(Pottawattamie Co) The Pottawattamie County Attorney’s Office announced 49-year-old Jesse William Smith was convicted by a Pottawattamie County Jury on Thursday on the charge of Sex Abuse in the Third Degree.
Immediately following the jury’s verdict, the trial proceeded to an enhanced punishment phase where District Court Judge Michael Hooper found Smith to be the same individual as had previously been convicted of multiple felony sex offenses in Colorado. The combination of the jury’s verdict and Judge Hooper’s enhanced punishment determination means that Smith will be sentenced to a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole. A sentencing hearing is set for August 1st at 9:00 a.m.
The investigation of Jesse William Smith began when a housekeeper at the Super 8 Motel in Council Bluffs was found deceased in a room during her regular work shift on September 7, 2023. It was determined that the housekeeper, Natalia Manriquez Sepulveda, a native of Chile, had died of an accidental fentanyl overdose and while she was dying Smith sexually assaulted her and then locked the door to the room behind him and left the hotel. Natalia was found dead several hours later.
Smith was arrested by Council Bluffs Police Detectives a week later when he was found hiding in a house in Council Bluffs. It was determined that while Smith had nothing to do with the overdose, he made a decision to sexually assault Natalia while she was incapacitated and dying. The Pottawattamie County Attorney’s Office charged Smith with felony sex abuse and asked for the penalty to be enhanced to life imprisonment due to Smith’s prior criminal record from Colorado.
