Man Sentenced For Life In Pearl River County for Capital Murder

DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S PRESS RELEASE November 17, 2025

Poplarville, Mississippi --District Attorney Hal Kittrell announces that on November 13, 2025, Takoda Jordan Miller, 27, of Gulfport, pled guilty to Capital Murder and Child Neglect in the Circuit Court of Pearl River County, before Judge Brad Touchstone. His co-defendant, Kendra Makayla Beck, 24, of Poplarville, pled guilty to the same charges on September 27, 2024, also before Judge Brad Touchstone.

Judge Touchstone sentenced both defendants to Life in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections without the possibility of parole or early release, plus five years.

The case originates from a medical assistance call made to 911 on October 6, 2021, where a 6-month-old child was reported to have suddenly appeared anorexic. Law enforcement responded and came in contact with Miller and Beck, who were holding their biological daughter, Kiari. The baby was emaciated and covered in fleas and feces at the time. She was immediately transported to a local hospital, where she passed away in the early hours of October 7, 2021.

Miller was arrested on scene when law enforcement discovered that the trailer where the children had been living was filled with trash and in the most deplorable and inhuman conditions imaginable. Inside, they found Beck and Miller’s eldest daughter, who was 18 months old. She was also covered in lice and feces and found inside a broken crib on a bloodied sheet. She was taken to a local hospital, where she was treated and released into custody with Child Protective Services (CPS).

Beck and Miller both admitted to the deplorable conditions of the trailer but maintained that Kiari had been fed appropriately. Beck later testified under oath that Miller was primarily responsible for the care of the children, and that she would leave the house for unknown amounts of time with Miller in charge. Miller maintained that Kiari had appeared normal up until 4:00pm that afternoon and that he had personally fed her several times that day.

An autopsy done by the Mississippi Medical Examiner’s Office determined that the baby died due to starvation and had not been fed in some time.

District Attorney Hal Kittrell stated, “There are no words to describe the horrors of this case and what these two children endured inside the walls of their home. This case is so horrific that everyone from law enforcement to medical personnel, crime lab analysts to lay witnesses, have been haunted with the memories of these children since 2021. A child’s life is precious. In Kiari’s short life, however, she was met with parents who failed to meet her most basic human need – feeding her. That her sister survived is a miracle. That she is now a happy, healthy child is a miracle. The individuals who neglected them will now serve the rest of their lives behind bars without the possibility of parole. While there is no amount of time to sufficiently punish them for their crimes, their sentence does begin to provide healing for a community that circled around these children in the days that followed. We are thankful for the work in this case by the Poplarville Police Department and the Pearl River County Sheriff’s Department."