PA - Grace Packer, 14, murdered, Abington, 4 July 2016 *Killer died*

[lsv7]

Just wanted to specify that Packer is scheduled to plead guilty on 3/14/2019.

They only have that date upcoming on her docket, but it's also a total mess.

 

[Mike in WNY]

Is/was there any formal scrutiny given toward The Impact Project... the foster agency with which the Packer's were involved?

For those in the Bucks County are, has there been any material change in the systems/processes/policies that somehow allowed this?

Also, Katherine Allbright seems to have faded from any potential involvement, no?

 

[Niner]

Thursday, March 14th:
*Trial set to begin (Penalty Phase) (@ 9am ET) - PA - Grace Packer (14) (July 4, 2016, Abington; found Oct. 31, 2016 by hunters) – only for *Jacob Patrick Sullivan (44/now 46) (Bf of amom) arrested (Jan. 2017) indicted on 1st degree murder, rape conspiracy, kidnapping & abuse of corpse (dismemberment). No bond. DA seeks DP. Plead guilty on 2/22/19.
Trial set to begin on 3/14/19. Scheduled to last 2 weeks.
Court hearings for 8/13/18 thru 2/21/19 reference post #757 here:
GUILTY - PA - Grace Packer, 14, murdered, Abington, 4 July 2016 *Arrests*
Jury Selection for 2/22/19 to 3/7/19 reference post #780 here:
GUILTY - PA - Grace Packer, 14, murdered, Abington, 4 July 2016 *Arrests*
*Sara Packer (42/now 44) adopted "mom" arrested (Jan. 2017) & indicted on 1st degree murder, rape conspiracy, kidnapping & abuse of corpse (dismemberment). Plead not guilty. No bond.
2/19/19: will plead guilty. As part of a plea deal, Packer will avoid the death penalty & be sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole. Prosecutors are still seeking the death penalty for Sullivan.

 

[Niner]

Friday, March 15th:
*Trial continues (Penalty Phase) (Day 2) (@ 9am ET) - PA - Grace Packer (14) (July 4, 2016, Abington; found Oct. 31, 2016 by hunters) – only for *Jacob Patrick Sullivan (44/now 46) (Bf of amom) arrested (Jan. 2017) indicted on 1st degree murder, rape conspiracy, kidnapping & abuse of corpse (dismemberment). No bond. DA seeks DP. Plead guilty on 2/22/19.
Trial set to begin on 3/14/19. Scheduled to last 2 weeks.
Court hearings for 8/13/18 thru 2/21/19 reference post #757 here:
GUILTY - PA - Grace Packer, 14, murdered, Abington, 4 July 2016 *Arrests*
Jury Selection for 2/22/19 to 3/7/19 reference post #780 here:
GUILTY - PA - Grace Packer, 14, murdered, Abington, 4 July 2016 *Arrests*
3/14/19 Day 1: No info
*Sara Packer (42/now 44) adopted "mom" arrested (Jan. 2017) & indicted on 1st degree murder, rape conspiracy, kidnapping & abuse of corpse (dismemberment). Plead not guilty. No bond.
2/19/19: will plead guilty. As part of a plea deal, Packer will avoid the death penalty & be sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole. Prosecutors are still seeking the death penalty for Sullivan.

 

[YESorNO]

Man could get death in teen's rape, murder, dismemberment

MARCH 15, 2019

"DOYLESTOWN, Pa. — A Pennsylvania jury will decide on life or death for a Pennsylvania man who pleaded guilty in the 2016 rape, murder and dismemberment of his girlfriend's teenage daughter.

Jacob Sullivan, 46, pleaded guilty to all charges last month in a case that raised questions about the child welfare system's failure to protect 14-year-old Grace Packer, who spent years in an abusive home before she was sexually violated, drugged and then, finally, strangled in the attic of a suburban Philadelphia home.

Prosecutors have said that Grace's adoptive mother, Sara Packer, watched Sullivan act out a rape-murder fantasy they shared. Sara Packer, a former foster parent and county adoptions supervisor, has agreed to plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence and could be called to testify at the penalty phase of Sullivan's trial, which opens Friday outside Philadelphia.

