ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Court TV) — Zarrius Hildabrand stood stoic and emotionless in court on Thursday as a jury found him guilty of killing his wife.
Zarrius Hildabrand stands as the verdict is read in court. (Court TV)
Hildabrand had married Saria Barney less than a year before she died from a gunshot wound in their home in August 2023. The former U.S. Army soldier had faced charges of first-degree murder; the jury convicted him of the lesser charge of second-degree murder, as well as multiple counts of tampering with evidence.
Hildabrand’s defense unsuccessfully tried to argue that Barney had taken her own life after the couple had been out for the night with friends to celebrate the defendant’s 21st birthday. Hildabrand took the stand in his own defense, telling the jury that he woke up the next morning after their night out to find his wife dead from a gunshot wound.
“The first thing I was afraid of was having no recollection of the night before, and just not knowing what happened,” He testified. “I was afraid I was gonna lose my family; I was afraid that I was gonna go to jail for something that I had no recollection of. Just, there’s so many unknowns and I immediately assumed the worst.”
Prosecutors zeroed in on Hildabrand’s admission that he did not remember what happened in the couple’s home.
Prosecutor: “You don’t know that you didn’t kill her.”
Hildabrand: “I’m not sure I can answer that. There’s a lot of do’s and don’ts. It’s just complicated.”
Prosecutor: “Do you know if you pulled the trigger, sir?”
Hildabrand: “I do not.”
Hildabrand had conceded his guilt to tampering with physical evidence when he testified that he “panicked” and put his wife’s body into a 96-gallon trash can and then left her in a drainpipe near their apartment. “The plan was to hide the body of my wife and then clean up the blood off the mattress and the surrounding area,” Hildabrand explained from the witness stand.
In the hours and days after his wife’s death, Hildabrand first used her phone to send messages to colleagues purporting to be her; he then reported her missing, claiming that she had disappeared while walking to work the day after his 21st birthday celebration.
Hildabrand’s sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 23. Under Alaska law, he faces a sentence of 15 to 99 years in prison,
