Crime Beat: Meika Jordan, the Broken Princess | S1 E1

good evening I'm answering of Robarts this is crime beat the stories behind some of Canada's most high-profile homicides told by the reporters who walk the beat every day and the families demanding justice will reveal the shocking evidence as it was uncovered by investigators in their quest for justice tonight a six-year-old girl whose life was cut short this was a girl that I honestly don't think had the capability to have a bad day I just kind of made an instrument in my own mind that this is not gonna end well she had bruising throughout her body how did it ever get to that there is no way to explain it I'm sure you have a side to tell here's Nancy Hicks with the story of Mika Jordan the broken princess Mika Jordan loved to sing and dance and she did it like no one was watching at six years old she had a very simple list of things that made her smile at the top of that list ladybugs she was a huge collector of ladybugs I think it was honestly because she couldn't catch the butterflies I mean she would try but there you know just a little bit too quick and stuff at least the ladybugs she could kind of corral them and and be able to scoop them up she was more of the aspect of you know if I can catch it then I can keep it kind of thing so we did that for awhile but she was always under the impression too that you know I don't want to keep it for too long because it might have a family and you know it's mommy misses it so I have to let it go eventually so she would always return them back once she collected them keep them for a couple of days and then she let them go again there was something so extraordinary about the way she could find good in any bad situation you know oh it's raining and we were supposed to go to the zoo that's okay I'll jump in a puddle instead oh it's 300 degrees outside hey that means it's sprinkler time you couldn't take the smile off her face mica love to try new things like the day she got on a skateboard for the first time where's our old spencey I gotta tell em and even though she took a few Falls she would always get up shake it off and try again thank you died no a little further kids get a tip on a dog giving love timeshare you go this was a girl that I honestly don't think had the capability to have a bad day that's why what happened next was so hard to comprehend I won for what city Calgary you need fire police and ambulance ambulance my daughter could fell down the stairs and she's not there she she's not conscious okay I've helped on the way just an alive how old is she she's six six is she awake no no honey no no is she breathing no I don't I don't think so November the 13th 2011 about 7:18 p.m. EMS and CPS responded to a resident and on arrival found six-year-old Mika Jordan unresponsive and in full cardiac arrest Mika Jordan was rushed to hospital police were called to investigate could a six year old girl be that badly injured from a fall down the stairs there is crime tape around the house and it was being contained as a crime scene the man who lived next door told me he had seen a little girl at the home a few times and had wondered why she wasn't in school he said she looked banged up and she had a look of fear in her eyes I saw some scratch on her face then I asked her mother what happened to her maybe a lot of bleeding on her face then she said she fell us a lot she told me good evening a little girl who had been rushed to the Children's Hospital last night has died of her injuries the family that lives at this temple home only moved in three weeks ago but now police are treating the home as a potential crime scene she had an abdominal trauma she had head trauma she had bruising throughout her body severe burn on her left hand matted hair obviously not an injury but but an interesting note and she had a torn from you frenulum and lip and usually that's the result of a blow to the mouth Mika was kept on life support until the next day and at approximately 147 p.m. on November the 14th and I'll never forget it Mika passed away I first met Micah's mother and stepfather Kyla and Bryan Woodhouse just days after Mika died they were both still coming to terms with the fact she was gone the first time we got to see her was when we finally realized how serious of a situation it actually was I was extremely shocked the picture part of it is I am still in shock there's still part of me that that wants her to come walking through that door and I'd kind of as soon as we came into the hospital room and I'd seen the machines and the tubes and just all of that stuff I just kind of made an imprint in my own mind that this is not gonna end well Kyla and Bryan explained this was a split family Mika and her little brother Levi spent half their time with them their biological mother and stepfather they spent the other half of their time with Spencer Jordan and Marie mcgoun Mika and Levi's biological dad and stepmother in 2011 there was a growing custody dispute between the parents on the weekend Mika was rushed to hospital Mika and her little brother were supposed to be at Kyla and Bryan's instead their father and stepmother kept them a memorial was held for Mika six days after she passed away her tiny white coffin was at the front of the room covered in flowers and there was a princess balloon floating above Micah's favorite song was played while memories of her short life were shown on a big screen every night at bedtime when Mika was at Kyla and Bryan's this is the song she would sing that was just a song that she really really loved to sing when she was about four months old we actually had went on a trip to Hawaii with her other grandparent and so it was kind of one of those things that was always in her mind of knowing that she had been there and that was you know kind of a hawaiian-themed song and and that kind of thing so I think it was just the the upbeat miss of it too as the