Sullivan's attorneys plan to argue that Sara Packer masterminded the plot against Grace , and that Sullivan should be sentenced to life....

Sullivan entered his guilty plea as jury selection was about to get underway. The jury that will decide his sentence must be unanimous in order to impose the death penalty; otherwise Sullivan will get life without parole...."

Man could get death in teen's rape, murder, dismemberment

 

[YESorNO]

Is/was there any formal scrutiny given toward The Impact Project... the foster agency with which the Packer's were involved?

For those in the Bucks County are, has there been any material change in the systems/processes/policies that somehow allowed this?

Also, Katherine Allbright seems to have faded from any potential involvement, no?

Timeline of events in death of Grace Packer

March 7, 2017

"...March 6, 2017: Northampton County says it has stopped placing children through The Impact Project of Emmaus after learning the agency may have received reports of abusive behavior by Sara Packer more than a decade before she was charged in Grace’s death. A day later, Lehigh County follows suit."

Timeline of events in death of Grace Packer

 

[YESorNO]

LaurieMasonSchroeder‏Verified account @LehighCourts 6h6 hours ago
Good morning Lehigh Valley. I’m headed to Doylestown soon for the start of Jacob Sullivan’s sentencing hearing. Catch up here: - The Morning Call

Jacob Sullivan's lawyers say Sara Packer 'manipulated' him into murdering her adoptive daughter, Grace


LaurieMasonSchroeder‏Verified account @LehighCourts 5h5 hours ago
Five things to know about Jacob Sullivan's sentencing hearing

Five things to know about Jacob Sullivan's sentencing hearing

March 15. 2019

"Jacob Sullivan’s sentencing hearing in the rape and murder of 14-year-old Grace Packer begins today in Bucks County Court in Doylestown. Here’s what you need to know:....

2. The penalty phase could take two weeks or more....

3. Sara Packer could testify...."

Five things to know about Jacob Sullivan's sentencing hearing


Erin McCarthy‏ @erinK_mccarthy 14m14 minutes ago
In Bucks County Court today for the start of the guilt phase in the case against Jacob Sullivan, 46, who last month pleaded guilty to the kidnapping, rape, murder, and dismemberment of his girlfriend’s 14-y/o adoptive daughter Grace Packer.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[YESorNO]

Erin McCarthy‏ @erinK_mccarthy 29m29 minutes ago
A jury of six men and six women from Bucks County has been impaneled to determine whether Sullivan will be sentenced to death or life in prison without the possibility of parole.

 

[BUF]

Death penalty or life in prison? Jury to decide fate of man who raped and killed Grace Packer

In a half-hour opening statement, public defender Jack Fagan told jurors to consider Packer’s controlling nature — in her relationships with both Sullivan and Grace Packer — when deciding Sullivan’s sentence. Packer is expected to testify for the defense.

“I absolutely want you to get distracted by Sara Packer," Fagan said. “Sara Packer was the driving factor in the intent, the planning, and the execution of what happened to her daughter.”

......

He alleged that while Sullivan kidnapped, raped, choked to death, dismembered and helped dispose of Grace’s body, Packer pulled the strings, giving the teen a concoction of drugs, buying items used in the killings and dismemberment, lying to police, and picking the “dump site” in the Poconos.

......

Bucks County District Attorney Matthew Weintraub disagreed.

“The case is not Jacob Sullivan vs. Sara Packer,” he said. “Packer’s judgment day is not today.”

Weintraub also spoke to the jury for 30 minutes, laying out the gruesome nature of the case and arguing that Sullivan should be sentenced to death because he killed Grace during the commission of five felonies.

“What’s the worst thing you can think of to do to a child?” he said. “Because in this case, we’re going to check off all of those boxes.”

He called Grace’s final 24 hours “hell on earth." After Sullivan raped her and left her die in a hot attic, Grace broke free of the zip ties on her hands and feet, spit out the ball gag in her mouth, and tried to overcome the drugs in her system, Weintraub said. But it was for naught. Sullivan arrived back at the house and choked her to death.

“He was her judge, her jury, and her executioner,” Weintraub said. “He decided, along with Sara Packer, whether she lived or died, and when, and by what means, and he carried out her sentence.”

