A murder trial started on Wednesday in Pennington County Court for Dion Bordeaux, a 28-year-old resident of Rapid City.
Bordeaux stands accused of the first-degree murder of his girlfriend, 22-year-old Jeanette Jumping Eagle, who was shot and killed in the early hours of New Year’s Day in 2020.
Jeanette Jumping Eagle, a mother of three children from Rapid City, was discovered dead with a single gunshot wound above her right eyebrow in a room at the Microtel Inn and Suites in north Rapid City.
The prosecution has charged Bordeaux with first-degree murder, a decision that came eight months after Jumping Eagle’s death. Initially, law enforcement authorities were uncertain whether her death was a suicide or a homicide.
During the opening statements, Deputy Pennington County State’s Attorney Adam Shiffermiller declared, “Miss Jumping Eagle did not take her own life. Dion Bordeaux ended her life.”
Shiffermiller also highlighted to the jury that the gun found in Jumping Eagle’s hand had the safety engaged, indicating that she did not fire the fatal shot, and there was no evidence of the gun being pressed against her skin.