A former U.S. Army soldier will spend decades in prison for the killing of his wife, who he shot in the head before dumping her body in a storm drain in Alaska, prosecutors said.
Zarrius Hildabrand fatally shot Saria Barney Hildabrand after she had confronted him over alleged cheating following a night out with his friends in Anchorage on August 6, 2023, when they were drinking and celebrating Zarrius’ 21st birthday, according to the Alaska Department of Law.
After killing Saria inside their apartment, Zarrius cleaned the crime scene and bought a 96-gallon trash can, which he used to move Saria’s body to a local park, prosecutors said. At the park, he allegedly placed her body in a storm drain and poured gasoline over her.
Zarrius was sentenced to 59 years in prison on Sunday, October 25, over Saria’s death, the Alaska Department of Law announced in a news release.
The sentence comes after a jury found him guilty in June of second-degree murder and two counts of tampering with evidence.
Zarrius had reported Saria as missing and helped her family, military members and the police look for her before her body was discovered on August 10, 2023, a few days after her murder, according to prosecutors.
He was stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage at the time of her death, per the Anchorage Daily News. Saria, who was 21, had been a member of the Alaska National Guard and served as a combat medic.
“This man showed no remorse or even emotion about what he did to her. He played a game with me and my family,” Saria’s mother, Meredith Barney, said at sentencing, according to the newspaper. “Every human makes mistakes, even big ones that hurt people. However, not everyone defiles a corpse and throws it down the storm drain. He did that. He did that to my little girl.”
Zarrius’ defense attorney, Lacey Jane Brewster, argued in an October 15 sentencing memorandum viewed by the newspaper that if Zarrius killed Saria, her death likely occurred due to “a drunken mishandling of a firearm.”
The U.S. Army reportedly issued Zarrius an other than honorable discharge following his arrest in the case, according to Brewster.
“During the sentencing hearing today, many of Saria’s family members spoke to the court about the loving, caring, and beautiful person Saria was and how her murder has impacted their close-knit family greatly,” the Alaska Department of Law said in the news release.
In court, Zarrius didn’t offer a comment before he was sentenced, according to prosecutors.
In addition to his 59-year sentence, Zarrius received a suspended sentence of 25 years, the Alaska Department of Law said. He will be eligible for parole after serving at least two thirds of his sentence.
