Suspects were in custody fight after girl’s death, court hears
Marie Magoon told an undercover police officer she and common- law spouse Spencer Jordan were fighting to get their other children back eight months after fingers were being pointed at them in the death of Meika Jordan, 6, in November 2011.
The female officer testified that Magoon, 25, told her on July 20, 2012, during an undercover operation, that “Child and Family Services told her Mr. Jordan beat Meika until she died.”
“Ms. Magoon said they were able to get a doctor’s report and they were going to disprove all of the injuries that were on the doctor’s report, and Ms. Magoon said she actually died from CPR,” the officer told Crown prosecutor Hyatt Mograbee on Thursday.
“Ms. Magoon told me one of her sons was living in Saskatchewan and ( another) son ( of hers), they hadn’t seen since December. There were two other ( sons) they got to see two times a week. She told me Child and Family Services wanted to adopt out the two other children — the ones that she and Mr. Jordan had together — but that they weren’t going to give up and they were going to fight until they got their kids back.”
Magoon and Jordan, 28, each are on trial for first- degree murder in the alleged beating death of Meika, who suffered numerous injuries from Nov. 10- 13, 2011 at their Temple Drive N. E. home.
The undercover officer said she told Magoon she had spanked her nephew because he threw a temper tantrum and she was sharply rebuked by her sister, which made her very upset.
She said Magoon empathized with her about what she did to the young boy.
“She said I was right to do it,” said the officer. “She said if a child is acting inappropriately, he should be disciplined.”
The officer, however, said she didn’t know for a fact that Magoon had actually spanked her children.
Magoon and Jordan were befriended by the undercover officer in February 2012 and were integrated into a fictitious criminal organization. The sting saw Jordan working with a male officer doing jobs in Edmonton and Calgary, then later in Vancouver.
Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Rosemary Nation will rule on whether evidence gathered during the undercover operation can be considered in determining whether Magoon and Jordan are guilty.
The undercover officer said Magoon told her on Oct. 3, 2012 that she would protect Jordan from allegations, but “if he killed the child, she wouldn’t protect him again.”
The officer said she wasn’t told what had happened to Meika, and information she received about the girl’s injuries came from Magoon.
Court heard last week that an autopsy concluded Meika died from blunt- force trauma to her head and was covered in bruises that couldn’t realistically have been caused by a simple fall.
Co- prosecutor Susan Pepper said earlier the Crown’s theory is that Jordan and Magoon committed many acts of violence against Meika over those four days.
The violence, she said, was allegedly inflicted by the father pushing the girl to the floor, causing her to hit her head; punching her in the stomach; dragging her up the stairs by the ankles and hair; and, throwing her up the stairs, causing Meika to hit her head on a stove.
Pepper alleged Magoon committed similar acts of violence, including forcing Meika to hold her hand over the flame of a lighter, causing the third- degree burn, slamming the girl’s head into the kitchen floor and forcing Meika to run up and down the stairs with her hands tied in front of her.
The judge has yet to rule on the admissibility of evidence gleaned from the undercover operation.
The trial continues.
( Magoon said) she would protect Jordan from allegations, but ‘ if he killed the child, she wouldn’t protect him again.’