Supervision ends for Bellingham woman acquitted of killing husband, son due to insanity

A Bellingham woman committed to a state psychiatric hospital in 2015 after she was acquitted by reason of insanity of killing her husband and infant son has been released from supervision.

Whatcom County Superior Court Judge Lee Grochmal approved the unconditional release petition for 51-year-old Erin Lee Jordan, née Agren, at a hearing earlier this month. The unconditional release means Jordan will no longer be under the supervision of the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services and will have no further legally required treatment or court obligations.

Jordan was indefinitely committed to Western State Hospital, the state psychiatric hospital in Lakewood, in December 2015 after the court acquitted her by reason of insanity of two counts of first-degree murder for the mid-July 2015 shooting deaths of her husband, 59-year-old Michael Jordan, and their 1-year-old son, Miles Jordan.

While the judge at the time found that there was “proof beyond a reasonable doubt” that Jordan committed the killings, he also found that because of the symptoms of a severe mental illness, Jordan was unable “to tell right from wrong” in regard to the murders of her husband and son.

From December 2015 until May 2021, Jordan was receiving treatment and living at Western State Hospital. The court granted her a conditional release from the hospital in May 2021, allowing her to be released back into the community. Jordan moved to an apartment in Pierce County and has been residing there since.

“It’s hard to set aside what Ms. Jordan did, but everyone knows that this was caused by mental illness. Judge Grochmal watched Ms. Jordan progress through her treatment plan for several years which made the court’s decision easy,” Whatcom County Prosecuting Attorney Eric Richey said in a statement provided to The Bellingham Herald about Jordan’s unconditional release.

Jordan’s defense attorney, Stephen Jackson, declined to comment about Jordan’s release or on her behalf.

Shooting death details

Shortly after 3:30 p.m. on July 19, 2015, Whatcom County Sheriff’s officers responded to a home in the 5000 block of Noon Road for a welfare check.

A Realtor who had come to do an open house that day heard a woman calling for help from a second-story bedroom. After kicking in the door, which was locked from the inside, the man found Jordan on the floor with a gunshot wound to her chest.

He also found Michael Jordan and Miles Jordan in the bed, both who had suffered fatal gunshot wounds, according to court records.

Jordan was taken to the hospital for treatment, where she later admitted to a sheriff’s detective that she had shot her husband and son while they slept. Jordan told the detective she had planned on shooting her husband and son for two days before doing so, the court records state.

Jordan also admitted that she had shot herself. She had been in the house with the bodies for at least two days prior to the real estate agent finding them, court documents show.

Jordan told the sheriff’s detective that she had been “stressed, depressed and overwhelmed” by all of the recent changes in her life and said she believed that people were stalking her and her family. Jordan told the detective she “saved Michael and Miles by doing what she did,” the court records state.

A Ruger .22-caliber handgun and three spent shell casings were found in the bedroom with Jordan, her husband and their son, court records show.

Jordan was diagnosed with post-partum psychosis with delusions of impending doom and paranoia, major depressive disorder recurrent with psychotic features and delusional disorder with paranoia.

No longer a danger

On May 18, 2023, Jackson, Jordan’s defense, filed a petition requesting an unconditional release for Jordan.

In the petition, Jackson wrote that Jordan has demonstrated over the past several years that she can maintain long-term mental stability without any symptoms or oversight. He said Jordan had shown that she is not a danger to herself or others and that there is not a “substantial likelihood of committing criminal acts that jeopardize public safety or security,” according to court records.

“Ms. Jordan has shown that she is a success-story, and someone who can resume living independently, without the oversight of WSH,” Jackson wrote. “The record is clear — while Ms. Jordan does suffer from mental illness, she does not pose a danger to others.”

Court documents state that Jordan had fully regained and maintained her sanity over several years and that her symptoms of her mental illness have been in sustained remission since she began receiving proper treatment.

In a November 2022 forensic risk assessment, a clinical psychologist wrote that around the time of the shooting deaths, Jordan experienced situational and interpersonal stressors that she had difficulty managing and began experiencing symptoms of psychosis. As this continued, she “experienced significant psychiatric decompensation. In the context of acute psychotic symptoms, she engaged in violence resulting in the death of her husband and infant son by firearm.”

Since her commitment to the state psychiatric hospital and subsequent release back into the community however, the psychologist wrote that Jordan has followed all of her obligations, medication and treatment requirements, remained behaviorally and psychiatrically stable, utilized her resources and support network and has been living in the community successfully. While experiencing several stressors, Jordan was able to cope appropriately, problem-solve and did not experience psychiatric decompensation, the court records state.

