Drug Charges Dismissed Against Former Charles City Resident Convicted of Murder

While a former Charles City resident awaits a decision on his appeal of his conviction in the murder of a New Hampton man, drug trafficking charges against him have been dropped.

In November, a Howard County jury found 27-year-old Sayvonne Jordan guilty of first-degree murder and abuse of a corpse in the October 2022 death of Jonathan Esparza, whose remains were later found in Jordan’s Elma residence. Investigators believed Jordan killed Esparza over drugs and then chopped Esparza’s body with an ax before burning his remains in a fire pit outside of Jordan’s home. 

On December 18th, Jordan was sentenced to life in prison. Two days later, his defense counsel filed an appeal to the Supreme Court of Iowa from the judgment and sentence entered in the case. No court proceedings on that appeal have been set.

Jordan was also scheduled to stand trial on felony drug trafficking charges after over 250 grams of marijuana were also allegedly found during the same search that discovered Esparza’s remains. 

However, the prosecution filed to dismiss the drug charges in the furtherance of justice, noting that Jordan’s murder conviction comes with no possibility of parole. A judge has approved dropping the charges at the State’s expense.

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