Montgomery County couple acted out a hate-fueled rape and murder fantasy on 14-year-old Grace Packer, authorities said, charging the girl's mother Sara Packer and her boyfriend Jacob Sullivan early Sunday in a conspiracy to kill her and dismember her body.
The information Bucks County prosecutors used to charge Jacob Sullivan came in Sullivan's hospital bed confession Saturday as he recovered from a failed suicide pact with Packer a week earlier as authorities increased pressure on the couple following the discovery of Grace Packer's body near a Luzerne County reservoir last year, District Attorney Matthew Weintraub said Sunday.
Weintraub said that although Sullivan's statement cannot be used against Packer, investigators have a strong case alleging that she was complicit in the plot to kill the girl, who she adopted as a toddler. Packer purchased sedatives allegedly used in an attempt to poison her daughter and the bow saw allegedly used to remove her limbs, court documents say. She also stored the body for three months packed in kitty litter in an attic closet one floor above her bedroom, authorities allege.
"Unfortunately, she was just a disposable child to them," Weintraub said.
Packer, 41, of Horsham, was arraigned in district court in Newtown, Bucks County, at noon Sunday on 17 charges including criminal homicide, rape conspiracy, kidnapping and abuse of a corpse.
Sullivan, 44, was charged and arraigned after midnight Sunday. He faces 19 charges including criminal homicide, rape, kidnapping and abuse of a corpse. He could face the death penalty, according to Larry King, a spokesman for the Bucks County District Attorney's office.
District Judge Michael Petrucci denied bail for both Sullivan and Packer.
Sullivan admitted he and Sara Packer had plotted Grace?s Packer?s murder for nearly a year, a court filing says.
"They turned that fantasy into a horrible nightmare reality for Grace Packer, according to him," Weintraub told reporters after Sara Packer?s court appearance Sunday.
"We never have to prove motive, but it's certainly helpful," Weintraub said. "This is one of the most shocking stunning motives I've ever heard of in my career as a prosecutor."
Charging documents describe in gruesome detail Sullivan's admission of the rape, killing and cover up. He told investigators he and Sara Packer drove Grace Packer in the wee hours of July 8 to a rented Richland Township home. There, Sullivan allegedly physically and sexually assaulted Grace Packer while her mother watched.
The couple then allegedly drugged Grace Packer and left her bound and gagged in a closet of the stiflingly hot attic, expecting her to die. When they returned hours later and found her still alive, Sullivan got down on the floor behind her and "slowly squeezed the life out of her," charging documents say.
Sara Packer reported her daughter missing several days later. Sullivan told investigators they stored Grace Packer's body in kitty litter in the attic until October, when, fearing police would discover it, they dismembered it in a bathtub and drove north on back roads to a Luzerne County reservoir where they dumped the body parts.
"It was a cold blooded crime that was calculated and planned with deadly detail," Weintraub said.
?July 4: Sara Packer's father, Franklin Pielaet, tells police that Grace Packer attended a family picnic in Laurys Station.
?July 8: Jacob Sullivan and Sara Packer drive with Grace Packer from Abington Township, Montgomery County, to new home in Richland Township, Bucks County.
?July 11: Sara Packer files missing persons report on Grace Packer with Abington Township police
?Sept. 7: Abington Township Detective Pettinato discovers Grace Packer's brother is enrolled in Quakertown Community School District, but Grace is not.
?Oct. 11: Pettinato tells Sara Packer that he is going to enter Grace into a national database for missing and unidentified persons.
?Oct. 31: Grace Packer's body is found in Bear Creek Township, Luzerne County.
?Nov. 11: Sara Packer charged with child endangerment and obstruction of the administration of law.
?Dec. 30: Sullivan and Sara Packer attempt suicide by overdose of pills. Both survive.
?Jan. 7: Sullivan admits to several hospital personnel his role in the murder of Grace Packer.
?Jan. 8: Sullivan is charged with homicide, rape, kidnapping and abuse of a corpse. Sara Packer is charged with homicide, rape conspiracy, kidnapping and abuse of corpse.