 

[YESorNO]

DA: Man should die for teen's rape, murder, dismemberment

Mar 15, 2019

"...."Sara Packer was the driving factor in the intent, the planning and the execution of what happened to her daughter," he said.

The defense plans to call Packer as a witness.

The jury that will decide his sentence must be unanimous in order to impose the death penalty; otherwise Sullivan will get life without parole. Even if he's sentenced to death, it's unclear whether the punishment would ever be carried out. Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf declared a moratorium on capital punishment shortly after taking office in 2015. Pennsylvania last carried out an execution in 1999....

The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services launched an investigation after Grace Packer's murder but its findings have not been made public...."

DA: Man should die for teen's rape, murder, dismemberment

 

[YESorNO]

LaurieMasonSchroeder‏Verified account @LehighCourts 37m37 minutes ago
We just saw a photo of Grace Packer’s limbless body lying in a pile of leaves, as it was found by hunters. Judge warned jurors and spectators before photo was shown. Now giving jurors a brief recess.


LaurieMasonSchroeder‏Verified account @LehighCourts 33m33 minutes ago
More information is coming out about Sara Packers home in Allentown, where she and her husband fostered 20 to 30 children. Detectives saw multiple sex swings, restraints, ball gags... and “multiple children.” This from Abington detective. Lehigh detectives could testify later.


LaurieMasonSchroeder‏Verified account @LehighCourts 31m31 minutes ago
Another tidbit- Grace was a straight A student, according to her guidance counselor who testified. Might have had one C. Since she was such a good student she was eligible for trip to Dorney Park in 9th grade. Sara Packer wouldn’t let her go.

 

[YESorNO]

LaurieMasonSchroeder‏Verified account @LehighCourts 7m7 minutes ago
UPDATED: Jurors asked to imagine horrors 14-year-old Grace Packer endured

Jurors asked to imagine horrors 14-year-old Grace Packer endured (with clip)

Mar 15, 2019

"In his opening statement to the jury at Jacob Sullivan’s sentencing hearing Friday, Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub asked jurors to imagine themselves in 14-year-old Grace Packer’s place during her last 12 hours alive: Gagged and hogtied in a dark and sweltering attic, fighting to free herself from the zip ties binding her wrists and ankles.

“She is thinking, will she live, will she die? Will she be murdered,” Weintraub said. “So she fought to break the ties that bound her. She was fighting for her very life.”

Weintraub, who is asking the jury to sentence Sullivan to death, said Grace managed to wriggle out of some of the zip ties and had spit the gag out of her mouth by the time Sullivan returned to the attic with Sara Packer, his girlfriend and Grace’s adoptive mother.

So Sullivan strangled her.

“Her reward for breaking her bounds … was death,” Weintraub said.

It was a dramatic start to a two-week hearing that will end with jurors being asked to choose between life in prison or the death penalty for Sullivan....

Sullivan pleaded guilty last month to first-degree murder, rape of a child, kidnapping, abuse of a corpse and other crimes.

He admitted that he and Sara Packer brought Grace to a Richland Township home they were renting in July 2016 and attacked her to fulfill a rape-and-murder fantasy they shared.

While Sara Packer watched, Sullivan punched Grace in the face, then ripped off her pajamas and raped her. After the July 8, 2016 assault, the couple fed the teen over-the-counter sleep medication before tying her up and leaving her to die in the attic, Sullivan admitted.

After strangling Grace, Sullivan admitted that he and Sara Packer hid her body in a box filled with kitty litter in the attic for months, then tossed her remains into state games lands in Luzerne County....

Jurors were shown photos of Grace’s body parts on a large screen while Blakeslee testified. Audience members were warned in advance that the pictures would be disturbing.

State trooper Lisa Brogan was one of the first investigators on the scene. She told the jury that troopers at first thought they had found the remains of an elderly woman, because they saw gray hair. Prosecutors say Packer and Sullivan poured drain cleaner on Grace’s face to obscure her features, and the chemicals stripped the color from the teen’s hair.

Also testifying Friday was Abington police detective Cindy Pettinato. She testified that Sara Packer reported Grace missing to Abington Police because the family lived in that community at the time. Packer said Grace stole $300 and ran away from home on July 8, Pettinato testified....

