Inset: Zarrius Hildabrand and Saria Hildabrand (KSTU). Background: Hildabrand is sentenced in Anchorage for fatally shooting his wife, Alaska National Guard combat medic Saria Hildabrand (KTUU).
A former Alaska-based U.S. Army soldier will spend decades behind bars after killing his combat medic wife and concealing her body in a storm drain.
Zarrius Hildabrand, 24, received a 59-year prison sentence Friday after a jury convicted him in June of second-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence in the death of Saria Hildabrand, 21. Her body was discovered in an Anchorage storm drain in August 2023. Hildabrand was acquitted of first-degree murder.
Prosecutors said in a June 2026 statement that the killing occurred during the early morning hours of Aug. 6, 2023, after Zarrius Hildabrand celebrated his 21st birthday with Saria and friends at several Anchorage establishments. When the newlyweds returned home, prosecutors said, Saria found messages on her husband’s phone suggesting he had been unfaithful.
At the time of Saria Hildabrand’s death, both she and Zarrius Hildabrand were serving on active duty in the U.S. Army.
According to the criminal complaint, the mattress was covered in so much blood that it seeped through to the carpet and the bed’s wooden frame.
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Investigators used a chemical spray designed to reveal blood that cannot be seen with the naked eye. The testing detected blood throughout the bathtub and on portions of the floor, evidence authorities said was likely connected to attempts to clean the scene.
Police also recovered two handguns. One was fully loaded, while the other had one round missing from its magazine.
Authorities said Hildabrand purchased a 96-gallon wheeled garbage container from Lowe’s. Inside his apartment, investigators found a black-and-red mop bucket, along with a mop matching products sold at Lowe’s in the same aisle as the trash can, the complaint said.
Police later located the garbage container with what appeared to be blood inside. A drone helped investigators trace a path from the container to a 4-to-5-foot storm drain, where they spotted what looked like a pillow and a light-colored object. The remains of Saria Hildabrand were found inside, and she appeared to have suffered a gunshot wound to the left temple.
Jason Kandel contributed to this report.
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