An Arizona man will serve decades in prison for choking his ex-roommate to death, dismembering her with an ax, and dumping body parts throughout the Phoenix area.
Timothy Sullivan, 66, was sentenced to more than 31 ½ years in prison on Friday for the murder of Amy “Ruby” Leagans, 49. He pleaded guilty in September to second-degree murder and concealing a body.
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According to local NBC affiliate KPNX, Leagans’ family reacted in court, describing the mutilation as similar to how a butcher cuts up cows.
“He deemed her trash to be dumped in the Arizona desert,” the victim’s sister told the judge, according to the report. “What that man did to my sister, what he did on this judicial system, his manipulations, his lies, is excruciating.”
Sullivan apologized, citing a traumatic brain injury.
“I take full responsibility for my actions,” Sullivan told the news station.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Justin Beresky described the defendant as a “danger to society” who “treated (Amy) like trash.”
The case was brought to light after her family reported her missing on October 27, 2020.
On November 17, police discovered her remains near the river’s bottom. Police quickly connected Sullivan to the killing. They had lived together since she moved from Illinois to Arizona earlier that year.
She had previously reported him for attempting to beat her, but the police found no evidence of a crime and “no enforcement was taken,” according to independent Phoenix-based TV station KTVK and local CBS affiliate KPHO, which broadcast as “Arizona’s Family.”
KPNX reported that Sullivan had been on probation for aggravated assault prior to Leagans’ death.
He told the police what had happened. He was in Leagans’ apartment. She yelled at him. He “snapped” and strangled her to death.
The defendant kept the victim’s body inside the apartment for two days before burying it in the backyard.
“He then became concerned and exhumed her remains. “He then dismembered her body,” investigators stated in court documents.
He used an ax to place limbs in trash cans throughout the Phoenix area, according to Arizona’s Family.
On November 17, officers discovered remains in Phoenix’s Salt River that were later identified as Leagans. Her torso was discovered in the desert.
“The body was that of a nearly skeletonized female, enclosed in a black plastic bag and covered with mulch. “The body showed signs of trauma and was dismembered,” local Fox affiliate KSAZ reported, citing court documents from one of the discoveries.
Sullivan was arrested on November 25, 2020.
Prosecutors claimed that other victims of Sullivan were willing to travel from out of state to testify against him in his murder trial.
