Soldier Hid Wife's Body, Then Reported Her Missing

The Morning After His Birthday

He was 23. She was 22. Prosecutors said he hid his wife’s body in a storm drain, sent fake texts from her phone, and reported her missing.

Saria Barney Hildabrand was an Alaska National Guard combat medic who had met her husband at boot camp and married him less than a year before she died. On June 25, 2026, an Anchorage jury convicted Zarrius Hildabrand of her murder.

Hildabrand, 23, shot his wife, staged her death to look like a suicide, placed her body in a 96-gallon trash can, hid her in a storm drain behind their apartment complex, used her phone to send messages to her coworkers pretending to be her, and went to work the following morning. He reported her missing later that same day.

Saria Barney

Saria Barney was 22 years old. She and Hildabrand had met while both were in military boot camp. She was a combat medic with the Alaska National Guard - someone who spent her career helping others through emergencies. They had been married for less than a year.

Her mother, Meredith Barney, testified that Saria had been genuinely happy in the days before her death. ‘She was really excited,’ Barney told the jury. ‘She was excited for Zarrius’ 21st birthday. We were coming up two weeks later for my 40th birthday, so we had all these plans.’

The Night of August 5, 2023

On August 5, 2023, Hildabrand and Saria Barney went out to celebrate his 21st birthday with friends, including a trip to Dave and Buster’s. When the group attempted to enter a club afterward, a bouncer turned them away, noting that Hildabrand appeared intoxicated. The couple took an Uber home. That was the last time Saria Barney was seen alive by anyone outside the apartment.

According to prosecutors, Saria found evidence that night that Hildabrand had been sending messages to another woman - screenshots proving an ongoing infidelity - that had been transferred to her phone from his.

On the morning of August 6, Hildabrand testified, he woke with no memory of the night before and began looking for his phone. He found his wife dead from a gunshot wound in their bed. He said he ‘panicked.’ What he then chose to do - over the following hours - prosecutors walked the jury through step by step: deleting the screenshots, calling Saria’s boss from her phone to report her absent, driving to multiple stores to purchase cleaning supplies and hydrogen peroxide, returning to clean the apartment, placing her body in a large trash can, moving it out through the building’s back door past any security cameras, and securing her inside a storm drain near the apartment complex.

He then went to work.

A Friend’s Testimony

After Hildabrand’s arrest, a friend visited him in jail. They did not discuss the case. Before the visit ended, the friend asked Hildabrand if he had any message to pass along. Hildabrand looked at him and said: ‘I hope this isn’t recording, because I did what I did.’

That testimony came from the stand at trial.

June 25, 2026, Anchorage

The jury convicted Hildabrand of second-degree murder and evidence tampering on June 25, 2026, after approximately 10 hours of deliberation. He was acquitted on the first-degree murder charge. Sentencing is set for October 23, 2026.

Hildabrand had taken the stand in his own defense and acknowledged hiding the body, but maintained he had found his wife already dead and acted out of fear. Forensic evidence did not support the suicide claim, according to prosecutors.

He showed no visible emotion as the jury read its findings.

Meredith Barney

Saria’s mother had been in the courtroom when Hildabrand reported her daughter missing - already knowing that her body was in a drain nearby. She told the jury: ‘He walked around for hours with me searching for my daughter knowing that she was dead. He lied to me multiple times, and tried to play it off like he was a concerned husband.’

Saria Barney was 22 years old. She had been married less than a year.

References: Anchorage jury convicts former U.S. Army soldier in wife’s murder | Zarrius Hildabrand shows no emotion as jury convicts him of murder

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