A Texas man has been convicted of murdering three people, dismembering their bodies, and burning them after admitting to investigators that he was compelled to “commit sacrifices.”
Jason Thornburg was found guilty of capital murder on Wednesday. Now, a Tarrant County jury will decide whether he receives the death penalty or life in prison without parole, according to Fox 4.
In September 2021, Thornburg killed three individuals, dismembered their bodies, and kept them under his bed at a motel in Euless, Texas. He later set the remains on fire inside a dumpster in Fort Worth.
During his confession, Thornburg told investigators he felt driven to carry out “ritualistic sacrifices” and admitted to eating a victim’s heart along with other body parts.
His defense attorneys claimed he was insane at the time of the murders, suffering from a severe mental illness.
Thornburg also confessed to earlier murders, including the killing of his roommate in May 2021 during a suspicious home explosion and the murder of his girlfriend in Arizona in 2017. These prior crimes were discussed in court on Thursday during the trial’s punishment phase.
The victims’ families are prohibited from speaking publicly until the sentencing phase concludes.
