Jury Finds Anderson Guilty of Stalking, Murdering Ex-Girlfriend, Other Crimes

State Attorney Melissa Nelson announces a Duval County jury found Joseph Anderson guilty of Second-Degree Murder with a Weapon, Burglary with Assault or Battery, Aggravated Stalking, Tampering with Evidence, and Violation of an Injunction for Protection against Domestic Violence. With the verdict, Anderson faces up to life in Florida State Prison. The Honorable Anthony Salem will sentence Anderson at a later date.

On November 17, 2025, the victim’s body was found inside her bedroom in the boarding house where she and her mother lived. The Medical Examiner determined her cause of death was blunt force trauma. The victim and Anderson were in a relationship before the victim moved to Jacksonville around 2022. In February 2025, Anderson moved to Jacksonville into the same boarding house as the victim. A few weeks before the murder, Anderson discovered the victim was in a new relationship, prompting the victim to obtain an injunction against him. Anderson was removed from the home on November 8, 2025. On November 17, the day the victim and Anderson were scheduled for a court hearing on the injunction, Anderson told the landlord that she did not show up to the hearing, a fact that was not yet public record. The landlord drove to the boarding house and found damage to the door leading to the portion of the house only the victim and her mother had access to and found the victim dead behind her locked bedroom door. The investigation revealed Anderson was at and near the boarding house—in violation of the injunction—multiple times between November 14-16. A neighbor saw Anderson arguing with the victim on November 14, the day before he murdered her. Ring camera footage from a nearby house captured Anderson tampering with the camera in the early hours of November 16, after the murder and minutes before he fled to Connecticut. When Anderson was arrested in Connecticut, the keys to the victim’s locked bedroom door were inside his vehicle. 

The case was investigated by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and prosecuted by Assistant State Attorneys Loana Nardoni and Trey Atkinson.