Text messages exchanged between two of the suspects, Heather Anne Henderson, 34, and her estranged husband, Jarrod Donald Henderson, 34, referred to narcotics, according to testimony given by Minot Patrol Officer Jay Bloyer during preliminary hearings Thursday in district court in Minot for Jarrod Henderson and the third suspect, Nicholis Backman, 26.

Under questioning by Jarrod Henderson’s attorney, William Hartl, Bloyer also acknowledged that Jordan Watson, the alleged victim of the robbery, told police that only about $400 in a suitcase had been stolen. The actual amount of money later found in a suitcase matching Watson’s description in Jarrod Henderson’s Chevy Tahoe was considerably more than $400.

Ward County Assistant State’s Attorney Ashlei Neufeld objected to Hartl’s line of questioning and said it wasn’t relevant. Neufeld also refused to stipulate that only $400 had been stolen.

Under cross-examination during the hearings, Bloyer also said that in the text messages that Heather Henderson told Jarrod Henderson how many people were in the hotel room and where the money was located. In one message the pair discussed “rolling” the residents of the hotel room and stealing from them. Heather Henderson later texted Jarrod Henderson asking him to come and get her at the hotel.

H. Henderson

According to a probable cause affidavit filed with the court for the robbery case, Watson, the alleged robbery victim, told police that two women had been in the hotel room with him. Bill Patel, a hotel clerk whom Watson knew, brought Heather Henderson and a Native American woman with maroon hair to the room. Watson told police that he did not know Heather Henderson, Jarrod Henderson or Nicholis Backman and he had only been in town for a week. While she was in the hotel room, Watson said Heather Henderson kept texting someone and told Watson that she had a ride on the way. Heather Henderson grew more agitated. Eventually, while Watson was in the hotel bathroom, Heather Henderson let the two men, Jarrod Henderson and Backman, into the room. Watson said the group robbed him and the men took his suitcase, which contained cash in different denominations. He told police he fought with Jarrod Henderson in the bathroom as he tried to get out the door. The woman had given him a note with the name “Heather” and a phone number on it.

Bloyer testified on Thursday that he does not believe police have identified the Native American woman who was in the room with the Hendersons and Backman. He also does not know whether there is any other open investigation pending regarding narcotics.

According to the affidavit, while police were at the hotel investigating a report of a fight, a dispatcher told them that Heather Henderson had called 911 to report that Jarrod Henderson had hit her and was outside a northeast Minot residence with a gun. She told the dispatcher that Jarrod Henderson was picked up by a white vehicle, which was headed south. Henderson’s own black Chevy Tahoe was stuck in the snow. The Ward County Sheriff’s Department located the white vehicle that had picked up Henderson and found three people in it. Police detained the two male passengers, Jarrod Henderson and Backman, and did not detain the female driver, Debra Henderson. Deputies found an open suitcase in Jarrod Henderson’s stalled Tahoe with clothes spread around along with cash.

Police later interviewed Heather Henderson, who had a red mark on her left eye, a scratch on her chest and a reddened right ear. She told police that the incident with Jarrod Henderson began at the Astoria, where they had robbed someone in Room 313. Heather Henderson said the two men had gotten into a fight with people in the room. She said Backman had a knife. Police found an empty knife sheath in the hotel room. Backman’s lawyer, Daniel Gulya, argued during the hearing that Watson never saw Backman with a knife during the robbery. Backman had a pocket knife on him when he was booked into the jail. Gulya said he didn’t think there was enough evidence to charge the crime as a Class B felony on the basis that there was a knife involved.

According to the probable cause affidavit, Heather Henderson, Jarrod Henderson and Backman left the hotel after the robbery. Bloyer testified that hotel security footage sees the group leaving and carrying a suitcase. He said Jarrod Henderson was carrying the suitcase initially and then handed it to Backman. According to the affidavit, the group got into a vehicle and Jarrod Henderson, who was sitting in the back seat, punched his estranged wife in the head from behind and told her to drive. He hit her again in the head while she was driving. Jarrod Henderson pulled out a stack of the stolen money and shouted out “13,” which she believed meant $13,000, based on the size of the stack of bills. Jarrod Henderson ordered her to get off the bypass. Heather Henderson was not familiar with the area and said Jarrod Henderson became angry and struck her with a handgun he had found in the suitcase. Jarrod Henderson told his estranged wife she was lucky he didn’t shoot her and then told Backman that they should get rid of her in a field. Heather Henderson told police she overheard the gun slide rack back after Jarrod Henderson said this to Backman and she ended up crashing the Tahoe into a snowbank. Jarrod Henderson then started yelling at her again and told her to walk to someone’s home. Heather Henderson got out of the vehicle and went to a house to borrow a phone to dial 911. She was afraid of what might happen if she went back to the Tahoe.

Backman

When police arrested the two men, Backman had several hundred dollars in his shoe and Jarrod Henderson matched the description of one of the male robbers at the hotel. Backman told police that the robbery was Heather Henderson’s idea and he was not involved.

When they searched the Tahoe, police found a loaded handgun and two knives.

Debra Henderson later told police that Jarrod Henderson had been using her husband’s phone on the night of the robbery to text Heather Henderson. Debra Henderson brought two phones to the police department and gave police permission to search them. Police reviewed the text messages exchanged between Heather Henderson and Jarrod Henderson on the night of the robbery.

All three robbery suspects have been held at the Ward County Jail, but Judge Stacy Louser agreed to lower bond on Thursday for Heather Henderson from $10,000 to a bond that requires her to pay 10 percent of that, or just $1,000. Heather Henderson is allowed no contact with Jarrod Henderson or Nicholis Backman. The hearings for the three suspects were held at separate times so they weren’t in the courtroom together.

Heather Henderson is also facing a charge of simple assault on an officer for alleging throwing a lit cigarette in the face of Officer Kevin Cory when Cory and Bloyer went to arrest her on Feb. 9. The charge is a Class C felony. The preliminary hearing for that charge is scheduled for March 17. Heather Henderson’s attorney, Bonnie Paradis Humphrey, waived the preliminary hearing for Heather Henderson on the robbery charge on Thursday.

Jarrod Henderson, Heather Henderson and Nicholis Backman are all charged with Class B felony robbery, a charge that carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. Because a weapon is alleged to have been used, the state would require a four year minimum mandatory sentence for the charge and mandate that at least 85 percent of that sentence be served.

Jarrod Henderson is also charged with terrorizing, a Class C felony, violation of a protection order, a Class A misdemeanor, and simple assault-domestic violence, a Class B misdemeanor in the most recent incidents.

All three entered not guilty pleas to the charges against them on Thursday.