COURTROOM INSIDER | Medical examiner, bombshell messages and more in Zarrius Hildabrand murder trial

[00:00:00][music] [music] Good evening everybody. Welcome to Courtroom Insider. Today is Thursday the 18th of June. Am I right? Is it the 18th? Yes, it is. I'm Nate Eaton. Thanks for being here on Courtroom Insider. We got a lot to get caught up on. Two days of trial from this area's Hildebrand uh trial in Alaska. took a little break yesterday to focus on the Rex Humeman sentencing, which if you haven't watched, I would encourage you go back and watch that. Pretty powerful victim impact statements uh for the Gilgo Beach serial killer, who will now spend the rest of his life behind bars. Right now in Alaska, a jury is listening to the second week of trial in the Zarius Hildebrand case. This is a case of a woman, his wife Sariah, born here in Idaho who uh was uh living in Utah when she met Zarius. They moved to uh Alaska and back in 2022. In 2023, August, well, maybe they moved in early 23. Um she vanished and the day after his 21st birthday, a few days later, she was found in a storm drain. She had a bullet wound to the head. uh she was uh she was dead and uh there was uh investigation and her husband Zarius was taken into custody. He has claimed that she shot herself and that he woke up and freaked out and had to had to dispose of her body. And we are again on week two two of the trial. Tonight I'm going to do a brief recap as far as what happened in court on Wednesday, yesterday and today, Thursday the the 17th and 18th of June.

[00:01:44]The judge did indicate that the trial should could wrap up next week. The prosecution is really moving along. Uh we've heard from multiple witnesses, the majority of them being police. And yesterday and today, we heard more from the police. Uh you recall that when we last met on Tuesday night, we talked about uh one of the officers who was on the stand. Uh his testimony wrapped up with the prosecution and now it was time for the defense to ask their questions.

[00:02:13]This is the officer who was called to the scene and um he found that they found the garbage can and inside the garbage can he saw some red brownish liquid and what he thought could be something like Clorox wipes or material like that. But he quickly realized in his words that the things inside that garbage can were not organic and it was likely human skin. Uh he got they got fingerprint powder to process prints on the can, but the defense asked a little bit more about the material inside the garbage can.

[00:02:49]>> You observed items inside of the the garbage can.

[00:02:55]Correct.

[00:02:56]>> Yes, ma'am.

[00:02:58]And you testified with Miss Thumbop that those items you were 100% sure they were organic, correct?

[00:03:12]>> Um, you were 100% certain that they were consistent with human skin.

[00:03:25]>> I knew they were organic. um human skin.

[00:03:28]I that I can't tell you. All I know is it wasn't a cleaning wipe or or or a rag, but it was definitely organic. I could tell it was a dermis.

[00:03:36]>> Okay. Um and I believe when you were testifying prior, you said 100% certain.

[00:03:41]Is that accurate >> that it was organic?

[00:03:45]>> Yes.

[00:03:45]>> Yes, ma'am.

[00:03:47]>> And in the course of your work in this case, you wrote a police report, correct?

[00:03:54]>> Yes, ma'am. I did.

[00:03:56]And did you bring that report with you today?

[00:03:58]>> I did.

[00:04:00]>> And police reports go through a review process, correct?

[00:04:06]>> Yes, ma'am. They do.

[00:04:07]>> And do you recall what day you authored your reports?

[00:04:15]>> Uh, by policy, most of the reports that we do are authored the day that that we take the action on whatever we're doing.

[00:04:23]So, in this particular case, um I I I would have believed I probably would have authored it um not on the 10th because the 10th is when the beginning process started with the trash can and then that segueed into the second call out which was approximately 6:00 p.m.

[00:04:40]And then that that processing system for that second part of it, that was a lengthy procedure. So, I don't know if it was if I began authoring it on the 11th or the 10th.

[00:04:51]>> Okay. I'm not quite sure.

[00:04:53]>> So, it was near the time that you observed what you testified. You were 100% certain was organic material um in the garbage can. You wrote your report near and time to that. Correct.

[00:05:06]>> Yes, ma'am.

[00:05:06]>> The officer went on to talk about how uh the scene was processed and then his testimony was done. We next heard from another officer. Her name was Alexandria Loya. She works for Anchorage Police in the uniformed investigator division. She helped respond to the scene with a search warrant and talked about how um the evidence was processed with that garbage can that there was a foul odor.

[00:05:29]I do want to give you a warning. This this does get a little bit graphic, so if you have a a squeamish stomach, you might want to turn down the volume.

[00:05:38]>> Um did you also assist in packaging evidence that day?

[00:05:41]>> Yes, ma'am.

[00:05:41]>> Was that with off or detective C?

[00:05:43]>> Yes.

[00:05:45]Uh, were you called out again in reference to this case on August 10th, 2023?

[00:05:50]>> Yes, ma'am.

[00:05:50]>> Was that around 14:15 hours?

