Going West: True Crime - Tarrant County Killer // 477

Episode Date: February 14, 2025

In March of 2017, a 36-year-old Navajo woman left her aunt’s house in New Mexico after visiting Arizona, but she never made it to her destination. Five years after she went missing, her former boyfriend was arrested for the murder and dismemberment of at least three people - later saying they were ritualistic sacrifice killings whom he engaged in cannibalism with. This is the story of Tanya Begay, and horrific actions by the Tarrant County Serial Killer.

What is going on true crime fans? I'm your host T and I'm your host Daphne and you're listening to going west Hello everybody. Hope you're doing well today going west. Hello everybody. Hope you're doing well today. Now I recently stumbled upon this case and I just, I couldn't believe how horrific some of the details were just as we get deeper into how this case unravels as a whole and the serial killings committed here. And there is still justice that needs to be served, particularly for Tanya Begay on the Navajo reservation, who was taken far too soon.

We're gonna talk about her first up in today's episode. So thank you so much everybody for tuning into this one. Yeah, I mean the unthinkable actions we're gonna describe today, we're committed by someone who can only be described as the biggest piece of shit. So without further ado, get ready for this one. All right guys, this is episode

477 of Going West, so let's get into it. The arrest of an accused serial killer in Fort Worth may be an answer to a four-year search for a missing New Mexico woman. Investigators said Jason Thornburg admitted to at least five murders when they arrested him this week. And we want to warn you, the details in this are disturbing. This is where police believe he killed and kept three victims, and a fourth victim was killed back in May. And we're learning more, as you just mentioned,

about a fifth victim, his former girlfriend. In 2017, law enforcement in Arizona and in New Mexico posted information about Tanya Begay. The mother of two disappeared while she was driving to see family. And the information about Tanya Begay. The mother of two disappeared while she was driving to see family, and the information about her says that she was with her boyfriend at the time, Jason Thornburg.

No one ever saw her again. It has been four months since Jason Allen Thornburg, a self-confessed serial killer with ties to Arizona, was arrested. I miss her like every day. I just knew my friend was gone forever. Police say Thornburg dismembered and burned their bodies found inside a motel dumpster. Detectives say Thornburg claimed God had called him to make human sacrifices through his

understanding of scripture. Kenya's sister and family members have always thought it was her boyfriend who was last seen with her. Families of the victims face the murder in court today comparing him to Satan, calling him evil and a coward. I do believe and it's my opinion that you are a danger to society. And the only thing that you do deserve is death. Tanya B. Gay was born on December 20, 1980 in New Mexico to a large family on the Navajo reservation. That's the Navajo Nation. She's remembered by her sisters as bubbly and full of life, and it's said that she graced

the family with a silly, lighthearted presence. Her cousin Jackie Reynolds, who was like another sister to her, described her as quote, outgoing, funny, a strong Navajo woman. And she's remembered as a loving mother to her two children and eventually a proud grandmother in her thirties. And being someone who is very close to her extended family, Tanya was frequently the one to round up the family to get together. So even though she moved around New Mexico and Arizona multiple times, she never failed to keep in close contact with her family members. In 2017, 36 year old Tanya was dating a fellow Navajo man named Jason Thornburg. Now Tanya's best friend, Melissa Bradford, claims that she had a sneaking suspicion from

basically the beginning that there was something sinister going on behind the facade of Tanya and Jason's relationship. But she didn't quite know what was wrong or what was going on. It's just that Jason was always off to her. Melissa met Tanya in Phoenix, Arizona when she hired Tanya to work at Restaurant Depot, which is a wholesale food service supplier. And Melissa remembered fondly,

we automatically clicked. She was an amazing woman and loved her kids. They last spoke a month before Tanya disappeared when Melissa actually had this eerie feeling that her friend was in danger. Melissa recalled their last conversation saying quote, she was needing a place to get away. She wasn't herself. Prior to her disappearing, I knew something was going on living in Arizona, but in March of 2017, 36-year-old Tanya was living in Gallup, New Mexico, which is a small city on the

historic Route 66 and on the edge of the Navajo Reservation. And it's surrounded by red rocks rocks and even has a cultural center there featuring many Native American cultural elements So when this story takes place it had a population of about 21,000 people so a little bit on the smaller side So that March Tanya and her boyfriend Jason who was also native and also 36 years old had just gone to the tiny My friend Jason, who was also native and also 36 years old, had just gone to the tiny, census-designated place of Loop in the neighboring state of Arizona, which is about 50 minutes east of Flagstaff, located in the high desert amongst many buttes and canyons. And it's about a two and a half hour drive from where she lived in Gallup.

