An Indianola couple have pleaded guilty to kidnapping and seriously injuring the man’s ex-girlfriend in 2023.
Jordan Mangum, 42, and Jessica Wheeler, 36, were each charged in the Dec. 2, 2023, assault, which began when the two abducted the victim from her Des Moines home. The couple took the woman to their home, and then an unspecified third location, where the woman was strangled, had her throat slashed and was repeatedly run over by the couple’s van. Still conscious, she was able to plead for Mangum to stop, and he ultimately dropped her off, badly hurt, outside a hospital.
Wheeler and Mangum were both charged with first-degree kidnapping, which carries a potential life sentence, and other offenses.
On Monday, June 23, Mangum took a deal with prosecutors, pleading to lesser charges of third-degree kidnapping, assault while participating in a felony and domestic abuse by strangulation. Mangum entered an Alford plea, meaning he maintains his innocence but acknowledges the state has enough evidence to convict him.
Wheeler pleaded guilty in October in a similar deal to third-degree kidnapping and attempted murder.
According to prosecutors, Mangum admitted to taking part in the kidnapping the woman, assaulting her with a knife, and choking her to cause her to lose consciousness. He alleged that Wheeler struck the victim with their vehicle.
Under the terms of their deals, both face what are likely to be lengthy prison sentences. Wheeler, who is scheduled for sentencing July 24, faces 35 years with a mandatory minimum before parole of 17 1/2 years. Mangum, who will be sentenced July 25, faces up to 45 years, including a 22 1/2-year minimum term, according to the Polk County Attorney’s Office.
William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be contacted at wrmorris2@registermedia.com or 715-573-8166.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Indianola couple faces lengthy sentences after pleading to kidnapping, injuring man’s ex
Reporting by William Morris, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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