For about two months, the man who stayed in Room 113 at the Mid City Inn in Euless, Texas, would sit outside, reading the Bible and encouraging others to come to church with him, according to a manager of the motel, Kanti Gandhi.

“He was a fanatic about the Bible,” Gandhi said.

Now, the police say, Jason Alan Thornburg’s apparent fervour may have played a role in five homicides that he told detectives he had carried out. This week, he was charged with capital murder in the killing and dismemberment of three people at the motel, whose remains, the police said, he then burned in a dumpster.

During an interview with homicide detectives, Thornburg “described having an in-depth knowledge of the Bible and believed that he was being called to commit sacrifices”.