A 21-year-old Mississippi woman will spend the rest of her life behind bars after pleading guilty to murdering her best friend and hiding his body in a wooded area.
Angel Pierce was sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years on charges of first-degree murder and armed robbery in the 2022 killing of Cody Smith, her longtime friend. The sentence was handed down following her guilty plea, according to WLOX-TV.
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Smith, who was 22 at the time of his death, was reported missing by his family to the Hinds County Sheriff’s Office on December 16, 2022. Months later, after authorities learned he was last seen in Harrison County, investigators began searching in that area. In April 2023, they made a grisly discovery: human remains in a wooded area near Pass Christian, later confirmed through forensic testing to be Smith’s.
Pierce and an alleged co-conspirator, Jerry Parkman, were arrested shortly after the remains were identified. Parkman was already in custody on unrelated charges and is scheduled to go to trial in April.
At her sentencing hearing, Pierce addressed the courtroom and issued an emotional apology to Smith’s grieving family.
“Nobody should lose and bury their son,” Pierce said, according to WLOX. “Cody was always there for me, and I betrayed his trust. I am haunted by Cody’s murder.”
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The presiding judge asked Pierce directly why she killed her best friend. Her response:
“I was angry about a lot of things and I was on drugs. It should have never happened.”
Prosecutors said Pierce not only murdered Smith but also stole from him after his death—prompting the additional charge of armed robbery.
The case has deeply shaken both Hinds and Harrison counties, as details of betrayal and violence emerged from what was once a close friendship.
With Parkman’s trial on the horizon, investigators say more details about the killing may come to light. For now, Pierce will spend her life in prison, with no chance of parole, haunted by a crime that stunned her community and devastated the family of her former friend.
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