A former U.S. Army soldier has been convicted of murdering his wife and attempting to conceal her death following a two-week trial in Alaska.

Zarrius Hildabrand, 23, was found guilty last Thursday of second-degree murder and evidence tampering in the August 2023 death of his wife, Saria Barney Hildabrand, a 21-year-old combat medic with the Alaska National Guard.

Although jurors acquitted him of first-degree murder, Hildabrand now faces up to 99 years in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced on October 23.

According to courtroom reports, Hildabrand remained expressionless as the verdict was read.

Prosecutors argued that Saria was fatally sH๏τ in the early hours of August 6, 2023, shortly after celebrating her 21st birthday. They alleged the shooting occurred after she discovered Sєxually explicit messages suggesting her husband had been unfaithful and had saved screensH๏τs of the conversations.

During the trial, Hildabrand testified in his own defense, saying he wanted to “tell the truth” after years of lying.

He claimed he had little memory of what happened because he was heavily intoxicated the night before and said he found his wife ᴅᴇᴀᴅ in bed after pulling back the covers.

“I needed to get the weight off of three years of a lie,” he told jurors.

Hildabrand admitted he feared he would be blamed because he could not remember the events of that night.

He also acknowledged cheating on his wife during their marriage.

His testimony became especially damaging when he admitted taking steps to hide the crime after discovering Saria’s body.

He testified that he planned to conceal her body and clean blood from the bedroom, purchasing hydrogen peroxide and other supplies to clean the scene.

He also admitted buying a 96-gallon garbage container to move her body.

“It felt so disrespectful,” he told jurors, describing how he felt while disposing of his wife’s remains.

According to prosecutors, Hildabrand placed Saria’s body in a storm drain, where it was later discovered in shallow water by emergency responders.

Authorities said he waited roughly 30 hours before reporting her missing. During that time, he allegedly used Saria’s phone to send messages to her coworkers, claiming she had food poisoning and would not be coming to work.

He also participated in public searches for his wife despite knowing she was already ᴅᴇᴀᴅ.

Prosecutors further alleged that Hildabrand deleted screensH๏τs from Saria’s phone that documented his alleged infidelity because he was embarrᴀssed by their contents.

“He sH๏τ her in the head and then callously disposed of her body down a storm drain,” prosecutor Brittany Dunlop told the jury.

She argued that although Hildabrand had been drinking, his actions were deliberate.

“Selective amnesia is a coward’s way out of a hard truth,” Dunlop said during closing arguments.

A fellow soldier, Logan Calhoun, testified that Hildabrand had been heavily intoxicated on the night of the killing.

Hildabrand enlisted in the U.S. Army in September 2021 and was ᴀssigned to Alaska in March 2022, where he served with the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 11th Airborne Division at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage.

Source: New York Post