Texas pastor allegedly killed by daughter during prayer session
Pastor Gloria Jordan, the former leader of First Pentecostal Church in Wichita Falls, Texas, whose death authorities initially ruled to be natural causes, is now believed to have been killed by her daughter during a prayer session.
Jordan, who died on Nov. 21, 2021, at the age of 70, had spent decades of her life in ministry like her parents before her, Deacon Benjamin Farmer Sr. and Sue Esther Edmonds Farmer, according to her obituary.
Two years after Gloria Jordan and her husband, Elder Glossy B. Jordan, moved to Wichita Falls, they started First Pentecostal Church in 1981. The church still meets today in a quaint, run-down building.
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“She served faithfully and assisted her husband in any capacity she could,” her obituary said. “Gloria served as President of the Missionary Department and Sunday School Teacher.”
By 1983, the late Gloria Jordan “finally accepted God’s call to minister His word.” When her husband died in 2015, she took over the leadership of her small church. She was faithfully carrying out her duty until her death that was initially ruled a medical death by authorities, according to court records cited by KFDX.
A few days after she died, however, a family friend raised concern about the nature of her death with police and a follow-up investigation was done, which included an autopsy.
Police then interviewed the only other person who was at home with Pastor Jordan and her 41-year-old daughter, Gloria Ann Jordan, at the time of her death.
The witness told police that she did not share what she knew at the time of the initial investigation because she was afraid of Gloria Ann.
She later revealed that on the day the pastor died, her daughter had been praying for her. During the prayer, the younger Jordan laid hands on her mother’s forehead and pushed her back into a chair until it fell over with her mother.
Gloria Ann Jordan then straddled her mother’s body and sat on her chest even as the pastor was yelling that she could not breathe. The witness said she tried and failed to help the pastor, but her daughter sat on her until she stopped breathing.
Police later questioned the younger Jordan about her mother’s death, and she admitted to straddling her mother during prayer but refused to offer more details when pressed by police.
Her mother’s death was ruled a homicide by asphyxia after the autopsy.
Just four days after her mother’s death, Jordan was arrested for assaulting her cousin in the same home where her mother died.
The cousin told police that Jordan asked her to drive her to a doctor’s appointment in Dallas, but when she asked if Jordan had money for gas after repeated requests, Jordan grabbed her head and shouted: “I rebuke you in the name of the Lord!”
Jordan then began slamming her cousin’s head into a wall. The cousin reportedly called police after they both fell to the floor and she was able to roll away.
Police arrested and charged Jordan with manslaughter on Tuesday for her mother's death.
