Calgary couple charged in girl’s death

After a complex investigation spanning nearly a year, police have laid second-degree murder charges against a Calgary couple in connection with the death of the man’s young daughter last November.

Spencer Jordan, 26, was arrested Sunday evening in a hotel room in south Calgary, while Marie Magoon, 22, was arrested downtown, said Staff Sgt. Doug Andrus of the homicide unit.

Police had long suspected the pair in the death of six-year-old Meika Dawn Jordan.

“As in all homicide investigations, it’s very rewarding to bring the investigation to a conclusion,” Andrus said. “But of course, infant deaths tend to strike a special chord with our investigators, an emotional chord, some of whom have children of their own.”

Officers were called to the couple’s home in the 6700 block of Temple Drive N.E. on the evening of Nov. 13 after reports of an injured girl.

Meika was taken to hospital and died the next day.

An autopsy completed Nov. 16 determined she had died as a result of multiple blunt force trauma, and the death was deemed a homicide.

At first, police were told Meika had fallen down stairs. But last week, investigators revealed they recently learned the blunt force injuries were to her head and abdomen, which were not consistent with a fall down a flight of stairs.

Investigators also discovered that Meika had sustained a severe thirddegree burn to her hand and palm, and some other undetermined injuries, prior to her death.

They have not revealed how the girl was hurt.

The biological father and stepmother were the only ones who had “exclusive opportunity” to the little girl at the time of her injuries. They have not cooperated with police from the start, Andrus said.

Thanks to the new medical evidence determining when the injuries were sustained, and upon completion of some “investigative steps,” police were able to move forward with the case and make arrests, Andrus said.

There were other children in Jordan and Magoon’s relationship. They were placed in “a safe environment” at the start of the investigation, Andrus said.

Jordan and Magoon remain in police custody and are due to appear in court Tuesday.