A 40-year-old woman has pleaded guilty to her role in the 2019 baseball bat beating death of a man who was found slain and stuffed in a barrel.

Sara Burgess Moore, of Blountsville, pleaded guilty Thursday to felony murder in the killing of 35-year-old Adam Beard, Blount County District Attorney Pamela Casey announced Friday.

Beard, a father of six, had been missing for three days when he was found beaten to death and wrapped in plastic inside a barrel behind a Blountsville trailer.

Three other people are also charged with capital murder – Haley Ragsdale, 23; Ryan Hunter Farr, 24, and Jesus “Jesse” Flores, 43. Their trial dates have not yet been set.

Moore, also initially charged with capital murder during a robbery, was set to go to trial next week.

As part of her plea agreement, Moore was sentenced to 50 years in prison.

Casey said she will be transported to the Alabama Department of Corrections. Burgess has been held without bond since her 2019 arrest.

Beard’s decomposing body was discovered Sept. 3, 2019, wrapped in plastic and in a barrel behind a home on Page Springs Road in Blountsville. He had sustained blunt force head and neck injuries.

Casey said the investigation into Beard’s death indicated that he had been robbed of personal items and his blue scooter.

Beard’s mother on Sept. 2, 2019, filed a missing person’s report with the Blount County Sheriff’s Office.

The following day, on Tuesday, Blount County dispatchers received a call from a woman who said she had been told that a friend of hers – Beard – had been shot in the head, wrapped in carpet and stuffed in a barrel behind a trailer at “Sarah’s” on Page Springs Road in Blountsville.

That same day, lawmen went to the 1200 block of Page Springs Road. Once on the scene, they noticed a pungent odor and followed the smell until they found a barrel with a body inside.

Investigators then obtained a search warrant for the residence at 1276 Page Springs Road.

When they got inside, they spotted what appeared to be blood spatter in multiple spots on the trailer.

Also, a section of the carpet in the bedroom had been removed. A brownish-red stain was still visible where the carpet had been removed.

Sheriff’s detectives then interviewed Moore. She was read her rights and then told investigators her version of what had happened.

It would be one of several versions, court documents show, in which the suspects seemingly point the finger at each other in Beard’s slaying.

According to Moore’s statement, Beard came to her trailer to get a phone from Flores.

When he got inside, Flores and Farr began beating Beard in the head with a baseball bat. Moore told authorities she was in the bathroom but could hear Flores and Farr saying, “It’s my turn” and “give me the bat.”

They passed the bat back and forth.

After repeatedly striking Beard, Moore said, the men put a garbage bag over Beard’s head because he was still breathing and “he wouldn’t die.”

The men then tied him up and put the body under the trailer. Moore said Hunter and Flores took dope and money out of Beard’s pocket.

She said they cut the carpet up from the bedroom and tossed Beard’s cell phone into a field behind the trailer.

Beard, she said, had come to the trailer on a scooter. His helmet was found in Moore’s bedroom closet.

According to Moore, Hunter and Flores moved the body from under the trailer to the barrel.

Flores, also interviewed by detectives, initially said he was at Moore’s house drinking on Friday night only and that others – including Beard, Farr and Ragsdale – also were there. He said he had left.

After being confronted with evidence, Flores indicated that it was Hunter and Moore who killed Beard.

He said they were using drugs and Moore and Beard were arguing over who was going to pay Flores for the drugs.

Flores stated that Hunter hit Beard in the head with a bat, and that Moore got the shower curtain and wrapped Beard inside before tying him up.

In Farr’s interview, he said Flores killed Beard while he and Moore watched.

Detectives interviewed yet another man who said that Ragsdale had told him that she “had it done.” Ragsdale, when she was questioned, told investigators that Beard had “come at her sideways in the past.”

“Ragsdale indicated that they all were tired of Beard and were going to beat him up and take his drugs,’’ charging documents state. “On the night of the event, Beard had come by Ragsdale’s grandmother’s house and Ragsdale texted Moore and told her ‘if we are going to do it, we need to do it now.’’’

Ragsdale got Moore to have Flores contact Beard and tell him to come to the house. The plan of the four them was beat up Beard to scare him and take his drugs.

Investigators recovered Beard’s scooter, which they said was sold by the suspect to someone else for $300.

They also recovered Beard’s cell phone in the field behind Moore’s home. A baseball bat and a strip of carpet were found near the barrel where Beard’s body was found.