So not a terribly long drive. But according to her friend Eliza, this trip was against Tanya's will. On their way back east into New Mexico, they stopped to visit Tanya's aunt in Tehachi, New Mexico for a short visit before heading back home to Gallup. So the last time she was publicly seen, she was leaving her aunt's house in Tehachi, New Mexico. And Tehachi is also a tiny census-design designated place, and it's also on Navajo land. So picture Badlands, Mesas, and then some houses, a high school, some churches, and

a post office. That's about it. It's very, very small. And again, as part of the plan, Tanya and her boyfriend Jason were going to head back to her family's home in Gallup. so just a short half an hour south. Now the couple said goodbye to Tanya's aunt and actually took off in her aunt's red Dodge Neon, which Tanya was borrowing at the time. She spoke to her mother on the phone that morning and let her know their travel plans,

so when Tanya never made it home to Gallop, her mother started getting a little worried. And obviously growing up in New Mexico, having lived in Arizona, Tanya knew both states very well. So she wouldn't have gotten lost on her way home. And like you said, her aunt only lived 30 minutes away. She knew that area. She knew Gallop. Yeah, it's just a quick little jaunt south and then she's home. So obviously, Tanya had many friends and other family members in the area, so her family originally just wondered if maybe she had gotten caught up visiting other people on her drive home.

So she didn't report her missing right away. Tanya's friend Eliza Toddy remembered, quote, At first we were just like, okay, well, she probably just went to Phoenix or somewhere like that. She'll be back. So originally, without knowing that she had stopped at her aunt's house yet, and just the fact that Tanya had not arrived home at her planned time, they thought that maybe she spent some extra time in Arizona, which was definitely not the case. So when she failed to return, Tanya's mother grew suspicious that she had been met with foul play, and she felt that she knew exactly who was to blame. Because just days before her disappearance, Tanya and Jason had gotten into a fight in which Jason had lobbed a coffee pot at her, which shattered, leaving her bloodied and

with glass shards stuck in her face. This guy is very violent. Now the incident was reported to the police and she told officers that Jason had been the one to throw the coffee pot. So there was a report of this abuse. And very important to note that there was a police report about this. Yes, because we will circle back to it later. But Tanya had never gone off the grid for days at a time and wouldn't according to

her friends and family. Now, despite traveling with him in the days following their altercation, Tanya did press assault charges against him, but they were dropped when she failed to show up in court. Because she was missing. Exactly. So Jason already possessed a criminal record by this point as well, as you guys can imagine, including an arrest on drug charges as well as a carjacking in Tucson, Arizona back in 2014.

But thus far, the assault would have been the most serious at this point. Which doesn't that kind of shock you with what we're gonna bring up throughout this entire episode? I cannot believe there is not like animal cruelty charges from like age of 19 or sexual assault charges on somebody like this is wild to me. Yeah. I mean, the cruelty that this guy shows throughout this entire episode, uh, you, you would have thought that he was murdering people back in his teens.

Left and right criminal behavior. Right? Well, Tanya's mother reported her 36-year-old daughter missing to three different police departments including, of course, Gallup, where her apartment was located, because she had no idea where Tanya may have actually disappeared from since she had been on this road trip. But sadly, there was no forward momentum in her case, and her disappearance really wasn't taken seriously. The only development came when her aunt's car,

the 2004 Dodge Neon that Tanya had been driving, was discovered abandoned with no sign of Tanya. I really wanna know where it was abandoned, what the circumstances of that were, but that has not been publicly reported. So we don't have that information there, which feels very common in this case on Tanya's disappearance.

Like so many things are either misreported or not reported at all by the media and the police, which is a huge part of the problem here. But Tanya's friend, Melissa Bradford, claimed that she knew as soon as she heard the news about Tanya being missing, that her friend was gone. She said later sadly, quote, I miss her like every day. You know when you instantly feel and sense something?

