(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – The Pottawattamie County Attorney’s Office issued a statement with regard a verdict in the case of a woman who – while dying from a fentanyl overdose, was sexually assaulted at a motel in Council Bluffs late last year. The report said 49-year-old Jesse William Smith, of Denver, Colorado,  was convicted of Sex Abuse in the 3rd Degree. The verdict was handed-down Thursday by a jury in Pottawattamie County District Court. It took them about two-hours to render their verdict.

Immediately following the ruling, Smith’s trial proceeded to an enhanced punishment phase, where District Court Judge Michael Hooper found Smith to be the same individual as had been previously convicted of multiple felony sex offenses in Colorado. The combination of the jury’s verdict and the Judge’s enhanced punishment determination, means that Smith will be sentenced to a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole. His sentencing hearing was set for 9-a.m. on August 1st.

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 Sept. 7, 2023. It was determined the housekeeper, Natalia Manriquez Sepulveda (a native of Chile’), has died from 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 motel. Sepulveda was found dead several hours later.

Smith was arrested by Council Bluffs Police Department Detectives on Sept. 13, 2023, when he was found hiding in a Council Bluffs home. It was determined that while Smith had nothing to do with the overdose, he made a decision to sexually assault Natalia Sepulveda while she was incapacitated and dying. The Pott. County Attorney’s Office charged Smith with felony sex abuse and asked for the penalty to be enhanced to life in prison, due to Smith’s prior criminal record from Colorado.

Pottawattamie County Attorney Matt Wilber said: