Meika Jordan, The Broken Princess | 1
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Hey, it's Nancy. Before we begin today, I just wanted to let you know that you can listen to Crime Beat early and ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. He's the most terrifying serial killer you've never heard of. Haddon Clark has confessed to several murders, but investigators say he could have over 100 victims. At the center of the mayhem, a cellmate of Haddon's that was able to get key evidence into Haddon's murder spree across America.

because hadn't thought he was Jesus Christ. Born Evil, the Serial Killer and the Savior, an ID true crime event, premieres Monday, September 2nd at 9. Watch on ID or stream on Max. Set your DVR. A listener's note. This podcast contains coarse language, adult themes, and content of a violent and disturbing nature. Listener discretion is advised. In my house, I have a bulletin board where I put up photos of the people I love.

My husband, my family, including my nieces, and of course my two cats. In the top right corner, there's a picture of the most beautiful little girl. She has long blonde hair, the bluest eyes I've ever seen, and the most adorable smile. You can see she's bright, playful, smart, and innocent. The photo melts my heart every time I look at it.

The girl in the picture is Mika Jordan, a girl who's become a part of my heart, but I never got to meet. I'm Nancy Hixt. I'm the crime reporter for Global News. I've been doing this for more than two decades. I see some really bad stuff and I deal with some very dark subject matter. For the most part, I think I've learned to compartmentalize. I cover the stories, but I try to put the really bad stuff in the back of my mind where I don't have to see it.

And then there's the cases on the Crime Beat where that doesn't work. The ones I have dreams and flashbacks about years later. Mika Jordan's story is one of those. I'm Nancy Hixt, and this is the Crime Beat. As a journalist, sometimes I lose track of time, meaning I can barely remember what I did yesterday because I'm so focused on what I'm doing today. It's busy, and a lot of the time, it's really intense.

But there are some dates that are burned into my memory. November 14th, 2011 is one of those days. It's the day Mika Jordan died. This is the call to 911. 911 for what city? Calgary. Do you need fire, police, or ambulance? Ambulance. The six-year-old was rushed to hospital a day earlier. Police said she'd been injured in her Northeast Calgary home. Okay, tell me exactly what happened.

I'm not sure. My daughter fell down the stairs and she's not there. She's not conscious. Okay, I have help on the way to stay on the line. I'm going to help you out with this. I just have a few more questions. Are you with her right now? Yeah, well, my husband is. How old is she? She's six. Six? Is she awake? No. Pardon? No. No? Is she breathing? No, I don't think so.

A fall down the stairs. That's what the caller said. Could a six-year-old girl be that badly injured from a fall down the stairs? I hopped in a vehicle with a photographer and headed to the neighborhood. It isn't far from the Global Calgary newsroom.

We pulled up to a small 70s or early 80s style bi-level home. It was tan colored with brown trim and there were two bushy evergreens in the front blocking most of the front windows. There was crime tape around the house. It was being contained as a crime scene. I had a really bad feeling this was going to be an awful story to cover.

One of the first things I do when I cover these kinds of cases is knock on some doors, try to see if the people in the neighborhood heard or saw anything. Police do the same kind of thing when they're trying to track down witnesses. It's not uncommon for us to speak to the same people.

In this case, the man who lived next door told me he'd seen a little girl at the home a few times. He wondered why she wasn't in school. He said she looked banged up and said she had a look of fear in her eyes. My heart sank.

That explained why the child abuse unit was involved and why homicide detectives were now investigating Mika's death.

Good evening. A little girl who had been rushed to the children's hospital last night has died of her injuries. The six-year-old had been found in a home in Temple with critical injuries. Police are now trying to determine if this was an accident or something criminal. Nancy Hixt reports. 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.

After that first story about Mika's death aired on Global News, I received a call from Mika's stepfather, Brian Woodhouse. He had seen the story and he was upset about the comment from the neighbor, the one you heard just a little bit earlier that said Mika's mother had brushed off the little girl's previous injuries. Brian called to set the record straight.

To any stranger on the street, they would see mother-father kids as I'm sure were viewed as by others as well. And that's really something we wanted to make a point of is, you know, the actual mother of this beautiful little girl was nowhere near anything. Brian explained this was a split family. Mika spent half of her time in his home with his partner Kyla, Mika's biological mother.

She spent the other half of her time with her biological dad, Spencer Jordan, and her stepmother, Marie Magoon. Mika was with Spencer and Marie when she was hurt. Brian and Kyla invited me to their home.

They wanted people to know more about Mika. I find a lot of times people who suffer such horrible losses find some comfort in speaking about their loved ones. These first meetings with the families of victims of homicide are always really difficult. You have people going through the worst possible trauma of their lives.

And then there's me, a complete stranger, going into their homes, asking really personal questions and getting them to open up about the very reason their hearts are broken. It's extremely emotional and it's not something I take lightly. I know they're trusting me, trusting me with their favorite memories, trusting I'll tell this story with care and compassion. Brian and Kyla sat on their couch arm in arm.

They were understandably exhausted. On the table beside them, there was a picture of Mika with her gorgeous blonde hair and her big blue eyes were looking directly at me. Just sheer love for everything, you know? Everything and anything. She was just the happiest, beautiful little girl. She was a girl who would have grown up to change the world. I could tell Brian was trying to be strong for Kyla.

But both of their eyes filled with tears as they took me through what happened. The last words she ever spoke to us were, I love you, Mommy. I love you, Brian. Can't wait to see you guys next time. But there wouldn't be a next time. Instead, a call, then a visit from police. A detective calling to inform us that there had been an accident. All they had told me was that she had fallen down the stairs.

and that they needed to talk to me before I could see her. The first time we got to see her was when we finally realized how serious of a situation it actually was. Their little girl was barely recognizable. Mika was hooked up to all sorts of tubes and machines. There was a huge bump on her forehead. Her little body was covered in bruises. She couldn't breathe on her own, and she was in a medically induced coma.

I was extremely shocked. The true part of it is I am still in shock. There's still part of me that wants her to come walking through that door. And I had kind of, as soon as we came into the hospital room and I had 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

She couldn't survive her injuries. Doctors told Brian and Kyla that Mika was very broken. A memorial was held for Mika one week after she was rushed to hospital. That was six days after she passed away.

It was a really cold and dreary day in Calgary. The service was held at a funeral home. Her tiny white coffin was at the front, was covered in flowers, and there was a princess balloon floating above it. I think, Amika, I have to wonder how such a child, so full of life and possibility, could be gone so quickly. But God knows. I found those words fitting, as what happened to cause such horrific injuries to Mika was still a mystery.

By now, suspicion was building against Spencer and Marie. Enough that Kyla refused to sit by them at the service. Brian and Kyla and their family members sat on the left side of the room. Spencer and Marie were on the right. Mika's favorite song was played while memories of the little girl's short life played on the screen at the front of the room.

Every night at bedtime, when Mika was at Brian and Kyla's, this is the song she would sing. Bagpipes played as the little casket was taken out of the funeral home. Kyla told me Mika loved the bagpipes.

It was because of the bagpipes that the little girl became a fan of the Steve Earle song, "Copperhead Road." As the pipes droned, people filed out of the funeral home. Brian and Kyla were one of the first couples to leave. They were a mess, completely overcome with grief. Brian was sobbing. It was heartbreaking to watch. A few minutes later, Spencer Jordan and Marie Magoon made their way to the door.

And I can't help but wonder what was going through their minds at that exact moment. Marie didn't look sad. She looked uncomfortable. Spencer appeared indifferent. They had to know all eyes were on them. People had done the math. Spencer and Marie were the ones taking care of Mika when she was hurt. So it made sense they were the sole suspects in her death.

The couple had been out drinking and partying the night before the funeral. There was a private family viewing that night. Brian told me Spencer and Marie seemed annoyed to have to attend the viewing. The couple then went from the funeral home to Moxie's, a popular restaurant chain in Canada. They were partying, eating and ordering drinks. When they finished there, they stopped at a liquor store. It was anything but a somber time.

To be carrying on like you didn't have a care in the world at a time when your own daughter was being laid to rest, it's really hard to comprehend. Confirmation from police today that a six-year-old girl who died in hospital earlier this month was murdered. The cause of death is blunt force trauma. Blunt force trauma. That's what killed Mika.

The injuries are inconsistent with everyday activities of a child or falling down stairs. Kyla and Brian were horrified. What had happened to their little girl? What could that little girl have possibly said or done to aggravate somebody to the point of anything violent, let alone enough to cause an aggravated death like that?

