A Gwinnett County jury on Thursday convicted 51-year-old William Linn McCue in the 2022 death of his 10-year-old daughter and sentenced him to multiple life terms plus well over a century behind bars. Zoey McCue died in an April 17, 2022, house fire in Loganville; investigators later reported she had been sleeping on a wooden board balanced over a bathtub inside a windowless bathroom.
According to Atlanta News First, jurors found McCue guilty of felony murder, rape, aggravated child molestation and incest. The court imposed three consecutive life sentences without parole, a fourth life sentence and another 120 years in prison. District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson called the children’s treatment “horrible” and said Zoey’s death was both unconscionable and preventable, according to the office.
What Jurors Heard
During the trial, prosecutors laid out years of alleged abuse and severe neglect inside the family’s Loganville home, and presented testimony that the 15-year-old brother started the fire, as reported by Court TV. Evidence described filthy living conditions, nonworking plumbing that left buckets serving as toilets, and other children who showed signs of physical abuse, including healing lacerations and even a human bite mark.
Wife's Plea And The Family's Arrest
McCue’s wife, Carina Wisniewski McCue, previously pleaded guilty to first-degree cruelty to children, aggravated assault and false imprisonment. She agreed to testify against her husband and received a 90-year sentence, per Atlanta News First. The couple were located and arrested in June 2022 on the Appalachian Trail after disappearing following the Easter Sunday blaze, earlier reporting shows. Court documents and prior coverage state that the 15-year-old was charged after admitting he intentionally set the fire that killed his sister.
Legal Consequences
Under Georgia law, when someone dies during the commission of a felony, prosecutors can charge felony murder, which can carry life without the possibility of parole. Aggravated child molestation can also result in a life sentence or an extremely long prison term. The statute language and penalties are outlined in O.C.G.A. § 16-5-1 on felony murder and O.C.G.A. § 16-6-4 on aggravated child molestation.
Aftermath And Context
After the fire, the surviving children were taken into state protective custody. Investigators documented that the home had no working plumbing, that the children had not attended school for an extended period and that the overall living conditions were unsanitary, findings first detailed around the time of the indictment. Those conditions, along with the subsequent criminal charges, were reported in earlier coverage by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which tracked the case from indictment through court proceedings.
