Bucks County DA Charges Mother, Boyfriend With Murder Of 14-Year-Old Girl

A 14-year-old girl who was reported missing and was later found dead was allegedly killed by her adoptive mother and her mother's boyfriend, the Bucks County District Attorney's office announced.

Authorities announced the charges against Sara Packer and Jacob Sullivan Sunday, saying the pair killed Grace Packer by beating, raping, poisoning and ultimately strangling her in Richland Township over an 18-hour period in July.

According to authorities, Packer and Sullivan then preserved the girl’s corpse for weeks in cat litter before dismembering and dumping it in a remote area of north central Pennsylvania, the Bucks County District Attorney said at an early-morning news conference Sunday in Newtown.

Grace had been reported missing last July in Montgomery County. Her remains were found by two hunters Oct. 31 in a wooded area near a reservoir in Bear Creek Township, Luzerne County.

“Unfortunately, Grace Packer was a disposable child to these people,” Bucks County District Attorney Matthew D. Weintraub said.

Sullivan, 44, was arrested Saturday after telling workers at Abington Hospital-Jefferson Health that he was responsible for killing the teen. When questioned by Bucks County detectives, he revealed in detail how the girl was assaulted and killed over the course of about 18 hours, according to a probable cause affidavit.

He was arraigned at 12:30 a.m. Sunday before Magisterial District Judge Michael W. Petrucci of Newtown on charges of homicide, rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, unlawful restraint, kidnapping, possessing instruments of crime, endangering the welfare of a child, abuse of corpse, simple assault, tampering with physical evidence, and corresponding conspiracy charges.

“I’m sorry for what I did,” he told reporters as he was led into the courthouse.

At Weintraub’s request, Petrucci denied bail for Sullivan and ordered him held at the Bucks County Correctional Facility pending a preliminary hearing Jan. 20 before Magisterial District Judge Robert C. Roth in Quakertown.

Packer was arrested Saturday in Horsham Township on charges of homicide, kidnapping, unlawful restraint, possessing instruments of crime, endangering the welfare of a child, abuse of corpse, simple assault, tampering with physical evidence, and conspiracy to commit rape and each of the above crimes.

Packer is scheduled to be arraigned at noon Sunday before Judge Petrucci.

According to authorities, Sullivan had been hospitalized since Dec. 30, when he was found unresponsive from a prescription drug overdose at his home in Horsham in an apparent suicide attempt. Packer, 41, also was also found unresponsive the same day from a drug overdose, the result of a self-described “suicide pact” she had made with Sullivan, the affidavit said.

Sullivan told investigators Grace's death was something he and Packer plotted in late 2015.

Authorities allege the killing happened on July 8, 2016. Sullivan told detectives he and Packer drove Grace from their residence in Abington to a new home in Richland Township, Bucks County.

After they entered the house, Sullivan told investigators he struck Grace several times in her face, splitting her lip, authorities said. The two adults then took the teen to the third floor of the residence, where Packer watched as Sullivan raped her daughter, the Bucks County District Attorney's office said.

Packer then allegedly left to buy Tylenol PM and other drugs to sedate her daughter. The adults allegedly gave her an overdose of pills, then bound and gagged her and left her to die in the hot attic.

When the pair returned the next day and Grace was still alive, Sullivan strangled and suffocated her, then packed Grace’s body in cat litter to mask the odor and left it in the attic for three months, the District Attorney's office said.

Three days after the killing, police said, Packer had filed a missing person report with Abington Township Police, saying that her daughter had disappeared and likely had run away.

Authorities say Packer then allegedly withheld critical information and gave misleading statements to investigators working to find Grace, resulting in Packer’s arrest in November on charges of endangering the welfare of a child and obstructing the administration of law. She is awaiting trial on those charges in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court.

Two weeks before Grace’s body was found with its arms and legs removed, Packer was captured on video buying a bow saw and two extra blades at a tractor supply store in Richland Township, the probable cause affidavit says.

A forensic anthropologist who examined the saw and Grace's body determined that the scarring and tool marks on her bones were made by an alternating tooth saw blade similar to that of the bow saw, authorities say.

Authorities remain interested in speaking to anyone with additional information about Grace Packer’s disappearance and death. Any person having such information is urged to contact Bucks County detectives at 215-945-3100 or at buckscrimetips@buckscounty.org .

PHOTOS: Packer and Sullivan, via Bucks County DA