Military Marriage Murder Trial — AK v. Zarrius Hildabrand — Full Opening Statements

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: where is she what happened when will we find her those are the questions that everyone else in sarah hildebrand's life was asking except for the defendant zarius hildebrand as he already knew all those answers on sunday august 5th 2023 sarah had planned some events and presents as it was the defendant's 21st birthday she had planned for some friends to go out a few came over she made him a present in the form of a beer cake and she was excited to celebrate him one of those friends that came over was marie once to their apartment at 5210 mockingbird drive unit 13 marie had become friends with sarah since she moved to alaska they were inseparable texting constantly they were together that day that morning they had gone to the gym as they frequently did and then ran some errands in preparation for his birthday later that evening the group went to dave and busters they were winning prizes and playing games and having a good time sarah was extremely excited to win a pickle rick plushie she was texting her mom about it she was even googling how to win the most points at dave and busters and she did win it and she took a photo with her husband to celebrate that after dave and busters they left at dave and busters there was a much larger group and then some of them went downtown the people that went downtown are logan calhoun and zachary farrar who were friends with the defendant as well as marie wentz and her friend isaac moholland who were friends more so with sariah they went out to willowa they were dancing and having a good time drinking taking photos celebrating as they should have at one point in the night they decided to walk to gaslight one of the defendant's friends logan was a little nervous to walk downtown everybody was kind of giving him grief for that making fun of him when they got to gaslight the defendant was declined entry he was a little bummed but eventually sariah ordered them an uber home where she took the defendant marie and isaac back to 5210 walking bird drive marie and isaac went their separate way in the parking lot as sariah walked inside with the defendant helping him along but he was walking fine they get inside alone and that was the last time sariah hildebrand was ever seen alive in that apartment that night it was the two of them according to the defendant at one point they'd gone inside she probably took the dogs out they were even giving each other grief back and forth making fun of each other before they fell asleep however however between 2 12 and 2 24 that am that day sariah found evidence of defendant cheating on her on snapchat and instagram sending photos to girls offering to fly them out to alaska getting photos from them sending plenty even offering to kiss and make it better the last photo that we see on sarah's phone that night was at 2 24 after that at 2 40 marie got a call from sarah's phone unfortunately she had been home for a while she didn't see it it went unanswered just eight minutes later at 2 48 a.m. 9 11 got a call from taylor angstrom a neighbor in the apartment just across the courtyard he calls in and says about 30 seconds ago there was a gunshot it sounded just outside my window it was very loud i don't know where it came from but he called it in sarah sarah hildebrand was shot in the head that night just above her left temple and that ended her life in those early morning hours officers did respond to that 911 call but without knowing directly where it's from they didn't have the opportunity to contact the defendant that night the next morning early morning hours of sunday august 6th around 9 10 no one heard from sarah no messages no one heard from her marie wenz eventually sent a message leave a snapchat asking how sarah and the defendant were feeling she got a response from sarah's phone but it wasn't from sarah that response was from the defendant sending a thumbs up that he felt fine marie asked if they would want to go to lunch and get some food probably to help with some of the feelings they were having that morning the defendant said no we can't go we don't want to go sarah already left and walked to work at 10 that day marie found that a little odd considering the defendant said sarah forgot her phone sarah was always on her phone 21 year old on instagram tiktok snapchat texting all of the above however she didn't push it she also found it odd because the night before sarah had said she intended on calling out so she didn't expect to start up with sarah to go to work let alone to walk but she understood the defendant had her phone and that she would hear from her friend later at least she hoped but she didn't throughout sunday august 6 marie wasn't the only one to get messages from sarah's phone nadia jones was sarah's manager at bread and brew at 10 44 a.m she got a text hey this is sarah can't make it in today giving you an excuse nadia took that at face value and no one else heard from sarah's phone that day marie had reached out a few times between the end of sunday sending dms or funny videos asking where are you why haven't you talked to me because this was the longest they had gone in their friendship without talking so she found it very odd but monday august 7th came the defendant went to work you'll hear from one of his friends that he works with on base at the army that he seemed a little off so he asked is everything okay he said yeah just stuff going on i'll talk to you about it later that's it then about midday early