Jackson was murdered Sept. 22, 2024, by Nathaniel Bevers McGivney, 22, of Farnhamville, at the Farnhamville City Park.

District Court Judge Derek Johnson deliberated for nearly two hours before ruling that Bevers McGivney was guilty of first degree murder and abuse of a corpse for his attempts to hide Jackson’s body.

Johnson heard the case during a bench trial in which there was no jury.

“The defendant used an interchangeable knife commonly used for gutting animals,” Johnson said in his ruling. “There was blood on the floor, bathtub and towels in his apartment. He gave conflicting explanations as to why he was in possession of the scooter. He had cuts and lacerations, and there were no defensive wounds found on Michele Jackson.”

Bevers McGivney will be sentenced at 10 a.m. Aug. 15 in the Calhoun County Courthouse. He faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole for the first degree murder conviction.

Prosecutors rested their case against Bevers McGivney at mid-morning Wednesday. Defense attorneys only asked to submit a deposition from Bevers McGivney’s aunt, Leilani Lint, which was approved.

In closing statements, Assistant Iowa Attorney General Andrew Prosser told Johnson that Bevers McGivney “acted willfully, deliberately and with specific intent to kill.”

Prosser said that while no motive was known, that didn’t mean that he wasn’t aware of his actions.

“He walked to the park, saw her, was armed with a knife with more than one blade, quietly approached her, cut her throat and stabbed her 26 times,” Prosser said. “Those are the acts of someone who has thought about what they are going to do.”

Defense attorney Charles Kenville argued that if Bevers McGivney had planned the murder, his actions wouldn’t have been haphazard, noting that he didn’t conceal evidence and was found walking the Farnhamville streets while covered in Jackson’s blood.

“This is a very sad but random spontaneous event,” Kenville said. “He didn’t conceal evidence. The knife with blood and hair materials were found in his apartment. He didn’t put Jackson’s body in his car.”

Kenville also noted that there was no motive or connection between Bevers McGivney and Jackson, stating that the two did not know one another nor was it believed that they had previously met.

“This was a brutal attack,” Kenville said. “But not premeditated. I am asking the court to find the defendant not guilty of first degree murder, but guilty of second degree murder and the second count.”

Before the prosecutors rested their case, Aislinn Chambers, a DNA specialist from the state crime lab, and Dr. Jacob Smith, an associate state medical examiner, testified.