13 things about Tallahassee, Florida’s Jessica Ikner

Jessica Ann Burdette Ikner is an American law enforcement officer from Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida. Her husband Christopher Jason “Chris” Ikner is Jerald Lewis Ikner and Sandra “Sandy” McCarver Ikner‘s son and Janice Ikner Roberson‘s nephew.

Sandy is the only child of Lloyd Marion McCarver and Lorene Glover McCarver. Lloyd died on December 11, 1966 at age 49 and Lorene died on March 18, 2010 in Tallahassee at age 93.

Jerald is Lewis Nathaniel Ikner and Helen Marie James Ikner. Lewis turned 72 on October 25, 1995 and died in Decatur, Morgan County, Alabama, USA on November 22, 1995.

BIOGRAPHY

Aside from Tallahassee, Jessica has lived in other parts of Florida including Crawfordville, Eustis and Saint Petersburg. Here are 13 more things about her:

1. Her stepson Phoenix Ikner is formerly known as Christian Gunnar Eriksen.
2. His stepson Phoenix’s birth mother Anne-Mari Eriksen is a resident of Tallahassee.
3. She is 4 years younger than Chris.
4. From 1993 to 1997, she attended James S. Rickards High School in Tallahassee.
5. From 2002 to 2004, she attended Florida State University in Tallahassee.
6. In 2006, she joined the Leon County Sheriff’s Office as a deputy.
7. In 2010, she and Chris got married.
8. In May 2011, the Citizen’s Academy banquet of the Leon County Sheriff’s Office named her and another officer the 2011 Deputies of the Year.
9. In 2015, Anne-Mari filed a lawsuit against her, Chris, Jerald and Sandy, accusing them of libel and slander.
10. In 2016, the case Anne-Mari filed against her, Chris, Jerald and Sandy was dismissed.
11. In 2020, her stepson legally changed his name from Christian Gunnar Eriksen to Phoenix Ikner.
12. On February 6, 2025, she turned 46.
13. She was a student resource deputy at Raa Middle School in Tallahassee when her stepson Phoenix was accused of mass shooting in 2025.

TIMELINE

Jessica’s stepson Phoenix was a long-standing member of the Youth Advisory Council of the Leon County Sheriff’s Office. She deleted her social media accounts after his arrest on April 17, 2025.

2016

• Wearing her uniform as a Leon County Sheriff’s Office deputy, she spoke to children on Florida Missing Children’s Day Foundation on September 12, 2016.

2022

• On December 13, 2022, she took to Facebook to share a photo of a young child facing the wall with their head bowed and the words, “5 minutes in the corner is better than 5 years in prison. Discipline them now so the system doesn’t have to late.” She also wrote in the caption, “I may make some people mad with this post but I truly believe this. And working inside the school system makes me believe it more. For those I offend … freedom of speech.”

2023

• On March 10, 2023, her mother-in-law Sandy died at age 73.
• Her grandmother-in-law Helen turned 95 on September 23, 2023 and died at Decatur Morgan Hospital in Decatur on December 2, 2023.

2024

• On October 29, 2024, she wrote on Facebook, “All y’all be looking at your children’s grades. Don’t act shocked when they have D’s and F’s. If they had those grades at the end of the 9 weeks they had those grades the majority of the nine weeks. Accountability is the key.”

2025

• At around 11:50 a.m. on April 17, 2025, her stepson Phoenix allegedly used one of her former service pistols to open fire on the main campus of Florida State University, killing two people and injuring six others.