Hi Tyler.
I have no idea on this particular mower but my thoughts are that there should be a plug down on the side near the starter motor. If you disconnect this plug that should disconnect any safety switches (I think) and then as you say positive jumper lead onto the starter motor and if the motor is going to start then it should this way. Then you have to trace back through the switches to find which one is the problem. This is how I would approach the fault finding using the information we have.
