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<h2 class="has-text-color wp-block-heading" style="color:#382d30;font-size:14px"><strong>North Carolina father who &#8216;sexually tortured&#8217; his own teenage daughter before slitting her throat, was sentenced to death Friday in a Union County court </strong></h2>



<h2 class="has-text-color wp-block-heading" style="color:#382d30;font-size:14px"><strong>Joshua Lee Burgess, 35, brutally raped and murdered his <strong>15-year-old daughter</strong> Zaria on August 18, 2019 </strong></h2>



<h2 class="has-text-color wp-block-heading" style="color:#382d30;font-size:14px"><strong>Burgess killed the high school sophomore, after &#8216;psychologically and sexually torturing her for 22 hours </strong></h2>



<h2 class="has-text-color wp-block-heading" style="color:#382d30;font-size:14px"><strong>At the time Zaria, lived with her mother and was visiting dad in Monroe, NC, for the weekend </strong></h2>



<h2 class="has-text-color wp-block-heading" style="color:#382d30;font-size:14px"><strong>After the homicide, Burgess then walked into a sheriff&#8217;s office and confessed to the killing </strong></h2>



<h2 class="has-text-color wp-block-heading" style="color:#382d30;font-size:14px"><strong><strong>Burgess gave cops his address where they found the teenager&#8217;s body </strong></strong></h2>



<h2 class="has-text-color wp-block-heading" style="color:#382d30;font-size:14px"><strong><strong>He <strong>will be executed by a lethal injection of pentobarbital </strong></strong></strong></h2>



<h2 class="has-text-color wp-block-heading" style="color:#382d30;font-size:14px"><strong><strong><strong>Execution must be scheduled between 15 and 120 days after sentencing, <strong>according to state protocol</strong></strong></strong></strong><br></h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Joshua-Lee-Burgess-left-tortured-raped-and-killed-his-teenage-daughter-Zaria-right-1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-409271"/><figcaption><strong>Depraved dad Joshua Lee Burgess [left] of Monroe, NC, who tortured and raped his teenage daughter Zaria [right] has been sentenced to death by a Union County court</strong></figcaption></figure>



<p>A depraved father who tortured and raped his teenage daughter before slitting her throat was sentenced to death on Friday in Union County, North Carolina. <br>Joshua Lee Burgess killed 15-yearold high school sophomore, Zaria, on on August 18, 2019, after &#8216;psychologically and sexually torturing her for 22 hours&#8217;.<br>Burgess, 35, from Monroe was given the sentence after three hours of jury deliberations at the end of a three-week trial, the Union County District Attorney&#8217;s Office said.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/image-9.png" alt="" class="wp-image-409273" width="834" height="962"/><figcaption><strong>The High school sophomore Zaria [photo], 15, who lived with her biological mother had come to visit her father for the weekend before he raped and killed her in August 2019</strong></figcaption></figure>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Joshua-Lee-Burgess-right-tortured-raped-and-killed-his-teenage-daughter-Zaria-left-3.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-409272" width="837" height="608"/><figcaption><strong>After the rape and murder of his daughter, Burgess [right] walked into a sheriff&#8217;s office, gave his address to cops where they found the teen&#8217;s body. Zaria [left], lived with her biological mother but was visiting her dad for the weekend</strong></figcaption></figure>



<p>The 15-year-old had come to visit her father for the weekend before he raped and killed her in August 2019. <br>At the time of the horrific slaying, Zaria lived with her biological mother but was visiting Burgess for the weekend. <br>Afterwards, he walked into a sheriff&#8217;s office and confessed to the killing.<br>He gave his address to investigators where they found the teenager&#8217;s body. <br>The official cause of death was determined to be a stab wound. Burgess facing a slew of charges including murder, kidnapping, statutory rape, statutory sex offense, and sexual exploitation of a minor. <br>The attorney&#8217;s office said: &#8216;This was truly an especially heinous, atrocious, and cruel killing of an innocent child. <br>&#8216;This case was emotionally taxing for everyone involved. We continue to grieve with and pray for Zaria&#8217;s mother.&#8217;</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Joshua-Lee-Burgess-home-1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-409276" width="841" height="497"/><figcaption><strong>Crime scene tape is seen wrapped around the perimeter of Burgess&#8217;s home, the scene of the horrific slaying, on Hampton Meadows Road near Monroe, NC </strong></figcaption></figure>



<p>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. <br>He received an additional minimum of nearly 76 years in prison for those offenses, according to the news release.<br>Union County Sheriff Tony Underwood said: &#8216;It&#8217;s just evil. I mean murder is murder, but to kill your own flesh and blood like this there&#8217;s just no way to explain it other than it&#8217;s just an evil crime.&#8217; <br>TV station WSOC previously reported Burgess&#8217;s defense attorneys asked for his admission to be scrubbed from the record. </p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Joshua-Lee-Burgess-right-tortured-raped-and-killed-his-teenage-daughter-Zaria-left-2.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-409277" width="838" height="611"/><figcaption><strong>Burgess [right], will be executed by a lethal injection of pentobarbital according to state protocol, which must take place between 15 and 120 days after his sentencing for the rape and murder of his daughter Zaria [right]</strong></figcaption></figure>



<p><br>The killer from Monroe was given the sentence after three hours of jury deliberations at the end of a three-week trial. <br>At the time of her death, Zaria was a high school sophomore on the dance team and in the marching band at Monroe High School.<br>Band director Alan Sturdivant had previously described her as full of energy.<br>Burgess will be housed at Central Prison in Raleigh until his death, alongside other death row inmates.<br>He will be executed by a lethal injection of pentobarbital according to state protocol, which must be scheduled between 15 and 120 days after sentencing.</p>

End of road for North Carolina dad, 35, who ‘sexually tortured’ his own daughter, 15, for 22 hours before slitting her throat – Execution for Joshua Lee Burgess is expected to be scheduled within six months of his death sentence
