Soldier helps search for missing combat medic’s wife and is arrested after being found in storm sewer

The late Ms. Saria Hildabrand, a 21-year-old National Guard medic, was reported missing by her husband Army Spc to authorities in Anchorage last Monday. Zarrius Hildabrand.

Saria was not found until four days later, on Thursday, in a drain pipe with an apparent gunshot wound to the left temple. Her husband’s arrest in connection with the murder was announced the following day.

Zarrius reportedly told authorities that he and his wife celebrated his birthday with friends on August 5 – and didn’t get home until the early hours of the next morning.

They both woke up hungover Zarrius said, according to court documents, but Saria had to work a shift at a sandwich shop, Bread & Brew. According to her husband’s account, Saria felt unwell and walked to work instead of driving.

His version of events states that the soon-to-be-missing woman, while taking her purse and purse, left her cell phone at her apartment. According to Zarrius, he only realized his wife’s disappearance at 7 p.m. when he arrived at the sandwich shop to pick her up and learned that she had never been to her shift earlier that day.

Police said he told them “he’s been looking for Saria ever since.” The soldier reportedly said he then began his hunt by visiting friends’ homes, contacting their parents, hospitals and even the local jail . He also claimed he then drove around the neighborhood looking for his wife before finally contacting police on Monday night last week.

Police said he waited so long to report “because he thought he could find his wife and realize there was a misunderstanding.”

Not only did he take police along the route he said his wife would walk to work – a route police and dozens of volunteers searched – but also posted pleas on Facebook asking for help with the Search for Sarah.

The day after he filed the missing persons report, Zarrius allowed police to look around their home.

Investigators found that there was no sheet on the bed, only a mattress pad on top. Investigators said a brand new set of linens lay on a kitchen table, still in their wrappers. Zarrius claimed his wife bought the sheets and that there is indeed a sheet on the bed at the moment. Then he lifted the mattress pad slightly and showed them that a fitted sheet was actually hidden underneath. Investigators then asked if they could examine the area under the sheet.

“He said we couldn’t search under the bed because there were ’embarrassing’ items underneath,” police officers said. “He ended up telling us they were sex articles. We asked him if he would put those items away while we looked away and again he said we couldn’t look under the bed.”

The next day, police returned with a search warrant, and a crime scene team lifted the pad. One official wrote in the court filing, “They described the mattress as being soaked with human blood.”

During their search, authorities discovered two handguns – they say Zarrius told them the household only had one gun.

Police said they found other inconsistencies in the soldier’s story. He had initially told them that on the day of his wife’s disappearance he stayed at home until he drove to her place of work to pick her up – but he later claimed to have left the house during the day to run errands. Another allegation he made was that she forgot her cell phone at home and left for work at 10am. However, it was discovered that her phone had been used to send a text message at 10:45 am. The text message was sent to her work, Bread & Brew, to let them know she was unemployed.

“Bread & Brew has lost a part of us‘ the sandwich shop said in a Facebook post.

The complaint also said Zarrius went to the store three different ways on Aug. 6 — among the items he reportedly bought were bed sheets, mattress covers, hydrogen peroxide, a spray bottle and marinara sauce, according to investigators.

Saria’s mother, Meredith Barney, responded to her son-in-law’s arrest for her daughter’s murder, telling the Anchorage Daily News immediately afterwards, “He walked around with me for hours looking for my daughter, knowing full well that she was dead.”

“He lied to me several times and tried to play it off like he was a concerned husband,” the distraught mother told the outlet FoxNews.

Barney told AP about her daughter: “She was such a hard worker – really ambitious. She was a really great big sister. She really cared about people. She was smart and ready to move forward and look to her future.”

The National Guard, where she has served since April, remembered Saria.

“Spc. Hildabrand has taken an oath to serve and defend selflessly not only the state of Alaska but the entire nation, a commitment worthy of admiration and respect,” a spokesman said. “Her untimely death impacts every member of the Alaska National Guard team. We will sorely miss her.”

Zarrius Hildabrand was charged with first-degree murder, second-degree murder, and evidence tampering.