I've never been one to shy away from knocking on a suspect's door. I feel it's important to give all sides a chance to speak. So six weeks after Mika had died, on a cold, snowy December day, I went to the home of Spencer Jordan and Marie Magoon in hopes of getting some sort of insight into what happened to Mika. I waited and mentally prepared for what I might encounter. Door knocks are unpredictable.

A lot of people ignore the door completely or they might peer out of a window and see it's me and just hope I'll go away. One of the most common outcomes of a door knock is getting told off. It's kind of what I've come to expect. A quick open, a few choice words and then a door slamming in my face. I kept waiting patiently with my photographer outside of Spencer and Marie's house. There is some comfort in having someone there with me just in case things get heated.

Or someone takes a swing. That's the other possibility. And yes, it has happened before. And then... Hi there. Hi, I'm just from Global News. We're just hoping we could talk to you about the death of Mika Jordan. No comment. No comment? Would you mind if we could talk to you? No, not right now. All right. We'd love to just sit down and talk with you. That's Spencer Jordan. He was trying to close the door. I tried to keep him talking.

I'm sure you have a side to tell. We have a side to tell, but not her. I saw Marie Magoon pop her head near the door. She did not look happy to see me. By then, they were well aware I'd been reporting on Mika's death, and I'm sure she viewed me as the enemy. She tried to get Spencer to close the door. I tried to focus on Spencer. Maybe Marie was responsible. Maybe he'd turn on her. Would you talk to us? No, nobody would ever know. Like...

Honestly, that lasted a lot longer than I thought it would. We walked away from the house to the sidewalk and my photographer started to get some shots of the outside of the home.

That's when I saw a purple balloon dangling from the tree out front. It was barely floating, pretty much deflated. And then my mind started to wander. What happened behind these walls? What happened to Mika? How could anyone hurt her, let alone her own father and stepmother? My next stop was Calgary Police Headquarters.

In cases where I knock on a suspect's door, I try to do regular check-ins with investigators. I like to make sure I'm not getting in their way. We all have jobs to do, but I'm very respectful of the difficult task homicide detectives have in working on cases like this one. I also try to push to get the latest information to include in my stories.

Generally, it's the homicide staff sergeants who speak to the media. And that's for several reasons. One, detectives need to hold back important information to protect the integrity of the case. And two, frankly, detectives don't have time, especially the primary investigator, who has to focus on moving the investigation forward and juggling a lot of moving parts to make that happen. Here's Staff Sergeant Andrus. These are complex investigations that

complex in the fact that we're dealing with parents who have suffered the loss of a child and who may find themselves under suspicion. Basically what he was saying was, you have two people, and the only two people with the opportunity to hurt Mika. And the story they're giving police, it does not add up. Police would have to find a way to get them talking. A couple months later, Spencer and Marie were arrested, but not for killing Mika.

Spencer and Marie were accused of going into Walmart empty-handed, taking items off the shelves, then going to customer service and asking for a refund for those items. Police said they would pretend they lost their receipt. They were caught on surveillance video. In this particular case, it was alleged Spencer took a deep fryer off the shelf, then met Marie at customer service, where they received just under $100 back on a Walmart gift card.

The couple then purchased two Wendy's gift cards and a phone card, all with the fraudulently obtained Walmart gift card. After the arrest, Spencer told police he had done the same type of refund fraud a number of times. He claimed he had to do it to feed his family.

That day, I saw them escorted from the police district office and loaded into the back of a truck, the kind that looks like a paddy wagon with benches on the inside. They did not look impressed to see my photographer capturing that moment on film. Investigators told me as they interviewed the couple, one important thing had changed. Currently, Jordan and Magoon are being uncooperative with investigators in relation to the homicide investigation.

Sources told me Spencer and Marie were also being looked at for neglect and abuse of their surviving children. It was then I also learned Marie was pregnant. Again. Brian and Kyla were really struggling with that news. It's heartbreaking. It's sickening to know that there's yet another life that's about to be born into a state of chaos.

This would mark three children for Spencer and Marie, plus Mika's full brother, Spencer and Kyla's biological son, Levi. Levi was there when Mika was killed. He is the cutest little boy. Every time I see him, I can't help but wonder what horrors he witnessed that day. It's so awful to think that he saw her getting hurt.

Police decided not to involve him in the investigation. They didn't want to traumatize him any further than he already was. Levi was only four when Mika died. Brian and Kyla said they were thankful he was spared from the investigation. They told me he does not like talking about anything to do with Spencer and Marie. He even told them that he hates his middle name, Spencer. What he saw could not have been good.