Like I just knew my friend was gone forever. In the aftermath of Tanya's disappearance, an apathetic Jason settled in Fort Worth, Texas. So he left Arizona, he left New Mexico, just picked up and moved to a new state after Tanya went missing. And what do we always say about that, Heath? Uh, yeah, it's not a good look. I mean, it's crazy to me that after your girlfriend goes missing, that you can just leave the state. The girlfriend that you very- That you threw a coffee pot at her fucking face. Yeah, right before she went missing,

and that there was a police report made about that. And also, of course, he didn't give police any information on what he knew about her final location. He didn't say, please help me find Tanya. You know, we got in a fight and she left the car. Like he didn't say anything. I think that's one of the biggest red flags right there is when something like that happens,

if you're not trying to invest yourself in the case of your missing girlfriend and you just decide to leave the state, they probably should look at you. Like there's one sign and the arrow is right at ya. And by the way, no surprise either, in Texas, horrible things would continue to happen around Jason Thornburg.

Now Jason was trained as an electrician and began working as an electrician's apprentice right there in Fort Worth. In August of 2020, so you know, this is into the COVID-19 pandemic. This is three and a half years after Tanya went missing. He moved into a small house in southwest Fort Worth with an acquaintance of his named Mark Jewel,

who was about 60 years old to Jason's 40. So there was a 20 year age gap between them. Now we do have this additional perspective from one of Jason and Mark's neighbors, this woman named Kindra Morse, and she remembers that when she first met Jason, he explained to her that he was attempting to get his life back together, whatever the hell that means to him. But their relationship as neighbors, you know, between Jason and Kindra, quickly turned quite contentious because during one of their first interactions, Kindra had just called the local energy company because she smelled natural gas and she was concerned about a leak in the

neighborhood. Remember this. While the energy company was at Kendra's house investigating the potential leak, Jason just waltzed over there, invited himself over, and offered his help around her house. He even asked her if she and her young child wanted to stay with him at his house if the issue wasn't able to be fixed properly. So this is really weird. He just comes over and essentially, I mean, let's be honest, this whole thing is a ploy to get her over to his home. Oh, of course. Absolutely. Yeah. There is no doubt about his intentions here.

Yeah. And so, of course, Kindra just had a weird vibe about him in general. And so this made her feel a little bit uncomfortable that he was coming on to her and saying, Oh, why don't you come over to my house? This wasn't a friendly neighborhood offer. This was, there was something behind this. She could just tell. So after declining and claiming that she had a live in boyfriend, Kindra said, quote, he kind of chuckled and he goes, that's cute, I just like how

you threw that in there that you had a boyfriend. So kind of put off by this, Kindra again assured him that she and her family would be just fine and recalled Jason getting irritated and snapping at her saying, no it's fine, I get it. Well, alternately, she remembered Jason's roommate, Mark Jewell, as a thoughtful and very helpful neighbor. Despite working late night shifts, he would help her bring her trash bins out in the morning, and he even mowed her grass for her.

And very nice 60-year-old man. Absolutely. Well, shockingly, nine months after Jason moved there, on May 21st, 2021, and shortly after Kendra smelled that gas, Jason and Mark's modest house, located at 4505 Valentine Street, exploded into flames. Conveniently, this took place shortly after Jason left for work, but sadly, Mark had been home when this happened. The fire originated in one of the bedrooms, and it was there that authorities would find the remains of 61-year-old Mark Jewell.

Though the circumstances were suspicious, there was just not enough evidence to prove that the fire was either murder or arson, so at first, this was just kinda looking like a tragic, natural event. At Mark's funeral a few days later, 40-year-old Jason spoke to the crowd at Hope Works Church in Fort Worth, Texas, telling them that Mark had become a very close friend, and that the pair had frequently read their Bibles together. Oh, how sweet. Well, another funeral attendee and friend of Mark's, Scott Black, attended the service

as well. And he was touched by Jason's heartfelt eulogy, so he approached Jason at the memorial and offered his condolences. Saddened that Jason had lost both his house and his friend in the same awful freak accident, Scott offered his guidance as a life coach and inspirational speaker. He remembered, quote, I told him there was a reason that he wasn't there that day. I prayed with him. Oh, there was a reason.

All right. Absolutely. There was. So with that, the two men became fast friends and Jason started attending Scott's leadership training sessions. Scott and his wife even started bringing him home cooked meals just to show their support and kindness to Jason. And this guy definitely did not deserve it.

So he's basically being looked at like a victim in this situation. Now after the fire, suddenly houseless, Jason moved into a halfway house, which was the Fort Worth Transitional Center, just hoping to get back up on his feet. Transitional Center, just hoping to get back up on his feet. An employee of the Transitional Center claimed that Jason could be seen reading his Bible every day and would lead a prayer circle for the other residents that lived there, so to those around him, he seemed like this kind, God-fearing man who was a bit down on his luck but trying to make the most of things. And no one who worked there claimed to have witnessed any violent behavior on his behalf, but obviously, little did they know.

