The couple who brought 14-year-old Grace Packer’s short life to a horrific end will never again walk free.

Grace’s adoptive mother Sara Packer, 44, and Packer’s boyfriend Jacob Sullivan, 46, both have pleaded guilty in the 2016 rape, murder and subsequent dismemberment of Grace and have been ordered to spend their remaining days behind bars.

“Grace’s memory will no longer be bound to that of these two predators,” said Bucks County District Attorney Matthew D. Weintraub. “She is free. And her family is free from this overwhelming justice process that we rely on, that we count on to keep us safe and to make people pay for their crimes.”

After some two and a half years of investigation and court proceedings, the case came to an end Friday with Packer’s plea and sentencing before Judge Diane E. Gibbons. Packer was ordered to serve life plus 52 to 104 years.

“Since the day I heard about this case, one question played over and over in my mind: How could a parent do this?” the judge told Packer. “You never were a parent to Grace Packer. You never wanted to be a parent to Grace Packer. The word ‘mother,’ out of your mouth, is a profanity.”

Sullivan, who admitted in February to his role in Grace’s abuse and killing, was sentenced the day prior to death in accordance with the verdict of a Bucks County jury. Coming at the conclusion of two-week death penalty proceedings, his sentence also included a consecutive 44 to 88 years in prison.

“There are no words for what you are, Mr. Sullivan. There are no words for what you did. There are no words for what you no doubt would continue to do if you were not apprehended,” Judge Gibbons said Thursday. “You have no soul.”

Neither defendant chose to speak at their sentencing.

However, in their pleas the pair admitted they had planned to kill Grace and agreed to act out a shared rape-murder fantasy with Packer’s adopted daughter as their victim. They carried out their plan July 8, 2016, at a residence in Richland Township.

While in the process of moving from Abington to the Richland Township home, Packer reported her daughter missing.

Over the ensuing months, the couple maintained that Grace had run away from home and, until the fall of 2016, kept Grace’s body in the Richland Township home’s attic inside a closet. As pressure from police grew, Packer and Sullivan dismembered the girl’s body in October 2016 and spread her remains in a secluded area of Luzerne County. The remains were found by hunters days later.

Following failed suicide attempts, Sullivan and Packer were arrested in early January 2017 in the wake of Sullivan’s statements detailing the killing and surrounding events to Bucks County detectives.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Jennifer M. Schorn said the statements were a credit to the relentless work of the detectives, who utilized every available investigative option in their pursuit of Grace’s killers.

“This case was not solved because Jacob Sullivan decided to confess,” Schorn said Friday in court.

Over the last few weeks, Grace’s surviving family members, including grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, traveled to Bucks County from several states to describe the girl in victim impact statements as a vibrant lover of art, country and hip-hop music, the outdoors and her family and friends.

One relative recalled Grace beaming with laughter when, while seated in the cab of a semi-truck, her feet dangled, unable to reach the floor. Still others shared photos of Grace in happier times, at pool parties and on the beach.

The final impact statement, written by Grace’s brother Josh, and read aloud in court by Abington Police Detective Cindy Pettinato, described the girl as her family hopes she is remembered.

“When I lost my sister Grace I was heartbroken,” Josh wrote. “However, something that helps me feel better about Grace not being here is the fact that today Grace can become a hero.”

At the close of Friday’s proceedings, DA Matt Weintraub thanked each law enforcement agency involved for their commitment in the investigation, including the Abington Township Police Department, the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office and county detectives, Pennsylvania State Police, the Luzerne County District Attorney’s Office and county detectives, and especially the Bucks County Detectives.

The case was prosecuted by Weintraub, Schorn and Assistant District Attorney Jovin Jose.

Contact: James O’Malley, 215.348.6298, jtomalley@buckscounty.org