Jason Alan Thornburg
A Texas man was indicted Monday for allegedly murdering three people, according to KPNX. As previously reportedly, defendant Jason Thornburg, 41, has allegedly also confessed to killing his girlfriend Tanya Begay, 36, and roommate Mark Jewell, 61, in Arizona.
“Thornburg described having an in-depth knowledge of the Bible and believed that he was being called to commit sacrifices,” an affidavit said.
Thornburg faces a capital murder case in Texas for allegedly killing David Lueras, 42, Maricruz Reyes-Mathis, 33, and Lauren Phillips, 31.
“Thornburg believed that David needed to be sacrificed,” authorities wrote of the Lueras murder. “He sliced David’s throat and then cut him into pieces in the bathtub. Thornburg initially hid the remains in his room in trash bags before obtaining Rubbermaid type tubs to store them in.”
Thornburg allegedly killed the women separately, and also dismembered their bodies.
“It’s not fair,” Maricruz’s mother Mary Hanshaw told WFAA in an Oct. 8 report. “It’s just not right.”
She and Maricruz’s father Cecil Hanshaw said that Reyes-Mathis lived at the Mid City Inn, the same place where Thornburg stayed.
Their daughter never mentioned him, they said. The Hanshaws suggested she did not know him.
“She just ended up at the wrong place at the wrong time,” Mary said.
Thornburg allegedly admitted to killing Jewell by slicing his throat, uncapping the natural gas line and lighting a candle in the room to start a fire.
Begay reportedly went missing in 2017 just days after Thornburg allegedly attacked her with a glass coffee pot. Authorities dropped the related charges against this boyfriend because, strictly speaking, Begay did not participate in the case. Her body has yet to be found.
Jerry Lambe contributed to this report.
[Booking photo via Tarrant County Police Department]
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