Jurors heard some details of Grace Packer’s life, through the testimony of her Abington Junior High School guidance counselor, Amy Adam...

Weintraub told the jury that Sullivan deserves capital punishment for what he did to Grace while she was alive, and after her death.

“This defendant treated 14-year-old Grace as a disposable child,” Weintraub said. “He did what he wanted with her, when he wanted, and then he ultimately crumpled her up and threw her on the side of the road like trash.”

The hearing resumes Monday."

Jurors asked to imagine horrors 14-year-old Grace Packer endured


LaurieMasonSchroeder‏Verified account @LehighCourts 11m11 minutes ago
There was some testimony from an Abington detective about what a Lehigh County detective told her about Sara Packer wearing a dominatrix outfit and having a sex swing in the Abington home where she fostered kids - I'm waiting to hear the Lehigh detective's testimony.


LaurieMasonSchroeder‏Verified account @LehighCourts 10m10 minutes ago
Correction: Allentown home.

 

[Niner]

@YESorNO - so if I have this straight -
on 3/14 Thursday - just opening statements?
and on 3/15 Friday - post # 792 ?

From what I am gathering - they started the trial on 3/15 Friday from the articles I'm reading that you posted.

 

[Niner]

Monday, March 18th:
*Trial continues (Penalty Phase) (Day 3) (@ 9am ET) - PA - Grace Packer (14) (July 4, 2016, Abington; found Oct. 31, 2016 by hunters) – only for *Jacob Patrick Sullivan (44/now 46) (Bf of amom) arrested (Jan. 2017) indicted on 1st degree murder, rape conspiracy, kidnapping & abuse of corpse (dismemberment). No bond. DA seeks DP. Plead guilty on 2/22/19.
Trial started on 3/14/19. Scheduled to last 2 weeks. Jurors: 6 women & 6 men from Bucks County.
Court hearings for 8/13/18 thru 2/21/19 reference post #757 here:
GUILTY - PA - Grace Packer, 14, murdered, Abington, 4 July 2016 *Arrests*
Jury Selection for 2/22/19 to 3/7/19 reference post #780 here:
GUILTY - PA - Grace Packer, 14, murdered, Abington, 4 July 2016 *Arrests*
3/14/19 Day 1: Opening statements.
3/15/19 Day 2: State witnesses: State trooper Lisa Brogan, one of the first investigators on the scene. Abington police detective Cindy Pettinato. Amy Adam, Abington Junior High School guidance counselor. Trial continues on Monday, 3/18.
*Sara Packer (42/now 44) adopted "mom" arrested (Jan. 2017) & indicted on 1st degree murder, rape conspiracy, kidnapping & abuse of corpse (dismemberment). Plead not guilty. No bond. 2/19/19 will plead guilty. As part of a plea deal, Packer will avoid the death penalty & be sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole. Prosecutors are still seeking the death penalty for Sullivan.

 

[inmyhumbleopinion]

“First break in the #GracePacker, Jacob Sullivan hearing. We just saw a very detailed PowerPoint presentation showing the movements of Sullivan’s car the day before the murder.”
10:38 AM

“Using data from an insurance module attached to the car, The kind you used to lower your insurance rate, police were able to see the car moving back-and-forth between Abington and Richland.”

“The information was so accurate police could tell that the car stopped at a Walmart, a target, Arby’s, and an adult bookstore on route 309. The car is parked at the bookstore for five minutes. Prosecutors surmise this was where they bought the ball gag to silence Grace.”

“Jurors also heard from a forensic anthropologist, who showed photos of graces bones as they were recovered with saw and knife marks on them.”

“During cross-examination, the anthropologist said it would likely have taken two people to separate Grace’s legs from her torso.”
10:42 AM

All reported by LaurieMasonSchroeder (@LehighCourts) | Twitter

 

[BUF]

Receipts, store videos show defendants shopped for supplies before and after Grace Packer murder

Receipts, store security video and a monitoring device installed on Sullivan’s car by his insurance carrier show that the couple bought drugs and zip ties hours before the alleged July 8, 2016 attack, and a bow saw, bleach and a black light to detect bodily fluids on the date prosecutors say they dismembered and discarded Grace’s body.

