Another new witness has taken the stand in the murder trial for Foolio, real name Charles Jones. This time, it's an ex-friend of Alicia Andrews, one of the five suspects in the Jacksonville rapper's case. Her identity is being protected, though, so she's going by State Witness 18.
The friend says Alicia used to be one of her best friends. Moreover, she has known her for over 10 years. But near the end of their relationship, Alicia was sending some dark and disturbing messages. Prosecutors highlighted one key text exchange from January 2021 which saw both ladies discussing the rival gangs in Jacksonville.
Namely, they were talking about KTA and ATK, the former being the group that Foolio was connected with. One of their messages talked about how "people like Jones recruit people willing to die for them." But where things went hostile fast is when Alicia sent back at one point, "he need to die."
State Witness 18 was brought in to testify also because she was familiar with Alicia's boyfriend, Isaiah Chance. He's another defendant in this case and is allegedly the lookout opposite Alicia. Her ex-friend confirmed that Andrews knew Chance was connected with the ATK gang.
Foolio Trial
Elsewhere during the Foolio trial yesterday, October 23, prosecutors detailed her aforementioned and alleged connection to his murder. "She’s sending that on Friday night — 'Hey, could I book an Airbnb in Tampa?'"
This message is what they believe set the murder plot in motion. They continued in their opening statement, "Their cell phones are tracking, hitting towers as they travel in unison all the way down I-75 heading directly into Tampa."
Per AllHipHop, used past cellphone data to track down Alicia and Isaiah, who allegedly drove 200 miles from Jacksonville to Tampa. Then, surveillance and other phone records show Andrews' device leaving the Airbnb shortly before the shooting and later pinging near the Holiday Inn. That's when the four other alleged assailants opened fire.
"They moved rapidly into their pre-planned positions, into their firing locations, and then they immediately unleashed a hellish onslaught, a precisely coordinated violence of action, sending a barrage, a wall of hot lead crashing into the only barriers between Charles Jones living and Charles Jones dying."
Foolio was killed in June 2024 at a Holiday Inn while celebrating his 26th birthday.
