American mother accused of helping boyfriend dismember daughter following 'rape-murder fantasy'

A Pennsylvanian woman is accused of plotting with her boyfriend to beat, rape, kill and dismember her 14-year-old adopted daughter, Grace Packer. Sara Packer, 41, and Jacob Sullivan, 44, are accused of Grace's murder, whose remains were found by two hunters in a wooded area near a reservoir in Bear Creek Township, Luzerne County on 31 October 2016.

The pair are accused of conspiring to rape, torture, poison and beat the teenager before killing her. In addition, they are also accused preserving the girl's body in cat litter for a period of months before dismembering her, dumping the remains and then filling a missing person's report claiming she had run away from home.

Prosecutors accuse Packer and Sullivan of acting out a "rape-murder fantasy" they had planned since 2015.

During police interviews, Sullivan said he assaulted the girl for around 18 hours before she died.

According to a statement from the Office of the Bucks County District attorney: "On the morning of 8 July 2016, Sullivan told detectives he and Sara Packer drove Grace, still sleepy and in pyjamas, from their residence in Abington to a new home in Richland Township, Bucks County.

"After they entered the house, Sullivan said, he struck Grace several times in her face, splitting her lip. The two adults then took the teen to the third floor of the residence, where Sara Packer watched as Sullivan raped her daughter.

"Sara Packer then left to buy Tylenol PM and other drugs for sedating Grace. Telling her the drugs would help minimise her pain from the assaults, the adults gave her an overdose of pills, then bound and gagged her and left her to die in the hot attic.

"Packer and Sullivan left the house for the rest of the day. Upon returning at 3am on 9 July and finding Grace still alive, Sullivan said he strangled and suffocated her until she died. Packer and Sullivan then packed Grace's body in cat litter to mask the odour and left it in the attic for three months."

In the days before her daughter's limbless body was discovered, Packer was captured on CCTV buying a bow saw and two extra blades at a tractor supply store in Richland Township.

Sullivan has been charged with 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."

Following her arrest, Packer was also charged with 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 as well as the same offences as Sullivan."

Bucks County District Attorney Matthew D Weintraub told reporters at a press conference: "Unfortunately, Grace Packer was a disposable child to these people."