Man Sentenced to Death for Murder of Teen Daughter He Tortured for 22 Hours

North Carolina man Joshua Lee Burgess has been sentenced to death for torturing and then murdering his 15-year-old daughter Zaria Burgess in 2019.

Per the Union County District Attorney’s Office via Facebook, Burgess was found guilty of first-degree murder and will be executed via lethal injection. In 2019, the 35-year-old tortured his daughter for almost 24 hours and then slit her throat at his home in Monroe, North Carolina on Aug. 18, 2019. The decision was reached after three hours of deliberations.

“On August 18, 2019, Burgess killed 15-year-old Zaria by slitting her throat after psychologically and sexually torturing her for 22 hours at his home off Airport Road in Monroe,” said the DA’s office. “In addition to one count of first degree murder, Burgess was convicted of one count of statutory rape, three counts of statutory sex offense, and one count of first degree sexual exploitation of a minor. He received an additional minimum of nearly 76 years in prison for those offenses.” 

According to investigators, Zaria was visiting her father for the weekend at the time of the crime. After killing her, he walked into the Union County Sheriff’s Office and confessed to the murder. In a statement from Sheriff Eddie Cathey, per People, Zaria’s father was described as “the essence of evil.” In a 2019 interview, he told WSOC that the details of the murder are “indescribable,” and that every officer and detective assigned to the case “Is feeling the effects of what happened to this child.”

Burgess’ execution date has yet to be set.