(Lawrenceville, Ga., 6/12/26) – A Loganville man who raped and abused his children, which led to the death of a daughter who was locked in a bathroom during a house fire, was found guilty of murder and child abuse.

(Lawrenceville, Ga., 6/12/26) – A Loganville man who raped and abused his children, which led to the death of a daughter who was locked in a bathroom during a house fire, was found guilty of murder and child abuse.

A Gwinnett County jury on Thursday found William Linn McCue, 51, 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 10-year-old daughter and years of abuse of the young girl and her siblings. McCue was ordered to serve three consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole, followed by a fourth life sentence, then a consecutive 120 years in prison.

“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.”

On April 17, 2022, emergency responders were called to the McCue home in Loganville because of a house fire. Carina McCue, William McCue’s 42-year-old wife, was able to rescue her then-12- and 8-year-old sons, but was unable to reach the 10-year-old, whose “bedroom” did not have a window. She was sleeping in a locked bathroom with a piece of plywood over the tub as her bed when the fire started. She died from smoke inhalation.

The oldest McCue son was 15 at the time, and during the trial, the jury learned that he had started the fire to escape the abuse to which he and his siblings were being subjected.

Testimony and evidence presented during the trial revealed that, among other forms of punishment, the children were beaten, forced to wear shock collars, and were made to stand naked on cinder blocks for hours or even days at a time. They were not allowed to use the toilets but instead Lowe’s buckets that were emptied once a week and they were never enrolled in school nor homeschooled.  Evidence showed that the children flourished once they were away from their parents, although they were developmentally and educationally years behind their respective ages.

Carina McCue testified that her husband confessed that he had raped their oldest daughter, who was 17 at the time of the fire, and the teen confessed that he had been sexually assaulting her and her younger sister since they were young girls.

Prior to the trial, Carina McCue pled guilty to three counts of first-degree cruelty to children, aggravated assault and false imprisonment and agreed to testify against her husband. She was sentenced to 90 years in prison.

Although William McCue and the oldest daughter were not at the home at the time of the fatal fire, he was still found liable for his younger daughter’s death. Jurors deliberated for just under four hours before returning guilty verdicts on all charges.

Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney Wanda Vance and Assistant District Attorney Selwin Patterson prosecuted the case with assistance from Investigator Christina Newman and Victim Witness Advocates Esther Askew and Wonsiah Kermah. Gwinnett County Fire & Emergency Services, the Gainesville Police Department, and the Gwinnett County Medical Examiner’s Office were invaluable in helping to close this case.