A Texas man was convicted of murdering three people, dismembering them and burning their bodies after admitting to investigators that he was “asked to make a sacrifice.”
Jason Thornburgh was found guilty of secret murder Wednesday, and now the same Tarrant County jury that convicted him will decide whether he will receive the death penalty or not, according to Fox Broadcasting. He must decide whether he wants to spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole.
In September 2021, Thornburg allegedly killed three people at a motel in Euless, Texas, dismembered their bodies and stored them under a bed, then set the bodies on fire in a dumpster in Fort Worth.
Thornburgh told investigators that he felt the urge to perform a “ritual sacrifice” and ate the victim's heart and other body parts.
His lawyers argued that he was insane and suffering from severe mental illness when he carried out the murder.
Thornburgh, who was arrested on suspicion of murder, confessed to police that he killed his roommate during a suspicious house explosion in May 2021 and his girlfriend in Arizona in 2017.
These two previous murder cases were brought up in court on Thursday when the punishment aspect of the trial began.
Victims' families cannot speak publicly until the punishment phase is over.