We live in a world that seems to become more and more violent every year. Stories of murder and assault take up more space on our newsfeeds than anything else. I am realistic, I don’t expect everyone to love each other and violence to suddenly end – but I do expect that we take a hard look at our choices and ask what we are doing to breed violence instead of ending it.
In the last couple of weeks, I have had a friend who was gunned down and a former employee who was sentenced to 38 plus years for murder. Two individuals who orbit around my world. Both of these events shocked me. In different ways, but still shocking.
From one end of the spectrum to the other – these are the cases that have been keeping me awake at night.
How I Knew Jay Halvorson
On Wednesday, June 5th – I had been texting with Jay Halvorson. Jay was a friend. We met during “Gift Burgers on the Plaza” years ago. he was working his food truck and I was recording some promos for the radio.
We instantly hit it off when I was able to talk BBQ on a deeper level. Boy oh boy, Jay knew his stuff when it came to brisket. We would talk about food, life in Fargo and (not surprising to those who knew him) sneakers.
In May of 2019, Jay and I met to discuss a new podcast he wanted to launch about the competitive world of sneaker collecting. He had some insane stories about how much people were spending, the cheating, the lying, the camping out for 4 days to score a limited edition pair of kicks.
He was a good guy.
He was also a great community leader. He didn’t sit on a board or occupy an elected position – but he organized and spoke for the food truck folks in our area. He championed the rights and needs of food trucks. He made sure that their voices were heard when it came time to lawmaking and the creation of ordinances. My last text convo with him concerned the creation of “Food Truck Fridays” that would be taking place in downtown Fargo. He spoke before the city commission and Friday, June 14th was scheduled to be the big debut of the new program.
Jay was shot down and murdered on Friday, June 7th 2019 and his funeral was Thursday, June 13th – just one day before the next phase of his food truck career.
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO MY MOST RECENT INTERVIEW WITH JAY
Gone Too Soon
In the very early morning hours of Friday, June 7th. After a confrontation outside his food truck, which was parked in downtown near the former Sahr’s Sudden Service station, Jay was shot several times by two men and died a little over an hour later.
On Friday, my partner Amy Iler and I started our show with newsman Don Haney, in studio, providing us with the details from the shooting. At that time, all we knew was there had been gun fire and one person was dead. No identity had been released. Don talked about the area and said a nearby food truck was lit up and I immediately thought about Jay. I knew he parked his Texas Q BBQ food truck in that lot. I grabbed my phone to text him on the commercial break. As we went to commercial, I saw that someone had posted on social media that it was Jay who had been shot. Everything slowed down to a crawl. I could barely vocalize the news to Amy. Shocked. My mind concluded that Jay had been working, getting some meat started for a busy Friday of slinging sandwiches. Horrible news. A numbness set it. Social media continued to cover aspects, they still hadn’t charged anyone with the murder yet and I couldn’t get Jay out of my mind.
It was true. He had been a part of some sort of confrontation and these men ripped him from the world with violence. The details from an eye witness unsettled the feeling even more with reports of multiple gun shots and Jay’s final attempt to get help.
It was a tough blow to hundreds. From his loyal customers to his business contacts and, the hitting the hardest, his friends and family. Days of news reports followed. The two men in custody and being charged with his murder. A multi-million dollar bail. And speculation about what had happened along with who should take care of his awesome dog Nike and what might be the legacy of Texas Q BBQ.
On Thursday, June 13th, I attended a memorial service for Jay. This service was unlike any other memorial I have ever witnessed. Friends and family came in sporting jerseys instead of black suits. Nike made an appearance and brought a lot of tears when he approached the front of the room where he mourned his former owner. Food truck operators flooded the funeral home and took off early afternoons at their businesses. Jay probably would have told them to get back to work and hustle to drum up some business, but it seemed fitting that these rolling establishments should be dark in his honor.
Kind words said, laughs by many and enough tears to keep Kleenex in business. This was a fitting tribute. The word “murder” was on a lot of minds, but “gone” and “in heaven” were being said in its place.
It’s hard to imagine what the world will be like without him. Society norms dictate that we do not speak ill of the dead – but in Jay’s case – I would be hard pressed to find something negative to say. When I think about him, I just smile and shake my head.