[00:05:52]>> Yes, ma'am.

[00:05:53]>> And in normal people time, what is that?

[00:05:55]>> That's going to that's going to be 2:15.

[00:05:57]>> Okay.

[00:05:57]>> Sorry.

[00:05:59]>> And where were you called out to?

[00:06:01]>> So, I was called out to our indoor secured storage unit. Um, they had uh recovered a garbage can that they wanted processed for evidence. And up on the screen, I have previously admitted exhibit 251. Do you recognize that?

[00:06:16]>> Yes, ma'am. That's the trash can that they wanted us to process for evidence.

[00:06:20]>> And who was present with you when you were examining this trash can? The entire team or just certain members?

[00:06:25]>> No, just certain members because it was a smaller uh we didn't need the whole team for processing a simple trash can.

[00:06:31]So, it was uh Detective Aldridge and um Detective [clears throat] C.

[00:06:35]>> Thank you. And what did you observe about the trash can when you arrived? Uh so the things that I immediately noticed about the trash can was that there was a strong foul odor. Um and then uh we saw some like some strange organic material that was found inside the trash can as well as um some reddish brown colored stains in there as well.

[00:07:00]>> Up on the screen I have exhibit 254. Is that And madam clerk, can we turn down the lights just a bit? Thank you.

[00:07:08]Is that some of the organic material and reddish brown stains you were talking about?

[00:07:11]>> Yeah. So, the organic material is going to be there and then this spot there.

[00:07:14]>> So, those two pieces of fleshy looking stringy stuff.

[00:07:18]>> Yes, ma'am.

[00:07:19]>> Okay.

[00:07:21]>> And when you were processing the trash can, what role were you assigned that day?

[00:07:25]>> Um, I was assigned with uh swabbing evidence and as well as assisting with uh packaging evidence. And when you were assisting with packaging, um, was Detective C assigned a photograph?

[00:07:37]>> Yes, she was.

[00:07:38]>> And then was Detective Aldridge, um, collecting evidence?

[00:07:41]>> Yes.

[00:07:41]>> And you were assisting in both of those things, >> correct?

[00:07:43]>> Uh, did you also do the heistics and swabs?

[00:07:47]>> We did.

[00:07:48]>> Up on the screen, I have exhibit 250. Do you recognize that?

[00:07:51]>> Yes. That's a heist with a presumptive positive for blood.

[00:07:54]>> And how could it be blood or it could be could it be other things as well? So it's typically a presumptive positive for blood um that a hemistics reacts to the hemoglobin found in in blood which is a proteinrich um uh cell or protein rich um I'm sorry I'm losing the word uh >> substance >> substance thank you found in blood. So, we consider that a presumptive positive.

[00:08:23]Typically, um you'll see the yellow on that heistics. Um it's going to be yellow and then when we roll on a sample of that swab, if it turns a dark blue or a dark green color like above in the photo, uh it's it's going to be presumptive positive for blood.

[00:08:40]>> So, there was blood in the garbage can and she walked us right through the process of how they learned that. She took videos and photos of the scene, documented it all, and then went to witness the autopsy when it was done.

[00:08:52]Also took photos of the autopsy. She was not involved in the autopsy per se. She was there, but the medical examiner did did his job as the officer documented it. And uh she noted what was collected from Miss Sariah when they found her body.

[00:09:09]>> In this case, did you collect the clothing on Miss Hildebrand as well as any jewelry she had? Yes.

[00:09:16]>> Um, there was not a wedding ring found, correct?

[00:09:19]>> No.

[00:09:19]>> Thank you.

[00:09:21]>> Uh, did you also collect the bullet fragments recovered by the medical examiner?

[00:09:27]>> Yes, [clears throat] ma'am.

[00:09:29]>> And were there multiple frag fragments recovered?

[00:09:31]>> Yes.

[00:09:32]>> Did you collect them and package them separately?

[00:09:34]>> Yes, ma'am.

[00:09:35]>> Were they assigned separate tag numbers of 1343972 and 1343973?

[00:09:41]>> Yes.

[00:09:43]And at that point, when you collect bullet fragments and other pieces of evidence, what do you do with it? Just so the jury understands.

[00:09:48]>> So when we collect it, we submit it to our property and evidence team. And so that get that gets stored.

[00:09:54]>> And is it stored in specific ways to help preserve evidence depending on what type of evidence it is?

[00:09:58]>> Yes, ma'am.

[00:09:59]>> And are you aware that multiple pieces of evidence in this case were sent to the crime lab?

[00:10:03]>> Yes. [clears throat] bullet fragments were taken from Sariah's skull as evidence and they were uh preserved and the uh witness talked about that and then it was time for the medical examiner to testify. Dr. Kenneth Gallagher works for the Alex Alaska State Medical Examiner's Office. He's also a forensic pathologist. He went through and talked about, well, by the way, all of these witnesses talk about their background, their training, their experience, their education, what makes them qualified in the position that they hold. And so, Dr. Gallagher talked about the training that he's had as a medical examiner, as a forensic pathologist, and was asked about the difference between cause and manner of death. With manner of death, there's five manners: natural, accident, suicide, homicide, or undetermined. So, there's those five ways. and he was asked to describe those.

