Duo Accused Of Killing Adopted Teen Girl Could Face Death Penalty
DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (CBS) -- Bucks County prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty against the man and woman accused of murdering a 14-year-old adopted child, dismembering her body, and dumping it in Luzerne County.
Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub says prosecutors have filed paperwork stating they will seek the death penalty against both Jacob Sullivan and Sara Packer, the duo accused of killing adopted child, 14-year-old Grace Packer.
"Quite simply this is a first degree intentional killing and the aggravators make it all the more heinous. So it will be up to a judge or a jury if they should live or if they should die."
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Weintraub says prosecutors will push to have Packer and Sullivan tried together.
Bucks County judge Diane Gibbons set what she referred to a firm trial date of March 26, 2018.
Sullivan and Packer are accused of killing Grace Packer in what prosecutors have described as a rape-murder fantasy.
According to investigators, after Sullivan allegedly raped her, the teen was drugged and left to die in a hot attic.
When the adults returned the next day, the girl was still alive. That's when police say Sullivan choked the girl to death, after storing the body in a bin filled with cat litter.
Eventually her body was found chopped up in Luzerne County.