Cannibal killer who ate heart of victim and chopped off his penis
In addition to executing the savage killings, he also dismembered his victims and set their bodies alight.
Over a seven-day period in September 2021, Jason Thornburg murdered David Lueras, 42, Maricruz Mathis, 33, and Lauren Phillips, 34, later claiming that the trio needed to be sacrificed for religious purposes.
During the lengthy trial, details emerged about what transpired at the Mid City Inn in Euless. The three victims were separately brought into the room Thornburg was renting and subsequently killed.
The killer slit the throats of two of the victims and strangled Phillips before sexually assaulting her dead body. He also consumed part of David's heart and severed his penis, reports the Mirror US.
Once the victims were deceased, Thornburg dismembered their bodies in the motel bathtub and stored their remains in rubbish bags under the bed.
In the early hours of September 22, the murderer then transported their body parts, which he had stored in plastic storage tubs, to a dumpster on Bonnie Drive in Fort Worth.
He placed the remains inside the dumpster, ignited them and drove off. Firefighters were summoned to the blaze and put out the fire where they discovered the victims' burnt bodies.
Law enforcement nabbed Thornburg for placing the bodies in the dumpster and igniting it, thanks to CCTV footage showing his Jeep Grand Cherokee nearby at the crucial time. He chillingly returned the containers used to the shop they were purchased from after meticulously cleaning them out.
The jury, swayed by the damning evidence presented during the trial, including the gruesome details of the motel incident, concluded that Thornburg posed an ongoing threat to society and handed him the death penalty. The decision was reached swiftly by the jury in just five hours, with Thornburg remaining silent as the verdict was delivered.
Following the verdict, the presiding judge declared: "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 automatically reviewed by the Court of Criminal Appeals. If confirmed, he will stay under state custody until his execution is enacted.
Death row inmates often wait years before their execution date is set.
In a startling twist, upon his arrest for the motel slayings, Thornburg shockingly admitted to police his involvement in two additional murders.
Thornburg is alleged to have confessed to law enforcement that he murdered his 61 year old flatmate, Mark Jewell, who died in a suspicious house explosion in May 2021, and his ex-girlfriend Tanya Begay in Arizona back in 2017.
Firefighters discovered Jewell's body following a gas explosion at the Fort Worth residence. Begay vanished in March 2017 after last being seen with Thornburg.
According to Fox 4 reports, the FBI still considers the case open as her body has never been found.
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