However, a fellow resident of the center described Jason as, quote, a mess. Now, two months later in July of 2021, Jason settled at the Mid-City Inn in Ulyss, Texas, which is a northeast suburb of Fort Worth nestled smack dab between Fort Worth and Dallas. And fellow residents remember him handing out church flyers and inviting people into his room to pray. Important thing to remember as well, so he's just living at this motel now after the halfway house and he is trying already right away to bring people back to his room. And in this situation under the guise of, come to my room to pray with me.

Well during the day, claiming he hoped to spread the word of God, Jason would stand on street corners and pontificate to the public, preaching with a microphone, frequently asking Scott to join him. Initially, Scott was impressed by his devotion to spreading the gospel, but he now believes that this was just an act to ensnare his victims, saying, quote, He was just pure evil. I mean, Scott was so invested in helping Jason, you know, back when he thought he was a good guy that he even asked his wife if Jason could move in with them. But thankfully, she found that possibility uncomfortable and declined her husband's request.

So Scott remembered, quote, my wife was the one who said that she would not feel comfortable with him living with us for some time. I wonder now if my family could have ended up being sacrificed by him. And that will make sense soon because what's to come is terrifying. On the morning of September 22, 2021, so four months after Mark Jule's death and the house fire around 6 15 a.m. West Fort Worth police were dispatched to a dumpster behind a business located in the 3100 block of Bonnie Drive right there in Fort Worth because a Fire had broken out

Had broken out somewhere That's what you sounded like. I'm just, you know, I'm saying, hey, another fire. Isn't that suspicious? That's my, isn't that suspicious voice. That is nice. I like the, isn't that suspicious? I don't think you did like it.

Isn't that suspicious? But here's the thing. What initially looked like an accident, you know, this just looks like a dumpster is on fire turned way more sinister when after the blaze was extinguished human body parts were pulled from the ashes. Now from security camera footage because there was a security camera nearby investigators were able to determine that the car that had started the fire like the person the person who started the fire had a car and that car was a Jeep Grand Cherokee, 7,000 of which were registered in Tarrant County and adjacent

Dallas County. So this is complicated because obviously 7,000 is a massive number, but that is also if this person's car is registered locally, this person could have come from a different part of Texas, so they're really in for some work here. Bing bong, license plate. I mean, yeah, having that definitely would have helped, but they didn't have it. So wanting to know who this car belonged to,

obviously to help get answers as to what had happened. Detectives poured over every single Jeep Grand Cherokee that was manufactured between 2005 and 2010, whose owner lived in either one of the two surrounding counties. And after searching through thousands of records, police came across the Jeep registered to 41-year-old Jason Thornburg of Ulyss, Texas. Jason's car matched the make, model, and approximate year that detectives believed they saw on security camera footage early that morning, right at the

scene of the fire. So two detectives with the Fort Worth police department interviewed him and they quickly caught him in many, many lies and also discovered his connection to one suspicious death and one mysterious disappearance. That of the fire that took the lifeburg was officially arrested for the murders of the three victims pulled from the dumpster. 42-year-old David Lueris, 33-year-old Mara Cruz Mathis, and 34-year-old Lauren Phillips. Now, initially, the medical examiner was only able to identify the male victim due to the

amount of damage done by the fire and the small weight and stature of the women. So initially, police falsely announced that the other two victims were a child and a teenager. But thankfully, none of them were John Doe's or Jane Doe's for very long. Shortly before his arrest, Jason's former neighbor, who we talked about earlier, Kendra Morse, actually called the police after her motion sensor lights continued to go off, because she feared that Jason was back in her neighborhood and trying to break into her home. Even after a few months of him not even being in the neighborhood anymore, she was completely suspicious of him. Well, yeah, I mean going back to when she smelled the gas leak and knowing that he came right on over there uninvited and wanted to get her back to his house with her child.

