Law&Crime Sidebar - Military Wife Killer Drops Shocking Bombshells in Murder Case

Episode Date: June 29, 2026

After 21-year-old combat medic Saria Barney was found dead inside an Alaska storm drain, her new husband, US Army soldier Zarrius Hildabrand, went on trial for her murder. The proceedings took a shocking turn when the defendant took the stand himself, leading to a grueling cross-examination over his bizarre behavior and ever-shifting story about what happened to his wife. Law&Crime's Jesse Weber breaks down the stunning verdict and sits down for an exclusive interview with the victim's mother, Meredith Barney, to discuss the emotional aftermath of the trial.HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea, Alex Ciccarone, & Jay CruzScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrimeTwitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

When I got that original phone call, I ended that phone call and literally looked at my husband at the time and said, he killed her. I knew immediately. A mother's greatest fear is confirmed as her daughter's new husband is found guilty of killing her in their Alaska apartment before dumping her body in a storm drain. We, the jury, find the defendant, Zarius Hildebrandt guilty. I had the chance to speak with Soraya Barney Hildebrand's mother after the verdict and to ask, about Zarias Sildegrand's bizarre behavior, both on and off the witness stand. My plan was to hide the body of my wife and clean up the blood off the mattress in the surrounding areas.

Welcome to Sidebar, presented by law and crime. I'm Jesse Weber. A U.S. Army soldier in Alaska has been convicted of killing his new wife, shooting her after a night out celebrating his 21st birthday. jury found Zarias Hildebrand guilty of a lesser charge of second-degree murder after about 10 hours of deliberation. We first told you about this case. We first told you about Hildebrand and his wife, Soraya, in the lead-up to his trial, we gave you a preview of what this was going to look like.

But over the course of two weeks, we learned many shocking new details about the relationship and specifically about Hildebrand himself. When Hildebrand opted to take the stand in his own defense, that was a sight to see, testified about everything from cheating on his wife to disturbing phone searches. It was all on full display. August 2023, Hildebrand reported that his wife, 21-year-old Soraya, was missing. The couple, both members of the military community, they had just married the previous December. Hildebrand served with the 11th Airborne Division at Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson. Soraya was a member of the Alaska Army National Guard serving as a combat medic.

She also worked at a local restaurant called Bread and Brew. And then you go to Saturday, August 5th. They went out with friends to celebrate Zarias Hildebrand's 21st birthday. But when he was denied entry to a bar for being too drunk, according to investigators in the prosecution, the couple apparently went home to their apartment. The next day, that Sunday, Soraya was supposed to go to her restaurant job but never made it. Hildebrand finally reported her missing that Monday.

There was a lot in this story that just didn't add up. For example, Hildebrand claimed that when Soraya left the apartment, apparently opting to walk rather than drive, she left her cell phone behind, but then Soraya's co-workers later received a message on her phone saying she had to call out sick. So how could she have sent that message if she was already on her way out and her phone was back at the apartment? According to a criminal complaint, Hildebrand denied sending the text but really couldn't explain how they fit the timeline that he gave police. Multiple search parties were formed with members of the military, community volunteers, Soraya's mom, Meredith Barney, joining the search. And we got a chance to speak to her to again. I'm going to play you that interview.

But Hilderbrand himself also joined the searches. And that was also another interesting component about that. Because in hindsight, witnesses testified that he didn't react to the situation in any way that you would expect a husband in that situation to react. And after several days, a drone operator combing the area from overhead directed searchers to a storm drain. And that is where Soraya's body was found stuffed inside. Gunshot wound to the head. That would be confirmed by an autop. During opening statements at trial, prosecutors argued that the couple they fought when they returned

to the apartment, reportedly because Soraya had discovered that Zarias Hildebrand was having an affair. And the prosecution said the fight ended in murder. Now, the defense, they did something interesting. They admitted, look, Hildebrand, yeah, he cleaned up the blood. He hit Soraya's body, but he didn't kill her. No, his attorneys argue that Hildebrand was drunk, exhausted, fell asleep, and then woke up to find his wife dead from an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound. That was the defense's theory. Now, I'm going to play you this whole interview, but I just want to play you a portion of this,