[00:10:53]>> Were you able to determine a cause and manner of death for Sariah Hill Debrand?

[00:10:58]>> Yes.

[00:10:59]>> And what were what were those?

[00:11:01]>> Uh her cause of death was a penetrating uh indeterminate range gunshot wound of the head. Uh and the manner of death that I certified was as a homicide.

[00:11:11]>> Okay. You said indeterminate range.

[00:11:13]Indeterminate or intermediate?

[00:11:15]>> Uh in intermediate, sorry.

[00:11:17]>> Okay. I had to put my glasses back on as well. Um, so I want to talk with you a little bit about how you come to those conclusions.

[00:11:29]Does the somebody from the medical examiner's office go out and observe and collect the body from the scene?

[00:11:35]>> Depends on the uh the jurisdiction or where it happened. Um, if it's outside of our physical response area, then um the body will be collected by troopers or, you know, officials at the scene um of that location. And if it is within our uh jurisdiction, then one of our uh death uh investigators goes to the scene for uh securing the body and bringing them back to our office.

[00:12:01]>> Okay. So, a death in a essentially a a park in Anchorage.

[00:12:05]>> That would Yeah, that would be our uh response area.

[00:12:08]>> And then you get involved the next morning. Uh it depends on uh when they uh they get into the office, but uh after they're brought in to um the uh the office uh um the uh typically the next uh business day, depending on uh um the uh amount of cases that are at the uh exam examiner's office to do, they'll they'll come up for the uh the uh examination that we'll perform.

[00:12:37]>> Okay. What was the date and time that you performed an autopsy on Sariah Hillbrand?

[00:12:42]>> Yes, if I refer to my uh report uh uh on the first page, it was uh August 11 of 2023 where we did our uh exam.

[00:12:52]>> Okay. And what time in the morning?

[00:12:54]>> Uh oh, 700 basically 7:15.

[00:12:57]>> Okay.

[00:12:58]>> In the morning.

[00:12:59]>> And what were your pathologic diagnosis?

[00:13:02]What did you observe about her?

[00:13:04]>> Yes. So on the front page of my report, I always uh uh summarize everything. So he she had uh the uh the cause of death injury was a penetrating intermediate range gunshot wound of the head. So that was an entrance that entered on the forehead um and then it it passed through the skin through the bone and uh into the brain um and then caused lots of injuries the disruption and pulpification of the uh soft tissue of the brain bleeding around the brain bleeding within the parankma or the body of the brain. Um and then uh uh the uh trajectory was basically a front to back um is is is the uh the pathway. Uh and then we did recover several fragments uh of the copper and lead colored uh metal projectile or bullet uh from our examination.

[00:14:00]>> The prosecution went on to admit photos of the autopsy of Sarah's autopsy. We did not see them. They were not televised. Those people in the courtroom did though. and he went on to describe them in detail. And if you want to watch his whole testimony, you can and get caught up on that. Uh the defense when they took to the stand to ask Mr. Dr. Gallagher questions, they asked him to clarify um what suicide is versus accident versus homicide, the manners of death, and also clarify on the gunshot distance. Um that close range versus far range. Here's a little bit of the defense questioning him about that.

[00:14:40]>> You talked about an intermediate gunshot. Correct.

[00:14:43]>> I did.

[00:14:45]>> And fair to say that in your profession, gunshots can also be qualified as a contact shot, a close-range shot, or a distance shot.

[00:14:58]>> Yeah, I call them contact range uh intermediate or indeterminate. Distant.

[00:15:03]Um, I don't really use that uh term because there's not always um something that um not being there. You don't know if that bullet may have gone through another intermediating or intermediate object um that would filter out the findings that would uh make it to the skin on someone. So, if it went through a door, a window or or or a wall, um it might take those uh findings that would normally get to the skin off of the uh skin because because of that intermediate object.

[00:15:42]>> Okay. And so what I would ask you to do is I would direct you to the last page of the packet I approached you with uh marked on the top left 314.

[00:15:56]And I would just ask you there is a highlighted portion of page 314.

[00:16:03]>> It'll be the last page of the packet I handed you.

[00:16:07]Okay.

[00:16:13]And I would ask you to read um the highlighted portion following the terminology most often used to describe the range of fire is as follows.

[00:16:26]>> Right. Uh so you have highlighted here on page 314 of this textbook talks about contact shot um when the weapon is fired with the muzzle in contact with the body. A close-range shot is when gun smoke is deposited on the target and distance shot when the muzzle to target distance exceeds the limits in which gunm smoke is identifiable on the target.

