Inset (left): Jordan Hanson (Kittson County Sheriff”s Office). Inset (right): Justin Esparza (GoFundMe). Background: Hallock, Minn. (Google Maps).
A Minnesota woman pleaded guilty to fatally shooting her boyfriend and was sentenced to prison.
Jordan Hanson, 24, entered a guilty plea to second-degree murder a year after she fatally shot her boyfriend, 43-year-old Justin Esparza, in his home in Hallock, Minnesota. According to Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, Hanson used Esparza’s own handgun to kill him and then fled the scene in his truck with his dog.
Police wrote in a statement of probable cause that after the murder on March 13, 2025, Hanson went back to her mother’s house, with the dog, and told her that she had shot Esparza.
Hanson’s mother called police after hearing her daughter’s apparent confession. During the phone call, Hanson told police that she “did not want to have the conversation over the phone but would rather talk in person,” then said something about Esparza and his dog. Police said Hanson sounded like she was under the influence of drugs.
Hanson’s mother had told police that her daughter had just been picked up from a treatment center.
While police were on the phone with Hanson and her mother, Hanson’s sister called 911 to have someone go to Esparza’s home to check on him.
Police arrived at Esparza’s home and found him dead in his living room, covered in blood from a wound to his head. A Smith & Wesson 9 mm handgun was on the couch next to him, a shell casing on the floor.
When Chief Deputy Dave Thompson from the Kittson County Sheriff’s Office arrived at the home of Hanson’s mother, he placed Hanson under arrest. While she was being arrested, she told Thompson “that he lost weight.” She continued to talk, and police said she “was not making any sense.” Among her statements was a question about “what all the sugar beets were still doing on the ground.”
Thompson reportedly asked Hanson if she knew why she was being arrested. She replied, “[B]ecause she shot Chief Deputy Thompson and she was sorry.”
Police interviewed a witness who said he was at Esparza’s house, where he smoked meth with Hanson and Esparza. He confirmed that he saw Hanson shoot Esparza.
Hanson received a 15-year prison sentence on Wednesday.
