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The Man Who Killed His Stepdaughter, Had Sex With Her Dead Body, And Now Refuses To Grant Her Mother A Divorce

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 01:30 PST, Jul 22, 2017

Gregory Graf killed his stepdaughter Jessica, then had sex with her corpse. Now in jail, he’s refusing to divorce Jessica’s mother.

Gregory Graf shot his stepdaughter Jessica Padgett in the head before violating her body in the worst possible way. On December 8, 2014, the Daily Star reported that Graf filmed himself having sex with Jessica’s body.

At the time, the 53-year-old from Allen Township in Philadelphia was suspected of hiding Jessica’s body while family and friends frantically searched for her.

Attorney John Morganelli confirmed there was a video recording of Graf performing a series of sexual acts on his stepdaughter’s body.

“He videotaped it. There’s a videotape of him abusing the corpse sexually.”

Despite the shocking nature of the case, Graf did not face the death penalty because his offense was not a capital crime, but he was convicted of first-degree murder for killing his stepdaughter and having sex with her corpse.

“Under Pennsylvania law, a murder in preparation of a felony is an aggravating factor that allows prosecutors to pursue capital charges. Rape rises to that level, but the sexual desecration of a corpse does not.”

Now, the Daily Star reports that Gregory Graf is refusing to divorce Jessica’s mother.

The brutal and sadistic killer violated Jessica’s body and hid her body for five days in 2014. Graf was jailed for life without parole after the vicious attack on Jessica, but now from his prison cell, he is battling against divorce terms with his victim’s mother.

Gregory Graf, 55-years-old, has refused to sign documents allowing the assets he shared with his wife Danelle Bittner to be divided, even when they would benefit him. And, he refuses to give a reason.

Under the current deal the killer would have received over £100,000 (approximately $130,000), but now he is complaining about not getting along with his lawyer and losing his fencing business.

It seems that Gregory Graf is determined to continue causing grief for his victim’s family.

Initially, Graf agreed to the divorce settlement which would have given him $130,000 from two funds, in addition to a quarter of the money from the sale of a house in Edgewater, Florida. Plus, he would have had the profits from the sale of his mounted animal heads, hunting weapons, and guns.

The New Zealand Herald reported that Graf appeared in court through a video feed from his cell in a Pennsylvania prison, refusing to sign documents that would give him 25 percent of his shared assets with Danelle Bittner.

The New Zealand Herald also reported that it was just weeks after Danelle Bittner first asked for a divorce that Graf shot his stepdaughter in the back of the head, then filmed himself sexually abusing her corpse.

Graf has been consistently uncooperative in the divorce proceedings, even though the circumstances would benefit him. He is refused to sign documents and says he never agreed to receive 25 percent.

Jack McMahon is Gregory Graf’s attorney, and he said that Graf was quite happy with the agreement when it was first reached in February. But, Graf claims that McMahon didn’t give him the proper information.

Today, McMahon is reconsidering his decision to represent Graf in a wrongful death and intentional infliction of emotional distress lawsuit filed by Jessica Padgett’s husband.

Jessica Padgett went missing on November 24, 2014, telling her co-workers at the childcare center that she was going to her stepfather’s house to use his fax machine. Her body was found five days later, hidden under a pile of leaves behind a shed on the seven-acre property where Graf lived with Bittner.

The jury deliberated for less than 10 minutes before they found him guilty of first-degree murder, for which he was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

The Morning Call reported that Graf appeared on Monday by video hookup to complain about the financial terms of the divorce between himself and Danelle Bittner, the mother of the woman he murdered.

For some strange reason that perhaps no one other than Graf himself is aware of, he is refused to sign documents allowing the former couple’s estate to be divvied up. At the time of his arrest, Graf was the owner of a fencing company and was building another home in Florida, but on Monday most of his complaints were directed toward his attorney Jack McMahon, who sent another attorney by the name of Emily Cherniack to fill in for him. Graf now insists that he never agreed to the terms of the February decree that settled his and Bittner’s estate.

“I don’t know how you can have a divorce settlement without all the proper information. I just don’t understand that. I’m out here. I don’t know what is going on. I’m not a legal person.”

In a telephone interview, Jack McMahon said he is not aware of Graf’s motivations, but any claim that he abandoned Graf or that Graf didn’t agree to the settlement is false.

“In fact, he agreed and was happy with it, so who knows what’s going on?”

It remains to be seen whether Graf will ever see any money from his estate because Padgett was the mother of three children, and her husband Michael Padgett sued Graf last year for wrongful death and sought to garner his assets to benefit his children.

Monetary damages will be determined in a civil trial which is scheduled for next year, but Jack McMahon is not sure now whether he will be representing Graf.

“I am his lawyer for the time being. But when he makes comments like that, I don’t know.”

[Featured Image by Rainer Fuhrmann/Shutterstock]

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