The Fort Worth Police Department has arrested a 41-year-old man for the brutal killing, dismembering, and burning of three individuals found earlier this week in a Fort Worth dumpster.
As originally reported, Fort Worth firefighters were called to the 3100 block of Bonnie Drive for a dumpster fire last Tuesday morning. After firefighters contained the blaze, they locate the charred remains of three individuals inside the dumpster. Homicide and crime scene detectives were requested to the scene.
Detectives went to work right away and found a potential suspect vehicle in the area as a 2005 – 2010 Jeep Cherokee SUV. They researched over 7,000 vehicles matching that description across DFW, eventually landing on a name familiar to detectives: Jason Thornburg.
Thornburg was identified as a suspect in a suspicious death case from May of this year. In that case, Fort Worth firefighters responded to an explosion at a house in the 4500 block of Valentine Street. The body of a 61-year-old man was found inside the residence. Thornburg was identified by detectives as a person of interest in his death.
Police ran surveillance on a house in Arlington and a motel in Euless where Thornburg frequently resided.
Cameras at the motel caught Thornburg loading several bins into his Cherokee from the motel room immediately before the dumpster fire was reported. Police believe the bins contained multiple body parts from the victims.
At around 5:30pm Monday, Fort Worth officers observed Thornburg at the residence in Arlington and approached him. He voluntarily agreed to an interview at Fort Worth PD headquarters.
Once at headquarters, he admitted his involvement in the triple homicide from last week. He also admitted to the Valentine Street suspicious death from May along with the killing of a woman out of state. According to the arrest warrant, Thornburg said he had in depth knowledge of the Bible and believed he was being called to commit sacrifices.
After the interview confession, police took him back to the motel in Euless and secured a warrant for his arrest. He was arrested Monday on multiple charges of Murder.
Homicide detectives are still investigating the details of this case and whether the suspect knew the victims. It was reported that the adult male victim had been living with Thornburg in the motel room for a few days, and he only knew the two female victims casually. Police originally believed one of the victims was a child, but have since learned it was an adult female.
