‘You are the devil’: Serial arsonist who stalked woman, then killed her new boyfriend is sentenced to up to 176 years in prison

The stakes had never been higher, Assistant District Attorney Cydney Pope told the judge. If Markevon Durham is ever released from prison, she said, he will kill again.

“This has been the most important case of my career,” Pope said. “I believe if he ever gets out, he will find Christina Parker and he will try to kill her.”

Durham, in a twisted, torturous quest to try and win back Parker, his ex-girlfriend, had stalked and kidnapped her, burned down five homes, and then finally killed her new boyfriend, 23-year-old Naseem Smith.

The streak of terror began in the summer of 2017. Parker, then 21, broke up with Durham after learning that he had lied about his age and was married with children.

That fall, after Parker started dating Smith, Durham began to stalk and torment them. He cut off Parker’s ponytail on a subway platform and kidnapped her. He burned down five homes in search of her and Smith, using a background check tool to locate their and their families’ addresses. He shot at Smith’s cousin, mistakenly thinking he was Smith, but missed.

For months, Smith, Parker, and their loved ones pleaded for help from Philadelphia police, telling investigators over and over that Durham was the one behind these crimes.

But law enforcement never intervened. And ultimately, on the night of Nov. 8, 2018, Durham got his way. He found Smith and shot him multiple times, killing him.

Six years later, in November 2024, after dogged detective and prosecutorial work, Durham was convicted by a judge of all of the crimes, including third-degree murder. And on Friday, he was finally scheduled to be sentenced.

The gallery of the courtroom was filled with more than two dozen of Smith’s loved ones. They remembered him as a caring brother and friend whose “spirit lit up every room,” Parker said. He had a way of making everyone around him happy, said his brother, Yusef Smith.

At the time of his death, he had a 10-month-old son who now, at 7 years old, constantly asks about his father.

“He has questions every day. … He wants to know what happened and I don’t know how to explain it without damaging him,” said Erika Cole, the child’s mother.

Cole’s home was one of five that Durham burned down. She was breastfeeding her and Smith’s son, who was only 3 days old, when she heard an explosion, and saw the back of her home erupt in flames.

Nashawna Leake, Smith’s mother, was the last relative to speak, and she was unwavering and unforgiving.

“My son, he was wonderful, he had no enemies,” she said. “You are the enemy. You are the devil.”

After hearing the testimony, Common Pleas Court Judge J. Scott O’Keefe ordered Durham, 34, to spend 66½ to 176 years in prison. The sentence effectively means he will spend the rest of his life behind bars – Durham will be 100 years old by the time he becomes eligible for parole.

At that, Smith’s family erupted in applause.

Durham, who represented himself at a weekslong trial, asked O’Keefe on Friday to reconsider his conviction, and requested a new trial. He even asked to be appointed a new lawyer, saying he had never wanted to represent himself in the first place. Pope scoffed at this. In jail calls during the trial, she said, Durham said representing himself was all part of his plan because he “wanted to go head-to-head with the judge.”

O’Keefe denied his requests.

Durham maintained his innocence and asked for the lowest possible sentence “for my children, for my family.” At one point, he even compared himself to Jesus, saying that they’re similar in that he, too, is a wrongfully persecuted man.

“I am a God-fearing man,” Durham said. “I never was a danger to these people. I’ll never be a danger to these people.”

Parker and Smith’s family just shook their heads.

Parker, standing before the court, was short of words. She said Smith showed her what it meant to be truly loved, and that Durham had stolen her best friend from her. She now suffers from PTSD and depression.

“I struggle every day just to get up,” he said.

After the hearing, the families hugged Pope and Homicide Detective Robert Daly, who for months pored over cell phone records and pieced together Durham’s crimes, ultimately leading to his arrest.

Outside the courtroom, Parker said she was overcome with relief. For more than six years, they had waited for this moment, and now, she said, she will never have to worry about seeing Durham again.

“A weight has been lifted,” she said. “And I can, in a way, try to move on.”