pipes droned people filed out of the funeral home given the extent of Micah's injuries it was hard for anyone to believe she had simply fallen down the stairs it wasn't long before police announced Micah's death was no accident police can now reveal that the blunt force trauma injuries sustained by mica were to her head and abdomen they're not consistent with a fall down the flight of stairs coming up many unanswered questions for police as a major investigation gets underway a six-year-old girl dies after reports of a fall down the stairs but police aren't buying that it was an accident now back to Nancy Hicks with the story of mica Jordan the broken princess there were still so many unanswered questions so I went to Micah's father and stepmother's home to try to get some answers we're just hoping we could talk to you about the death of mica Jordan no comment no comment would you mind if you talk to you I'm sure you have a side to tell we have a side to tell like are you supporting your your wife yes we're supporting each other and everything we're doing nobody's done nothing wrong but the story Spencer and Marie gave to police didn't add up the commonalities between the two your interviews were that Mika fell down the stairs number one neither of them saw her fall number two both of the caregivers in their interview lacked emotion they were flatline no emotion both made negative comments about Mika during the interview each one of those throws up a red flag for me as a investigator and there were other red flags in this case just weeks before Micah's death Brian and Kyla had called Albert a Child and Family Services apparently Mika had some unusual scrapes and bruises when she returned home from a court ordered visit with Spencer and Marie that matched the story the next-door neighbor had already told me and then there was the burn when Mika was rushed to hospital doctors discovered a third-degree burn that covered the palm of her hand you start to realize in your own head that with the amount of injuries and the extent of injuries and when you talk about you know internal injuries blunt force injuries third-degree burns at some point you're not even discussing abuse you're talking about torture there's a lot of anger a lot of hurt just you know my my main question would be why you know what happened to make you feel that angry or upset that you took it out on a six-year-old little girl Jordan and Magoon were caught on wiretap brainstorming stories to tell police to explain away Micah's fatal injuries we thought that you know Spencer being the biological father of mica you know was gonna maybe take the high road and cut ties with Murray but what we found is you know the police pressure and the investigation actually brought them closer together than an usual it is a little bit because in these situations where a child passes away under suspicious circumstances the biological parent is usually normally so upset and not provided any explanation that usually the stress between the two results in a separation not I there was only one other person who saw what had happened - Myka the problem was he was just a little boy Micah's younger brother Levi it was very obvious through the interviews that Levi had witnessed abuse - Mika but was too scared to talk about it Levi has never opened up about what he saw happen Tamika and he was four years old at the time we attempted to interview Levi on three separate occasions over the next weeks in the early going to the investigation Levi was a very scared little fella and we I made the decision to rule him out as a possible witness just to protect him I guess from the investigation Brian and Kyla were thankful Levi was spared from the investigation he's made it clear he doesn't like talking about anything to do with Spencer or Murray he even told them he hates his middle name Spencer for the next few months if you were following the case closely it would seem police had hit a dead end over the next year Spencer Jordan and Marie mcgoun Micah's father and stepmother moved on with their lives and they were living above their means Spencer was unemployed and had been for quite some time they were relying on a number of social agencies in order to pay the bills but there's a lot of bills outstanding and they were in financial dire straits but 2012 was a time of new beginnings including new business opportunities this employment opportunity for Spencer was you know probably a pretty good one more money coming in perhaps less stress and life is kind of improving during this same time the police investigation was being scaled back so that was another positive for that you know myself I wasn't hassling them on a daily basis detective covilhã was kind of going on there were also new friendships Spencer and Marie finally had a social circle who understood them they went on double dates and spent time just enjoying life drinks poker games concerts doing fun things like you know going bungee jumping going a hockey game and their new friends didn't judge them like other people seem to and they felt they could trust them then nearly a year after Micah's death a major break in the case police arrested Spencer Jordan and Marie mcgoon Micah's own father and stepmother were accused of killing her Calgary police homicide detective Dave sweet interviewed Marie mcgoon mcgoon told the detective Mika frequently lied and needed to be punished Nico was in trouble for that day and I was trying to get her to do 20:25 jumping jacks to get her out of her trouble there's no way based on the information we have this can be anything else but a homicide you're gonna have to start believing it I don't do any of this I'm sorry but I did not I do not do this and you're wrong this is just wrong I never hurt her each other.you or its Spencer would you agree with me that it could be nobody else the interview ended with Magoon repeatedly denying her involvement in