How rap song Dead Body Disposal helped find Jack Harrison Vincent Sadler of murder
He followed the lyrics of a rap song when he killed and cut his friend into pieces, and now he’s been found guilty of murder, the Mercury looks at how Jack Sadler’s night of terror unfolded >>
Police & Courts
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THE lyrics of the rap song Dead Body Disposal include “cut up a corpse into six pieces”, “put the pieces inside trash bags”, and “throw the bags away in various trash bins in different areas”.
Murderer Jack Harrison Vincent Sadler loved that song – and followed its instructions to the letter after killing his friend Jake Anderson-Brettner.
The pair had been friends for years. Sadler, 29, was angry with 24-year-old Mr Anderson-Brettner about money he owed for ecstasy and cocaine.
The pair agreed to meet at Sadler’s Dion Crescent house in the Launceston suburb of Riverside on Wednesday, August 15, 2018.
Sadler asked his partner Gemma Clark to buy bleach, disposable overalls and gloves. He asked a former criminal lawyer the best way to dispose of a body.
The meeting was supposed to be short. Mr Anderson-Brettner told his fiancee Katlyn Roney he would be home for dinner at 8pm – but by 7.30pm he was dead.
While at Sadler’s house, Mr Anderson-Brettner took his last phone call, from a real estate agent telling him his home finance had been approved.
The two men talked briefly, then went up to a room that Sadler had lined in plastic. Clark said she heard the words “please man, don’t, please man, stop”.
There were three gunshots. The first, to Mr Anderson-Brettner’s back, was fatal.
Sadler cut off the dead man’s head, arms and legs using a knife and an axe.
Clark helped him wrap the torso in bedding and dispose of it down an embankment in the Sideling.
They put other body parts into garbage bags in wheelie bins around Launceston – using a mixture of baby oil, cayenne pepper and chilli powder to conceal the smell.
About 2.30am, Ms Roney, drove to Sadler’s house after her partner failed to return her messages and calls.
Sadler said Mr Anderson-Brettner had never been there. She called him a liar.
The killer changed his story the next day, telling police Mr Anderson-Brettner had visited and left.
Mr Anderson-Brettner was reported missing on August 16.
The same day, Sadler and Clark bought new curtains for the room where the killing took place. Sadler went to the gym. They were questioned by police at the Launceston Police Station but released.
On August 18, the pair were arrested at the Silos Hotel where they had been staying after Sadler’s house was declared a crime scene.
Clark led police to Mr Anderson-Brettner’s torso where they had dumped it off the Tasman Highway. The rest of Mr Anderson-Brettner’s body has never been found.
Sadler was charged with murder and pleaded not guilty. He told the Supreme Court in Launceston that Mr Anderson-Brettner was shot after a heated meeting with three drug dealers from Victoria.
He told of his own cocaine habit and provided extensive detail on how he manufactured ecstasy.
Director of Public Prosecution Daryl Coates, SC, said Sadler had shown no remorse and “didn’t seem too distressed” about what had happened to Mr Anderson-Brettner.
He said Sadler was “more concerned about telling us what a good drug manufacturer he was”.
The victim’s mother, Claudette Brettner, said during her victim impact statement that she had “lost my son because of the drugs world”.
“My son wasn’t rubbish, he was precious and he was priceless,” she said.
Speaking to Sadler in the dock, she said “it would be easier to not forgive, and my heart would become harder and more like you”.
“I forgive you, not because you deserve it, but because I deserve peace,” Ms Brettner said.
Sadler and Clark made extensive efforts to cover up the crime. Police officers described an overwhelming smell of cleaning products at the scene.
The murder weapon – a 9mm Smith and Wesson pistol – was hidden in bushes at Sadler’s house.
A silencer and three boxes of ammunition were put in a PVC pipe, taped up and taken to a vacant block.
Mr Anderson-Brettner’s car was moved and his keys thrown down a drain.
Sadler’s black Jeep was found parked on a nearby street. It had $87,480 in cash inside.
The jury returned its unanimous guilty verdict last Thursday after an 11-day trial. Justice Robert Pearce will sentence Sadler on May 28.
Clark is serving time in jail after pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact of murder, and failing to report a killing.
Clark’s sentence was reduced from eight years to 5½ years, in part because of her willingness to give evidence at Sadler’s trial.
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