{"id":203658,"date":"2026-03-24T09:17:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T09:17:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/203658\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T09:17:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T09:17:17","slug":"jacksonville-mom-of-five-killed-after-police-say-ex-boyfriend-violated-protection-order","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/203658\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacksonville mom of five killed after police say ex-boyfriend violated protection order"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Jacksonville mother of five who survived domestic violence earlier in life was killed in November. Now, police say her ex-boyfriend is charged<\/a> with her murder.<\/p>\n

The Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office announced 49-year-old Joseph Anderson is facing charges including murder, burglary and aggravated stalking in the death of 58-year-old Alesa Leach.<\/p>\n

Detectives said Leach had a domestic violence injunction against Anderson that was supposed to keep him away from her West 14th Street home.<\/p>\n

Leach\u2019s sons say the arrest brings some relief.<\/p>\n

“I owe them, you know, all my gratitude,” her son John Baxter said. “It means the world to me that there’s someone in our corner.”<\/p>\n

But it does not erase their pain.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can rest a little bit easier,\u201d he added. “It’s a little bit easier for me now to get on with the grieving process.”<\/p>\n

Leach\u2019s family describes her as a devoted mother, a woman of faith and a constant presence in her community. John said his mother had him when she was 14.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was a young mother when she had me,\u201d he said. \u201cI saw her grind her way up into being the person she was, an ordained minister, a bus operator for the city of Jacksonville.\u201d<\/p>\n

His brother Titus said their mother gave everything she had to others.<\/p>\n

\u201cI watched her give everything she could to the community while growing up,\u201d Titus said. \u201cShe was always involved, always helping.\u201d<\/p>\n

The brothers said people were drawn to her warmth and personality.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone was like, \u2018Man, your mom, she\u2019s so cool. Next time you come back around, you\u2019ve gotta bring her around,\u2019\u201d John recalled.<\/p>\n

Investigators say Leach had a protection order against Anderson, her ex-boyfriend. About a week before she died, she reported that he was at her home in violation of that injunction, and deputies escorted him off the property.<\/p>\n

When Leach missed a court date the following week, officers went to her home on West 14th Street and found her dead inside. Detectives say she was discovered on a mattress, covered in blood, and that she had died before officers arrived.<\/p>\n

According to the sheriff\u2019s office, evidence later showed Anderson was in the home with her when she died. Investigators first obtained a warrant for violating the injunction, and Anderson was arrested in Connecticut on Dec. 5 and extradited back to Jacksonville.<\/p>\n

Titus said that after their mother\u2019s death, Anderson even contacted the family.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was actually in contact with my youngest brother after my mother’s passing, almost like a guilty conscience,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

On March 20, while Anderson was already in custody at the Duval County jail, authorities served him with an arrest warrant for Leach\u2019s murder and additional charges, including burglary and aggravated stalking.<\/p>\n

John said he is grateful investigators stayed on the case.<\/p>\n

Still, the family believes Leach was failed by the system that was meant to protect her.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was let down by the system,\u201d Titus said. \u201cHer life was still able to be taken by a man that she did have protection against.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leach\u2019s sons say this was not the first time their mother had experienced abuse. They said she had survived domestic violence earlier in her life and spent years trying to help others in similar situations.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven in my mom’s situation, it started young for her,\u201d one brother said, explaining that they had watched her struggle with domestic violence throughout her life and that this was not the first person who hurt her.<\/p>\n

They shared this letter<\/a> she wrote in 2019 about her life.<\/p>\n

Now, the brothers say they want to honor their mother\u2019s legacy by spreading awareness, encouraging survivors to speak up and helping families escape abusive situations. They are discussing ways to start organizations and projects in her name.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re spreading her message,\u201d Titus said. \u201cSo long as we\u2019re spreading love, she lives on.\u201d<\/p>\n

John said they plan to carry her values into their own lives and communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re gonna continue to honor your legacy through being the great fathers we are, being the great brothers we are,\u201d he said in a message to his mother. \u201cI just want to say thank you, Mom, and I love you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anderson remains behind bars at the Duval County jail. His bond is set at about $3 million.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Jacksonville mother of five who survived domestic violence earlier in life was killed in November. Now, police…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":203659,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[93639,93392,5713,116,118,117,93638,93391],"class_list":["post-203658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-aggravated-stalking","tag-alesa-leach","tag-domestic-violence","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-john-baxter","tag-joseph-anderson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203658\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}