Couple Who Kidnapped His Ex, Slashed Her Throat, Ran Her Over Sentenced -- Victim Makes Statement

Jordan Blake Mangum, 42, was sentenced on Friday to serve up to 45 years in prison for attempted murder and kidnapping of Cox, who is also the mother of his child. He must serve at least 22 1/2 years before he will be eligible for parole, per a press release from Polk County, Iowa.

The sentence comes after he entered an Alford plea last month, per Law&Crime, which is when a defendant does not plead guilty, but acknowledges there is enough evidence for a conviction. He also pleaded guilty to 3rd-degree kidnapping, assault while participating in a felony, and domestic abuse impeding air/blood flow causing injury.

His co-defendant and girlfriend, Jessica Ann Marie Wheeler, 36, was sentenced Thursday to 35 years on the same charges after her guilty plea, per the release. She must serve 17 1/2 years before she'll be eligible for parole.

According to the release, investigators were able to piece together what happened on December 2, 2023 when Mangum and Wheeler entered Cox's Des Moines home, where she was with her and Mangum's 6-year-old son. Inside, her hands were allegedly bound with duct tape and she was forced into the same minivan that would later run her over multiple times, according to police.

She was then taken to Mangum's home, per the investigation, where she was tied up and held for several days. From there, the couple allegedly took her to an undisclosed location, strangled her, slashed her throat, and proceeded to run her over several times with the van.

She purportedly pleaded with Mangum to stop, begging for her life, per the release, after which he did, taking her to a hospital and dropping her off outside, severely injured. This was at approximately 8 p.m. that same night.

As detailed by the state, Mangum purportedly admitted to investigators that he participated in the kidnapping and assaulted Cox with a knife, it was Wheeler who ran her over and wanted her to die.

For her part, Wheeler reportedly told authorities that Mangum threatened her into her participation, per the Des Moines Register, saying they'd only spoken "jokingly" about the kidnapping before it happened.

This assault was the second alleged instance of recorded abuse between Mangum and Cox, as he'd been arrested and charged with domestic abuse (his second offense) just two weeks before. The previous offense had been a decade prior, and also against Cox.

According to the victim after the December 2 attack, Mangum attacked her this second time in an attempt to get her to drop her case against him. It was her refusal that caused the violence to escalate, she claimed.

The evidence in that prior case was pretty damning, as Cox said she'd been able to record Mangum choking her in front of their son, leaving visible marks on her neck, as reported by the Register. After she reported this instance, Mangum was giving a no-contact order and told to leave the home.

In court for Mangum's sentencing, Cox read out a victim impact statement where she said that after 13 years of physical, emotional, and psychological abuse, "the hardest part was realizing that what I endured was not love, but control masquerading as care."

Speaking about Mangum himself, per the Register, she told the judge, "He does not accept responsibility or show remorse for his actions, instead believing he knows better than everyone else in court."

"The road to recovery has rarely been simple for me. There are moments when feelings like anger and sadness become overwhelming," Cox said, per the state's release. "Even so, this journey has reignited my determination -- not to allow anyone else to define who I am or diminish my dignity."

"By engaging in therapy, reaching out to supportive people, and trusting my own intuition, I am focusing not just on safety, but also on building a life filled with genuine happiness," she added. "Now, as I stand here, I know that telling this truth out loud is the bravest act I will ever perform. Speaking these words, I am not only asking for justice -- I am reclaiming my voice."

She requested that the judge give Mangum the maximum sentence allowed by the law, a request that was honored. Law&Crime reports that she is now raising their young son alone while attending school for accounting and working in retail.

According to the release, Mangum gave a long statement of his own, apologizing to those who were affected. "I fully and truly regret all that transpired," he said, in part. At one point, per the Register, he said, "I don’t think there’s any words in the human language available to me at this time to describe the way I feel or see this situation."

But, as noted by Assistant County Attorney Shannon Bogolin in a follow-up statement at the hearing, "the one person who suffered the greatest wasn’t even mentioned" in his comments. It was Bogolin's request that the defendant serve his sentences consecutively, another request that was honored.

In an interview with the Register, Bogolin said, "It’s so easy for us to say, why don’t they leave? I think this is a perfect example of, when she was trying to leave, this is what escalated."

In passing his sentence, Judge Joseph Seidlin said, "What you, Mr. Mangum, did to the mother of your child, was that you kidnapped her, assaulted her, and tried to kill her. Those are words that are readily available in our language to acknowledge [what you did]. What I did not hear is you taking responsibility for your actions."

At her sentencing, Wheeler said that she wanted Cox to know "that I did not want this to ever happen, this was never the plan on my side." She claimed that it was Mangum who "had talked jokingly to me about this, but I thought it was never going to happen."

Seidlin was equally severe when sentencing Wheeler for her actions, per the Register, telling her, "This was grotesque from start to finish, and you had the ability to stop this at any point in time, and you didn't."