Trial date set for Crosslake mother accused of torturing her children – Brainerd Dispatch

BRAINERD — A trial date has been set for the 34-year-old Crosslake woman accused of torturing her three young children.

Jorden Nicole Borders is charged with three counts of child torture, three counts of stalking, four counts of theft of medical expenses and one count of attempted murder.

On Wednesday, October 30, Minnesota Assistant Attorneys General Sara Kins and Mary Russell and Borders' attorney Mark Hansen notified Crow Wing County District Court Judge Patricia Aanes that they were ready to set a trial date to agree.

At a previous court appearance on September 6, Borders was found competent to stand trial.

After discussing the schedule, the trial was set to begin on May 5, 2025 and is expected to last two to three weeks. Prior to trial, Borders will return to the Crow Wing County District for a hearing on March 20, 2025.

Borders was initially charged with three counts of aggravated child torture and three counts of stalking on November 21, 2022, following a child abuse investigation by the Crow Wing County Sheriff's Office.

Stalking is described in Minnesota law as meaning that the perpetrator knows – or has reason to know – that he would cause the victim to feel fear and terror or to be in fear of bodily harm, and that his actions actually produce those feelings cause.

On December 1, 2023, she was also charged with first-degree premeditated murder. This was the second time the criminal charges against Borders were changed. In March 2023, Borders was also charged with four counts of theft related to fraudulently obtaining money for medical expenses.

The investigation revealed that Borders allegedly tortured her three young children, including by drawing blood, forcing them to wear casts and neck braces even though they had no injuries, and frequently engaging in physical abuse as punishment.

On April 9, Judge Aanes ruled on the prosecution's motion to seek an enhanced sentence for the attempted first-degree murder charge and the defense's motion to dismiss the attempted first-degree murder charge based on probable cause.

Aanes granted the prosecutor's request to request an aggravated sentence for attempted first-degree murder, citing the special vulnerability of the victim, the violation of a position of authority by the perpetrator, the act committed in the presence of children, and the The act was particularly cruel.

Aanes also rejected the defense's request to dismiss the attempted first-degree murder charge.

Doctors from various health systems over the course of three years were puzzled by the unexplained health problems of one of Borders' children and began to raise similar and troubling suspicions of abuse.

A search warrant application filed by the sheriff's office on July 13 outlined extensive efforts by professionals to make a conclusive diagnosis for the child prior to Borders' arrest. While a litany of surgeries, procedures and unusual test results failed to clarify the 9-year-old boy's condition, it led to speculation about Borders' role in causing or inventing his illnesses.

The 9-year-old wasn't the only child affected by Borders' alleged abuse.

The criminal complaint outlining the charges filed against Borders revealed that she had self-diagnosed two of her other children – an 11-year-old boy and an 8-year-old girl – with osteogenesis imperfecta, known as brittle bone disease. Borders' Facebook profile, most of which is no longer public, contained references to the illness linked to her children dating back to at least 2016.

The children's interviews with authorities included descriptions of other types of physical and emotional abuse.

Crow Wing County took the 9-year-old into protective custody in May 2022. Community Services monitored the care of the other two children before they were removed from the home in July. Borders was not allowed unsupervised contact with the children after they were deported. Because of the criminal charges filed against Borders, one of her release conditions prohibited her from contact with anyone under the age of 18.

Borders and her husband Christopher Martin Badowicz later agreed to terminate their parental rights in a court hearing in December 2022.

TIM SPEIER, staff writer, can be reached on Twitter

@timmy2thyme

call 218-855-5859 or email

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