UNION COUNTY, N.C. — Deputies in Union County are trying to piece together what led to a 15-year-old girl’s death after her father walked into the sheriff’s office Sunday morning and confessed to killing her.
Joshua Burgess is being held without bond in the Union County Jail on a first-degree murder charge.
Detectives told WSOC that Burgess, 32, walked up to dispatchers around 9:30 a.m. and told them he was there to turn himself in because he had just killed his daughter, 15-year-old Zaria Burgess, inside his Wesley Chapel home.
When a dispatcher tried to look him up in the system, deputies said Burgess told her she wouldn’t find his name and that he was there because he had just killed someone who was visiting him at his home for the weekend.
During Burgess’ first appearance in court, there was a collective gasp in the courtroom when officials detailed what Burgess allegedly did to his daughter, according to WSOC.
Officials said Burgess strangled his daughter and then slit her throat, though they did not elaborate on what led up to the horrific crime.