because, again, I sat down with Meredith Barney, Soraya's mom, and I asked her about Zarias Heldabrand, what he was like as a person, how he behaved after his new bride was supposedly missing, and what the guilty verdict means for her quest for justice. There was multiple times we were supposed to meet with him that he ghosted or he had an excuse. There was a point when me and my sister were like, we're going to go search in the woods. And he said, oh, don't go without me. Let me grab my gun before we go. And we were like, hard pass. We're going to be okay. We don't need you to come with us with a gun, right? Because I already had this suspicion in me. And so all the things that we did was coming from that perspective. And, you know, also I need to stay his friend,

right? So that was probably the most difficult thing is I needed to try to stay where him feeling supported in case something slipped and trying to be engaging with him and supportive to him, even though like I didn't trust a single thing. He said, that's why that's why when me and my sister went on the search party with him, at one point we let him lead us. so that we would look for where he didn't take us. But the reality is, is it doesn't change anything for me. It doesn't bring my daughter back. It doesn't give me a sense of relief.

It just means he's going to be held accountable, but it doesn't like my life is still the same. She's still gone. Okay, so again, we're going to have more of that very emotional interview coming up in just a few minutes. But before we even get to that, to put it into context, I want to talk about one of the most unexpected parts of, the trial. Zarius Hildebrand, the defendant, chose to take the stand in his own defense. It's always a defendant's option. It's a defendant's choice whether to do that.

This is a decision, though, the left him open to scathing cross-examination by the prosecution. Hey, guys, real quick. So the weather's getting nicer. Means it's time for a little spring reset on the closet. And I'll tell you, for me, it is always about quality over quantity and going for pieces that are easy for every day. But, you know, has that elevated feel that won't break the budget. And that's why I, I got to tell you about quince. Quince makes beautiful, effortless pieces using premium materials like 100% European linen, organic cotton, super soft denim, and they have tons of accessories too, like their hand-woven

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Or you recall waking up and not knowing what happened. Yes. Would you ever watch videos of yourself doing things you don't remember doing? Occasionally, yes. I would typically go through my phone after a night where I didn't remember what happened. That's my usual what my routine was. And did you ever, besides blackout drinking, when you drink a lot, what would normally happen? You usually find somewhere to go to sleep.

Have you ever slept hard through something while you were drinking? Yeah, when I decide I want to lay down, pretty much the only thing that's going to wake me up is myself. Like, I will wake up when I want to. And the defense also addressed what the prosecution said led up to this deadly all-trial. between Hilda Brand and his wife. The fact that he was cheating on her. I want to talk a little bit more about your relationship with Soraya. I specifically want to talk about a girl named Cheyenne. Okay.

Sorry, who is Cheyenne? She was a woman I was having an affair with. She lived back in Kentucky. How did you meet her? We met when I was younger before I'd left for the Army. How did you communicate with Cheyenne? We communicated on Snapchat. When did you start talking to Shan on Snapchat?

Initially, probably around 2020. And then we kind of fell off and then reconnected in 2023. What month? Did we reconnect? Yes. March, April. When you were married to Soraya, correct? Yes, ma'am.

Did you... ever have a conversation or were you ever confronted about Cheyenne by Soraya? No. Were there other girls besides Cheyenne? Just once, yes. Did Soraya ever confront you with suspicions that you were cheating on her? Yes. And when was that?

That would have been around April or May of 2023. How can you remember that date? How? Yeah. I tend to use when I go out to the field to kind of date my years, and we had just recently gone, came back from the field. So when did you go to the field last in 2023? July of 2023. And before the July, 2020, field.

training, when was the time that you'd been out before that? Um, February into March of 2023, it was a pretty big training exercise. How many weeks was it? Five. Where was it? It was, I'm going to say Fairbanks because I don't really know the interior very well, but it was, I remember my phone locating it at the North Pole. Did you take your phone with you to the training?

