ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Court TV) — A U.S. Army soldier charged with the murder of his new bride took the stand in his own defense on Tuesday, admitting to disposing of her body but denying charges that he hurt her.
Zarrius Hildabrand testifies on June 23, 2026. (Court TV)
“My plan was to hide the body of my wife and then clean up the blood off the mattress and the surrounding area,” Zarrius Hildabrand testified. “I remember feeling nauseous. I remember feeling guilt and shame. I produced so many emotions that they were all just, like, numbing me.”
Hildabrand, 23, is charged with first-degree murder, second-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence in the death of his wife, Saria Barney. Barney was last seen alive when the couple was out celebrating Hildabrand’s 21st birthday on Aug. 5, 2023. That celebration saw them going to multiple places, and Hildabrand testified that he had multiple mixed drinks, shots and beers over the course of the evening.
After Hildabrand was denied entry to a club for being too drunk, he and the victim went home in a rideshare. Prosecutors say Hildabrand shot and killed her after they arrived home, then disposed of her body in a drain pipe nearby.
Image from surveillance video shows Zarrius Hildabrand using a self-checkout. (Court TV)
Hildabrand admitted to the jury that he had been cheating on his wife, to whom he had been married for less than a year, with a woman named Cheyenne. He said that when he woke up on the morning of Aug. 6, 2023, he had no memory from the night before and began looking for his phone. He quickly realized that screenshots of his conversations with Cheyenne that proved he was cheating had been sent to Barney’s phone from his own. It was then that he began to look for the victim. “I was gonna ask my wife about it, and that’s when I realized she was no longer alive,” he testified. “I went to uncover her and essentially the first thing I saw was the gunshot wound to my wife’s head.”
Rather than call 911, Hildabrand says, he panicked. “I was just confused. This is where the fear started to set in. I was hurt and I basically didn’t know what I was going to do.” His attorney pressed him to explain why he was scared. “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,” he testified.
Hildabrand said he first deleted the screenshots of his messages from the phone. “They’re just shameful and embarrassing and it just seemed like the appropriate thing to do,” he said. He then said he used Barney’s phone to pretend to be her and call out of work. That action, he said, made him feel guilty for “lying to her boss.”
Zarrius Hildebrand became emotional as his mother testified on June 23, 2026. (Court TV)
By late that night, Hildabrand had allegedly gone to multiple stores, where surveillance video appears to show him purchasing several items. “The hydrogen peroxide and the sprayer were to help with cleaning up the surrounding areas and the mattress,” he explained. “Then I just needed deodorant and Q-tips.” Back at home, he cleaned up the scene before putting his bride into a 96-gallon trash can. He then made sure to move her out using the back door, because it was “the closest exit I knew there wasn’t any cameras.”
After placing Barney’s body into a storm drain, he placed the soiled bedding inside as well. He said he initially planned to burn the items, but “decided not to.” He then put the manhole cover back over the opening to the cistern and walked away. “I showered after returning to my apartment and went to work the next day,” he said.
Hildabrand repeatedly described himself as feeling “shame,” “betrayal,” and “anger,” but appeared stone-faced while testifying. The only moment he showed emotion was when he spoke about his family. Hildabrand’s adoptive mother testified briefly on Tuesday, describing her son as “emotionally protective” of his family. As she spoke, Hildabrand wiped away tears.
