Convicted cannibal serial killer sentenced to death for dismembering victims for ‘sacrifices’

Jason Alan Thornburg in court as he receives the death sentence

Background: Jason Alan Thornburg hears his death sentence in court (WTVT/YouTube). Inset: Jason Alan Thornburg (Tarrant County Police Department).

Jason Alan Thornburg, a Texas man who was convicted of murdering three people in the name of “sacrifices” and admitted to eating parts of one of his victims, was sentenced to death for his crimes.

A jury found Thornburg, 44, guilty on Nov. 20 after he was accused of committing the gruesome killings of David Lueras, 42, Lauren Phillips, 34, and Maricruz Mathis, 33. The dismembered remains of those three victims were found burning in a dumpster in September 2021. Thornburg was indicted for their murders that December. In his arrest warrant, he admitted to the killings as well as the apparent murders of his girlfriend, Tanya Begay, 36, and his roommate, Mark Jewell, 61.

On Dec. 4, Thornburg learned his fate.

Prosecutors were seeking the death penalty before the beginning of the trial. Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney Sharen Wilson said in 2022, “The decision on whether or not to seek the death penalty is a crucial decision this office makes. The death penalty is reserved for the worst of the worst criminals. It is only fitting that we seek the death penalty in this case.”

The killings of the three victims connected to Thornburg’s conviction were especially grisly. According to the probable cause affidavit, Thornburg said that he had “an in-depth knowledge of the Bible and believed he was being called on to commit sacrifices.” In the case of David Lueras, who had been staying in a hotel room at the Mid City Inn in Euless, Texas, with Thornburg in the days leading up to his murder, the killer said that he “believed that David needed to be sacrificed. 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.”

Maricruz Mathis came to his hotel room two days later and met a similar end, her dismembered remains stored in containers. Lauren Phillips arrived two days after that, but Thornburg told police that his attempts to stab her failed and he had to strangle her instead.

More from Law & Crime: Texas Man Suspected of Killing, Dismembering, and Burning 3 People Told Police He Was ‘Being Called to Commit Sacrifices’: Affidavit

KDFW, a local Fox affiliate, reported that even more disturbing details were revealed during the trial, including the admission by Thornburg that he ate part of Lueras’ heart and cut off his genitals. He also admitted to sexually assaulting Phillips’ corpse. The containers he used to store his victims’ body parts were also cleaned and returned to the store where he purchased them.

While the cases of Jewell and Begay were both separate, Thornburg admitted to police in the affidavit that both of them were also sacrificed. Thornburg was indicted in Jewell’s death. Begay’s body has never been found.

During closing arguments, prosecutor Amy Allin told the jury, “He is a psychopath. He is evil. He is the type of evil that we want to believe doesn’t exist in our community. We want to believe we are not raising our children in a world where people like Jason Thornburg exist. We want to believe we live in a world where the Bible is not a weapon, where your vulnerabilities don’t make you prey to a serial killer. But so long as we live in a world with Jason Thornburg, said evil will exist.”

Thornburg’s defense team attempted to argue that their killer client was “doomed in the womb,” and that he “didn’t choose to be that way.” They told the jury that he admitted to the horrific killings “[b]ecause he thought he did the right thing by committing a horrible sinful sacrifice. It’s the voices he heard which are not justified. They are evil in a way, but he believed it was correct. That is so bizarre. So bizarre. But see, that’s what he believed. He believed his sacrifices were correct, and we know, as citizens, it’s not correct.”

Jurors deliberated for less than five hours before unanimously deciding to hand down a death sentence for Thornburg.

Family members of the victims had their chance to confront Thornburg after he heard his sentence.

The sister of David Lueras, Lauren Dunphy, said, “He took the life of our loved one in horrific and unspeakable acts, which in and of themselves are evil. These were planned, cruel, gruesome, perverse, repeated, and hidden. These were especially evil deeds. But the evil of these acts is compounded by what we have learned about Jason’s intentions. It’s been incredibly difficult to hear the Bible twisted to justify these heinous crimes.”

Norma Harris, the sister of Maricruz Mathis, described the pain she and her family felt at their loved one’s loss as “unbearable.” She added, “I hope that you receive forgiveness in Heaven, because I personally? I don’t think I can do it.”

The aunt of Lauren Phillips, Deborah Curry, said, “You have committed the ultimate blasphemy against God. You have said you do the work with God, but it is Satan you work for. You have destroyed all of the virtues that God gave to you, and you willfully filled your soul with the work of Satan by slaughtering our beloved for the pleasure in some gruesome manner in a cowardly way — from behind, while they lay asleep at night.”

J. Warren St. John, one of Thornburg’s attorneys, told The New York Times that he was “disappointed” about the sentence. Under Texas law, Thornburg’s sentence will automatically be appealed.