Uh, I had it on me, but like once we, it's called going into the, the box. The phones were kind of left off because it was a very serious training environment. And did Soraya confront you about her suspicions of cheating after your February, March, field training in Fairbanks? She did. How did that conversation go? Um, she basically just wanted to know what was going on and why and just normal, why are you cheating on me questions? Did you feel guilty? Yes.

But you kept talking to Cheyenne. I did. Why would you do that? Because I felt it would have been suspicious if I just stopped talking to her in general. So I tried to wind it down slowly. That way it looked less suspicious on Cheyenne's end. Did Cheyenne know you were married? I don't believe so, no.

And Hildenberg made some, I would say, stunning admissions from the stand, including that he searched for pornography or went on these websites on his phone after finding his wife. I want to talk to you about some of the things we've heard in this trial about what you were doing on your phone. Yes, ma'am. Were you at any point in this time looking at pornography on your phone? Yes, ma'am. Why were you doing that? I was attempting to find comfort in things that previously provided it for me. And is pornography something that you had found comfort in in the past?

Yes, ma'am. Is alcohol something you had found comfort in the past? Yes, ma'am. Were you drinking in this time period? Yes, ma'am. Why were you drinking? I just did not want to be sober. Yeah, Held the brand,

out exactly what he says he did after he reportedly woke up and found Soraya dead next to him. My plan was to hide the body of my wife and then clean up the blood off the mattress in the surrounding area. So I'm going to approach with the state to 536. Do you recognize states of 306? Yes, ma'am. What is that? It's a receipt from Fred Myers of items I purchased. What did you purchase? Um, hydrogen peroxide, uh, deodorant, a spray bottle, and then Q-tips. What did you buy those things for?

Um, the hydrogen peroxide and the sprayer were to help with cleaning up the surrounding areas and mattress, and then I just needed deodorant and Q-tips. What is glowing through you? What time of, of day was that purchase, Zarias? Um, evening, the beginning of evening. the evening six six twelve is what their seat says and what's going through your head when you're going to Fred Meyer to get those items um a lot of just like a lot of numbness I just didn't know what to feel I felt everything and I just knew that

the next day was gonna be rough because I had to hide hide my wife's body and then clean up the surrounding in our bedroom and it just I knew it wasn't going to be easy like mentally I knew it was going to be difficult where did you go after you went up in my or um yeah went back to my apartment and what did you do at that point I started to look for I started to look for I started to think about how I was going to move move my wife's body what's going through your head um I remember feeling nauseous. I remember feeling guilt and shame.

So, like I said, previous, so many emotions that they were all just, like, numbing me. Did you feel alone? Yeah. Yeah. I just felt like I just had nothing no one. Do you remember if you went anywhere after you came back to the apartment? from Fred Meyer. Yes, ma'am.

I went to Lowe's. This approach with state six to six to six. Sorry, to you recognize state six about 266. Yes, ma'am. What is state six of it, 266? It is a receipt for a trash can. What kind? A 96-gallon black, two-wheeled trash can.

What day was that purchase made? Um, at 8-11 on August 6th. Did you do that? Did you buy that? Yes, ma'am. I bought the trash can. And why did you buy the garbage can? Um, to help move my wife's body. Are you feeling numb still at this time? I don't know if numbs are emotional overload is what I would say is a better description.

Did you go home? Yes, ma'am. After you went to Lowe's? Yes, ma'am. What did you start doing? I started cleaning up my apartment. Your apartment? Yes, ma'am.

Where did you start cleaning? Around the bed at first, and then I moved my wife into the trash can, and that's when I started to clean up the bed. How did you feel in that moment, Zarias? It felt so disrespectful. Just disrespect and just at that point I'm starting to a little angry at myself. Just, I'd say disrespect, anger and then more shame, more betrayal. But then you go to cross-examination. During cross-examination, the prosecutor got Hilda Brand to admit something very critical,

that he doesn't know for sure if he's the one who actually pulled the trigger or not. that you went through this elaborate lie of your wife being missing and telling everybody that she was missing because otherwise people would assume the worst. Yes, ma'am. What's the worst? The situation I'm in now. What is the worst? To jail.

