Jason Thornburg could be given the death penalty after being found guilty of a string of murders(Image: CBS Texas)

Cannibal killer butchered three people and ate a human heart as part of 'ritual sacrifice'

24 Nov 2024, 15:16 by Benedict Tetzlaff-Deas · Irish Mirror

A cannibal serial killer has claimed he mutilated the bodies of victims and even ate a human heart during sick 'ritualistic sacrifices'.

Jason Thornburg will soon be told by a judge whether he will be given the death penalty after he confessed to killing three people, dismembering their bodies and keeping them under his bed at a motel in Euless, Texas. He then set the bodies on fire inside a skip.

The 44-year-old was found guilty of capital murder on Wednesday - and it is now up to the jury to decide whether he is sent to death row or spends life in prison without parole. During the trial, Thornburg's lawyers had argued he was insane at the time of the murders of David Lueras, Lauren Phillips, and Maricruz Mathis in September 2021.

The 44-year-old admitted to killing three people and eating their body parts in a 'ritual sacrifice'(Image: CBS Texas)

Firefighters made the gruesome discovery of the three bodies after putting out a blaze in the dumpster in Fort Worth, Texas. After he was indicted in December the same year, Thornburg told investigators that he felt compelled to carry out "ritualistic sacrifices", and admitted he had eaten a victim’s heart and some parts of the victims’ bodies before they were burnt.

Police said he also confessed to killing his roommate Mark Jewell in May 2021 in a home explosion, and causing the death of his girlfriend Tanya Begay in Arizona in 2017. These two other murders were first introduced as evidence when the punishment phase of the trial began on Thursday.

The bodies of his victims were found in a burning skip(Image: CBS Texas)

Thornburg described the acts as a "human sacrifice to God" and claimed to have an in-depth knowledge of the bible, according to a court affidavit. It was also heard he attended a leadership conference taught by one of his victims, where he wrote on a worksheet that he wanted to be a Christian missionary to fulfil "a sense of destiny that must be achieved".

Thornburg awaits sentencing at the court in Tarrant County, Texas. His victims' families are not permitted to speak publicly until the end of the sentencing phase.

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