ROCKWELL CITY — “He was caught red-handed,” Calhoun County Attorney Ben Smith said during opening arguments Tuesday in the first-degree murder trial of Nathaniel Bevers-McGivney. “In this instance, the phrase is literal. He had her bloody shoe and green scooter.”

Bevers-McGivney, 22, of Farnhamville, is on trial in Calhoun County District Court for the murder of 17-year-old Michele “Luna” Jackson at the Farnhamville City Park in September 2024.

During opening statements to a packed courtroom, Smith said that while at the City Park, Bevers-McGivney cut Jackson’s throat and stabbed her at least 26 times in her head and torso.

Smith told the court that Jackson enjoyed spending time at the City Park, which she frequented almost daily.

But on Sunday, Sept. 22, Jackson didn’t return home from the park, and her mother, Annette, and sister, Shawna Bachman, searched the small town for her.

“They searched Farnhamville together, looking for Michele,” said Smith. “Then they saw a man with Annette’s green scooter (that Michele took to the park) and they demanded to know where he got it from. It was unmistakable.”

Upon finding Bevers-McGivney in possession of the scooter, Annette Jackson called 911. Bachman’s boyfriend, Jordan Adams, held him at gunpoint after Bachman spotted Michele’s bloody shoe in the basket on the back of the scooter.

When law enforcement arrived on scene, Smith told the court that officers shone a spotlight at Bevers-McGivney and Annette Jackson, Bachman, and Adams, and were able to see that Bevers-McGivney was “covered from his knees down in blood.”

According to Smith, more than 25 law enforcement officers from five different Iowa agencies then began searching for Michele Jackson. Two large pools of blood were found at the park, including 200-feet of drag marks where Jackson’s body had been moved, he said.

Officers found blood in Bevers-McGivney’s kitchen and bathroom. However, he refused to provide information as to where Michele Jackson was.

Law enforcement officers searched throughout the evening and into the early morning hours for Jackson.

According to Smith, on Monday morning, a Landus employee notified them that a trash bin was out of place and had been moved behind some tractors and near a cornfield.

“He thought inside was an animal, but upon closer inspection thought it might be a human,” Smith told the court. “That moment shattered this small community. Michele had been found.”

Charles Kenville, defense attorney for Bevers-McGivney, told the judge during opening arguments that Bevers-McGivney’s actions were “tragic and terribly sad,” but were not premeditated and deliberate, which are legal requirements for first-degree murder charges.

He said that Bevers-McGivney had an “extremely traumatic childhood” in which his mother was neglectful and abusive, and that he had limited contact and socialization with others.

Kenville said that the crime “was not premeditated. It was a spontaneous outburst … that was a haphazard and hurried act.”

Kenville said that the defense team is arguing for second-degree murder due to the lack of premeditation.

Following opening statements, Annette Jackson and Bachman took the stand and detailed their search for Michele Jackson as well as finding Bevers-McGivney in possession of the green scooter.

“He was covered in blood from his thighs to his feet,” said Annette Jackson. “I asked him where my daughter was, and he said, ‘I didn’t see a girl.'”

A video that Bachman made that night while Adams held Bevers-McGivney at gunpoint while waiting for deputies was shown to the courtroom filled with family, friends, and community members. In the video, Bachman gasped and cried when she and her mother saw the blood on his pants.

Throughout Tuesday’s proceedings, Bevers-McGivney sat quietly staring ahead.

The bench trial before District Court Judge Derek Johnson continues today in Calhoun County District Court.