North Carolina dad, 32, ‘murders his 15-year-old daughter by strangling her and slitting her throat’ – then walks into the sheriff’s office to confess
- Joshua Burgess, 32, of Wesley Chapel, North Carolina has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of his 15-year-old daughter, Zaria Burgess
- Authorities said Burgess walked into Union County Sheriff’s office Sunday morning and told dispatchers he had killed his daughter
- During his Monday morning arraignment, people gasped in the courtroom as prosecutors explained how Burgess had confessed to strangling his daughter before slitting her throat
- No motive has been given for the alleged crime
Joshua Burgess, 32, of Wesley Chapel, North Carolina has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of his 15-year-old daughter, Zaria Burgess
Horrifying details of the alleged grizzly murder of a 15-year-old North Carolina girl at the hands of her own father were revealed in court Monday after the accused man reportedly turned himself into police and confessed to the crime.
Authorities say Joshua Burgess, 32, of Wesley Chapel, North Carolina walked into the Union County Sheriff’s office around 9.30am on Sunday and told dispatchers he’d killed his teenage daughter, Zaria Burgess, of Monroe, North Carolina, inside his home on Hampton Meadows Road, according to WSOC-TV.
Zaria had come to visit her dad for the weekend.
Gallery goers gasped during Joshua Burgess’s Monday morning arraignment hearing when officials told the court how he’d confessed to strangling his daughter before slitting her throat.
But the prosecutor did not give a motive or explain the details that led up to the unthinkable alleged crime.
Zaria Burgess, 15, had come to visit her dad for the weekend before he allegedly killed her
Authorities said Joshue Burgess confessed to strangling Zaria before slitting her throat
‘It’s just pure evil,’ Union County Sheriff spokesman Tony Underwood told reporters.
The accused homicidal father was seen hanging his head and avoiding eye contact during the courtroom proceedings.
Joshua made a photo of Zaria his Facebook profile picture on June 23. Previous Facebook posts showed him wishing his daughter happy birthday, even calling her his ‘princess.’
The teen’s cousin, Dytaysha Wadswort, told reporters Zaria was kind girl who loved her family.
Crime scene tape was wrapped around the perimeter of Burgess’s home on Hampton Meadows Road near Monroe, North Carolina
Authorities haven’t indicated what led up to Joshua Burgess allegedly killing his daughter
Joshua Burgess wished his daughter, happy birthday and referred to her as his ‘princess’ in previous Facebook posts
‘She was the type of kid to come in a room come or in a house and say, “Hey everybody,” Just wanting to make everybody smile,’ Wadsworth told WSOC-TV. ‘She was so young and nobody deserves to leave this world like that, especially by someone they thought was gonna protect them and be there for them.’