Micah's deaths just Tommy I don't know I didn't do this coming up as Spencer and Marie continue to deny do police have enough hard evidence against the come welcome back to crime beat I'm Antony roll bars Spencer Jordan and marine Lagoon are accused of killing Spencer six-year-old daughter mica the couple maintained their innocence but investigators are about to finally show their hand we return to Nancy yet with a story of Mika Jordan the broken princess the couple was ordered to stand trial for first-degree murder on March 23rd 2015 about three and a half years after Micah's death details of her murder were revealed and they were really hard to hear as suspected her injuries were far worse than what could come from a simple fall we located a doctor in Ottawa and by the name of dr. Christopher Milroy and he is a forensic pathologist with a vast amount of experience in pediatrics he's initially from the UK but he's performed autopsies on hundreds of kids over the last 20 years so I met with him and requested for him to assist us up on the meka case to look at all of the medical evidence and then provide us an unbiased opinion as to the timeline of he was able to narrow that timeframe to 24 hours from her time of death so keep in mind the time of death was 16 hours out to transport to the Alberta Children's Hospital so that means her fatal injuries to the head and abdomen occurred on the Sunday that she was transported the day of that she was transported to the Alberta Children's Hospital so narrowed it to one day so it couldn't have been an accident like it illuminated some scenarios it did I'll emanated any say historical head trauma or abdominal trauma that Myka may have experienced as the result of say a basket ball to the face or a car accident weeks before when paramedics found mika at Spencer and Murray's house she was lying a few feet from a set of stairs she had no pulse her heart wasn't beating mica was dirty her hair was matted with chunks missing she had been tortured for days leading up to her death remember that burn police had spoken about this is a recording of a phone call marine Magoon made to help link alberta the call was made November 12th 2011 just after midnight nearly two days before mica was rushed to hospital oh thank mouth speaking who might help you I had a question my daughter yesterday burnt herself with a strainer yeah and she it's not that bad of a burn but it did blisters uh-huh and it's the palm of her hand and I'm just wondering a factor like poppet or I mean cause it's dry enough okay and it's it tends to be a big bubble but I'm assuming because she uses her hand okay how old is your daughter six he was using the curling iron no she wasn't using with it which he caught her playing with it okay cuz I'm laughing like I don't even know how to curl my hair now and I'm dirty no straightening iron okay so what the new ones are like 400 degrees yeah yeah mica okay her last name is Jorden yep did she feel pain where the furnace no nothing at all very yeah okay I'm actually a little concerned over that because burns hurt right mm-hmm is it black or white the area oh it's white it's actually white yeah okay because the third-degree burn turns white oh really yeah like she doesn't have any paint on her hand somewhere to burn it like no that story was a lie remember when it appeared police had hit a wall with the investigation when everything went quiet and the public wasn't hearing much about the case that's when detectives were conducting an eight-month undercover operation a mr. big sting operation it's a tactic used in a lot of major crimes investigations police officers create very realistic scenarios and try to get suspects to confess there's actually on the day that Myka died that we code name this operation operation SAS SAS H and which stood for safe and sound in heaven in this particular case undercover officers befriended Spenser and Murray and they were invited into a made-up criminal organization they would have to prove they could be trusted by confessing to a crime they were known suspects in the death of mica Jordan that would include each suspect paying a visit to mr. big in reality mr. big was an undercover officer who played the role of a crime boss the mr. big evidence was crucial without that evidence we would not have had a prosecution that time of fun and new beginnings for Jordan and Magoon in 2012 the new friends and business opportunities it was all a ruse each friend hangout or business dealing was a scenario an elaborate investigative technique used in these kinds of difficult cases it was important to establish what each person did as a player rule in Micah's death and here we had the stepmother the biological father living together in a home where Mika was one of several children so establishing who committed the acts of violence against Mika was important it could have been one it could have been both so when you get to a mr. big operation that's always this that is that at least in this case that was the big question is who did what stressed mr. big told Spencer Jordan things weren't looking good that he'd heard Spencer would be charged with murder they're coming to arrest you they're gonna throw your ass in jail so I figured so the crime boss told Spencer he couldn't help him unless he trusted him and in order to trust him he needed to know exactly what happened - myka a little bit of anger oh no I didn't hit her Miles's pushed her but I remember her falling back on our hard tile floors and she smoked her head pretty good the conversation went on for hours and then finally an admission I hit her hit her summer stomach area and uh she fell over if I hit her hard so I guess the best way to learn is I didn't hold back when we return what Murray Magoon revealed to undercover police welcome back Spencer Jordan reveals damning evidence to undercover police in a mr. big sting operation now it was his wife's turn