[00:16:52]>> So for say in your profession the terminology contact shot, close range shot and distance shot are used.

[00:17:00]>> Uh you know contact range, close range.

[00:17:04]Uh again, our office doesn't use distant because of the possibility of intermediate objects. So we just call those indeterminants and and not distant.

[00:17:13]>> But you do use contact shot and close range shot.

[00:17:17]>> Yes. After the medical examiner left the stand, we heard from the forensic scientist in the state crime lab, Samantha Castle. She's like the firearm tool expert. We've heard from these type of people in other cases. Dell, I remember them. She shared her background. She talked about writing reports. She examined the gun that that any of the firearms that would have been found at the scene, she would have examined and and she walked through the process of how they test a firearm. They put them in evidence bags, of course.

[00:17:44]And uh the she they were shown the gun there in in the courtroom. She talked about doing the testing on the gum gun, how they get them analyzed, how they get them processed, the reports that she wrote. Here's a little bit about some of the testing that she did. tell the jury a little bit about the safety features and the operability of that gun.

[00:18:04]>> Absolutely. So, this gun is a singleaction firearm and it's recoil operated. So, what that means is the user would generally speaking fill the magazine with cartridges, insert those cartridges into the magazine well, and in order to get the first round off the magazine and into the chamber, the user would wrap the slide or pull it back and let it go. that is then going to strip that top cartridge off the magazine and push it into the chamber. At that point, the gun would be what we call in battery or ready to fire. This gun does have some safety features on it. It has a thumb finger safety. So, on the rear of the slide, um it's essentially a little lever that the user can push up or down when it's in the safe that would block the trigger from being able to interact with that firing pin in the firearm. And when the safety is off, then the user can pull the the the trigger and the gun will go off. It all >> Can you just really quick, can you take a look at the photographs in front of you? And is 277 two photographs that you took of that that weapon?

[00:19:09]>> Yes, it is.

[00:19:10]>> Okay. And move to admit and publish 277.

[00:19:13]>> Any objection?

[00:19:14]>> No. Judge, >> you may publish.

[00:19:17]>> Can you show the jury when you say the safety where that is?

[00:19:20]>> Absolutely. So you can see the laser pointer. So this is the safety, the thumb finger safety here. It has a little tab on it. Um, and it's actually an ambidextrous thumb finger safety. So it [clears throat] can be operated from either side of the firearm. Uh, and then when I was speaking earlier about the magazine well, this is where the magazine well is. That's where the magazine would be inserted. Um, we've got the slide up here, the frame, and then this is the chamber and barrel of that firearm. You remember that uh there was a gun in the uh apartment of Xeras and Sariah that was found between a co a couch cushion during a search and then other people have testified that they saw a firearm on the counter in the kitchen. She was asked about the trigger pull trigger pull test, what exactly it is, and here's what she said.

[00:20:09]>> What is trigger pull and how do you test it?

[00:20:12]>> Yes. So trigger pull, as I mentioned, is the amount of pressure or force that's required to be applied to that trigger in order to cause steer release or to cause the gun to go off the firing pin to move forward. And the way that we test that at the laboratory is with Arsenal weights. We have um weights that are cast iron and they go in increments of a half pound. We then also have a metal hook essentially that we can put the weights on the bottom. Um, the metal hook is perpendicular to those weights.

[00:20:40]And then there's a piece that comes off at like an L, if you can think about an L, that we would then hold the firearm with the barrel towards the ceiling and rest those weights on the trigger of the firearm. And we add weight until we figure out the breaking point at which the trigger will cause the gun to go off, at what weight. So, we give that in a range since we only have halfpound increments. Um the first number we give is the number the gun will not go off at. So in this case it was six and a half [clears throat] pounds. But at seven pounds the trigger seven pounds of weight on that trigger the gun did go off.

[00:21:15]>> So somebody has to pull that trigger somewhere between 6 and 12 and seven pounds of pressure to be able for the firearm to fire.

[00:21:23]>> That's correct. Yes.

[00:21:24]>> Okay. And then um you talked about operability. you go in and actually test fire the the weapon to make sure it's operating as designed. What happened when you did that with this weapon?

[00:21:36]>> Correct. So, I test fired this firearm four times with the ammunition that we talked about previously and found that it was all um operable. It fired, loaded, fired, extracted, eject, and ejected as designed.

[00:21:49]>> Okay. And um you used some of the submitted um ammunition for that process.

[00:21:57]>> That's correct. Yes.

[00:21:59]>> Okay. Now, after you figure out the safety features, the operability of this weapon, do you do research into the weapon itself to see if there's anything special you should know about it?

[00:22:10]>> Absolutely. So, I will look at the owner's manuals for the firearm to get additional information if I need to look up any part names that I might be looking at in the firearm itself, as well as we check for any um recalls or um sometimes they're called voluntary upgrades on the firearm where it may need to go in for service. Now, after the questions from the prosecution, it was the defense's turn to ask um Miss Castle some questions, and then they they rested for the day. This was all yesterday's testimony. So, you're caught up on yesterday's in a 10-minute block.