They would assume that you murdered your wife. Yes. Okay. And you have testified that after you are at Willow law essentially you have no memory of the evening yes okay that guns allowed gun to shoot say good that gun is a loud gun to shoot I mean relatively to a normal person yes okay what do you mean to a normal person um to someone who didn't shoot artillery say the sound of a nine mill is loud but

And you went to bed next to your wife. I can't tell you for sure because I don't remember. Okay. And you have no idea what happened until the next morning. Yes, ma'am. Despite the neighbor, one, you know, 80 feet away here in that weapon. Yes, ma'am. A rule.

How do you know, sir, that she didn't confront you with those Instagram and Snapchat messages? and you didn't put the gun to her head and tell her you were going to kill her. How do you know that you didn't pull the trigger? I don't. Okay. You don't know? No, ma'am. You want the jury to believe that she did this to herself?

Objection. Over rule. It's not up to me what the jury believes. Okay. Despite the fact that she was otherwise happy in your marriage. Yes? Yes. And planning for her future?

Yes. And your future. Yeah. and tried to have a good evening with you on your birthday, and had forgiven you for text message infidelity in the past. Right? Yeah. OK.

So you don't know that you didn't kill her? Can you restate that question? You don't know that you didn't kill her? I'm not sure I actually. There's a lot of do's and don'ts. It's just a complicated. Do you know if you pulled the trigger, sir? I do not.

Okay. Because you don't remember anything about her death, I want to get to the morning when you wake up. Okay. You were soaked in blood? I was not. Okay. You've seen the photographs of the mattress? I have. And you were laying in bed with her? Yes, ma'am.

Okay. You didn't call 911. Correct. You didn't take life-saving measures. No, I did not. Okay. You didn't run outside and ask for help. No.

You didn't call her mom? You didn't call her best friend. No. You didn't call her command. No. You started planning how to protect yourself. I wouldn't phrase it that way, but you started planning how to dispose of her body. I started planning on what I was going to do next.

A jury of 12 people, they were tasked to determine whether Zarias Hildebrand was guilty or not guilty. He faced four charges, two counts of tampering with evidence, one count of first degree murder, lesser count of second degree murder. And after about 10 hours of deliberation, the jury had its verdict. To deliver, Bram, please rise. In the matter of the state of Alaska versus Zarius Hildebrand, we, the jury find the defendant, Zarius Hildebrand not guilty of murder in the first degree as charged in count one. We, the jury, find the defendant, Zarius Hildebrand, guilty of a lesser included offense of murder in the second degree as charged in count one.

We, the jury find the defendant Zarius Hildebrand guilty of murder in the second degree is charged in count two. We, the jury, find the defendant, Zarias, Hildebrand guilty of tampering with physical evidence as charged in count three. We, the jury, find the defendant, sorry as Hilderbrand guilty of tampering of physical evidence as charged in count four. Hildebrand didn't seem to have much of a reaction to the judge, reading out the verdict. He just stood there blinking quickly. His sentencing is now scheduled for October 23rd, and under Alaska law, he faces a sentence of between 15 and 99 years in prison. So, as I said, I had the chance to sit down.

down with Meredith against Soraya's mom. And this was a really illuminating interview for a number of different reasons as she talked about the different aspects of this case and just more of a talked about her daughter and talked about the loss to the community, to her, to friends, to family. It was a really important conversation. Take a look. Meredith, thank you so much for coming on. It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm so incredibly sorry for your loss and for what you and your family are going through, continuing to go through. And I know this is incredibly raw because we're talking right now right after the verdict. I want to start right there.

Your reaction to that. I mean, it's pretty much what I was expecting it to be. I think murder one is a hard thing to prove in a case like this. So this is what I pretty much figured we'd get a murder two charge based on the evidence. But the reality is, it doesn't change anything for me, right? Like, it doesn't bring my daughter back. It doesn't give me a sense of relief. It just means he's going to be held accountable.

But it doesn't, like, my life is still the same. She's still gone. Was there a moment in the trial when you were concerned the jury might side with the defense? I mean, he took the stand. Was there a moment where you were concerned that they might not find him guilty? For sure, because you just never know. It's in other people's hands. And so it just takes one person to make a hung jury.

