Overview
- Prosecutors say Melvin Jordan lured two firefighters into his Auburn Gresham home during a response to a garage fire on Aug. 29, 2023 and then trapped them at knifepoint before police forced entry.
- A jury in May 2026 acquitted Jordan of attempted murder but convicted him on two counts each of armed kidnapping and aggravated unlawful restraint, leading to Wednesday’s 28-year prison term ordered to be served at 85%.
- Officers and investigators reported finding knives, a handgun and what they believed to be gasoline spread across the first floor, and the Office of Fire Investigations judged the garage blaze to be intentionally set.
- Both firefighters escaped from the house without physical injury by fleeing through a front window, and Jordan was arrested after officers broke down the door and found him hiding in a bathroom.
- Jordan’s older 2005 murder conviction was vacated in 2019 because his trial attorney had a conflict of interest, he was released on a $45,000 bail deposit pending retrial, and that separate case remains unresolved as the new sentence takes effect.