And then the next door's house fucking blows up. Yeah, his own house blows up and then now there's other murders that he's committed. It makes you wonder if he had a plan for her. Well, after she started noticing that she felt like Jason might still be in the area, police investigated the area, despite the fact that his burned out, dilapidated house had been boarded up, but they found no trace of Jason there. And soon after, they were able to locate him, question him, and then subsequently arrest him. According to the arrest affidavit, Jason spoke openly of his heinous misdeeds almost as soon

as he was apprehended, but the depths of his depravity went far beyond murder and arson. He explained that over the course of five days, he lured his three victims one by one into his room at the Mid-City Inn. He recalled that he had allowed 42-year-old David to stay with him, and that he slit his throat with a straight blade before placing his body in the room's bathtub. He also slit 33-year-old Mara Cruz's throat, but in a slight change to the MO, he ended up strangling 34-year-old Lauren Phillips to death. Shockingly, he admitted that he sexually assaulted Lauren's corpse after killing her.

And also, that he cut out David's heart and consumed some of it, and then severed David's penis. So not only is he murdering multiple people, but he is dismembering them, he is mutilating their bodies, and he's a cannibal. And when we get into the reasons for why he's doing all these things, it's just so insane. I mean, he's totally psychotic. Well, get this. In the same line of questioning as he's describing these horrific acts that Heath just relayed to us, he also openly admitted to killing 36-year-old Tanya Begay in March of 2017 and Mark Jewell in May of 2021. In the case of Mark's murder, Jason slit Mark's throat and then uncapped a natural gas line and lit a candle which

sent their home up in flames. When it came to Tanya after their trip to Loop and visit with her aunt, he burned her quote all the way down to the ashes or so he said because tragically, unlike all the other victims, Jason has yet to reveal what he did exactly to Tanya and what he did with her remains. Jason's now ex-friend, Scott Black, said later in disbelief, "'How can a man kill people and then chop them up? I noticed the darkness he had, but he was fighting it.'"

No, actually Scott, he was not fighting it. No. And to be honest with you, if you and your wife had let him into your home, you could have potentially been victims of Jason Thornburg. Fully, and that is why he said that quote that I read, that he was like, would that have happened to me and my family? Would he have sacrificed us? Probably yes.

Yeah, unfortunately so. It's very highly likely. Well, the motive behind each of these crimes was equally as shocking. I just used the word sacrifice. We used it earlier because Jason kind of fancied himself a missionary and claimed that he believed he was actually spreading the gospel by committing ritualistic sacrifices. He alleged that these actions brought him a quote, sense of purpose, a sense of destiny that must be achieved.

And he felt that he was called upon by God to commit them. Oh, so God told you to cut out a man's heart and slip people's throats and cut off a man's penis. Like what in the, yeah, what like murder your innocent girlfriend and your innocent roommate it's just you know it's really giving psychosis it's sick so he told his interrogating officers that he had a wealth of knowledge concerning the Bible and believed that he had been chosen to commit the sacrifice of sinners so himself well of course he's not a sinner. He's doing the Lord's work.

Right. He told officers that his final three victims, the ones who were all found in the Fort Worth dumpster blaze, quote, needed to be sacrificed. He initially wrapped David's remains in trash bags before eventually stashing them in plastic rubber made tubs that he purchased and Then he began adding the remains of the two women once you know of course they fell victim to him as well He described that he knew the women Casually and it's inferred that they were also living at the motel at the time and that he maybe hired them for sex work And that this is how he was able to coax them inside his motel room.

Surveillance footage in the vicinity of the dumpster showed his Jeep pulling up late on the evening of September 21st and dropping the containers in the dumpster. Then early the next morning, he returned with more rubber-made containers, depositing the rest inside and finally setting it ablaze. Which, I mean, dude, you're caught on camera. Also, you decided to dispose of your victim's bodies in a dumpster in the middle of the city, you idiot? Well, this also wasn't the only footage, because there was footage from the motel that

also showed Jason in a full-body suit, like similar to coveralls, removing the large plastic containers from his room and loading them into his Jeep. So we kind of have these two puzzle pieces put together of where he started and where he ended. What I don't understand is why he didn't think that there was going to be security camera, like, you know, at these different locations. Well, you know what I wonder if he had just left the remains in the tubs and the garbage got picked up

Nobody found happen to find them before that happened They would have just gone to the dump and nobody probably would have ever known that that happened at all So I it feels like him setting the fire Is what actually got him caught. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, he kind of like screwed himself because he started a fire that people are going to notice a dumpster's on fire. That's like the thing you notice is a fire. I mean, total recklessness on his part, but thank God he did it. Now, all three of his victims from the motel room had a history of drug use, and it's

pretty clear that Jason preyed upon their vulnerability to lure them into his room. Investigators believe that perhaps he offered them food, shelter, money, or maybe even drugs to get them to come inside. David Luarez's sister Lauren described her brother as funny and an incredible artist. And in her victim impact statement, she said, quote, Loving David also came with heartache. That's how it is when you love an addict. But shortly before his murder, he had been making an effort to reconnect with his family that he had lost touch with after years of drug abuse.