afternoon marie gets a call from sarah's phone again it's mr hildebrand he says hey sarah's been missing since 10 a.m. yesterday marie goes what do you mean it's been 30 hours she doesn't have her phone she immediately gets concerned she tells him i'll come over as soon as i can right after work but she was stuck there for a few more hours and she did go straight over she asked have you reported her missing where could she be she's so concerned for her friend because she's been missing for so long and she doesn't have her phone and she didn't hear from her once marie was with the defendant that's when calls started being made to hospitals jails and even to 911 which hadn't been done yet marie made that call and you'll hear the entirety of that call he was there and marie put it on speaker so he could he could answer questions that she didn't know but marie made that call at 534 p.m. while they waited for an apd officer to arrive they started searching the apartments at 5210 marconburg at the bottom of your screen up in the top right on tudor is where sariah worked at reddenbrew so they started searching that area where could she be walking around through the woods [00:09:36] Speaker ?: through the woods [00:09:36] Speaker 1: getting muddy during that time marie was searching she had called 911 the defendant was with her and they're waiting on apd marie has to call a few more times to update apd where they are when they're coming that's not the only call that was made to inform sariah missing meredith barney sariah's mother had a call in utah at 744 p.m. alaska time almost 10 p.m. per time from the defendant zarius hildebrand hey sariah's missing has been for over 33 hours he told that same scripted story left for work at 10 a.m. on sunday didn't take her phone haven't heard from her meredith immediately jumped on a plane she's coming to find her daughter on the plane she's coordinating with her family to make a missing poster to try to find sariah to even figure out if she can track a phone all of those things but she didn't find her that day one other thing on monday august 7th is apd officer zang did respond and he asked the defendant many questions has sariah ever gone missing before no we get that same scripted answer left at 10 a.m. to walk to work didn't have her phone haven't seen her don't know what happened he asked has she ever had suicidal tendencies or something that could explain this he says no not at all i don't know where she is she was wearing all black when she went to work black graphic tee don't know where forgot her phone she's gone later that evening one of marie and the defendant's mutual friends dalen gates came over dalen worked in the army with the defendant and he knew marie through other mutual friends marie at that point was covered in mud it was late in the evening she had to go let her dog out so she briefly crossed paths with dalen but dalen was the one who went inside and spent time with him to check on his friend he was concerned for him he made him dinner and then he watched as zaris hildegrand cried i think it was ugly cried and said i'm blaming myself it's all my fault but then i should have driven her to work that morning crying as his friends trying to console and thinking his wife is missing tuesday augusty and he goes to work again at this point his chain of command in the army is now made aware of what's going on also soraya was in the military in the national guard so her chain of command has been involved the army criminal investigation division called cid which is fancy military police was also investigating this case for the missing person they started coordinating with apd doing their own investigation then meredith arrives her plane lanes she goes straight to anchorage police department headquarters straight there goes to the front desk where is my daughter what are we doing to find her what have you found out who was with her at headquarters her sister who had flown hundreds of miles to be there to ask that same question who wasn't the defendant he said ah i can't find my wallet so i don't have my driver's license so i'm gonna i'm gonna sit this one out so he didn't go when meredith went to headquarters that's when detective troy clark and other members of the anchorage homicide unit were assigned as the homicide unit that also investigates missing persons him and other detectives began their investigation they reviewed the 911 call for murray they reviewed the statement to officer zang they coordinated with cid trying to catch up on what's going on and then that evening they went to 5210 mockingbird drive they coordinated with the army who sent his entire battalion over 70 soldiers to do a search of that area trying to find soraya they didn't find her that day when detective clark and with him detective jeff elby went to unit number 13 or just outside the apartment building they went with xerius hold a rant the defendant to his apartment that he shared with soraya he let them in he talked to them he gave that same scripted story left for work at 10 a.m forgot her phone don't know what happened he told them ah i was home all sunday just vegetating you know kind of recovering didn't leave the house so they start asking him okay what happened sunday morning he says they woke up at 8 30 or 9 after sleeping in the same bed together and that she at 10 o'clock went to work 10 o'clock walked to work which was her first time doing that she had never walked before he explained that she may have they may have still been a little buzzed she was hesitant about driving however when he was asked what time she was expected home he said 7 p.m on sunday august 6th he didn't see her at 7 p.m so he decided to wait according to what he told detectives until 9 p.m to make sure she wasn't lost or something and then he said that he went out searching drove in the parking lot of bread and brew looked all over and we'll get to what he did that day and evening in a moment when asked why did you wait so long over 30 hours to report her missing he said i didn't know if it was serious i didn't want to waste anybody's time when detective clark asked where do you think we're gonna find soraya he paused hesitated surprised you'll hear many of those statements he says i think she'll be within a 2 to 3 mile radius of here we'll later find out that was correct while officers were speaking with him detective clark and detective elby they were looking around the apartment when they were in the living room with him they saw a set of brand new sheets on the table they asked him about it he said ah i didn't buy those i've never even been at the sheet aisle in fredmeyer she must have bought them when i was on field training the week before okay officers ask if they can take a look around the apartment just make sure she's not there in one of the rooms they can't see he allows them he says go ahead take a look officers do they don't find soraya at one point they notice that on his bed that he shared with soraya is a mattress pad like a mattress topper cover and they ask hey why don't you have sheets on the bed he says i do they're under [00:17:25] Speaker ?: they're under [00:17:25] Speaker 1: the mattress topper detectives go why would why would you put them under the mattress topper he says oh we got him we got the mattress from someone crummy that's why here i'll show you and he lifts the edge of the mattress topper showing the sheets however when he does that detectives can see that there's a space under the bed there's not a box spring they ask hey can we take a look under there mr hildebrand gives an alternative offer i have embarrassing stuff under there it's inappropriate detectives just point out they want to make sure she's not under there he says no she's not she wouldn't fit detectives accept that answer at that time and leave but before they did they asked a few more questions including hey you have her phone right now we just saw her mom grab it with her laptop can you explain to me how if she left at 10 a.m. on sunday how did nadia jones get a text at 1044 if you had her phone i don't have an explanation for that sir that was his response i don't have an explanation for that that night or in that evening the defendant also stopped by her work for the first time went inside on tuesday august day one of the employees he had contact with was kaylani thompson she wasn't super close with soraya but worked with her knew her fairly well knew that she had gone out on saturday wasn't shocked that she didn't come in on sunday but when he came in kaylani will tell you about how weird his vibe was he was nervous kept scratching wouldn't look her in the eye looked anywhere else so she thought that was odd and she started asking him questions he wouldn't answer she was told by some people don't push him his wife is missing however when she saw the defendant outside with some of the army search crew that we talked about he was laughing and smiling and joking around i think she described it as they were hee hee ha ha which she found very concerning because soraya is missing but that's what the defendant did now wednesday august 9th throughout this investigation actually i want to back up to one more point when he spoke to detectives on the 8th originally he said i was home vegetating all day when they said hey we'll check cameras is there anything else he goes oh actually i ran some errands i went to fred meyers and got stuff for guacamole salsa and i also went to brown jug so he changed that from being home all day now on to august 9th or yes august 9th the wednesday police at that point had applied for and then granted a search warrant to search 5210 walking bird unit 13 for evidence of what happened to saraya originally on the surface just as they were there there wasn't anything obviously out of the concern pickle rick made it back on the bed but when they began to look to look more closely they were able to start seeing reddish brown stains and they began to look more closely they could see those reddish brown stains multiple places all over the apartment and that's what they saw when they lifted the bed not embarrassing sex stuff but a mattress so soaked through it with blood that when it was flipped the framing it was on actually imprinted into the blood they also observed moth buckets disinfecting wipes multiple things throughout the apartment will be ample evidence as to what crime scene found in his apartment another thing they found is in the living room in between the couch cushions tan Sig Sauer handgun tucked in between the things just near there on a table they found letters authored by the defendant where he says I don't know where you are I hope you're found alive if not if she's found alive or dead please bury her with me but one thing he says is I loved her in the past tense Soraya is still missing he also drafts one to APD for all the people working the case I'm sorry the information I gave you wasn't the best signed Zeri Sildabrand please continue their investigation into Thursday August 10 on Thursday August 10 they're again searching that area between her apartment and bread and brew and you'll see on maps and photos throughout