On the afternoon of May 18, 2024, police in Odessa, Texas, were dispatched to a home in the 3100 block of North Dixie Boulevard for a medical call concerning a gunshot victim. When first responders arrived at approximately 3:47 p.m., they found Adam Beltran, a 42-year-old White man, deceased. He was in the passenger seat of a vehicle parked in the yard and had suffered a gunshot wound to the left side of his face.
At the scene, officers encountered Jacob Daily, then 37, who told them
that Beltran had committed suicide. The initial report reflected this account, but investigators with the Odessa Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division soon began to question the narrative. Based on evidence collected at the scene and subsequent interviews, detectives reclassified the case as a homicide.
The extensive investigation revealed that Beltran and Daily had been drinking, driving together, and arguing throughout the day of the shooting. As a key suspect, Daily was interviewed several times by detectives. He provided many inconsistent statements about what had happened before he eventually confessed to fatally shooting Adam Beltran.
Following his confession, Jacob Daily was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and felon in possession of a firearm. He was booked into the Ector County jail to await legal proceedings.
The case was prosecuted by the Ector County District Attorney's office in the 70th Ector County District Court. After hearing the evidence presented at trial, a jury convicted Jacob Daily of first-degree murder. He was subsequently sentenced to serve 75 years in prison.
