Jordan Carol Hanson admitted using Justin Esparza’s handgun to kill him before leaving his Hallock home with his truck and dog.

HALLOCK, Minn. — A Minnesota woman has been sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree felony murder in the shooting death of her boyfriend, a case that began with a family member’s call to police and ended with an admission in Kittson County court.

Jordan Carol Hanson, 24, was sentenced July 8 to 180 months in prison for killing 43-year-old Justin Esparza at his Hallock home on March 13, 2025. The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office said Hanson used Esparza’s own handgun, then fled the home in his truck with his dog. Hanson entered her guilty plea May 28, 2026, more than a year after the shooting. The sentence resolves the central criminal charge in a case marked by drug use, a witness account and statements authorities described as confused or delusional.

The attorney general’s office prosecuted the case after receiving a referral from Kittson County Attorney Robert Albrecht. Minnesota law allows the state attorney general to appear in certain criminal cases when a county attorney requests assistance and the attorney general accepts the matter. The office generally handles civil matters rather than local criminal prosecutions, but it may take part in selected cases under that referral authority. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Kittson County Sheriff’s Department and Hallock Police Department investigated Esparza’s death. According to the probable cause account described in news reports, Hanson went to her mother’s home after the shooting with Esparza’s dog and said she had shot him. Her mother contacted law enforcement. During a telephone conversation, Hanson reportedly told authorities she did not want to discuss the matter over the phone and would rather speak in person. Police said she appeared to be under the influence of drugs. Her mother also told investigators that Hanson had recently been picked up from a treatment center.

Another member of Hanson’s family called 911 and asked authorities to check on Esparza at his home. Officers who responded found him dead in the living room from a gunshot wound to the head. A Smith & Wesson 9 mm handgun was found on the couch beside him, and investigators reported finding a spent shell casing on the floor. The physical scene, the family call and the witness statement gave investigators several immediate sources of evidence as they began reconstructing what happened inside the home.

A witness later told investigators that he had been at Esparza’s house with Hanson and Esparza and that the three had used methamphetamine. The witness said he saw Hanson shoot Esparza. That account placed another person inside the residence and provided investigators with an alleged firsthand description of the shooting. Hanson’s eventual guilty plea meant prosecutors did not have to present that testimony at a murder trial or ask jurors to decide whether the state had proved the charge beyond a reasonable doubt.

Authorities arrested Hanson at her mother’s home. Chief Deputy Dave Thompson of the Kittson County Sheriff’s Office reported that Hanson made a series of statements that did not appear connected to the situation. She commented on Thompson’s weight and asked why sugar beets were still on the ground. When Thompson asked whether she understood why she was being arrested, Hanson reportedly said she had shot him and was sorry, even though Thompson had not been shot. Police treated the comments as indications that she was not thinking or communicating clearly at the time.

Those statements became one of the most unusual elements of the public account, but they did not replace the evidence at the center of the prosecution. The case rested on Esparza’s death, the firearm and shell casing, Hanson’s reported statement to her mother, the witness account and evidence that she left the home with Esparza’s property. The attorney general’s sentencing announcement said Hanson admitted killing Esparza with his handgun and leaving with his truck and dog. The public release did not identify a specific motive for the shooting.

Second-degree felony murder under Minnesota law allows a person to be held criminally responsible for causing a death while committing or attempting another qualifying felony, even when the prosecution does not allege a premeditated plan to kill. Hanson’s guilty plea established her legal responsibility under the charge accepted by the court. The state’s sentencing announcement did not provide a full account of the plea negotiations, sentencing arguments, credit for time served or the precise terms governing her eventual release from state custody.

Attorney General Keith Ellison said his thoughts were with Esparza’s family and loved ones as Hanson went to prison. He said he hoped the sentence gave them a sense that some measure of justice had been done. Ellison also credited the Kittson County attorney, local law enforcement agencies and the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension for their work. His statement focused on the completed prosecution rather than the strange comments Hanson was reported to have made during her arrest.

Esparza’s relatives had described the killing as a devastating shock while the case was still in its early stages. His cousin Nick Esparza told Valley News Live in March 2025 that Justin Esparza had a big heart, thought deeply about things and enjoyed discussing his ideas. Family members said he had no wife or children but remained connected to relatives elsewhere in Minnesota. At the time, they were waiting for his body to be released and were preparing for funeral expenses while investigators continued their work.

Relatives also remembered Esparza for his interest in beekeeping. In a video shared with his cousin, Esparza said he had worked in the bee business for four or five years and loved the work so much that it did not feel like a job. That description offered a fuller view of the victim than the police scene and charging documents could provide. For his family, the criminal case concerned not only the circumstances of a shooting but the loss of a cousin, brother and friend whose daily life had been built in the small northwestern Minnesota community.

The March 2025 shooting left the family with questions about how events developed so soon after Hanson had reportedly left a treatment center. Publicly available accounts do not establish what treatment she had received, why she went to Esparza’s home, what was said before the gunfire or what prompted her to take his truck and dog. The state’s announcement also did not identify the dog’s later location or condition. Those unanswered details remain part of the case’s background even though the guilty plea removed the need for a trial.

The 15-year sentence now moves the matter from prosecution to incarceration. Hanson will serve the sentence under Minnesota correctional rules, subject to any jail credit and release provisions contained in the court’s judgment. The attorney general’s office described the July 8 hearing as the conclusion of its murder prosecution. No further trial is scheduled because Hanson pleaded guilty, and authorities have not announced additional charges arising from Esparza’s death.

Author note: Last updated August 5, 2026.