And it is clear he is not ready to open up about it. On the other hand, he loves talking about Mika. He calls her sissy. He brings her up to Brian and Kyla all the time. Like they're watching a movie and it'll be one of her favorites. So he'll make sure he reminds everyone that his sissy loved that show.

And then a little while ago, he stood up on a stage at a talent contest and sang a special tribute to Mika called Sissy's Song. It's a country song by Alan Jackson. Levi ends with the chorus. The lyrics are, I know she's smiling saying don't worry about me.

Everyone clapped and Levi took this little bow. It was really powerful. He is adorable. He also carries a special memorial keepsake with him every single day. It's a pendant keychain and it has a little glass window and inside there are some of Mika's ashes along with this little ladybug charm because Mika loved ladybugs.

Brian and Kyla have similar memorial pendants and they also carry them with them every single day. I was getting to know them pretty well as the investigation continued. They trusted me and they started to open up and what they shared was further evidence of abuse and neglect at the hands of Spencer and Marie.

It turns out, just weeks before Mika's death, Brian and Kyla had called Alberta Child and Family Services. Apparently, Mika had had some unusual scrapes and bruises when she was returned home from a court-ordered visit with Spencer and Marie. That matched the story the next-door neighbor had already told me.

It was also during this visit that Brian and Kyla showed me new tattoos they had done in Mika's honor. They took her name as she wrote it. You can actually see how she tried to get every letter perfect. I bet she had practiced it many times. She had a perfect M, a smaller E, I. Her K was coming along but still needed a little bit of work. And the A? Well, the A was textbook perfect.

Mika always proudly printed her name on her schoolwork. I had seen her scrapbook. And now her mother and stepfather had the carefully crafted letters permanently inked on their arms. She was my first baby. She was my little girl. She was everything I had ever wanted in a daughter. For the next few months, if you were following the case closely, it would seem police had hit a dead end.

But as a crime reporter, I knew better. When detectives go silent to the media, it usually means they need some time to work on some creative investigative strategies. Bottom line, I knew Mika's case was a huge priority. You want to do everything you can.

from an investigative standpoint and emotionally you basically set yourself apart from that while you're getting the job done. You go into work mode and that's exactly what our team did. That was the primary investigator assigned to Mika's case, Calgary Police Homicide Detective Mike Kavila. His team was working around the clock, barely sleeping. They were all working, trying to get the evidence needed to bring justice for Mika.

This particular officer is very much a family man. He has two beautiful little girls of his own. They were just a little bit younger than Mika when she died. I would later learn about a very special operational name that he had assigned to this case. We codenamed the operation Operation SASH, which is short an acronym for Safe and Sound in Heaven. And my wife actually coined that acronym.

All homicide files are given operational names. This one was just really special, and it really spoke to the emotional investment the officers poured into Mika's case.

From day one, Detective Cavilla and his team of homicide detectives were focused on holding Mika's killers accountable. And Spencer and Marie were not fooling him with their story of a simple fall down the stairs. I knew they were lying right away based on the very scant reports I had from first responders at the scene in relation to Mika's injuries.

It was October of 2012, nearly a year after Mika's death, before there was an official update from investigators. This one was particularly difficult to report on. Police now had results of the autopsy on Mika back from the medical examiner, and it painted a horrible picture of what happened to this little girl. Police can now reveal that the blunt force trauma injuries sustained by Mika were to her head and abdomen.

They are not consistent with a fall down the flight of stairs. This includes a severe third-degree burn that covered the palm of Mika's hand and fingers. Blunt force trauma to her head and abdomen and a burn. I knew Mika had a head injury, but the information about blunt force trauma to her abdomen and the burn to her hand was all new. My mind couldn't help but wander to a dark place. How could it not?

What could have possibly burned her hand? This poor little girl. Brian and Kyla were having the same kinds of thoughts. 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 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?

I post all of my stories on a Facebook crime page, Nancy Hick's Crime Beat. It's become a community where people follow along with the stories I cover. A lot of the original members of the page are victims of crime themselves, people who've suffered some sort of loss or had horrible things happen to them. And through the page, a lot have become friends and supporters of each other.

As details of Mika's case were slowly revealed, people were posting messages of support for Brian and Kyla. And a lot of people were starting to ask why charges had not been laid. To most people, this case seemed simple. You had two people with the access and opportunity to kill Mika, so just charge them both. But in reality, it's not so simple.

