Heartbreaking note reveals mom's loving bond with adopted son who 'killed her with a hammer and left body in trash can'
An Oklahoma mother-of-five's adopted son boasted about his loving bond with her before he allegedly bludgeoned her to death with a hammer, police said.
A GoFundMe page and social media posts have revealed new details about the life of 49-year-old Spring Weems. The loving mother's body was discovered on Wednesday in a trash can outside her $340,000 home in Edmond, a town 15 miles north of Oklahoma City.
Jordan Cole Weems, the 16-year-old boy who has been charged with Spring's brutal murder, suffered from severe mental illness, according to an online fundraiser that was purportedly started by a close friend of the family.
Spring was aware of his struggles and was actively seeking professional help for him before the tragedy this week, the page stated.
'Everything Spring did was rooted in love for her children. She lived for them, protected them fiercely, and made sure they always felt safe, supported, and deeply cherished,' the fundraiser said.
She leaves behind five children, three teenage sons, a teenager daughter and an adult daughter in her twenties. The page said her adult daughter recently had a baby, making Spring a grandmother for the first time.
Among her posts is a picture of a key ring with a handwritten note, seemingly penned by Jordan for Mother's Day in May 2021, when he would have been 11 years old.
It read: 'Dear mom, I love you because you are smart, kind and you are very loving that's what I love about you. You're (sic) son, Jordan Weems.'
Spring Weems, 49, was described as a 'devoted mother' to her five children. Jordan Cole Weems, her 16-year-old adopted son, has now been charged with her murder
Among Spring's posts is a picture of a key ring with a handwritten note, seemingly penned by Jordan for Mother's Day in May, 2021, when he would have been 11 years old
Weems lived alone with her three adopted teens and her biological son in this $340,000 home in Edmond, Oklahoma
Suggestions that Jordan had recently been suffering from mental illness were corroborated by prosecutors in a motion they filed in court on Friday, arguing that he should be detained without bail pending his trial.
'According to the defendant's father, as well as the Logan County Sheriffs Office, the defendant has previously been committed to psychiatric hospitals for suicidal ideation. Specifically, Deputy Sergio Cabral committed the defendant within the last few weeks for suicidal ideation,' prosecutors wrote.
The fundraiser for Spring's family, which has raised more than $2,000 as of Saturday night, described her as a 'devoted mother' who 'never missed a wrestling match for her sons or a volleyball game for her daughter'.
'She was always present for her oldest daughter and precious grandbaby,' it continued. 'She was deeply loved, widely respected, and known throughout the community for her generosity, compassion, and unwavering kindness.'
Spring was a devout Christian and frequently posted about her children's athletic accomplishments and pictures of her family on social media.
Jordan lived in Spring's Edmond home with his biological brother and sister. All three children are still minors and were adopted by Spring and her ex-husband 11 years ago, according to court records.
Jordan also lived with Spring's biological son, who prosecutors state was the first to get suspicious when his mother was nowhere to be seen.
This son, identified as AW in court records, came back to the family home on Tuesday after staying with friends for a few days.
Spring (center) punished Jordan for 'sneaking out of the house' at night and running away from police officers, according to court documents
When AW asked Jordan where she was, Jordan replied that she was helping her oldest daughter with her new baby.
By the next day, Wednesday, Spring still hadn't come home, even though her car was still in the driveway and her bedroom door was locked, according to the affidavit.
Spring's other adopted son, identified as TW in the affidavit, told investigators that he and Jordan had been punished by their mother for 'sneaking out of the house' at night and running away from police officers.
The boys were allegedly forced to write letters apologizing to the police and to anyone affected by their behavior, per the affidavit.
TW also claimed that Spring locked away Jordan's clothes and replaced them with an orange prison-style jumpsuit to 'show him what life as a prisoner might be like if he did not start behaving,' the affidavit said.
Spring allegedly simulated prison meals by only serving the two boys ham and beans or chicken and beans.
During this time, Jordan mentioned several times that he was going to kill his mother, TW told investigators with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.
Jordan waived his right to an attorney and told Logan County Sheriff's deputies that he repeatedly hit Spring with a hammer and his fists 'until she wasn't moving anymore'. He then told investigators he put her body in a trash can and rolled it to the end of the driveway
AW, Spring's biological son, felt that 'something was not right' when he could not make contact with his mother, so he called his father and Spring's ex-husband.
The father, identified as Levi, called the police to report her missing after he realized that his ex-wife was not with their oldest daughter caring for her grandchild, as Jordan had claimed.
Logan County Sheriff's deputies came to the house and left without discovering anything. After they left, Levi and his son, AW, talked to the Spring's other adopted son because 'he was acting like he knew something and was scared,' according to the affidavit.
That's when the boy admitted that Jordan killed Spring and threw her into the trash barrel, the documents state.
Jordan was taken to the Logan County Sheriff's Office, where he signed a Miranda waiver and agreed to speak to detectives.
He admitted to killing Spring with a hammer he took from the garage, according to the affidavit.
He said he waited until she left the kitchen and struck her in the head with the hammer, before hitting her repeatedly with both the hammer and his fists 'until she wasn't moving anymore,' according to investigators.
He then said he placed her body in the trash can and 'rolled it to the curb at the end of the driveway,' the affidavit said.
Spring was a devout Christian and frequently posted about her children's athletic accomplishments on social media
Jordan now faces a first-degree murder charge, a capital offense in Oklahoma, but because of his age, he will not face the death penalty. The maximum sentence he'll face is life in prison without the possibility of parole.
According to Oklahoma law, anyone aged 15 to 17 years old who is charged with first-degree murder is automatically treated as an adult.
The boy was also charged with the desecration of a human corpse and the unauthorized removal of a dead body.
Prosecutors with the state of Oklahoma filed a motion in court on Friday arguing that Jordan should be detained without bail pending his trial.
Their reasoning was partly based on their assessment that the crime was premeditated, not 'a crime of passion or an instantaneous decision'.
'He planned the killing by retrieving a hammer and laying in wait to surprise his mother in the middle of the night,' prosecutors wrote. 'When his mother came upon him unsuspecting, he attacked her viciously and brutally, striking her with the hammer and his fist in excess of a dozen times.'
'Finally, after killing his mother, he took steps to hide the body, clean up the scene, fabricate evidence to excuse her absence, and lied to his family about her location,' they continued.
Jordan's detention will be reviewed by the court twice, once in February and once in March, before his scheduled to appear in front of a judge on April 15.