[00:22:46]I summarized four hours for you. As I said, you can go back and watch it all.

[00:22:50]We've got it on our Courtroom Insider YouTube channel. Now, let's talk about today. today. To me, there was some some interesting things that came out, some really captivating stuff that uh especially at the end of the day with the last witness and text messages. But before we get to that, Michael Swanson took to the stand. He works for the Anchorage Police in the crime lab doing digital forensics. He talked about how he was able to analyze an SD card and an iPhone and Celbrite, which we've heard in multiple cases. It was used in Debel, Richens, Coberger.

[00:23:22]This is the company that you give your phone to and they are able to download everything and then they split it up into different folders and then you can go through all the folders and see photos and texts and and videos and phone call records and and all sorts of different things. This witness, Michael Swanson, prepared a four 44,056 page report. 44,056 page report. I'm going to go through every single page with you tonight. I'm kidding. I'm not. It'd be interesting to read though, there was text and photos and other data on that and uh his testimony was relatively short if you want to go back and read it. They didn't they actually didn't get into the detail with his testimony that's coming here in a moment, but he had to set the the groundwork for future witnesses. Uh we then heard from another forensic scientist. This was Aaron Clay. He talked about fingerprints that were gathered and tested and he walked through the process of getting the fingerprints, latent uh prints, but also some of the obstacles that could happen when they do gather prints.

[00:24:25]>> Um, does the environment impact it?

[00:24:28]>> Yes, the environment can play a factor.

[00:24:30]If it's say it's like a very rainy day, everything's very wet, you're less likely to be able to transfer that latent print residue from your finger onto a surface. Also, if it's very hot, so if your hands are very dry, you're not going to have very much residue, and that can also affect you transferring that print to a surface.

[00:24:48]>> Does the person's individual like skin characteristics matter?

[00:24:52]>> Yeah, the skin quality can. Um, the biggest factor with that is actually how much residue you produce. Some people don't produce very much of the latent print residue, so they don't have very much to transfer, and then some people produce quite a bit, so they're more likely to leave latent print.

[00:25:08]>> Okay. And then um the type of contact that's being made, if it's passing or pushing versus like a straight down, does that matter?

[00:25:16]>> Exactly. The if you're touching stuff in like movement while you're touching something, there's going to be more distortion when you touch it. And then it just depends also how you touch it.

[00:25:26]If it's just a very light touch, you may not actually transfer much of that latent print residue as opposed to if it's a nice solid touch on it.

[00:25:34]>> Okay. And then finally, the type of surface that the print is going on. You talked about porous versus non-porous.

[00:25:41]Are some surfaces just better and more likely to get to accept prints, I guess, is the word I'll use, but um have prints on them.

[00:25:50]>> Yes, that's correct. So, anything smooth like we talked about, that's great. Um paper is good because it soaks in that latent print residue. And then something very textured is going to be less likely. So, it could even be like the grip of a gun would be a good example.

[00:26:05]That's typically very textured and then you're less likely to leave a laten print there.

[00:26:09]>> Okay. Is it um fairly infrequent that the crime lab's able to get um prints off the grip of a gun?

[00:26:17]>> Uh yes, it's very infrequent.

[00:26:19]>> Okay. And so like I think about like this is a cardboard paper cup and cardboard should be okay, but it's corrugated. So does how would that impact it?

[00:26:29]>> Yeah. if there's any like ridges or anything on there, that's going to affect the um continuity of the ridge flow. So, you're going to have a lot of little breaks in it like that. But like cardboard's fine. Um cardboard's cardboard is a good substrate. So, it just depends on the kind of surface you have.

[00:26:46]>> Of course, the defense has some questions about the fingerprints and but not many. And uh he was off he was off the stand. Another officer on the stand after him, Detective Morgan Padranos.

[00:26:58]She works in the homicide unit. She was called to the scene when Sariah was reported missing on August 6th of 2023.

[00:27:06]She got out there and she was asked what they did when they got out there to canvas the area.

[00:27:12]>> Uh so when we do a canvas, uh it's pretty much like you see in TV like go and talk to people in the neighborhood, uh look for cameras and so forth. So we went and talked to other people in the apartment building if they heard anything that night or if anyone had seen Sariah. Uh we had like the missing person flyer to show them and everything.

[00:27:32]>> Had anyone seen or heard anything that became relevant?

[00:27:34]>> Uh no.

[00:27:36]>> Uh what steps did you take next? Uh so after I talked to Marie and uh during that conversation she actually sent us some like pictures of like current what Sariah looks like her dyed hair and then also tattoos. Uh that's something that we used to identify people if they maybe look like a lot of other people or something. Tattoos are usually like individualized. And so she sent me some of those and then what she was wearing when she last saw her cuz they took some photos that day.