Meanwhile, 2012 was a time of new beginnings for Spencer and Marie. The months following Mika's death brought new friends and new business opportunities

Predictably, given the fraud charges, these were not all straight-up honest, money-making kind of opportunities. Spencer started off with a legitimate job for a hotshot delivery business. It was being run out of his garage. But that led to an in with a group that was making money on the side with fraud-related stuff, but on a way bigger scale than what he was doing with the ripoffs from Walmart. Spencer got involved with skimming and counterfeit credit card scams,

And his new associates understood him. Plus, his new business partner had a girlfriend. She would become Marie's new BFF. Finally, Marie had someone she could be herself around. They went shopping together, they went to the spa. You know, like, girl stuff.

2012 was a fun time. Spencer and Marie went on double dates. They spent time just enjoying life. Dinners, drinks, poker games, concerts. And their new friends didn't judge them like other people seemed to. And they could trust them. Then, just one month before the first anniversary of Mika's death, it happened.

Spencer Jordan and Marie Magoon were arrested. And this time, it wasn't just for fraud. They were arrested for murder. For killing Mika.

The video of that moment has been played and replayed dozens of times on the news. It was dark outside and you could hear the sirens in downtown Calgary at arrest processing. That's where people are taken to be formally charged and then they go to the Calgary Remand Centre where many stay until they stand trial. Detectives arrived in the alley in several vehicles. First, they opened the back door of a police cruiser and

and Marie got out. Her hands were handcuffed behind her back, and she was wearing what I can only describe as a skimpy top, and it had stains down the front like she had spilled her coffee. Homicide detective Dave Sweet took her by the arm and led her to the door of the building. Meanwhile, Spencer was led out of a different police car. He also had his hands handcuffed behind his back, and he was wearing a t-shirt and jeans. He had kept his head down. You could tell he wanted to stay away from the cameras.

Spencer had two detectives walking with him, one on each arm. News photographers filmed each of the accused and at one point our camera was directly under each of their faces and it's pretty obvious they were really annoyed with the media attention. And then police took them inside. Homicide detective Sweet interviewed Marie. He does a lot of these interviews. He's really good at his job because he has a way of getting inside of a person's head.

The interview was videotaped. It would later be played in court. It started off slow. Detective Sweet seemed to be warming her up and trying to get her talking. Marie took that opportunity to build herself up. Children are my passion. They've always been my passion. The detective pushed. I'm sure he was not buying that children are her passion. He had seen the photos of Mika. He knew exactly the injuries she had suffered.

Finally, Marie told the detective Mika frequently lied and needed to be punished. Mika was in trouble for lying that day and I was trying to get her to do 20-25 jumping jacks to get her out of her trouble. Throughout the interview, Marie looked relaxed. She leaned back on the couch, her legs were crossed. She looked like she was having a casual chat with an old friend, not talking about the torture death of her own stepdaughter.

Detective Sweet ramped up his questioning. There's no way, based on the information that we have, that this could be anything else but a homicide. You're going to have to start believing it. It's only when Marie was shown pictures of Mika's injuries that her responses became somewhat emotional. Not emotional as in she appeared sad or that she was crying over Mika. Instead, she seemed upset the finger was being pointed at her.

I didn't do any of this. I'm sorry, but I did not. I did not do this. And you're wrong. This is just wrong. I never hurt her. Trust me, I never hurt her. It's either you or it's Spencer. Would you agree with me that it could be nobody else? The interview ended with Marie repeatedly denying her involvement in Mika's death. Just tell me the truth. I didn't do this.

The next morning, Spencer and Marie appeared in court for the first time. Brian and Kyla arrived early to make sure they got a front row seat. Very, very justifying to see them in those prison jumpsuits.

Spencer's father was also at court. He agreed to speak with myself and other reporters after the appearance. He was really emotional. Ken Jordan had lost his granddaughter Mika, and now his own son was accused of killing her. Justice for her can mean my son goes to jail. I know. Let me ask you this. Could you live with that? Two years after Mika's death, a preliminary inquiry was held at the Calgary Court Centre.

A preliminary inquiry is a court hearing where some of the evidence from the case is presented. And at the end, a judge rules if there's enough evidence for the case to proceed to trial. The outcome of this one was pretty huge. The judge ruled there was sufficient evidence to support upgraded charges. This meant the judge not only felt there was enough evidence for the trial to go ahead, but Spencer Jordan and Marie Magoon would stand trial for the first-degree murder of Mika.