So yes, that fear was always present the entire time. What did you think about him testifying and saying, you know, he admitted that he said he wasn't responsible for causing Soraya's death. He doesn't remember what happened. And at the same time, he said he admitted to the disposal. It was an incredibly difficult testimony to listen to. shocking to say the least. What did you think about what he had to say? I think it made sense to me that he would take the stand. I think that was his only way to

have any sort of hope because there's too much evidence against him saying, proving that he did what he did to her body. So I think it was, honestly, his only chance. If I take accountability for what they know I did, then maybe they'll, they'll see that I'm, I don't know. I felt like it was his only choice, I think he had to take the stand in order to try to get out of the murder charges. When you listen to him speak, does he look like, does he act like? Does he seem like the guy that you knew? Or does he seem like a completely different person? Completely different person. So when I met him originally, the December before he killed her, he was just more playful, more fun.

And like when he was on the stand, just very cold and calculated. It just kind of reminded me when he called me originally with when he told me that she was missing, that very just cold, calculated, rigid. Because I feel like his testimony was very scripted. And it just felt very much like that. Like nothing, there was nothing there. Rehearsed. Did he make eye contact with him? Did he look at you at all?

Absolutely not. I did notice a side eye from time to time, but not like a direct look me in the face, no. What is it like to go through that? What is it like to go through a trial like that and have to hear this incredibly difficult testimony about what happened to your daughter? Everything from the medical report to the witnesses, to his testimony, I have to imagine that is a whole different level of. emotions if you can share what that's like. I don't even know that there's words that can describe it. It was such a like surreal experience. I mean, this whole thing has been from the beginning. And there's definitely moments in time where it hits you like, oh my God, is this my real

life right now? Is this really happening to me? Or like feeling like you're actually like in a TV show. Here you have these expert witnesses. and they're so smart and they are so articulate. And like, I've seen that 100 times on a TV show, right? And so it's like, is this real life? Is this really happening?

So, like, definitely levels of, like, disassociation and disconnection throughout the process to try to maintain the ability to sit within that space. But there was also, like, a beautiful part of it, getting to hear people talk about my daughter and them being able to share their experience of her was, will always be very special to me. So like, just like beauty within the nightmare, but it was unreal. It was hard. I don't know that I could have done one more day of living in that space of unknown and emotional rollercoaster and trying to sit in that space. But it's hard.

What has been the reaction you've been receiving? I mean, you hear so many people talking so lovingly about Soraya. Did the community come out to support you? Did friends' family come out to support you? What is that support system you've had? And, you know, you hear people talking so lovingly about your daughter who, you know, just me reading about her. She seemed like such an incredible person.

Were you surprised to learn things about her? You know, have you gotten a ton of support? What's that been like? I've had a lot of support. I was lucky enough to have two of my very closest friends come up here. My parents have been up here. My siblings have been up here. My son was there the whole time he skipped the days of where he's.

they were showing the pictures. But so many people reaching out, people I don't even know. I mean, since the beginning, since it all started, there's been so much support and so much rallying around me and my family. That's great. That's great. What was Soraya like? You know, sometimes that does get lost in these cases. There's so much talk about the trial and the evidence and the defenses and the arguments. It gets lost about who the person was that was taken away. What was she like? What do you want people to know about Soraya? I mean, she was amazing. She was super fun.

She was so empathetic and compassionate. And she was really driven. She really wanted to do something with her life. She was really close to our family. Like, she was just, I was so proud of her. She didn't have the easiest life. And she still was so happy. Always ready to be there for somebody.

Always laughing, trying, like, always a good time. Like if you were hanging out with Srya, you know you were going to be having fun. Yeah. She seemed like an incredibly not only good person and fun person, like you said, but just a driven person too. What was your relationship like with her? We were really close. I got pregnant with her when I was 17. And so we really like almost grew up together. So we like had a really, really close connection. She was so much like me and that scared me and made me happy at the same time. Do you recall the last conversation you had with her?