[00:28:06]>> Okay. up on the screen. I have previous previously admitted exhibits five and continuing on which I'll list as we go.

[00:28:12]Is this one of the photos that Marie sent you?

[00:28:14]>> Uh she actually sent them to Detective Mercer because Detective Mercer was right there and it's just easier to have her while I'm continuing talking. But yeah, these were sent to Detective Mercer.

[00:28:24]>> Um exhibit six, does this show and Madam Clerk, can we turn the lights down a bit?

[00:28:32]And just zooming in a bit in exhibit six, does this show um the back tattoos that Sariah had?

[00:28:37]>> Yeah. So, the most notable one that Marie mentioned were her wings on the back that took up most of her back and this was a good photo that showed that >> the detective was able to get access to Sariah's phone and she took photos of photos on her phone. Does that make sense? And she talked about some of the images that were on Sariah's phone. Uh, so whenever I turn on a phone, I take a picture right away of the screen saver just to show like what time um it said and the date and everything like that.

[00:29:07]So that's just a screen saver on Sharia's phone.

[00:29:09]>> And in the top right corner, do we see an airplane?

[00:29:12]>> Yes. What does that mean?

[00:29:13]>> Uh, so the phone is usually put in airplane mode. Uh there's people that can actually like remotely wipe phones and we also don't want anything deleted or any data removed from the phone and so we always put it in airplane mode to preserve that and preserve what's on the phone at the time that we have it >> and is that common practice for APD?

[00:29:32]>> Yes.

[00:29:34]>> Next on the screen I have exhibit 291.

[00:29:38]Why would you take a photo of this?

[00:29:39]>> Uh this is just right once I open the phone. This is her apps and screen saver.

[00:29:48]And I apologize, your honor, just for clarity, at this time I've admitted I intended it to 290 through 310. And we'll get to the rest of those momentarily as well as uh and we'll get to the rest of those in just a moment.

[00:30:02]Um up on the screen is 292. What is this?

[00:30:05]>> Uh this is the contact that she had as an emergency contact and she put the name as hubby. It also includes the call history. So, as you can see, there's two calls on August 6, 2023 at 8:25 a.m. Um, they were both cancelled. Yep. And then you can see the phone number is 27041-9695.

[00:30:25]>> Thank you.

[00:30:26]>> As she was looking through Sariah's phone, she found a note in the notes app. And this was a you could call it a bombshell message that was written back in April uh the previous uh four months.

[00:30:39]April, May, June, July. Yeah, four months. Um, and I do want to warn you.

[00:30:44]So, this was on Sariah's phone and she's apparently talking about Zarius, and this was written in April.

[00:30:52]There are there are there is at least one curse word here, the F-word. Just a warning. Um, if you want to turn it down, but this is a message that they found on Sariah's phone.

[00:31:01]>> Up on the screen is 295. Did you also find this in the notes app?

[00:31:06]>> I did. And were you able to get a date and time off this one?

[00:31:09]>> Yes. It's April 3rd, 2023 at 1927 hours.

[00:31:13]>> And can you please read to the jurors what you found on that?

[00:31:17]>> Yes. Uh you can also read it off the physical exhibit. That's easier.

[00:31:23]>> Doesn't post pics slashtakepics.

[00:31:26]Doesn't act the same about us.

[00:31:29]X hardly calls me pretty. Is less loveydovey. Doesn't act the same when drunk.

[00:31:36]X I'm assuming the ex means example. not touchy. Couldn't care less to talk to me when before you did do that. Sus AF with phone.

[00:31:46]>> And I'll pause you there. Are you aware of what sus AF means in >> Yes. Uh so sus usually means like suspect like abnormal. And then AF means as [ __ ] >> Thank you. And if you could continue.

[00:31:59]>> Uh whenever I take it automatically takes it back and won't let me look at it. says, "I can't look through phone BC," which usually means because he doesn't want to be quote unquote that couple or quote unquote that level of toxic leads me to believe there is something hiding. I shouldn't feel like I have to do whatever you want. I shouldn't feel like I need to beg for attention, for your attention or affection. I shouldn't feel like I'm not a priority. I shouldn't feel like you aren't as interested in me. I shouldn't feel like you only value me when I clean or do stuff for you. And when we talk, I feel the same after see or because you try.

[00:32:38]>> And is exhibit 296 a continuation of that note?

[00:32:42]>> Yes.

[00:32:42]>> And could you please continue reading that for the jury?

[00:32:45]>> Yes.

[00:32:53]So I'm just going to restart the first one just because it was a continuation.

[00:32:56]When we talk, I feel the same after. BC because you try to explain everything or turn it on to me. I have constant thoughts of you cheating on me. Example, texting other girls, flirting. You say you do not even talk to other girls casually, just as friends. But if I looked, there wouldn't there would be some IDC, which means I don't care. Just be honest.