“Provided Ms. Jordan remain adherent with medications, address any recurrent symptoms of depression and/or psychosis, manage stress appropriately, and maintain a supportive social network, her risks for engaging in acts of violence in the community in the context of unsupervised discharge appear to be adequately mitigated,” the documents state.

Support for her release

A report from DSHS dated March 13 assessing Jordan and her request for unconditional release showed that Jordan’s treatment team, the state hospital’s forensic risk review board and the state DSHS Secretary’s designee, all supported Jordan’s request for unconditional release.

A public safety review panel designated by law to assess and review risks related to recommendations for release or changes in supervision for people found not guilty by reason of insanity did not support Jordan’s request for unconditional release.

The panel, which convened and reviewed Jordan’s case in February, wrote that it recognized Jordan had been living successfully within the community for the past two years and said it commended her on “her reintegration efforts.”

“However, the Panel would like to see a more prolonged period of supported community transition,” the court records state.

The panel recommended that Jordan remain on conditional release to demonstrate her ability “to deal with life in the post pandemic society.”

In a personal letter submitted with her petition for unconditional release, Jordan wrote that she has maintained remission of her mental illness for several years and has remained committed to relapse prevention since her release to the community.

Jordan wrote that she has been consistent with her medication and recognized that this was a lifelong commitment for her. She said she practices health stress-management skills, has healthy boundaries in her interpersonal relationships and has regular psychiatric care that she intends to continue with for life, court documents state.

Since her release to the community in May 2021, Jordan received a scholarship and completed a certificate program from the University of Washington in Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership and is beginning a certificate in editing program at UW in the fall. She wrote that she has plans to pursue a master’s degree in English after, with long-term goals of becoming a freelance editor working with writers, according to court records.

Jordan previously received a bachelor’s degree in education and spent 18 years working as a certified teacher in California, Taiwan and El Salvador. She also worked at the Lummi Nation School for two years before quitting to raise her son full-time, The Herald previously reported. Her teaching credentials were permanently revoked in Washington and California in 2016, according to court records.

‘Extremely tragic situation’

At Jordan’s court hearing on her petition for unconditional release last week, Richey, the prosecutor, said it was clear Jordan was impacted by mental illness at the time she “committed horrendous crimes.”

In the eight years that have followed her commitment to the state hospital, Richey said Jordan has taken steps to improve her mental health and work toward her release. He said there have been no complaints made about Jordan during the time she has been living in the community.

He said Jordan’s care team evaluated her progress, deemed that she no longer poses a danger to the community and that her treatment, which includes medications, has been successful.

“On the other side of the coin, the Public Safety Review Panel is not yet convinced. The PSRP recognizes the efforts Ms. Jordan has made and that she has not posed any dangers since treatment began. But the PSRP is concerned that not enough time has passed to really prove that she will not pose a danger in the future. How much time should pass before the PSRP is comfortable with her treatment team’s stance?” Richey said, adding that it was hard to argue against her release.

“She has done all that we have asked of her. Prosecutors are naturally cautious people, but I can’t adopt the cautiousness of the PSRP in this situation. Based on the recommendations of her treatment team, I support that Ms. Jordan’s restrictions be removed,” Richey said.

Grochmal, the judge, said this was not the first hearing for Jordan that she had handled, referring to her approval of Jordan’s May 2021 conditional release from the psychiatric hospital to the community.

Grochmal said since that time, Jordan proved she continued to take care of her mental health and has addressed any risks surrounding community safety or the potential that she will commit another violent crime.

After reviewing all the evidence, Grochmal said she was convinced that Jordan had met the burden of proving that she had earned an unconditional release. Jordan has shown by a preponderance of evidence that she is not likely to commit a violent offense and that there is no danger to the community, Grochmal said.

“I expect (Jordan) will continue with her mental health treatment for the rest of her life for her own benefit and for the benefit of those in the community. This was an extremely tragic situation and nobody knows that better than Ms. Jordan and the family members who were involved in this unfortunate event,” Grochmal said.

“I wish that there had been help for her mental illness sooner and I wish that someone had recognized it sooner and that help had been available for her and this could have been avoided. But I’m glad to see that she’s now gotten the help she needs and I don’t think we’re going to have any problems in the future.”