Jordan Law, right, was sentenced to 15 years in prison on a voluntary manslaughter charge in the death of his ex-girlfriend, Rae Allison Berwanger, whose body has not been found. | 1st District Judicial Court BONNER COUNTY (Idaho Statesman) — Years after an Idaho woman went missing — and despite her body never being found — her former boyfriend has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for her death. Jordan Law, now 48, was indicted last year on five felonies in the disappearance of Rae Allison Berwanger, 54, including second-degree murder, and was expected to face a jury trial last month. Instead, he accepted a plea deal with the Bonner County Prosecutor’s Office, which offered him a 15-year sentence for voluntary manslaughter. Second-degree murder carries a maximum penalty of life in prison. Law also agreed to help law enforcement find Berwanger’s body, Bonner County Prosecuting Attorney Louis Marshall told the Idaho Statesman. Authorities have not been successful because the location he gave was too general, Marshall said. Susie Jensen, the presiding judge, upheld the plea agreement and sentenced Law to the maximum punishment of 15 years behind bars, without the opportunity for parole. He will receive credit for 384 days spent in custody, meaning he’ll be released from prison in a little less than 14 years. “I understand that nothing can bring Ms. Berwanger back,” said Jensen, of Idaho’s 1st Judicial District. “And I understand that without a body that the families and friends here are still suffering, but I do hope that with what happens today, there is some closure, and hopefully all the parties move forward.” Law’s a “clear and present danger” to women, prosecutor says Berwanger was last seen by her brother on March 3, 2019, at Law’s house in Athol, Idaho, roughly 30 minutes south of Sandpoint, where she’d been staying. Berwanger told her brother that she and Law had a “falling out” and that she wanted to move away, according to court records. Records reviewed by investigators showed that Berwanger used her cellphone the next morning, and after that, there was “never another sign” of her being alive, Marshall said in court Monday. Days after her disappearance, Berwanger’s brother provided the Sheriff’s Office with his sister’s bank statements, which showed three transactions that investigators at the time called “suspicious,” according to a probable cause affidavit. Berwanger’s bank card was used to withdraw $1,200 over three days after she was last seen, and surveillance footage showed that it was Law who withdrew the money. “We had a pretty good idea that he was a suspect,” Marshall said. Without Berwanger’s body, he said in court that it became a “waiting game.” He told the Statesman that what are called “no-body homicides” are extremely difficult to prosecute, and reiterated that point in court. Not only did they have to prove that Berwanger was dead, but also that it wasn’t a result of natural causes, an accident or suicide, he said. After five years, the prosecution finally decided to move forward against Law. “We are very pleased with how this has turned out, even though, he will have a chance, obviously, to get out of prison someday,” Marshall said. “For at least the next 15 years … he won’t be a danger to the public, and frankly, towards females.” As a part of the plea deal, four other felonies against Law, including two counts of rape, were dropped. The rape charges stemmed from another victim discovered during the investigation, according to the Bonner County Sheriff’s Office. She testified in front of the grand jury to help get Law indicted, the prosecutor said. Law claims he simply helped dispose of woman’s body Law entered an Alford plea, which carries the weight of a guilty plea but allows him to avoid admitting guilt. He acknowledged at a September hearing that if the case had proceeded to trial, there was a strong possibility he could have been convicted. His public defender, Catherine Enright, acknowledged in court Monday that there was “some strong evidence” against her client, which is why he accepted the deal. But Law maintains that he’s not the killer, she said. Law has claimed that a now-deceased neighbor killed Berwanger, and Law simply “helped dispose of her body,” Marshall told the Statesman in an email Monday. The prosecutor called the neighbor a “convenient scapegoat.” Authorities are “fairly confident” Berwanger was killed sometime between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. on March 4, 2019, Marshall said. He said it’s “highly unlikely” that a neighbor broke into Law’s house, killed Berwanger and then somehow convinced Law to help him dispose of the body. “We do not believe there is any validity to this story and question why Law wouldn’t have come forward with the story years ago if he in fact wasn’t guilty of the homicide,” Marshall wrote to the Statesman. “We believe this is simply another fabrication on the part of Jordan Law.” Judge Jensen called Berwanger’s death a “tragedy” and noted that her friends and family still don’t have full closure because her body has not been located. “That’s just horrific for everyone involved,” the judge said. “And even if you did not — pursuant to your statements — participate in that, you at the very least participated in disposing of her body, and causing that trauma and inflicting that pain on the people who loved her.”The post ‘No-body homicide’: Former boyfriend of Idaho woman sentenced in her killing appeared first on East Idaho News.
Source: eastidahonews.com
‘No-body homicide’: Former boyfriend of Idaho woman sentenced in her killing
