Wasilla man to serve 20 years for 2019 murder

PALMER, Alaska (KTUU) - A man charged with murdering a Wasilla teen in January of 2019 was sentenced to serve 20 years in prison Friday morning at the Palmer Courthouse.

Jordan Flowers, 23, was sentenced to 30 years with 10 years suspended for second-degree murder, as well as 10 years supervised probation following his sentence by Palmer Judge Jonathan Woodman, who had delayed the sentencing on three previous occasions.

Flowers was 19 when he shot and killed fellow teenager Gunnar Swan in the early hours of Jan. 27, 2019, while sitting in a Jeep Patriot. Court documents showed that Flowers was sitting directly behind Swan in the Jeep when he put a handgun between the front seat and headrest where Swan was and pulled the trigger.

Flowers later testified that he “blacked out” for a moment and did not remember who shot Swan.

Swan’s mother, Monika Swan-Armitstead, told Alaska’s News Source in August, after the most recent sentencing delay, that her son’s family and friends have found closure prior to knowing what the final sentence would be for Flowers.

“We’re choosing to find our own closure and to move forward and find healing in our lives, and I think to make that choice as a group together of people that loved Gunnar is tremendous,” Swan-Armitstead said. “Jordan Flowers, if you spend one more second of your life doing anything other than trying to serve the rest of humanity through love, compassion, and acts of service, you will do nothing to honor Gunnar’s life that you stole, my life that you utterly wrecked, and the lives of all those who loved Gunnar so dearly.”

Copyright 2022 KTUU. All rights reserved.