One video shown in court, from a Walmart in Tamaqua, showed Sara Packer walking out of the store with a bottle of liquid drain cleaner in her hand. Prosecutors say the couple used the chemical to “melt” Grace’s face so her remains could not be easily identified.

More at link...

 

[Niner]

Receipts, store videos show defendants shopped for supplies before and after Grace Packer murder

Receipts, store security video and a monitoring device installed on Sullivan’s car by his insurance carrier show that the couple bought drugs and zip ties hours before the alleged July 8, 2016 attack, and a bow saw, bleach and a black light to detect bodily fluids on the date prosecutors say they dismembered and discarded Grace’s body.

One video shown in court, from a Walmart in Tamaqua, showed Sara Packer walking out of the store with a bottle of liquid drain cleaner in her hand. Prosecutors say the couple used the chemical to “melt” Grace’s face so her remains could not be easily identified.

More at link...

ACK!!! Can't access this in the EU.... any names of the witnesses?? TIA!

 

[YESorNO]

ACK!!! Can't access this in the EU.... any names of the witnesses?? TIA!

"Alisa Kehoe was a 22-year-old nurse’s aide at Abington Memorial Hospital...

On Monday, the second day of the penalty phase hearing, Kehoe and two of her co-workers gave similar testimony about Sullivan’s time at Abington Memorial, where he and Sara Packer were brought following a failed suicide pact....

Jurors also got a virtual tour Monday of the stores Sullivan and Packer allegedly shopped at before and after the teen’s killing....

Jurors on Monday were shown photos and videos of the Richland Township rental home where Sullivan admitted he raped and murdered Grace....

County detective Michael Mosiniak testified that he and a team of law enforcement officers searched the home and found a receipt for a bow saw hidden in a picture frame.

Forensic anthropologist Dennis Dirkmaat showed the jury photos of Grace’s dismembered body after it was found by hunters in Luzerne County on Halloween 2016. Dirkmaat said marks on Grace’s bones were consistent with the type of bow saw that was purchased. The actual saw was never recovered...."

 

[BUF]

ACK!!! Can't access this in the EU.... any names of the witnesses?? TIA!

Alisa Kehoe was a 22-year-old nurse’s aide at Abington Memorial Hospital in January 2017 when she was assigned to watch over a patient who had been admitted several days earlier for a suicide attempt.

The patient, Jacob Sullivan, suddenly began talking to Kehoe about a girl named Grace, Kehoe told a Bucks County jury Monday. She had no idea who he was talking about.

“He told me that he killed Grace. He told me that he liked it,” Kehoe testified.

As Kehoe sat by Sullivan’s hospital bed, she said, he continued to ramble on about Grace, calling the girl “the worst thing that happened to our family.”

Sullivan’s words became more cryptic as he spoke, Kehoe testified.

“Look at the Quakertown house,” she recalled him saying. “Look in the attic.”

.....

On Monday, the second day of the penalty phase hearing, Kehoe and two of her co-workers gave similar testimony about Sullivan’s time at Abington Memorial, where he and Sara Packer were brought following a failed suicide pact.

......

County detective Michael Mosiniak testified that he and a team of law enforcement officers searched the home and found a receipt for a bow saw hidden in a picture frame.

......

Sullivan admitted to detectives that he and Packer used a ball gag from a sex shop to silence Grace during the attack. Jurors were shown a computer simulation of Sullivan’s travels the day before and after the killing, as recorded by an Esurance monitoring device on his car.

......

Packer was briefly jailed for refusing to cooperate with the investigation into Grace’s disappearance, and Katherine Albright, their roommate and third person in their “polyamorous” romantic relationship, was questioned before a grand jury. She told investigators that Sullivan had awakened at the hospital following his suicide attempt and was talking to medical staff, Mosiniak testified.

Nurse Megan Karas said Sullivan also complained about Grace — though she didn’t know who he was talking about at the time — saying at one point that he and Sara Packer wished they could return the adopted girl, but they “needed the money.” Sara Packer received more than $700 a month in government stipends for Grace’s care.

Jacob Sullivan 'liked' killing Grace Packer, nurse's aide testifies

 

[inmyhumbleopinion]

Monsters do exist amongst us ....