He pleaded responsible on September 3, 2024 to expenses of second-degree homicide and concealing a physique, eliminating the necessity for a trial. Nonetheless, the prosecution spoke to the decide forward of Sullivan’s sentencing, as did the sufferer’s household.

The prosecutor known as him a “convicted liar” and “predator,” per NBC affiliate KPNX. In addition they famous that different girls allegedly victimized by Sullivan had acknowledged they have been prepared to journey from out of state so as to testify in opposition to him in a homicide trial.

Leagans’ household additionally spoke out forward of sentencing, describing Sullivan as a “repeat offender,” referencing allegations that he had a prison historical past of exploiting the belief of others, as reported by KPNX.

In addition they reminded the decide of how he had brutalized the sufferer, and desecrated her stays, likening his actions to how a butcher cuts up a cow. “He deemed her trash to be dumped within the Arizona desert,” one of many sufferer’s sisters informed the decide, per the outlet.

KPNX additionally reported that Sullivan was on probation for aggravated assault earlier than Leagans’ loss of life. He indicated to police upon his arrest that his actions “have been spontaneous and heinous in nature,” per authorized paperwork.

In announcing his sentence, the decide made an identical comment, calling Sullivan a “hazard to society” and saying he “handled [the victim] like trash.”

Sullivan was sentenced to 25 years for the homicide cost, and an extra six-and-a-half years for making an attempt to cover her stays. These sentences might be served consecutively.

“What that man did to my sister, what he did on this judicial system, his manipulations, his lies, is excruciating,” Leagans’ sister Lori Porth informed KPNX after the sentence.

“He can’t damage anybody else and that not less than helps me discover some form of peace,” added her different sister Christa Holton.

Amy Leagans was reported lacking on October 27, 2020 after her mom had not heard from her in a while. Upon deeper investigation, police decided the final time she was seen alive was October 14.

Leagans had solely just lately moved to the Arizona space, as reported by KSAZ, having relocated from Illinois in June or July of that 12 months. At the moment, police decided that Leagans was residing with Timothy Sullivan in a shared condominium in Chandler. KPNX reported in 2020 that courtroom paperwork acknowledged Leagans and Sullivan have been in a relationship.

Because of his “violent prison historical past of home violence associated offenses,” per KSAZ, police have been instantly suspicious of Sullivan having some involvement in her disappearance, although the 2 have been now not residing collectively.

The primary huge break within the case got here whereas they have been attempting to make contact with him at his newest tackle and stumbled on his car parked there.

Inside, investigators reported discovering “a bottle of bleach, latex gloves, a scrub brush, mattress sheets, pillowcases and a duffle bag,” per the outlet. This led to a search warrant on November 11, 2020, which uncovered an space within the yard that had been raked and coated calmly with mulch, per police.

“This space was unearthed and items of burned clothes, human hair, a bracelet and a tag (dimension 6) for an article of girls’s clothes [were] positioned,” police reported in courtroom paperwork. In addition they reported most of the uncovered objects smelled “of an speed up much like lighter fluid.”

Police additional detailed discovering human blood on Leagans’ mattress inside her condominium, on the again seat of her automobile, and on a pillow discovered inside Sullivan’s car.

Simply six days later, they found the stays of a human torso close to the Salt River. “The physique was that of an almost skeletonized feminine that was inside a black plastic bag and coated with mulch,” investigators acknowledged in courtroom paperwork. “The physique confirmed indicators of trauma and was dismembered.”

On November 19, two days after it had been found, the stays have been positively recognized as Leagans. Police reported Sullivan as being taken into custody on November 25.

Early of their investigation, police found a police report relationship again to September 2020 the place Amy Leagans acknowledged Timothy Sullivan had pushed her a number of instances throughout an argument. Data present there was no proof of an altercation and “no enforcement was taken” at the moment.

Police finally discovered Sullivan staying at an ex-girlfriend’s home in Scottsdale after Leagans’ disappearance. The ladies reportedly informed officers, in line with AZ Household, that she had a “troubled relationship” with Sullivan.

The unidentified girl additionally detailed an alleged latest altercation she’d had with him the place he’d strangled her and threatened to “bury me within the again yard like Amy.”

Based on courtroom paperwork, after he was arrested in relation to Leagans’ disappearance — and finally homicide — and after having been learn his Miranda Rights, Sullivan confessed to killing her.

He informed investigators, per courtroom paperwork, that they have been arguing at Leagans’ dwelling when he “snapped” and “choked the sufferer till she stopped respiration.”

He then left her physique alone within the condominium for 2 days, earlier than Sullivan confessed to returning, wrapping her physique in a tarp and burying her within the again yard.

He informed police that after he “turned apprehensive,” he exhumed the physique. It was then that he determined to dismember her physique with an ax, telling police he positioned completely different limbs in trash receptacles across the East Valley and dumped her torso within the desert the place she’d been recovered.