How I knew Jason Jensen
Over a decade ago I started working for a company that produced a summer concert festival. Over 30,000 individuals camped for three plus days in early August to be close to the action at an epic country music festival. I worked in camping. Working year after year to finally be promoted to campground manager and then camping supervisor. It was during these years working my way up that I met Jason Jensen, who worked as a night manager in one of the rowdiest campgrounds at the festival. It was not uncommon to hear about port-a-potties burning to the ground or massive fist fights breaking out – this is where the younger and wilder patrons chose to camp. They wanted the late night action and also enjoyed a LOT of alcohol. Alcohol was everywhere and I watched as dumb kids tested the limits of what their bodies could consume before passing out at 2pm in direct sunlight. Anyone who worked in this campground needed to know two phone numbers – the medics and the sheriff. During the day it was about cleaning up and trying to spot trouble areas. At night, it was about maintaining the peace. Trying to keep both eyes open and looking in different directions. Jason had been managing at nights for years. When my role switched to supervisor, I inherited him from the previous leadership. I never had any issues with him as an employee. He seemed level headed. He showed up on time. He knew his duties. I even covered for him on an occasion when he wanted to see the karaoke contest winners sing on stage. He was grateful and was back exactly when he said he would be. As the years went on, Jason was even on a short list to be promoted to Assistant Supervisor and aid the night staff. This never happened, he admitted to us that he was battling some demons of his own and needed to step away from the festival to keep himself healthy. I retired from that gig after 2017 and I haven’t seen Jason in several years…until I read a story on kfgo.com about a gruesome murder in Hitterdal, MN.
A Gruesome Murder in the Heartland
(Mugshot of Jason Jensen and Kayla Westcott)
On June 9th of 2018, a man named Troy Yarbrough was reported missing. 15 days later, Jason Jensen and Kayla Westcott had been charged with the murder of the missing man. According their statements, Yarbrough was visiting Jensen’s farm property and was killed on May 20th, 2018. During the separate trials and testimonies, both Jensen and Westcott told similar stories – but blamed the other for acting out the murder. Whether you believe one or the other, the actions remain the same. Yarbrough – for an unknown reason – was beaten with a rake handled, head struck with a concrete cinder block and suffered injuries from an attack with an ax. Adding to the violent nature was the fact that Yarbrough’s body was stashed away in an out building overnight. When Jensen and Westcott returned the next day, they found him still alive and finished their heinous act. The body was burned and scattered between two locations on the property. Searches of Jensen’s farmstead included a diving team to investigate a pond on the property.
The man I knew, Jason Jensen, had a mugshot all over the news. It was hard to go an hour without one of the thousands of employees from the music festival calling and asking, “Did you hear about Jason Jensen?!?!” Some with disbelief that he could really have done this, while others just seemed fascinated with a new fact in THEIR lives. They knew a murdered. They worked with a murderer. They went out for beers with a murderer.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE KFGO.COM NEWS STORY
There is a certain amount of guilt that hits you when a relationship is shattered. How well does someone REALLY know another person? Jason and I weren’t close, but we spent a week together every summer for most of my 20s and early 30s. I shook his hand. The same hand that might have taken another person’s life. I felt unclean. Dirty. I will let our justice system decide if he is guilty or innocent (spoiler alert: He plead guilty and was sentenced for aiding and abetting a non-premeditated murder. 38 and a half years in prison. Westcott’s case is still pending at the time of this writing) but it will forever change the way I watch Law & Order or any other show about a criminal who, “seemed like an ordinary guy.”
Additional Content by JJ Gordon:
KFGO Blog –
The Three R’s of Remembering My Father
KFGO Blog –
How Burt’s Beeswax is Made
KFGO Blog –
JJ’s Journey “Forgive Me Jenny, For I Have Carb’d”
KFGO Blog –
The Cardigan Cowboy
KFGO Blog –
Inside Out Car, with Super Bowl ties, Spotted in Fargo
(Listen to JJ Gordon every weekday from 11am to 2pm on
It Takes 2 with Amy and JJ
. On the Mighty 790AM KFGO or on our app!)
