Houston man arrested in carjacking death of 90-year-old Navy veteran outside retirement home

Arceneaux has been charged with capital murder and booked into the Harris County Jail

Kyliel Denzel Arceneaux, 21, has been charged with capital murder in the death of 90-year-old Navy veteran Nelson Beckett during a carjacking (Harris County Jail)

Police in Houston have arrested a man suspected of killing a 90-year-old Navy veteran during a carjacking.

Kyliel Denzel Arceneaux, 21, has been arrested and charged with capital murder, two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and tampering with evidence.

Nelson Beckett was sitting in his car in the parking lot of the Lone Star Senior Living Apartments in Houston where he lived when the carjacker approached him and struck up a conversation.

Beckett was then shot and dragged out of his car. As the carjacker drove off, they ran also ran over the veteran, who ultimately died from his injuries.

Nelson Beckett, a 90-year-old US Navy veteran, was murdered during a carjacking near a retirement home in Houston on August 31, 2024 (Beckett family)

The suspect then ditched the car approximately 10 minutes away at a different apartment complex, which police found a short time later.

In the days immediately after the shooting, Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced a $10,000 reward on top of the $5,000 Crime Stoppers offered for information leading to the arrest of Beckett's killer.

The investigation eventually led law enforcement to identify Arceneaux as a suspect in Beckett's death, and he was arrested on Tuesday and booked into the Harris County Jail, KPRC reports.

Tim Beckett, Nelson's son, told ABC13 that his father had two children, five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Beckett served in the Navy and later worked in sales. He was also active in his church.

Tami Freund, Beckett’s daughter, said her father loved telling jokes and making people laugh and was always willing to give rides to people who did not have cars.

“He would do anything for anyone. He told me all the time how lucky we are to have such a big, wonderful, loving, Christian family. He loved big and loved his family so much,” Freund said in a statement she sent to KPRC2.

Steve Sandifer, a man who had been friends with Beckett for 47 years, told KPRC2 he was shocked by the killing.

“I told his daughter, I said, you know, had she called me that morning and said dad didn’t wake up this morning, I would have said, good. He’s lived his 90 years. He’s been a champion of faith and everything else. He’s lived a great life. But to hear that he had been murdered. That just, that was just beyond me,” he told the outlet.