BENTONVILLE, Ark. – A 22-year-old Springdale man accused of choking a 16-year-old girl until she could not breathe after she refused his sexual advances in the back of his Jeep is scheduled to stand trial in December.
Jayden Garrett Miller faces charges of kidnapping, sexual solicitation of a minor, second-degree sexual assault and aggravated assault in connection with the April 13, 2025, encounter near the girl’s home in Benton County, court records show. Miller was 20 at the time.
The girl told investigators she began talking with a man on Snapchat in early April 2025, according to a probable cause affidavit. He told her he was 20 and she told him she was 16, and he repeatedly brought up sex during their conversations, the affidavit said.
In the early morning hours of April 13, 2025, the girl snuck out of her house and walked down her road to meet him in his car. She told investigators he made her uneasy almost immediately and that she suggested several times they meet another time, but he brushed her off and told her to get into the back seat, where the seats were folded down and a green tarp had been laid out, the affidavit said.
The girl told investigators she repeatedly said she was scared and did not want to do anything sexual. He allegedly kissed and touched her anyway, offered her $200 for oral sex and complained that she had made him “drive all the way there,” the affidavit said.
He then allegedly grabbed her by the neck with both hands and tightened his grip until she could not breathe. The girl said she scratched, punched and pulled his hair trying to get free and that her arms went numb before she was able to loosen one of his hands with her knee and whisper, “I’ll do it, I’ll do it. Just don’t kill me,” the affidavit said.
“You’ll do it? Really?” he allegedly responded before letting go.
The girl told investigators she was “purple” afterward. When she opened the car door and the dome light came on, she saw his face in person for the first time and noticed it was covered in scratches, the affidavit said.
The man allegedly told her he was going to kill himself and apologized, saying, “You just made me drive all the way out here, and I just got really angry, and I just had to do it.” He let her go after they agreed neither would tell anyone, the affidavit said. The girl said she was in the car for about an hour.
She ran home and took photos and video of her neck, which she later provided to investigators. The man blocked her on Snapchat that same night, the affidavit said.
The girl did not tell her parents until October 2025 because she had snuck out and was afraid of getting in trouble, according to the affidavit. She told investigators that before the assault, she had asked the man if he had been with a lot of girls her age and he replied, “Oh yeah, so many.” She said that made her worry he might do the same thing to other girls.
The case was assigned to Benton County Sheriff’s Office Detective Sgt. Edgmon on Oct. 24, 2025.
The girl knew only the man’s Snapchat username, that his first name started with a J and that he drove a neutral-colored Jeep SUV, the affidavit said. She described him as a white man around 6 feet tall with shoulder-length dark brown hair and tattoos on his arms. He had told her he played in a band in Fayetteville and used to train at a martial arts gym in Springdale.
Records Snapchat turned over in response to a subpoena initially appeared to contain no identifying information, but a sheriff’s office cyber crimes detective found a phone number tucked in a hidden field of the data, the affidavit said. The number came back to Miller, who had a 2015 light gray Jeep Patriot registered in his name and matched the girl’s description. Investigators also linked him to a Fayetteville band, the affidavit said.
Sheriff’s office surveillance teams watched two addresses associated with Miller for several weeks but never spotted him or his vehicle, and calls to his phone went to a voicemail box that had not been set up, according to the affidavit.
In January, the girl picked Miller out of a double-blind photo lineup administered by a detective with no knowledge of the case, the affidavit said.
An arrest warrant charging Miller with aggravated assault was issued March 31. The U.S. Marshals Service arrested him April 7 in Springdale. When Edgmon attempted to interview him at the jail the next day, Miller said he did not want to speak without an attorney, according to a search warrant affidavit.
Miller was released April 20 after posting a $20,000 bond, court records show. A no-contact order bars him from contacting the girl and requires him to stay at least 1,500 feet away from her.
Prosecutors added the kidnapping, sexual solicitation and sexual assault charges when they filed formal charges in May. Miller pleaded not guilty May 18.
In August, a judge signed a search warrant allowing investigators to search an iPhone belonging to Miller for Snapchat messages, location data and other evidence from the week before the incident through the day after. Edgmon, who has since been promoted to lieutenant, reported in a return filed with the court that the phone’s data was successfully recovered.
Kidnapping is a Class Y felony in Arkansas, punishable by 10 to 40 years or life in prison. Sexual solicitation of a minor and second-degree sexual assault are Class B felonies punishable by five to 20 years each. Aggravated assault is a Class D felony punishable by up to six years.
Miller is represented by Cody Dowden. Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Joshua Robinson is representing the state.
Circuit Judge Robin Green has scheduled a pretrial hearing for Dec. 7 and a jury trial for Dec. 8.
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