immediately following Spencer Jordan's confession to the undercover officer he called Murray Magoon that sparked some tense moments for homicide detectives what Spencer said was that kind of felt like a police interview and he was right he was right Murray on the other hand was less paranoid than Spencer Spencer was always more careful and more paranoid out of the tube he was always worried about the police investigation about wiretap about even the you know the undercover operation so Maria on the other hand not so much she just kind of accepted her new friends didn't worry about stuff like where their phone being tapped somehow mcgoon managed to calm Jordans nerves and then it was her turn we did a second crime boss with Murray Murray during that covert confession if you will provided more details as to the injuries that she had inflicted to Myka that's when police finally learned the truth about that horrible burn on Micah's hand she admitted that she had put mica in between her legs grabbed her one hand and with a lighter with the other hand burnt the palm of the whole palm of the hand for 30 seconds which was you know very shocking to even the most seasoned cop to hear this I've seen the photos of Micah's hand they're awful - no Murray mcgoon purposely held a lighter under her hand as torture is beyond my comprehension but that was only the beginning of days of torture you have to listen carefully the audio is a bit hard to hear we disguised mr. BIG's voice to protect his identity and credibility as an undercover cop she didn't gather three feet away yeah at one point Marie Magoon picked up a pillow from the couch and used it as a prop to show what she did Tameka yeah I just general maybe anyone's that mother who with Asia and I heard because she wasn't like that what you the mr. big clarified very much what each person did both of them spoke about what they did how they did it and when they did it and they both did that separately each with mr. big or will say the undercover operator so that brought everything to light and then when you look at the undercover evidence as a prosecution you're looking at any evidence that is corroborated by other aspects of the case so is what they say they did to make consistent with the medical evidence and it was despite the overwhelming and damning evidence in the case the prosecution had another hurdle to overcome the problem was the undercover sting operation the mr. big evidence wasn't automatically allowed as evidence in the trial in fact the sting was in danger of not being allowed as evidence at all because of a decision by Canada's top court they're not automatically admissible they're presumptively inadmissible which is a fancy way of saying that you need to establish that there are sufficient safeguards in the evidence in order for that evidence to be admissible and that's to make sure that people aren't just talking out of thin air there has to be some corroboration to what they're saying in 2014 the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that confessions extracted through mr. big police sting operations tend to produce unreliable confessions are open to abuse and must be presumed inadmissible in court so we were in unchartered waters in addition to arguing confinement we were in this context we were also in a new territory in terms of arguing the mr. bake so again going back to corroboration and pulling out the aspects of the evidence that established cooperation when we see corroboration were saying it matches so every time they said they committed X Act we look to the medical evidence to establish that this in fact did happen that it's consistent with so we would look at we would look at each injury and the consolation of injuries on mica and and argue that it was corroborated evidence yeah that's part of it the other part of it is establishing that the will of the suspect was not overborne to the extent they felt that they had to confess to mr. big so we look at financial inducements we look at any kind of vulnerabilities they might have and the way that the undercover operation handled those vulnerabilities whether they were exploited or not and how those vulnerabilities were handled it was near the end of the trial right before final arguments that the justice presiding over the case ruled the confessions were both reliable and admissible it was such a serious act of violence I know that threw the case throughout the case there was evidence of animus towards mica by her stepmother and the theme that we saw through the evidence was that she perceived mica to be someone in need of discipline and this may have been a way of disciplining mica but again there there is no plausible explanation for why anyone would torture a child in this way but that is what the evidence what is in this the little girl was repeatedly abused for four days she was dragged up some stairs by her hair thrown into her room and then she was pushed hard and hit her head on some ceramic tile in the kitchen and then she was punched in the stomach which then caused some significant internal injuries and pain and then she was told to run the stairs and then during that process her hands were tied and she was also pushed and fell during that process as well how did it ever get to that there is no way to explain it Micah's mother collapsed outside of court after hearing these details I've literally gone through every worst possible case scenario over and over again for the last three years to actually know firsthand what they did to her it's beyond any words or any emotion that I could ever try to come up after the break the court verdict and the fate of Spencer Jordan and Murray Magoon welcome back after a lengthy trial for the murder of a six year old girl the court delivers its verdict now back to Nancy Hicks with a conclusion of mika jordan the broken princess after three and a half years there is some measure of justice for