[00:33:22]>> Thank you. And just for clarity, I believe I already asked you on to exhibit 295 that was written back in April, correct?

[00:33:29]>> Yes. Thank you.

[00:33:30]>> Then the detective testified about messages on Instagram and and on this account, this Instagram account that said username, meaning someone could have, you know, how you can create an account and then message from it and then if you delete the account, the username goes away and it just says username. That's what appears to have happened with this account with um Zarius and some sort of woman.

[00:33:56]>> So at the top um it says Instagram user and do you know what that means? Why would it say Instagram user rather than someone's name?

[00:34:04]>> Yeah. So the person might not have their account anymore um and so it doesn't have their name and so it just has its Instagram user instead of their actual Usually in Instagram you have like your actual name like your username at the top of it. So, this person might have deleted their account. As you can see, there's no profile picture or anything like that either.

[00:34:21]>> Thank you. And if you go go ahead and read that for the jurors.

[00:34:24]>> Okay. Uh the beginning, which is kind of cut off, uh just says cuz I hate insult tbh, which is to be honest. And then the next one is what's your snap and I'll believe you. Forget it. Oh, darn.

[00:34:36]Whatever will I do with three like crying emojis, which are just like faces with the tears coming down. you being so sus, bro, and rude. I'm the sus one.

[00:34:49]Okay, like I said, drop the snap if you're legit or even just a picture of you. And I presume Snap, he's referring to Snapchat, which is just another app where people send photos or messages to each other or videos.

[00:35:03]Okay, then one sec. Well, about the snap, my parents don't let me use that for now cuz they keep saying it's a distraction to my studies with a kind of frowny face emoji. And then there's a photo, not an actual photo, just the photo was sent. And then you can open it once you click that button. And then here, >> does it disappear after? Uh, it actually depends on your settings whether it disappears, but um, sometimes you can replay it, but it looks like on this one it's, you can see it's a little bit less colored than the white. Um, and so I'm not sure if they could replay it or not afterwards.

[00:35:40]>> Thank you.

[00:35:40]>> There were lots of deleted photos on Zarius's uh, phone according to the detective. Uh, and then Snapchat messages were were recovered and Snapchat messages between Zarius and a woman named Cheyenne talking about clothing and sizes and things like that.

[00:35:57]>> It should be illegal being that fine.

[00:35:59]And then Cheyenne with a heart replies well with a craft or a crying emoji and like a laughing crying emoji. I wear a 32 DD or double D in bras and underwear.

[00:36:12]is just a medium, I guess, lol with four crying emojis. And then the me says, "Okay, deal. So, I'll go shopping this weekend for stuff and send it to you by next week." Okay, I'll throw some of my stuff in there plus a surprise or two.

[00:36:28]But, um, maybe some of your clothes that smell like you and stuff like that. And then me again is um I'm a large in shirts and I'm not picky. W with often means with uh underwear. And then underneath from Cheyenne, it says, "What color?" question mark. And then a partial photo.

[00:36:47]>> Okay. Favorite color >> or favorite card. Sorry. Yes.

[00:36:51]>> Thank you.

[00:36:51]>> There was a back and forth on photos with Sirius on July 23rd and much more back and forth of him asking for photos from a lady or multiple ladies and saying, quote, "You down to play."

[00:37:04]Celebrate found all of these items. And and I don't know if the defense has ever disputed that he was behaving inappropriately with these text messages. They admit he was. I I believe they have. They're not denying that they were him. However, uh there was other phone timelines and text messages and call logs that were admitted not only from Sia's phone, but Zeras's phone and searches that were done on her phone, barber shops, salons, etc. The defense did take the stand toward the end of the day to ask the detective some questions.

[00:37:34]And they asked her to to admit that, well, anyone can grab a cell phone and anyone can put anything they want in the phone. You can't 100% prove that that Zarius sent these messages or that Sariah did, right? That's what they asked.

[00:37:49]>> A cell phone can be handed to any other person, for example.

[00:37:55]>> Yeah, that's fair to say. Okay. So, um we don't necessarily know who at what time was using a cell phone. We just know that it from these reports that this is information the cell phone has collected. Correct.

[00:38:12]>> Correct.

[00:38:16]And I want to be clear.

[00:38:23]We have on the celebrate. We have journeys and we have locations. Correct.

[00:38:31]>> Yes. Those are the two that we just went over.

[00:38:34]>> And journeys are can document where the phone has traveled to. Correct.

[00:38:41]>> Yes. From my training, that's how I understand it as. And then locations documents where the phone has searched a specific location in the maps function. Is that correct?

[00:38:57]>> So it can be searched. So I don't know if you noticed, but it said type and it said search. Not all of the ones in the celebrate report say searched on type.

[00:39:06]So it could also be like the phone has been there so long that then it collects that as an actual location point. So, there's actually one in the exhibit that doesn't say searched. It just has the time and the actual location of it. Um, so that's collected from the phone as an actual location of the phone. So, when we're when the jury is looking through this Cellbrite report and the exhibits that have been presented, there's a difference between when the cell bright report says searched versus when it doesn't say anything. Correct.