this trial that there's a frontage road less than a hundred yards maybe a couple hundred yards from the apartment building as they're searching they end up finding a trash can 96 gallon toater trash can with wheels stickers still on it here's brand new as there was a landscaping crew that had been contracted by Parks and Rec and they had been cleaning the area and they found it and had put it in their truck may have been a little excited to get a brand new trash can but officers in the area saw it and said wait because it was relevant to the case and they looked in that trash can there was red brown staining there was organic material and made it a full crime scene analysis on this trash can using forensic techniques photographs and other things you'll hear throughout this trial the next thing they found was just a couple hundred yards less than a quarter mile from that apartment 5216 zero mockingbird on that same frontage road in that same area as the trash can they found the storm drain council can you approach please they found this storm drain when officer mumma and detective c doing drone and searches in the area they saw this the cover was on shown a flashlight through the hole and they saw something down there it's about 15 feet down with a culvert running side to side this was the place that's where I was found this was the place where her body was found with a bullet wound above her left eyebrow she had been she had been likely days in that water in there was a blanket a pillow a sheet as well as some tan military looking gloves those were also in there with her throughout this case you'll hear many pieces of evidence before I get there I want to inform you of the counts against the defendant as he's charged with count one murder in the first degree you'll get ample instructions on this however to prove murder in the first degree the state has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the state happily accepts that burden the defendant intended to cause the death of another person being Soraya held a brand and the defendant caused that death of any person as to count two this is an alternate theory so a different theory from count one as I can you approach this as to count two an alternate theory elements here are the defendant's conduct caused the death of another person the defendant knowingly engages in that conduct so a different mental state and the defendant's conduct was performed under circumstances manifesting an extreme indifference to the value of human life extreme indifference to the value of human life means extreme recklessness they'll be provided an instruction with the factors to consider for that as to count three and four they're for tampering with physical evidence tampering with her body for one count and tampering with the crime scene at 5210 Mockingbird Drive Unit 13 for the other throughout this case evidence be shown to prove these beyond a reasonable doubt some of those will be on August 6th he did go to Fred Meyer however there was no guacamole supplies when he went the first time at 1226 p.m. he purchased Gatorade marinara sauce and brand new sheets you'll watch a video of him making that purchase he put in his loyalty member number points he went again at 612 where he purchased hydrogen peroxide with their cleaning supplies q-tips then he went to Lowe's 8pm bought a 96 gallon Toter trash can and then he went back to Fred Meyer when apparently he was in the bread and brew parking lot or searching the woods back to Fred Meyer and bought a new mattress pad and a Red Bull all of this evidence will be presented in the coming weeks also found during the crime scene carpet cleaner a swab of that carpet cleaner was sent to the statewide crime detection laboratory DNA analysis was performed by Dr. Emily Matthews on this as well as other items in this case the swab of that matched the DNA of Soraya Hildebrand we also found that hydrogen peroxide many other signs and evidence of cleaning up we'll hear about the forensic techniques used the evidence brought and how they collected it some other experts you'll hear in this case besides Dr. Matthews and the DNA she's an expert in forensic biological analysis you'll hear from Melanie Wright the Prince in this case and the evidence she looked at the processes she went through and her findings you'll hear from firearms expert Samantha Castle who tested target to distance and her ultimate finding was that it was unlikely evidence of stipulating and the evidence of the wound as well as the making model of the gun would allow this to be suicide that would be unlikely you'll also hear [00:29:26] Speaker ?: you'll hear [00:29:26] Speaker 1: that Samantha Castle tested that gun she tried a test round and had the stippling and rifling that she can compare she did compare that to what medical examiner Dr. Kenneth Gallagher found when he performed the autopsy on Soraya Hildebrand on Friday August 11 where he found multiple fragments of bullets left in her skull from the damage they had done Samantha Castle was able to match one of those fragments with certainty and one with a little less certainty they came from that gun the less certainty was due to the size of the fragments but the biggest fragment matched you'll hear from many witnesses in this case you'll hear from Meredith Barney what happened when she spoke with the defendant you'll hear from Marie once about how it went that night and what she found and when the defendant asked her before Soraya's body was found what property should I give to her family I was thinking her baby blanket from her childhood