Suspected serial killer Jason Thornburg convicted for grisly Fort Worth murders, faces death penalty
NORTH TEXAS – A suspected serial killer accused of killing and dismembering a man and two women was convicted Wednesday of capital murder.
Jurors will now decide, during the penalty phase, if 44-year-old Jason Thornburg will be sentenced to death.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
In December 2021, Thornburg was indicted for the murders of David Lueras, Lauren Phillips, and Maricruz Mathis. The three victims' bodies were found burning in a Fort Worth dumpster in September 2021.
Police said Thornburg also confessed to the murders of two other people years before – his girlfriend, Tanya Begay, in Arizona in 2017 and his former roommate, Mark Jewell, in May 2021.
Thornburg said it was all a "human sacrifice to God."
According to an affidavit, Thornburg said he has an in-depth knowledge of the Bible and believes he was called to commit human sacrifices. He even attended a leadership conference taught by one of his alleged victims. On a worksheet, he wrote that he wanted to be a missionary and said his greatest strength was "a sense of purpose, a sense of destiny that must be achieved."
In 2021, a Tarrant County judge ruled that there is reasonable cause to believe Thornburg has a mental illness or intellectual disability.