six-year-old Mika Jordan today a judge found her father and stepmother guilty of second-degree murder Jordan and mcgoun were sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 17 years it's not what we were hoping for we we pushed for first degree from the beginning we knew it was going to be a really long hard road to get to you know a second degree isn't what we wanted but ultimately guilty is guilty they lose a few years of their life we lost her but that wasn't the end of the court process there were a flurry of Appeals and court rulings Jordan and mcgoon wanted their convictions overturned sentences reduced the prosecution still felt this was first-degree murder first-degree murder is reserved for crimes that are the most heinous in their nature in Canada murder is first-degree when one of three things happen one it's planned and deliberate two if you kill a police officer and third it's first-degree murder if you kill someone while committing certain other offences one of those is unlawful confinement so we get confinement taking place through the course of a series of events starting with the burn and then through the beatings that would have happened over the course of days including confinement at the at the stairs where there was a binding of the hands controlling her liberty she's not able to get out of that situation she's only six years old and that's how you get to confinement I think we both kind of imagined that on the last day of the trial you know that would be it you you see on TV the judge bangs the gavel and then the jail bars closed and that's the end of it and unfortunately reality is that's not the end then more than five years after Micah's death a rare ruling by the Alberta Court of Appeal the convictions for Jordan and Magoon were upgraded to first-degree murder unlawful confinement in the child homicide had never been tried before just hadn't been this is the first case and for them to look at this as an unlawful confinement which it was because after the burnt hand and they kept me at that house for three days even though she was supposed to be back with bio mom according to the court order it wasn't unlawful confinement but Spencer Jordan and Marie Magoon still didn't accept their guilt so I went to the Supreme Court of Canada in November of 2017 and I was actually in the courtroom when the nine Supreme Court justices ruled that this was an indeed a first-degree murder case and that both were convicted of that with no chance of parole for 25 years it's finally over one of the best things I've ever heard in my life we were anticipating you know a couple weeks to a couple months and basically waiting for an email like we have with many of the other decisions and for them to walk out of that room and actually say it right and in there that day is huge huge for us and for Mika it was the end of the road for Jordan and Magoon they were out of Appeals there was finally justice from Brian had always said you know the she had the power to change the world one day and unfortunately the loss of her life had to be the way that she did it but the story has touched so many people and sometimes you need that raw in-your-face emotion to be able to look at the world around you and say hey this isn't right something needs to change it's probably one of the toughest cases that I've had to deal with and when I say that I say I say that on a personal level on an emotional level and on a professional level this would have been great one Kyla and Brian do everything they can to keep Micah's memory alive she was very much the Barbies and especially the collectors ones these are the ones that were in the casket with her they try to focus on the good times but all too often the bad the loss of their little girl breaks them all over again it's one of those things you never really know when it's gonna hit you or how hard it's gonna hit you you don't know when you don't know where I mean there's been times that I've been standing in the middle of Walmart doing grocery shopping and a song will come on you know standing in the middle of the aisle and I have to try not to lose my mind in the middle of grocery shopping Micah's little brother Levi has his own way of remembering her he calls her Cissy a little while ago he stood up on a stage in his school at a talent contest he sang a special tribute to Mika called sissy's song it's a country song by Alan Jackson Levi ends with the chorus I know she's smiling saying don't worry about me at the end everyone clapped and Levi took a little bow he also carries a special memorial keepsake with him every day it's a pendant with a glass window inside there are some of Micah's ashes along with a ladybug charm and when they really need some quiet time to remember Myka this is where they go I can show up there when I'm having one of the worst imaginable days and I will lay in that grass and I will cry and I will scream and I will swear and I will shout and fifteen minutes later I feel but and on a day when they feel the lowest they see a ladybug and remember Myka smile and it's like she's there with them dancing like no one is watching Myka Jordan's murder trial marked the first time in Canada that unlawful confinement was used in a child homicide case and it continues to be a key tool for prosecutors seeking justice I'm Antony Brevard thank you for joining us tonight on crime for more on this story and other high profile Canadian cases check out crime beat podcast you can listen for free on Apple podcast Spotify or on curious cast on CA

Channel: Crime Beat TV

Views: 4,781,358

Rating: 4.7111492 out of 5

Keywords: Crime beat, Crime, Crime stories, true crime, real life crime, Meika Jordan, Meika Jordan murder, Meika Jordan missing, Nancy Hixt, Nancy Hixt crimebeat, crimebeat, crime beat podcast, crime beat global

Id: 5bttM6SYuLE

Length: 45min 14sec (2714 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 14 2020