That's the most serious charge they could face. And they would have to stay in jail until the trial. On March 23, 2015, about three and a half years after Mika's death, the trial finally got underway. Details of the prosecution's case were really hard to hear.

As suspected, Mika's injuries were far worse than what could come from a simple fall. The abuse she suffered was truly horrific. When paramedics found Mika at Spencer and Marie's house, she was lying a few feet from a set of stairs. She had no pulse. Her heart wasn't beating. Mika was dirty. Her hair was matted. Chunks were missing. Her pancreas and liver were torn.

The prosecution said Spencer and Marie had tortured Mika for days leading up to her death.

Remember that burn police had spoken about? A recording of a phone call Marie made to HealthLink Alberta was played in court. That's a toll-free government line people can call for health advice. Marie called HealthLink November 12, 2011, just after midnight. HealthLink, Mal speaking. How may I help you? Hi, I was just...

That was nearly two days before they called 911 and two days before Mika was rushed to hospital. Okay.

It seems to be a big bubble, but I'm assuming it's because she uses her hand. Okay. How old is your daughter?

At that point, it didn't seem like the HealthLink operator believed Marie. A six-year-old using a flat iron? Yeah. Sure. Marie Eves.

I'm sorry, what's your daughter's name? Mika. Okay, her last name's Jordan? Yep. Alright. Does she live with you in your new address? Yep. Okay. Does she feel pain where the burn is? Like, when she was awake, did she feel pain where the burn was? Like, did it annoy her a little bit? No, nothing at all. Really? Yeah.

Marie continued to minimize the burn. The operator was clearly concerned. Is it black or white, the area? Oh, it's white.

Marie insisted Mika wasn't in any pain. But a third-degree burn? It's hard to believe that wouldn't be painful. My heart sank. The real story of what caused the burn is so much worse than I could have imagined.

The prosecution called Spencer and Marie bullies and tormentors. And after you hear what really happened to her, you'd probably use stronger language than that. And you'll understand why this was now a first-degree murder case.

Mika had been held by Spencer and Marie and tortured for several days. The evidence showed she was unlawfully confined when she was killed. Murder is first degree in Canada 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 offenses.

One of those is unlawful confinement. To prove that Spencer and Marie had committed first-degree murder, police consulted an expert in forensic pathology out of Ottawa. Dr. Christopher Milroy had 20 years of experience in conducting autopsies on abused children. He would become one of the key witnesses in this case. Milroy reviewed all medical information and documents related to Mika's injuries and her death.

He found evidence her little hands had been tied together and evidence she was brutally attacked. Mika had defensive injuries. She had tried to protect herself. Can you imagine? This little six-year-old girl had tried to defend herself against abuse from two adults, her own dad and stepmom, people she should have felt safe with.

Dr. Milroy was able to determine Mika had suffered trauma on different occasions, but the fatal injuries were blows to her head and abdomen. He confirmed what everyone had already suspected, that this could not have been caused by a fall down a flight of stairs. Dr. Milroy's evidence was essential in helping police determine key holdback information, information that only the killers would know.

In this case, it was a timeline of when the fatal blows happened. He determined the injuries that killed Mika were inflicted within approximately 24 hours of her death, which means the fatal injuries happened sometime in the morning or afternoon of Sunday, November 13th, 2011. She died 16 hours after she was taken to hospital.

That evidence was essential in making an undercover police operation a success. The targets were Spencer and Marie. 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? This is what they were up to.

They were in the middle of an eight-month undercover operation. Neither of the suspects had been cooperating with police, and detectives had exhausted their normal investigative techniques. So they came up with an elaborate undercover operation, a Mr. Big sting operation. It's a tactic used in a lot of major crime investigations. Basically, police officers create very realistic scenarios and try to get suspects to confess.

The officers who work these files are very good at what they do. In this particular case, undercover officers befriended Spencer and Marie. They were invited into a made-up criminal organization, but they would have to prove they could be trusted by confessing to a crime they were known suspects in, the death of Mika Jordan. That would include each suspect paying a visit to Mr. Bigg.

In reality, Mr. Big was an undercover officer who played the role of the crime boss. Oh, and that super fun year Spencer and Marie had in 2012 with all those new friends and business partners? Yeah, those were undercover officers. And each friend hangout or business dealing was a scenario, an elaborate investigative technique used in these kinds of difficult cases.

