The sentencing hearing for Jacob Sullivan continues with his taped confession played Tuesday. Sullivan says as he was raping and killing 14-year-old Grace Packer, the teen looked to her adoptive mother, Sara Packer, for help. Instead, Sullivan says the woman watched as the attack unfolded, seeming to enjoy it. Sullivan has already pleaded guilty to raping and killing the girl inside a Bucks County home in July 2016. A jury is determining whether he will spend life in prison or get the death penalty. Sara Packer is expected to also plead guilty after Sullivan is sentenced.
Police are investigating after a child died after falling from a window in Allentown. A five-year-old girl reportedly fell from a fourth-floor window in the 1400 block of Hamilton Street around 6:45 last night. The child was rushed to St. Luke's Hospital and then transferred to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest but could not be saved. Investigators believe the incident was an accident.
State police are investigating a Washington Township motorcycle accident that killed a Slatington man. 54-year-old Brian Coursey was heading west on Grove Street Tuesday afternoon when he lost control and crashed into a pillar at the entrance to Victory Park. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Bethlehem police say it was a theatrical gun that led to a lockdown at a city school Tuesday. Liberty High School instructed students and staff to stay in place while officers searched the school grounds Tuesday. A tipster had reportedly seen a student carrying a rifle at the school. It turned out the gun was a non-functioning drill rifle used for school plays and police confirm there was never a threat to safety or security.
Officials are calling a house fire that broke out in Monroe County over the weekend suspicious. The Stroud Township home burned Saturday and took companies from Stroud Township, Stroudsburg Borough and Hamilton Township to bring it under control. Stroud Area Regional Police say the homeowners allege a car was driving back and forth near the home just before the fire was discovered. Police say the homeownders questioned the female passenger in the car, who said they were looking for a lost cat who she said was behind the house.
The Department of Health reports a second child has died in Pennsylvania from the flu. The victim's identity and location have not been announced, but the state is confirming there have now been two pediatric flu-related deaths this flu season. There have now been a total of 91 flu-related deaths state-wide, a jump of 16 from the previous week. Eight of those 91 deaths are of people under the age of 49. The state reports about 71,000 total cases of the flu across the commonwealth.
The state Game Commission is reporting Pennsylvania deer hunters just had their most successful year since 2005. The 2018-2019 harvest saw 374,690 deer taken in. That's about 10-percent more than last year and the most since the 2004-2005 deer hunting season. Hunters using bows harvested about a third of the deer, scoring about 50,000 more than they did a year earlier when warm weather and rain impacted much of their season.
Former Texas lawmaker and 2020 presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke campaigned at Penn State Tuesday. The Democrat told a packed auditorium global warming is a proven fact that needs to be dealt with now. "If it warms another degree celsius, going forward...we are screwed," O'Rourke said. O'Rourke spoke for roughly an hour before greeting supporters outside after his speech.
A status conference is set for today for the man accused in the deadly Tree of Life synagogue shooting last year. This afternoon, the judge will meet with prosecutors and attorneys for Robert Bowers to discuss the next steps in the case. Bowers is accused of killing 11 people at the Pittsburgh synagogue last October.