Now, preceding his murder, he moved back to North Texas where he lived intermittently for 25 years. Before Jason was tied to the murders, David's cousin Aaron explained, quote, I know that he was scared, and I know that he knew somebody was after him to get him. He wouldn't tell us their names. Whoever did this definitely wanted to make an example out of him. But I know that he went over there to go hide. Now, it's unclear if the person he believed was coming after him was somebody that he knew from maybe the drug trade or if

David's suspicion was unfounded paranoia fueled by his drug use, but somehow Jason managed to coax David inside his motel room as the first of his victims in this triple murder. His family wrote in his obituary, quote, We will never forget your love, your affection, and your unique sense of humor. Jason's next victim, Mary-Cruz Mathis, was on a renewed path as of recently, actually, having just separated from her husband. So she was looking forward to having a fresh start with her young son. Mara Cruz's parents, Mary and Cecil had adopted her at nine years old. But as she got older, like Jason's other victims, she struggled with drug addiction

and had even gone missing before but always managed to resurface. Mary maintained that she would always hear from her daughter despite the passage of time saying quote, I had that little bit of a glimpse of hope. Lord you let that phone ring and I could pick it up and hear her voice. Mary remembered also that in the past quote, she'd call and say yeah I'm here don't worry about it. I just couldn't imagine where she was. I worried every night and prayed about where she put her head.

But despite her battling her addiction, her parents claim that she always managed to help others around her and remained caring and upbeat throughout her life. For example, growing up, she volunteered with youth programs and helped out senior citizens at nursing homes. She was also described as a strong student during her youth, and her sister maintains that she was a loving and kind woman till the end of her life.

Mary added sadly that her daughter, quote, just ended up at the wrong place at the wrong time. Kathy Phillips says that her daughter, 34-year-old Lauren Phillips, also quote, got lost in the drug world and it consumed her. Lauren was born and raised in North Richland Hills, which is a suburb of Fort Worth, and enjoyed a very typical childhood where she danced, did gymnastics, and had a plethora of friends. But Kathy remembers that Lauren's dad was very strict and that from a young age,

Lauren definitely rebelled against his controlling nature, eventually falling pregnant as a teenager and dropping out of school. At one point, Lauren's addiction reached such a low point that she exchanged her car for drugs. But once she reached her 20s, she really turned a corner. She got clean, she had a second son, and devoted herself to being a present and loving parent

to both of her children. She reconnected with her family as well and was able to be an active participant in her son's childhood. Then, about five years before her death, a chance reunion with a friend from her drug using days just caused her to spiral downward and her addiction flourished once again. And she also began to engage in sex work in exchange for drugs, which is something that

Mera Cruz did as well. Kathy, her mother, remembered sadly, quote, "...she was so much out of our lives the last few years and involved in drugs that we kind of let her go a long time ago because it hurt too much. I loved her so much. She was my whole world." At the time of her death, her two sons were in their teens and before her murder, Lauren had been living in a Motel 6 with a friend and his girlfriend until an altercation forced her out, and she relocated to the Mid-City Inn,

where to her misfortune, she met the monster that was Jason Thornburg. Well, a little bit more about Jason prior to his arrest for the murders, and in addition to his past drug charges, Grand The theft auto charge, and the assault against Tanya, Jason had racked up two more serious brushes with the law in the years since Tanya disappeared. Following a charge for evading arrest with a vehicle on June 12th, 2018, he was sentenced to two years in prison. In August of 2020, while sharing the house on Valentine Street with another roommate whose name is Billy Hernandez, the two got into a major disagreement. Now, during this time, Jason allegedly pulled a knife on Billy and cut his throat and seriously

injured him, although it didn't kill him. So despite their praise for the swift conclusion of the gruesome discovery of the bodies in the dumpster, the Fort Worth Police Department quickly fell under fire for letting the incident with Billy Hernandez slide, when that may have led to Jason's arrest before he had the opportunity to kill four of his five victims. And actually, at Jason's subsequent trial, an officer was called to the stand and admitted that officers had failed to investigate this report and only put in two phone calls to follow up with the victim. Prosecutor Amy Allen