Spencer thought he was earning the trust of his new buddies, and that earned him a visit with a crime boss, a.k.a. an undercover officer. Mr. Big told him things weren't looking good, that he'd heard Spencer would be charged with murder. This is some of that conversation. It's not looking good for him. They're coming to arrest him. That's what I figured.

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 to Mika. I ended up taking a little bit of anger out on my daughter. No, I didn't hit her. More or less just pushed her. But I remember her falling back on her hard tile floors.

and she smoked her head pretty good. That conversation went on for hours. The crime boss didn't believe Spencer was being fully honest. And then an admission. I hit her somewhere in the stomach area and she fell over. The crime boss pushed harder and slowly the truth came out. I hit her hard. So I guess the best way to put it is I didn't hold back. Next, it was Marie's turn with the crime boss.

And that's when police finally learned the truth about that horrible burn on Mika's hand. Did you catch that? Marie says she burned Mika's hand with a lighter. Not a flat iron, a lighter. And it was no accident. I've seen photos of Mika's burned hand. It makes me feel sick to my stomach. It's that awful.

Meanwhile, during the sting operation, the crime boss told Marie she needed to tell him everything if she wanted his help in avoiding arrest. Slowly, she revealed graphic details, things she did and things Mika's father, Spencer, did.

You have to listen carefully. The audio is a little bit hard to hear. And the really deep voice you hear is Mr. Big, the crime boss, the undercover officer.

We disguised his voice to protect his identity and his credibility as an undercover officer. She wasn't doing it, she was told. And they were setting Spencer, and Spencer pushed her, pushed her pretty hard. He was maybe there, and the kitchen cabinets were here. She hit the cabinets. Probably six or eight feet away.

At one point, Marie picked up a pillow from the couch. She used it as a prop to show what she did to Mika. Some of the confessions are just too graphic to play. Honestly, it's really horrific.

Marie told the officer she tripped Mika and kicked her down the stairs. I was on the stairs, but he kicked me a couple of times and it was my fault. What I found particularly interesting was the part where Marie said she didn't like being seen as the evil stepmother. You know, like the one in Cinderella. It bugs me that people perceive it as Cinderella's enjoyment. It was me being the evil stepmother who gave it...

It wasn't like that? It seems exactly like that to me. Only at least in the fairy tale, Cinderella found a prince and good won out over evil. Poor Mika didn't have a chance.

For four days, the little girl was tortured. It started with the burn. Next, Marie repeatedly slammed Mika's head into the tile floor. She pushed her down the stairs, tied her hands in front of her, and forced her to run up and down the stairs, tripping her so she would fall.

Spencer joined in. He slammed her head onto hard surfaces. He punched her full force in the stomach and dragged her up the stairs by her ankles. It was so much worse than anyone had imagined. Kyla collapsed outside of court after hearing the details. She was quite obviously overcome with grief. I've literally gone through every worst possible case scenario over and over again for the last three years. And

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 with. The trial would not bring justice for Mika. The judge found Spencer and Marie guilty of the lesser charge of second-degree murder.

That was really tough for everyone invested in this case to take, especially now that the prosecution had explained Mika's unlawful confinement by Spencer and Marie. Brian and Kyla tried to stay positive. I mean, it was guilty after all. Did it really matter if it was first or second degree? You know, second degree isn't what we wanted, but ultimately guilty is guilty. They lose a few years of their life.

We lost her. But it did matter. It mattered to the prosecutors. It mattered to police. And from the comments on social media, it mattered to the public. How do you begin to heal when you don't feel justice has been served? Just a few weeks later, Brian and Kyla called me. They wanted to share some news.

They read me an email from the prosecution. The prosecutors were fighting to get the convictions upgraded. They wanted first-degree murder.

And in the meantime, Spencer and Marie were sentenced. And this is where it's really clear what they were convicted of did matter. Both first and second degree murder come with an automatic life sentence in Canada. But what's up for debate with second degree murder is the amount of time you need to spend in prison before you can apply for any kind of release. When you're convicted of first degree murder, you can't even apply for parole for 25 years.

With second-degree murder, there are sentencing arguments made, and the minimum is 10 years before you can apply for parole. In Spencer and Marie's case, they were sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 17 years.

