Austin Fisher pleaded guilty to the murder of three people on Jacksonville’s Westside in late May, 2026.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The man charged with stabbing three people to death inside a Westside home in May pleaded guilty to the crimes in Duval County Court Tuesday, and will spend the rest of his life in prison.
Austin Fisher pleaded guilty to three counts of second degree murder Tuesday and was sentenced to four life sentences in Florida State Prison without the possibility of parole by Judge Tatiana Salvador.
Fisher was taken into custody on May 28 following an hours-long standoff with SWAT and JSO’s Community Problem Response Unit. He faces three second-degree murder charges in addition to an armed robbery charge in connection to the stabbing, according to jail records.
JSO said Fisher was found hiding at a motel in the Normandy Village area.
What happened?
Around 3 a.m. on Thursday, May 28, JSO said a neighbor on Exodus Way called 911 saying a man was knocking on his front door.
When officers arrived, JSO said they found 49-year-old Edwin Barber on the front porch of a home with a stab wound to his chest.
Officers learned that Barber had been stabbed at his home down the street and ran to his neighbor’s house for help.
Once officers went to Barber’s house, JSO said they found a woman, identified as 27-year-old Savannah Barber, inside a bedroom with multiple stab wounds.
While continuing to canvass the neighborhood, JSO said officers found another man, identified as 37-year-old Shad Cole, with multiple stab wounds on the porch of another home.
Cole and Savannah Barber reportedly died before they could receive medical attention, according to JSO, while Edwin Barber died at a local hospital.