A man in Texas, Jason Thornburg, has been sentenced to death for a series of brutal murders. Thornburg, 44, claimed he was “called to commit sacrifices” and admitted to killing multiple people. This week, a jury found him guilty of murdering and dismembering three people: David Lueras (42), Lauren Phillips (34), and Maricruz Mathis (33), back in 2021.
Thornburg also confessed to killing his roommate, Mark Jewell, in 2021 and his girlfriend, Tanya Begay, in 2017. Jewell’s body was found in a house fire, and Begay disappeared after a trip with Thornburg to Arizona. Thornburg has now been indicted for Jewell’s death as well.
During the trial, Thornburg’s lawyers argued that he wasn’t mentally stable, but the jury didn’t agree.
The evidence revealed horrifying details. Thornburg was staying in a motel in Euless, Texas, when the murders happened. Over a week, he lured each victim into his room separately. He strangled Lauren Phillips and assaulted her after her death. He slit the throats of David Lueras and Maricruz Mathis and even ate part of Lueras’s heart. Thornburg then dismembered their bodies in the motel bathtub, stored the remains in trash bags under the bed, and eventually moved them to plastic tubs.
On September 22, 2021, he took the tubs to a dumpster in Fort Worth, set the remains on fire, and drove away. Later, he even cleaned the tubs and returned them to the store where he’d bought them.
Investigators eventually tracked him down using security footage that showed his Jeep near the dumpster at the time of the fire.
Thornburg’s crimes shocked everyone, and his actions have left a deep impact on the victims’ families and the community.
