Gwinnett County father sentenced to life for murder of daughter locked in bathroom during fire

A Gwinnett County man has been sentenced to life in prison for what authorities described as the horrible physical and sexual abuse of his children that eventually led to the death of his 10-year-old daughter.

On Thursday, a jury found 51-year-old Loganville resident William Linn McCue guilty of felony murder, two counts of rape, three counts of aggravated child molestation, and two counts of incest in connection with the 2022 death of his daughter and "years of abuse," the Gwinnett County District Attorney's Office said.

Authorities say their investigation began on April 17, 2022, when firefighters were called to the McCues' home. While 42-year-old Carina McCue, William's wife, was able to get her 12-year-old and 8-year-old sons out of the burning home, she was unable to get to her 10-year-old daughter. Officials say the girl was sleeping in a locked bathroom in a makeshift bed that was a piece of plywood over the room's tub. The young girl died from smoke inhalation.

Investigators say they later learned that the McCues' 15-year-old son started the fire to escape the abuse that he and his siblings were subjected to by their parents.

During the trial, prosecutors told the jury the children were beaten, forced to wear shock collars, and made to stand naked on cider blocks for long periods of time. The children were never enrolled in school, and their parents did not homeschool them. Instead of toilets, prosecutors say they were forced to use buckets that were emptied once a week.

"Evidence showed that the children flourished once they were away from their parents, although they were developmentally and educationally years behind their respective ages," the district attorney's office said in a release announcing William McCue's sentence.

Carina McCue testified that her husband had confessed to raping their oldest daughter, who was still a minor at the time of the fire. The teen also told the court that her father had been sexually assaulting her and her younger sister for years.

"The treatment of these children was horrible," District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson said. "This child's death was unconscionable and preventable, and she and her siblings deserved better than they received from their parents."

Carina McCue had previously pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree cruelty to children, aggravated assault, and false imprisonment. She was sentenced to 90 years in prison.

Following the jury's verdict, a judge sentenced McCue to three consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole, followed by a fourth life sentence, then a consecutive 120 years in prison.