even apologized to Billy for his treatment by law enforcement and regretted that his complaint was not taken as seriously as it should have been. Police were also criticized for not taking Tanya's disappearance seriously enough, so much so that she remained missing until he committed four more murders. And it feels like they dropped the ball so hard on both of these, but on Tanya's case too, like her car had been found abandoned or her aunt's car, but obviously the last vehicle that she was known to be driving. She had been on a road trip with her boyfriend who was known to be abusive. And there had even been a very recent report of that incident where he hit her with the coffee pot. Like, it was such an obvious angle that Jason did something to her,

and yet they didn't get him back then, and then more people died. Oh yeah, and Assistant District Attorney Kim DeVignon agrees with us here, maintaining quote, the FBI failed Tanya Begay. If the FBI would have arrested him back in 2017, nothing in Fort Worth would have happened, would it? It absolutely would not have. Well, after his arrest, a Tarrant County judge ruled that there was reasonable cause to believe that Jason suffered from severe intellectual disability and or mental illness.

So this would become a massive point of debate over the course of his trial and sentencing. Jason's trial began on Thursday, November 7th, 2024. So only a few months before we're recording this episode. And the trial progressed quickly. The defense called Jason's uncle to the stand to describe the challenging environment Jason was born into, and the adversity that he faced even before he was born. According to Jason's uncle, his mother struggled with addiction to both drugs and alcohol, and was known to use and drink while pregnant with Jason, which led

to partial fetal alcohol syndrome. As a child, his uncle claimed that he suffered from a great deal of abuse and childhood trauma and that he grew up in poverty on the Navajo reservation in a home without heat or running water. His defense attorney, J. Warren St. John, agreed, saying, quote, From the get-go, he was doomed in the womb. He had no chance to be the correct person he should be. Which is obviously horrible, and we see the type of situation for so many serial killers, but

it's certainly no excuse. Yeah, I mean, there are tons of people who grow up in poverty that suffered through abuse whether physical, emotional, sexual, whatever, that don't grow up and go kill people. Yeah, and it just it sucks when they use that to say, Oh, but it's not his fault he's like this. Okay, well he still is. You know, he still took the lives of five people. Well, as we're gonna get into here in just a second, he also claims that he

was trying to cover his tracks during these crimes that he was committing so it's like okay he does know right from wrong because clearly he doesn't want to get caught. Yeah I mean this is all just an angle on the defense and his attorney also alleged that Jason suffered mental illness which was now being treated with medication and that he should be allowed a second chance Even though he killed five people again five separate murders Even if that had to be achieved from prison because his defense team did at least acknowledge that His actions were misguided

Jay Warren told the court quote. 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, but he believed it was correct I mean that feels a little far-fetched buddy He thought he did the right thing by committing horrible sinful sacrifice come on again If he thought he was doing the right thing he wouldn't be trying to cover his tracks. But this is such an insensitive way to word this. Like, I don't know, I feel like he could have said something different to not say,

oh, well he thought he was doing the right thing, he was just listening to the voices. The fuck? But the prosecution in turn did not mince words when it came to Jason's heinous, heinous acts, with Assistant District Attorney Kim Dovignan saying the most true thing, quote, We don't use words like cannibal because it's fun.

We use words like cannibal because he ate David's heart. We don't use the word sadist because we think it's a buzzword. We use the word sadist because he had sex with Lauren's torso." And I absolutely love that she laid it out like that. Oh, me too. Well, both she and prosecutor Amy Allen accused Jason and his legal team of using his childhood and mental illness as a crutch to avoid liability in the courtroom. And chillingly, Amy echoed a statement from Jason's confession, saying quote, this is what I was talking about earlier.

I couldn't use my chainsaw because that would be too loud and I would get caught. I have to use my knife. I can't carry out the bodies like that. That would be too obvious. I need to get my car back. I need to go buy some bins and load them up into my car." As far as his defense's flimsy story that he needed to sacrifice his victims for some

sort of religious endeavor, Amy said, quote, Y'all, I have seen better scientific methods in a TikTok personality quiz. The words, I'm seeing something, are just things that he says when he's about to get in trouble, or when there's about to be a trial, or when there's about to be a jury of people that he needs to convince that there's something wrong with him and to spare his life. And you know what's also really stupid here is that the defense basically said, oh well, you know, he has a mental illness, he's taking medication

