Former Charles City Resident Convicted of Murder Gets Charges Dismissed in Separate Case

A former Charles City resident, found guilty of killing a New Hampton man, is getting charges in a separate case dismissed.

In early October, a Howard County jury found 27-year-old Sayvonne Jordan guilty of first-degree murder, a Class A felony; and abuse of a corpse, a Class C felony; in the death of Jonathan Esparza on October 20, 2022. Esparza’s remains were found during a search of Jordan’s Elma residence November 30, 2022. 

A sentencing hearing for Jordan is scheduled for December 18th, but Jordan still faces a January 4th trial in Howard County on drug trafficking charges after over 250 grams of marijuana were also found during the search that discovered Esparza’s remains.

Jordan was also slated for trial December 7th in Bremer County from his arrest in December 2022 for driving while barred and possession of marijuana. It was about a month after that incident Jordan was arrested and charged with Esparza’s murder.

On November 9th, the Bremer County Attorney’s office filed to dismiss the their charges in light of Jordan’s murder conviction and to save the County the expense of another trial. Tuesday, a judge approved dropping the Bremer County case against Jordan.