Man murdered step-daughter and had sex with her corpse

Gregory Graf 

A 53 yr-old man, Gregory Graf is in police custody after he allegedly shot his stepdaughter an had sex with her corpse.

 Graf recorded himself sexually abusing the body of Jessica Padgett, Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli said on Friday. The video was discovered a day earlier on Graf's computer, the prosecutor said.

Padgett, 33, was last seen alive on Nov. 21, when she left work at a day care center. Graf was arrested five days later after police found her body buried behind a shed on the property where he lives with Padgett's mother.

Police say that the shooting happened around 10 minutes after she was last seen, though her body wasn't recovered until five days later.

Morganelli has said Graf also had a marijuana-growing space at his house that was discovered by police as they searched for Padgett.

Police seized 13 bags of marijuana and also confiscated $42,000 in cash and envelopes containing marijuana seeds from in a safe in the basement of Graf's home. \

Graf's Facebook account indicates he has a love of hunting animals and has killed quite a few. 

Graf is being held without bail on a homicide charge. The fencing company owner confessed to killing Padgett, a recently married mother of three, according to Morganelli.

The victim's family said in a statement last month that Padgett 'was a beautiful, vibrant young woman who was beloved by her family and friends. The world shines less bright today.'

Graf applied for a public defender, saying in court Friday that he didn't want to burden his family financially. A judge turned him down, ruling he had enough money to pay for his own defense.

'Like I said, I just don't want to take away the funds from the family,' said Graf, the owner of a fencing company.

'You're not going to be able to escape paying for the resources of an attorney,' Judge Stephen Baratta told Graf

'I just can't allow that.'

Morganelli said Graf will be charged with abuse of a corpse.

'He videotaped it,' Morganelli told Philly.com.

'So there's a videotape of him abusing the corpse sexually.'

Morganelli said he believes that Graf took his stepdaughter's life in order to abuse her as a corpse.

'I believe it was a direct motive, in my opinion,' Morganelli said, 'and that's what we're going to be arguing.'

Because the alleged abuse occurred after Padgett was killed Morganelli will not be able to seek the death penalty.

Philly.com reports that under Pennsylvania law Rape and murder allow prosecutors to purse capital charges but sexual desecration of a corpse does not.

Jessica Padgett was married and had three children and also worked with children at a childcare center 

Culled from DAILY MAIL