A recording of a Pennsylvania man sexually abusing a woman's body led a prosecutor to charge that necrophilia motivated the man to fatally shoot his stepdaughter Jessica Padgett last month.
The Associated Press reported Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli as saying Gregory Graf recorded himself with the corpse. 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.
Graf, 53, 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.
Morganelli said Graf will also be charged with abuse of a corpse.
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