BRAINERD — The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office will be taking over the prosecution of the 33-year-old Crosslake woman accused of torturing her three young children.
Jorden Nicole Borders was initially charged Nov. 21, 2022 , with three serious felony counts of child torture and three felony counts of stalking following a child maltreatment investigation by the Crow Wing County Sheriff’s Office. The investigation revealed Borders allegedly tortured her three young children through actions like withdrawing blood, forcing them to wear casts and neck braces despite not having injuries and inflicting frequent physical abuse as punishment.
On Dec. 1, 2023, she was also charged with felony first degree premeditated attempted murder . That was the second time the criminal complaint against Borders was amended . In March of 2023, Borders also was charged with four counts of felony theft related to fraudulently obtaining money for medical costs.
Stalking is described in Minnesota statute as when the perpetrator knows — or has reason to know — they would cause a victim to feel terrorized or to fear bodily harm, and when their actions do cause those feelings.
On March 26, 2024, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison sent a certificate of representation to Borders and her attorney, public defender Mark Hansen, informing them the state would be represented by Assistant Attorneys General Mary Russell, from the criminal division, and Dominika Kins, from the Medicaid fraud control unit.
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Borders is due back in Crow Wing County District Court April 23.
Borders’ charges
Doctors from multiple health care systems — puzzled by one of Borders’ children’s unexplained health problems over the course of three years — began to share similar and troubling suspicions of abuse. A July 13 application for a search warrant filed by the sheriff’s office detailed extensive efforts by professionals to settle on cohesive diagnoses for the child before Borders’ arrest. While a litany of surgeries, procedures and unusual test results failed to clarify the 9-year-old boy’s conditions, it led to speculation about Borders’ role in causing or fabricating 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 she apparently self-diagnosed two of her other children — an 11-year-old boy and an 8-year-old girl — with osteogenesis imperfecta, known as brittle bones disease. Borders’ Facebook profile, the majority of which is no longer public, showed references to the disease in relation to her children dating back to at least 2016.
The children's interviews with authorities included descriptions of other kinds of physical and emotional abuse.
Crow Wing County placed the 9-year-old in protective custody in May. Community Services monitored the care of the other two children before they were also removed from the home in July. Borders was not allowed unsupervised contact with the children after their removal. With the criminal charges filed against Borders, one of her conditions of release barred her from contact with anyone under 18.
Borders and her husband Christopher Martin Badowicz later agreed to terminate their parental rights in a December 2022 court hearing.
TIM SPEIER, staff writer, can be reached on Twitter @timmy2thyme , call 218-855-5859 or email tim.speier@brainerddispatch.com .
The Trust Project
