Fishburne Pleads Guilty to the Kidnapping and Murder of Aisha Levy

State Attorney Melissa Nelson announces that Markas Fishburne pleaded guilty to First-Degree Murder and Kidnapping for the killing of 25-year-old Aisha Levy. Fishburne pleaded to the Honorable Tatiana Salvador during the Feb. 8, 2024, guilt phase of his trial after a jury was selected. The jury returned Feb. 9, 2024, to begin the penalty phase — the State continues to seek the death penalty for his crimes.

On Dec. 20, 2019, officers with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office responded to an apartment on Princeton Square Boulevard after Levy’s boyfriend returned home from work to find blood all over the apartment. He also found a note that said Levy and Fishburne were dead and he was next. Fishburne had been temporarily staying with the couple. Levy’s boyfriend noticed an odor of bleach in the apartment and his firearm was missing. After a search warrant was obtained, detectives found Levy’s body wrapped and concealed in a plastic storage bin in a closet. Officers quickly located Fishburne as he was about to board a Greyhound bus to Indiana. Fishburne was taken into custody, and, post-Miranda, he admitted to stabbing, strangling, and hitting Levy in the head with a hammer when Levy was getting out of the shower. A forensic investigation of Fishburne’s phone revealed a video taken of Levy with her hands bound before the murder. After Fishburne killed Levy, he hid her body in the closet and stole the firearm.

The case was investigated by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and was prosecuted by Assistant State Attorneys Joe Licandro, Alan Mizrahi, and Jalisa Curtis.