Authorities discovered his last three victims first.
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FORT WORTH, Tx.- A man accused of killing three people whose dismembered bodies were found in a burning dumpster in Texas in September was charged Friday with the murder of his roommate, who was found dead in another fire. months before.
The Tarrant County District Attorney’s office says a grand jury indicted Jason Alan Thornburg, 41, for murder and arson in the death of 61-year-old Mark Jewell.
Thornburg was indicted in December on one count of capital murder of multiple persons in the deaths of David Lueras, 42, Lauren Phillips, 34, and Maricruz Mathis, 33. Their bodies were found in a burning dumpster in Fort Worth.
During an interview with police, he confessed to killing those three, as well as his roommate and girlfriend, according to his arrest warrant. He told officers that he had a thorough knowledge of the Bible and that he believed he was being called to “commit sacrifices,” according to the arrest warrant.
Thornburg’s roommate died in a suspicious fire in Fort Worth in May, according to the arrest warrant. At the time, the medical examiner had been unable to determine Jewell’s cause of death.
During the police interview in September, Thornburg said he slit Jewell’s throat, then unplugged a natural gas line and lit a candle, according to the arrest warrant.
When police asked Thornburg about other sacrifices, he mentioned his girlfriend, according to the arrest warrant.
Tanya Begay, a Navajo woman from Gallup, New Mexico, has been missing since taking a trip to Arizona with Thornburg in 2017. As of Friday, the FBI had no update on her case.
Thornburg remained jailed in Fort Worth on $1 million bond.
Jason Alan Thornburg.
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