and her wedding ring Soraya hadn't been found yet that was on Wednesday or Thursday at the latest you'll hear from patrol officers who helped investigate this case and how evidence was collected presented and sent to the lab and you'll hear from many detectives who worked with Detective Clark on their ample interviews with Zarius Hildebrand and the inconsistencies they found and you'll even hear Mr. Hildebrand tell his mom after he was arrested in this case I've tangled myself in lies probably can't be undone for all of those reasons after evidence is presented in the coming weeks the state will be before you in closing apply those factors to the elements that I put up showing how the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of murder in the first degree murder in the second degree and tampering with physical evidence we will ask you to find him guilty at that time thank you [00:31:40] Speaker 2: this is a case that involves the tragedy of a young woman who lost her life to an accident and the story of a scared young man the evidence in this case will show that Zarius Hildebrand made a lot of poor choices a lot of mistakes after he discovered that his wife was deceased in their apartment on the morning of August 6 2023 he discovered his wife had died from a single gunshot wound to her head the evidence will show that the gunshot that killed Soraya was the result of a tragic self-inflicted accident the evidence will show that Zarius did not cause the death of Soraya which is why at the conclusion of this trial we will be asking you the jury to return a verdict of not guilty I want to talk a little about what the evidence will show about Zarius Zarius was born in Kentucky he was born to his mother he had an older sister he'd have an older brother he would have a younger brother and a younger sister and around the age of five Zarius was taken into the foster care system he would be adopted out of foster care by his adoptive family with his adoptive family his he was with his mother his father his older brother his younger brother MJ and his little sister and Zarius grew up in Kentucky he'd graduate from high school his oldest brother would get in some trouble and Zarius wanted to be a role model for his little brother MJ Zarius joined the military after he graduated from high school and that's where he met Soraya eventually Zarius would be stationed in Alaska he and Soraya were married in Utah and he and Soraya were living in Alaska together on his 21st birthday Zarius made some poor choices in the relationship he would get caught snapchatting with women that weren't Soraya but on his 21st birthday he was happy Soraya wanted to celebrate with him and so they went out for celebration Zarius didn't know on August 5th 2023 the horror he would wake up to the morning of August 6th 2023 like many 21 year olds he went out and he partied what do we know about Zarius we know he likes to drink he drank before he was 21 he liked whiskey and in fact he would drink so much that he would fall asleep and when he turned 21 he was able to do this legally in a bar he was excited he started at Dave & Buster's with Soraya some of the friends eventually the party would move to the Willowa where he continued to drink Zarius became highly intoxicated the party decided to move from the Willowa to the gaslight Zarius was so intoxicated that gaslight would not let him in so the party it's time to end this is around one in the morning on August 6 Zarius gets in an Uber with his wife Soraya their friend Marie he throws up in the Uber they get back to their apartment throws up again Soraya has to help him get into the apartment Zarius is sleepy so what happened between the time Zarius got home with Soraya in the time that he woke up on his intoxicated state Zarius's memory isn't fully functioning he wakes up on August 6 in the morning and he discovers that his wife is deceased in the bed she has one gunshot wound to her head a gunshot wound that you'll hear from an expert in this case Samantha Castle that while we don't know the exact range the gun was fired from not contact to up to 12 inches Zarius is 21 years old and he's afraid what am I going to do what are people going to say about me my brother I'm going to be a disappointment to him Zarius is scared and when he's scared he does some stupid things he does some offensive things he does some things he regrets and you'll hear about those things in this trial you'll hear about what he did out of fear after he found his wife deceased fear fear is the motivation behind the reason that Zarius did what he did what you'll hear about you'll hear how he pretends that he's she's missing you'll hear how he went to Lowe's you'll hear how he purchased a garbage can you'll hear where his wife was discovered you will hear those things what you won't hear you won't hear from a single witness who was there when the gun was fired and so while you will not like what you hear that Zarius did after the fact while you will see graphic pictures and you will likely be angry at what Mr. Hildebrand did after he discovered his wife deceased the evidence simply will not show that Zarius pulled the trigger that will not be shown this this case is about a young man who made a horrible mistake this is about the fear that happens and the choices people make when they're put in unthinkable circumstances this case this case is a tragedy it is heartbreaking it's not murder that is why at the conclusion of this trial we'll be asking you as a jury to find that Mr. Hildebrandt is not guilty of the accusations in this case. Thank you.