Joshua Lee Burgess, 35, of Union County, North Carolina has been sentenced to death for the murder and rape of his 15-year-old daughter, Zaria, in 2019.
Burgess sexually and psychologically tortured his daughter Zaria for 22 hours and then slit her throat. At the time, Zaria was living with her biological mother, but was spending the weekend at her dad’s home when she was murdered.
This was truly an especially heinous, atrocious, and cruel killing of an innocent child. This case was emotionally taxing for everyone involved. We continue to grieve with and pray for Zaria’s mother, the Union County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
According to reports, after Burgess killed his daughter, he drove to the police station and confessed. He told the police that Zaria’s body was at his house and gave them the address, where she was found deceased.
Burgess was convicted of one count of first-degree murder, one count of statutory rape, three counts of statutory sex offense, and one count of first-degree sexual exploitation of a minor. Burgess was sentenced to the death penalty for the murder charge and nearly 76 years in prison for the other charges.
It took a jury 3 hours to return a guilty verdict after a 3-week trial.
This is very sad, that a man would do this to his own child.Â
#BURNHIMALIVE
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