DeLisle man sentenced to 73 years for homicide and kidnapping
GULFPORT, Miss. (WXXV)-Thirty-nine-year-old Alexis Dwight Preston has been sentenced in a 2022 murder in Delisle.
Preston pled guilty to second-degree murder and kidnapping for the July 3, 2022 murder of 24-year-old Cody Smith.
The Harrison County Sheriff’s Office received a missing person tip from the Byram Police Department that Smith was last seen in Harrison County in July 2022 with friends.
Ten months after his murder and with the assistance of co-defendant Jerry Parkman, Smith’s body was found in a wooded area of De Lisle.
Parkman told authorities that he, Co-defendant Angel ‘Lexi’ Pierce, and Preston took Smith into the woods by gunpoint and killed him after an armed robbery involving Pierce’s desire to take Smith’s car.
In March of this year, Pierce pled guilty to first-degree murder and armed robbery. She received life in prison.
Parkman also pled guilty and received a sentence of 40 years.
Preston was sentenced to 73 years, with 45 years to serve in prison with 28 years of post-release supervision. Preston also has to pay restitution to Smith’s parents for funeral expenses.