for this, but the prosecution also cited the fact that David was making weapons in his prison cell even after his confession and arrest, so he was definitely not being a well-behaved inmate, that's for damn sure. Amy added, quote, imagine what he's capable of with a lifetime of nothing to do but plan Well his defense team did have him evaluated by a psychiatrist who diagnosed him as clinically Psychotic which is what you called him earlier Keith you called him psychotic, right? I did well You're right. He is and the defense even presented images of his brain that Supposedly depicted the effects of fetal alcohol syndrome as a result of his mother's drinking while Jason was in utero. Also after an assault

in 2002 he was apparently left with a traumatic brain injury in addition to the damage from drugs and alcohol. So there's just layer upon layer upon layer of shit not being right upstairs. His defense team also confirmed that he had an IQ of 89, which is on the lower side of average. But ultimately the defense failed to make a strong enough case that he should not at least be held accountable for his horrific actions. Thus on November 20th, 2024, 44 year old Jason Thornburg was found guilty of capital murder,

and on December 4, he was sentenced to death for the murders. In tearful victim impact statements, family members of Tanya, David, Lauren, and Merrick Cruz spoke to the court and to Jason. Multiple family members of the three victims, the stand to deliver seething words for Jason and the repercussions of his horrific crimes. Mara Cruz's sister said to the court, quote, Mara Cruz has a family that loved her and will forever remember her for the loving, kind person that she was. The pain that you've caused by killing my sister doesn't just go away.

The pain stays in our hearts. I hope that you receive forgiveness in heaven because I personally, I don't think I can do it. The only thing that you do deserve is death." Tanya's cousin, Jackie Reynolds, spoke on behalf of Tanya's family, telling Jason how cruel it was to withhold the location of her remains. I mean, obviously this just shows how evil he continues to be. The fact that he's killed all these people, he's got all these victims, and he can't even tell Tanya's family where her remains are.

Yeah, and the fact that she's the only one. We know everything else. You're saying you killed her. We know you killed everybody else because you said you did that too. There's also evidence. And all you have to do, like it'd be one thing if he said I didn't do that, and we know that he did and he just wasn't admitting it, but you're admitting it, but not really... You're not going into it. Why? Like, what's the point of that?

Yeah, why admit it if you're not going to tell the full truth? It's almost like that's part of his evil self. He, he's almost maybe enjoying the fact that he has something else over them, that he has the secret of where Tanya is. It's, you know, really proves how evil he continues to be. Like you said, well, reading from a note penned by Tanya's sisters, Jackie said, quote, Whatever you tried to accomplish with sacrifice didn't work. In the end, you are just a man.

Nothing powerful, nothing but a murderer. Boom. I love that. I love that quote, because she's basically just saying, You thought you were doing God's work, but at the end of the day, you're just a man and a shitty ass killer Yeah, you're a man and a shitty man at that and she also added quote you gave our Navajo nation a bad name You may have had a bad upbringing, but other people have too and you don't see them killing people double-boom despite awaiting death Jason continues to refuse to reveal the whereabouts of Tanya's allegedly burned remains,

but her family still holds out hope of finding her and being able to lay her to rest properly. Her aunt, Edith, said, quote, We still need to bring her home. We never had a funeral. We don't know where she's at. Until then, there won't be justice or closure. If you have any information about Tanya Bigay's murder, please call the Gallup Police Department at 505-722-2231. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode. And if you want to see photos from this case and all the other cases that we've covered

on this show, head on over to our socials. We're on Instagram at Going West podcast, and we're also on Facebook. Yeah, sadly, there's not a ton of photos associated with this case because many of the victims don't have photos available on the internet. I don't know what that's about, but we will post the ones that we can find all across our socials. Thank you guys so much for tuning in. God, what a horrific, horrific person Jason Thornburg is.

Yeah, he is such an evil, evil person, and he's right where he belongs. And what is he? A piece of shade. Thank you guys, we will see you on Tuesday. We love ya. What day is it? Oh yeah, Tuesday. Happy Valentine's Day! Yeah, happy Valentine's Day to everybody. Daphne and I are gonna go see Hard Eyes. Woo!

Which is like a scary horror movie, I don't know. It's a slasher Um, we're so excited. I think it looks really fun. I think it looks good, too So we'll let you know how it goes Hopefully you guys have a very safe and lovely Valentine's Day and we will see you guys on Tuesday big smooches from us All right guys. So for everybody out there in the world. Don't be a stranger. Thanks for watching!