Man admits killing girlfriend in 2003, cutting off her legs with hacksaw
A Pennsylvania man has confessed to killing his girlfriend 16 years ago, storing her body in a coal bin and then cutting off her legs with a hacksaw last year, according to a report.
Jade G. Babcock, 49, admitted to killing Brenda Lee Jacobs with several punches to her head in their Montoursville home in December 2003, court documents obtained by PennLive.com show.
Babcock initially kept the woman’s body wrapped in a comforter inside a closet for months before moving it to an outdoor coal bin behind the home, where it stayed for years, the report said.
The property shared by the couple was then sold last November, prompting Babcock to move Jacobs’ body into a wooden box.
But her remains wouldn’t fit, so Babcock hacked off her legs, police reportedly said.
Babcock told investigators he later threw a bag with Jacobs’ legs off a bridge in Williamsport, thinking that it would sink.
But fishermen made the grisly find about a half-mile away less than one month after Babcock dumped them into the Susquehanna River, PennLive.com reports.
The woman’s severed legs were “mummified,” according to a coroner who examined the appendages. Her feet still had white socks on and her toenails were painted pink, Lycoming County Coroner Charles Kiessling told PennLive.com.
Babcock likely avoided detection for so long by putting Jacobs’ body in the coal bin, which probably absorbed some of the moisture and odor while preserving the corpse, Kiessling said.
Babcock, who remains jailed without bail on criminal homicide and other charges, told a judge during a court appearance Tuesday that he’s bipolar and suffers from depression. He’s also addicted to methamphetamine and alcohol, he said.
Jacobs’ body, meanwhile, has not been officially identified or matched to the legs. Investigators hope they can link the two with DNA testing, PennLive.com reports.
Photo Credit: Philadelphia Police Department