That's when a flurry of appeals and court rulings happened, and it was hard to follow. Basically, Spencer and Marie wanted less time in jail. They weren't satisfied with the lesser charge of second-degree murder. They wanted their convictions overturned, sentences reduced. But

But the prosecutors were still fighting for first-degree murder. And this is where reality is really different from those crime shows you probably watch on TV. In my years as a crime reporter, I can tell you it's become clear to me the wheels of justice often move very slowly. And these appeals can make it seem even slower.

And that can take a toll on the families of the victims. Brian and Kyla were exhausted. I think we both kind of imagined that on the last day of the trial, you know, that would be it. You see on TV, the judge bangs the gavel and then the jail bars close and that's the end of it. And unfortunately, reality is that's not the end of it.

At that point, after hearing all the horrific details and the admissions to undercover police, Brian and Kyla just wanted Spencer and Marie to stop fighting and accept their guilt completely.

and serve their prison time. That would be the ultimate for us, you know, for them to just admit to what they've done, deal with their consequences, drop the appeals, do your time for what you've done, and let us have our family and be able to move forward. Then, more than five years after Mika's death, a rare ruling by the Alberta Court of Appeal

The convictions for Spencer and Marie were upgraded to first-degree murder. It was a unanimous decision. The court ruled, to hide the abuse from Brian and Kyla, Spencer and Marie violated their custody agreement. They kept Mika for days and tortured her, which is exactly what unlawful confinement is.

The appeal court justices said, "Mika's experience over the entire weekend constitutes confinement. We agree with the Crown that constructive first-degree murder was created for cases like this one." So what did this all mean? It meant more time behind bars for Mika's killers.

Spencer and Marie's sentences would increase to life in prison with no chance of parole for at least 25 years. Finally, justice. But predictably, they still didn't accept their guilt. By now, you're probably starting to feel that rollercoaster ride Brian and Kyla were on. One minute, it would seem a ruling ended the court battles. And the next, there was another appeal happening.

This is Brian. She's been gone from us longer than we ever had her to begin with. He was pretty stressed out by all the possible outcomes of the appeals. We could be looking at them receiving a reduced charge, lowered down to second-degree murder or even manslaughter. It could open up a new trial. It's so nerve-wracking. It's so incredibly stressful.

The legal fight for justice for Mika was taking longer than she was ever alive. And to make matters worse, it didn't seem like there was any light at the end of this tunnel.

Spencer and Marie were exhausting every single avenue to try to get out of jail. They took their fight all the way to the highest court in the country, the Supreme Court of Canada. November 27th, 2017, just past the sixth anniversary of Mika's death, nine Supreme Court justices heard the case.

It took them less than 10 minutes to dismiss Spencer and Murray's appeals. Canada's top court upheld convictions of first-degree murder.

Brian and Kyla were there for the ruling. It's finally over. It is huge, huge for us and for Mika. It was finally the end of the road for Spencer and Marie. They were out of appeals. They stand convicted of the first-degree murder of Mika Jordan. Finally, justice for Mika. But it's hardly something to celebrate. Nothing could bring the little girl back.

I've seen the pictures of Mika, her little hand burned beyond anything I could ever fathom. Her tiny body, badly bruised and beaten. I've had nightmares about those photos.

And that's another reason why I keep Mika's last school photo up in my house. It helps me to remember the Mika everyone loved. The little girl who loved to catch ladybugs, go for a slurpee, or play with her princess jewelry box. I've played with that little jewelry box myself during one of my many visits to Brian and Kyla's home.

The princess inside is broken, but the music still plays, just as Mika's legacy lives on. Thank you for joining me this week and for letting me share Mika's story.

Next time on Crime Beat, imagine being the victim of a violent crime and spending the rest of your life looking over your shoulder. He just went sideways, whipped up his shirt, pulled out a .45, slid the action back, put it to my forehead and pulled the trigger. I'll bring you an incredible story of a man who literally dodged a bullet and lived to tell the tale. It's amazing when you're put into a position like that. You just, I don't know.

That's next time on Crime Beat. Crime Beat is written and produced by me, Nancy Hixt, with producer Dila Velasquez. Our audio producer is Rob Johnston. Our executive producer of Curious Cast is Chris Duncombe. If you like this podcast, please tell a friend about the show and help me share these stories by rating and reviewing it on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen.

You can reach me on Twitter at Nancy Hixt, on Facebook at Nancy Hixt Crime Beat, or email me at nancy.hixt at globalnews.ca. I hope to see you next time.