[00:39:42]>> Correct. Yeah. So, the ones that we went over were all searched. Um, but when you guys look at this, you'll see some of them don't say searched, and that's kind of what I'm talking about.

[00:39:50]>> The defense asked her to describe the processes of how uh the detective tested the phone and uh the processing. So, testing the phone and also the process of canvasing at the apartment.

[00:40:03]>> You have a card.

[00:40:05]>> Yeah.

[00:40:06]And then the person at apartment 10 actually spoke to Detective Lee, correct?

[00:40:11]>> Yeah.

[00:40:12]>> Okay.

[00:40:13]And then you went to apartment 111.

[00:40:16]>> Yes.

[00:40:18]>> And you knocked on the door. Correct.

[00:40:21]>> Yes.

[00:40:22]>> No one answered.

[00:40:23]>> Yes.

[00:40:23]>> You left a car?

[00:40:24]>> Yes.

[00:40:25]>> Did you ever go back?

[00:40:27]>> I did not go back and re campus.

[00:40:30]>> You went to apartment number 112?

[00:40:32]>> Yes.

[00:40:32]>> You knocked on the door?

[00:40:34]>> Yeah.

[00:40:34]>> No one answered.

[00:40:35]>> Yes. You left a card.

[00:40:36]>> Yep.

[00:40:36]>> And you never went back.

[00:40:38]>> I did not recampus.

[00:40:41]>> And you made contact. You went to apartment 113.

[00:40:48]>> Yes.

[00:40:50]>> And you contacted a gentleman at Tyler.

[00:40:54]A gentleman at 113.

[00:40:56]>> Yeah. Tyler.

[00:40:58]And you feel you didn't receive any relevant information from him?

[00:41:06]>> No.

[00:41:06]>> Okay.

[00:41:08]>> And fair to say you never went back after you spoke with him.

[00:41:13]>> I did not recanvas.

[00:41:17]You went to apartment at 114?

[00:41:19]>> Yes.

[00:41:22]>> And you spoke to someone at 114?

[00:41:23]>> Yes.

[00:41:25]>> And You didn't feel you obtained any relevant information from apartment 114?

[00:41:35]>> No, the he just noticed someone late at night, but yeah.

[00:41:40]>> Okay.

[00:41:48]You also went to apartment number 15.

[00:41:51]Yes.

[00:41:54]And you didn't get any relevant information from apartment 15?

[00:41:59]>> Uh, after talking to them? No, I didn't think it was.

[00:42:04]>> So, how many apartments and told did you knock on the door?

[00:42:14]>> I believe five.

[00:42:17]And >> if I may recollect my >> sorry, six of them >> and two of those apartments you just left a card.

[00:42:33]>> Yes. I was actually contacted by one person later on, Eva, that I mentioned later in my report. But yeah.

[00:42:39]>> Okay.

[00:42:41]And you don't feel you received any relevant information?

[00:42:44]>> No.

[00:42:45]>> Okay. And the detective said a few more things and that was it for her testimony. And that was it for the week.

[00:42:51]The trial will now rest until Monday.

[00:42:54]They're off for tomorrow. It is a federal holiday. It's Junth and uh again, the judge expects the case could wrap up by this time next week, maybe go into the following week. But prosecution's moving pretty quick.

[00:43:07]Defense could take a day or two unless they rest. Um, and uh, no word if Xeras is going to take the stand, but if he's found guilty, he could face life in prison. And uh, he is he is, if you watch the video, he's taking notes. He's seems to be active in in his defense, consulting with his attorney and and that that is his right. So there you are. You're all caught up today. A very compressed version of the past two days.

[00:43:31]Here's where you can find me if you want to follow along. Nate eaten reporter on Facebook and eaten on Instagram. I'm on X at Nate News now. And please subscribe if you haven't here on YouTube on our YouTube channel for East Idaho News and Courtroom Insider. Would love your subscription. If you hit the bell, you'll be notified every time we go live. And we will be back here tomorrow night with a really interesting courtroom insider. I'm interviewing the hosts of a new podcast and it's all about slippery people. It's by the same people that did Scamanda. Same woman, Nancy. she's been on here and her her uh professional partner Scott. And we're going to talk about some cases, including a Utah woman who got involved with some interesting things and got a lot of people to go along with her. And it was the LDS women who turned her in.

[00:44:19]It's a crazy story along with another man in Montana and some other cases. So, join me tomorrow night, courtroom insider, same time, same place, 7 o'clock mountain time. We'll talk about that. And if you have any story ideas you think I should cover, please reach out, let me know. And um really want to thank you for watching everybody.

[00:44:33]Appreciate your uh your viewership.

[00:44:36]Appreciate you. Have a good night. We'll see you tomorrow.

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