FAIRFIELD TOWNSHIP, Ohio — A man has been sentenced to more than in a decade in prison for the 2018 murder of 16-year-old Sydney Garcia-Tovar.
Jordan Spain was sentenced to 10 years for involuntary manslaughter and 3 years for a firearms charge, which is set to be served prior to the manslaughter sentence.
The judge said Spain got credit for 422 days time served, and he owes more than $14,000 in restitution for funeral expenses. Once his sentence is over, Spain must serve two years of post-release control, but that could go up to five years.
Spain was arrested in 2022 and indicted by a grand jury in March. He originally faced one count of murder and two counts of felonious assault, but he pleaded guilty to one count of involuntary manslaughter, according to court documents.
According to police, Spain was just 14 years old at the time of Garcia-Tovar's death.
In April 2021, 22-year-old Markeylnd Townsend was also charged with murder and felonious assault for his involvement in the deadly shooting. In October 2023, Townsend pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter as well, which dismissed his felonious assault charge. He's currently being held at the Butler County Jail and is set to be back in court on Nov. 8 for his sentencing.
Fairfield Township police said Garcia-Tovar was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time on July 28, 2028, when she was killed. Garcia-Tovar was with a group of people outside an apartment complex on Wildbranch Road. When she was leaving, police said bullets hit the 16-year-old's car, striking her in the back of the head and hitting a man in the her passenger seat. That man survived, but Garcia-Tovar died in the hospital the next day.
“Sydney did not deserve to die from being there and being involved in that situation,” said Fairfield Township police sergeant Brandon McCroskey after Garcia-Tovar's murder. “She was a victim. It is a tragedy all the way around.”
Garcia-Tovar's family said she was an ROTC cadet at Hamilton High School, and she had hopes of one day become a marine.
