Ex-foster kids: Abuse was routine in dismembered teen’s home
Before her torturous death, Grace Packer grew up in a hell of emotional, physical and sexual abuse, according to three children fostered by the adoptive mother who now stands charged, along with her boyfriend, of killing and dismembering the 14-year-old girl as part of a barbaric rape-murder fantasy.
Police say Sara Packer, a former county adoptions supervisor, watched as her boyfriend, Jacob Sullivan, beat and raped Grace, who was then bound, gagged and left to die in a sweltering attic. Returning the next day and finding Grace still alive, Sullivan strangled her, court documents say. They stored her body in cat litter for months, then hacked it up and dumped it in a remote area where hunters found it in October, police said.
In separate interviews with The Associated Press, the now-grown former foster daughters, all of whom lived with Sara Packer several years before Grace’s rape and murder, said Sara abused her adopted daughter and clearly favoured Grace’s biological brother, who was also adopted.
“Her favourite child, and you could see it plain as day, had always been Gracie’s brother,” said Jade Tenezaca, now 27. “She was more demanding on Gracie to be normal. But Gracie is not normal. Gracie had a learning disability.”