Daniel Beckley, the Kenner man arrested last year on the charge of murdering 16-year-old Jorion White and leaving her body in St. Rose, was found guilty of second-degree murder and obstruction of justice Friday. The guilty verdict was handed down by Judge Timothy Marcel after a four-day trial prosecuted by John Chaisson and Howat Peters.
Beckley faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison with the Louisiana Department of Corrections on the second-degree murder charge and a maximum sentence of 40 years on the obstruction charge.
He is scheduled to be officially sentenced Dec. 12. Marcel has ordered he be held without bond until that time.
“Our focus throughout the course of this prosecution has remained on securing a just outcome for the family of the victim,” said District Attorney Joel T. Chaisson II. “In the early morning hours of April 22, 2016, the defendant took the life of a beautiful young girl and robbed her loved ones of their daughter, granddaughter, niece and friend. This verdict cannot bring her back, but it can bring healing and the knowledge that this man will never be able to prey upon another child ever again.”
Following her murder, White’s body was found face down in a drainage canal in a secluded, wooded area along St. Rose Avenue.
She was identified by her dental records.
That Beckley left her body there led to the obstruction of justice charge.
She was the daughter of Michelle Price of Kenner, who lived with and maintained a relationship with Beckley for 10 years. Beckley was a former resident of St. Charles Parish.
Price identified her daughter based on pink hair curlers she was still wearing when her body was found. A passerby reported her body in an area about a 1/2 mile north of the nearest residences and CN Railroad.
Investigators believe White was suffocated by Beckley sometime between the late hours of April 21 and early morning of April 22. He wrapped her body in a sheet and transported it in his vehicle to St. Rose in an effort to cover it up.
St. Charles Parish detectives outlined the apparent cause of White’s death along with evidence linking Beckley to the crime, including blood found in the back of his car and extra-wide tire tracks near the scene matching his vehicle, according to court records
Investigators also found blue jeans in his truck with what was alleged to be blood on them, as well as on the back seat of his vehicle. At White’s home, blood was found at the baseboard in the hallway and near the doorframe to White’s bedroom. A plastic cap believed to belong to the hook on the green bungee cord found near White’s body was also found in the vehicle.
Detectives also reported how a longtime friend of White told police Beckley was “a controlling partner with a violent temper.”
He also had a 2007 arrest on record for simple battery where he allegedly choked Price’s son until he was nearly unconscious.
Coroner Brian Brogle advised the death would be stated as “homicidal violence of undetermined etiology, most likely by suffocation.”
Beckley, 41, was indicted in August of 2016 on a charge of second-degree murder. The case was tried in St. Charles Parish because that is where the body was found.
Sick sick cockeyed mf! I still think about what he did to sweet jarion i hope she haunting him til this day & to the mother how can you stay with him after he assaulted your don? I parlty blame you to because how??? I hope he rots in hell