder. And the juror has answered the special issues making it mandatory that your punishment be death. Therefore, this court sentences you, Jason Allen Thornburgh, to death."
Thornburg's conviction and death sentence are subject to automatic review by the Court of Criminal Appeals. If upheld, he will remain in state custody until his execution is carried out, which could take years.
Moreover, upon his apprehension for the horrific murders at the motel, Thornburg shockingly confessed to the police about his participation in two more killings.
Thornburg is reported to have admitted to authorities that he was responsible for the murder of his 61-year-old roommate, Mark Jewell, who died under suspicious circumstances in a home explosion in May 2021, and his ex-girlfriend, Tanya Begay, in Arizona back in 2017.
Firefighters found Jewell's body after a gas explosion occurred at their Fort Worth residence. Begay disappeared in March 2017, last seen in the company of Thornburg.
As per reports from Fox 4, the FBI continues to keep the case open as her body has yet to be discovered.