A jury on Wednesday convicted a Columbia Heights man of murdering his 16-year-old son, Jordan “Manny” Collins Jr., whose remains were found after a three-week search of a landfill.

Jordan Dupree Collins Sr., 39, was found guilty in Anoka County District Court of the sole count of second-degree intentional murder in the May 2025 killing. Collins, who represented himself at trial, is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 2.

In a joint statement, the Columbia Heights Police Department and Anoka County Sheriff’s Office said, “While this verdict brings accountability, it does not lessen the heartbreaking tragedy that has forever changed Manny’s family, his friends, and our community. Manny was a young boy with his whole future ahead of him, and his life was senselessly taken.”

Anoka County Attorney Brad Johnson said in a statement that he has “never heard from so many people about a single case. I am grateful for all the people who showed up to rally behind Manny, his mother Ashley and their family, and all those who continually supported the work of law enforcement and our office.” Johnson said that he and others who worked on the case “took Manny’s death and discovery as a personal loss. None of us should outlive our children. But to have a child — a child in our community — taken from us in this way is simply unconscionable.”

Last heard from May 8

According to the criminal complaint, the teen’s mother filed a missing person report with Columbia Heights police on May 12. She said her son lived with his father in an apartment in Columbia Heights. She last heard from her son about 4 a.m. May 8 when he reacted to a text message she sent him.

When police talked to Collins Sr. about the missing person report, he said that his son left the apartment the afternoon of May 8 to take a bus to St. Paul to visit his grandmother and girlfriend.

Police learned later that Collins Jr. never arrived at his grandmother’s or girlfriend’s home.

Collins Jr.’s girlfriend told police she was on a video call with him until she fell asleep about 2:30 a.m. May 8. He was in his father’s apartment during the call. She said he didn’t seem upset and he didn’t tell her he was planning on visiting her.

Search finds blood, knives

Law enforcement executed a search warrant at Collins Sr.’s apartment May 15 and found items stained by blood in garbage bags in the living room closet, the complaint said. They also located butcher-style knives in a bedroom closet and a mattress on the bedroom floor with a piece of its underside missing.

A piece of carpet and carpet padding were also missing underneath the mattress. None of these pieces were found in the apartment.

Two days later, an analysis showed the DNA from the blood stains in Collins Sr.’s apartment matched DNA taken from Collins Jr.’s personal items. Law enforcement conducted more tests in the apartment and found blood from Collins Jr. on a bedroom wall.

Video footage from May 13 showed a garbage truck emptying the contents of a large dumpster behind Collins Sr.’s apartment. This led police to believe the body of Collins Jr. went from the dumpster in Columbia Heights to the Elk River landfill.

Law enforcement began searching the landfill June 4. Police used GPS data from the facility to find the area where contents from the Columbia Heights dumpster would be located.

The FBI brought in its Laboratory Evidence Response Team Unit and the Technical Hazardous Response Unit from Virginia to help in the investigation. A member of the search team discovered Collins Jr.’s body on June 28.

Collins Sr. had given a voluntary statement to police eight days earlier. He told them he cut the mattress and carpet sections to clean up his own blood. The blood near the mattress and carpet cuttings matched the DNA of Collins Jr., and no blood from Collins Sr. was found in the apartment.Collins Sr. said he owned the knives found in the apartment and that he used them to butcher goats and sheep. He was arrested.

An autopsy showed evidence of decapitation by knife.

‘Mom, I love you’

Manny’s mother, Ashley Berry, later spoke about her son during a rally for justice in front of the Governor’s Residence in St. Paul.

“I know every mother wants to say this about their child, but he was great,” Berry said. “He had a very old soul. And I hate to even say, had.”

Berry said her son liked to skateboard, play basketball and take photos. He fell asleep on FaceTime with his girlfriend every night and visited his grandmother every week to mow her lawn.

Berry last communicated with her son the day he went missing. She said the last text message she received from him was, “Mom, I love you and I appreciate you. Thank you, and I’ll see you soon.”