Mom steals sons blood, forces siblings to dispose of it: Child torture charges
CROW WING COUNTY, Minn. (FOX 9) - Prosecutors in Crow Wing County charged a mother with child torture after she allegedly stole her son's blood and treated her two other children for medical conditions they didn’t have.
Jorden Nicole Borders, 32, was charged by warrant on Wednesday with three counts of child torture and three counts of stalking in the alleged abuse of her children: an 8-year-old girl, a 9-year-old boy and an 11-year-old boy.
The investigations started in May after a 9-year-old boy was being monitored at Children’s Hospital because his hemoglobin numbers kept dropping. The only explanation was that someone had been removing his blood, the criminal complaint states.
Borders claimed the hospital lab was removing too much blood, but the children told investigators they saw their mother frequently take their brother's blood, put it in a cup and one of them had to "flush the blood down the toilet," the complaint reads. The children said she would often do this before doctor's visits.
The 9-year-old told investigators his mother just "kept drawing my blood … and said don’t tell anyone," and described how it made his body feel "sick-sleepy," the complaint reads.
During the investigation, law enforcement learned Borders had self-diagnosed her two other children, an 11-year-old boy and an 8-year-old girl, with Osteogenesis Imperfecta, also known as brittle bones disease, charges said.
The children said they were forced to wear casts and neck braces even though they didn’t have injuries. The 11-year-old claims his mother told him to pretend he had broken bones and would put casts on him with materials she stole from doctors. The complaint states the 11-year-old was in a cast for over two years of his life.
In July, law enforcement executed a search warrant of their home in Crow Wing County and found casting materials and syringes, according to the complaint.
In an interview on Nov. 21, the three children told investigators about the alleged abuse in the home. They claimed their mother would often choke them, make them stand outside in the cold with no clothes on, throw objects at them and beat them, according to court documents.
When interviewers asked the 9-year-old boy what a typical day living with his mother was like, he replied, "I was never safe." He explained to investigators he slept on the floor because he didn't have a bed and was often hungry, charges said. He tried to sneak food into his room, but his father would search for it.
The 8-year-old girl claimed her father didn't know her 9-year-old brother could walk, and he was forced to stay in his wheelchair whenever he was home. She added if her dad knew her brother could walk, "He would know (Borders) was lying," the complaint states.
Investigators learned Borders was receiving money from the State of Minnesota to take care of the 9-year-old boy, and she had been nominated for several gifts and money from nonprofit foundations. Investigators estimate she received an excess of $35,000, according to the complaint.
Following the children’s interview on Monday, law enforcement went to the family home in an attempt to arrest Borders but was unable to find her. Law enforcement believes she is hiding inside the house, according to the complaint.
Borders was booked into the Crow Wing County Jail Wednesday night.