Yeah. I talked to her the night that they went out for his birthday and we were just talking about she was telling me she was excited. she there was so stuck on getting that pickle wreck so we talked a lot about that and really excited because we were like we talked about things she wanted to do because we were scheduled to go to Laska two weeks later for my birthday to spend a week with her so we talked a lot about what are we going to do at restaurants does she want to take us to like there's just so much excitement in her when I talked to her last so much to look forward to it was you know there was like a regular conversation with her but it was you know we were excited did she ever

say anything in that time before that there were problems with her rosarius i mean anything like this the only thing that i know is she shared some information with me one time about something that had happened within his family and he got really upset at her about it. But she told me that they like talked through it. But that was that was really the only thing that she had discussed with me. What about this idea of him having an affair? Was that ever suspected? Not.

She never shared that with me because she knows I would have big feelings. about that. Of course. Understand. So on my side, like, I, it doesn't surprise me personally. But it was never anything that she discussed with me, which I completely understand. When you say you weren't surprised by that, what do you mean? Were there red flags you saw that maybe you communicated to her? Not that I communicated with her. I communicated with her. I'm just more like, I'm a therapist and one of the things that I work with is sexual, problematic sexual behaviors. And so like, I think when you get married that young with a history, like just like a history like his attachment, there's going to be attachment wounds there,

I think, just stuff like that. It doesn't surprise me from like a clinical perspective. Does that make sense? No, it does. It makes 100% sense. Did you, There are conversations with him before all this happened. Was there anything that you ever say anything? You're like, them that gave me pause. That's a weird thing to say. That shows a different side of him. You go back, you look back at those conversations.

I honestly didn't have a lot of conversations. Most of my interaction was just with Soraya. Like, I was really looking for it. We spent like a few days with him at Christmas. And then, you know, we were having that trip up for a week where it was going to be. Honestly, I was going to check. check on her and see how she's doing because she was so young when she got married, but also to kind of feel him out more because I just, I talked to her every day. I definitely did not talk to him every day.

Going back to something when I first was covering this case, and I was reading about, you know, to me, what stood out a lot was the conversations you had with him after when he, you know, it was very, it was very to me and I would love for you to expand upon this there was something weird the way he was acting the way he was behaving and then you look back on it now and you're like he put on this complete act after you know sorriah disappeared right i mean can you talk to us about that what those conversations were like going back you're like that you said like it was very cold calculated what was he doing what was he saying it was more of like what he was insane like when i got that original phone call i ended that phone call and literally looked at my husband at the time and said he killed her like

I knew immediately you said that yeah um so it wasn't about what he was saying yes he was very robotic and very like wouldn't defer from his story but it was more about what he wasn't saying and how he wasn't showing up like he didn't meet us at the police station He was supposed to hang flyers. He never showed up. He, like, there was multiple times we were supposed to meet with him that he ghosted or he had an excuse. There was a point when me and my sister were like, we're going to go search in the woods. And he said, oh, don't go without me.

Let me grab my gun before we go. And we were like, hard pass. We're going to be okay. We don't need you to come with us with a gun, right? because I already had this suspicion in me. And so, like, all the things that we did was coming from that perspective. And, you know, also, I need to stay his friend, right? So that was probably the most difficult thing is I needed to try to stay where him feeling supported in case something slipped and trying to be engaging with him and supportive to him, even though, like, I didn't trust us.

single thing. He said that's why when me and my sister went on the search party with him, at one point we let him lead us so that we would look for where he didn't take us. Oh, that's so interesting. Just to be clear, did you not want him to take a gun because you were concerned for your own safety that he might do something? 100%. So when he's arrested, you weren't surprised by that at all? No, not at all. What was it like working with law enforcement and communicating with prosecutors throughout all this? They've actually been really great. I mean, I'm not necessarily a patient person.

I've definitely learned patients throughout this process. But, you know, Detective Clark was amazing. He was amazing from the beginning. Detective Albee was those two were so great. And then Brittany Dunlop and Kayla, they've been great this whole time. I mean, I could hear their passion and, like, the way they talked in. I have a million questions all the time. I want to be a part of everything.

And they never one time were like annoyed by me and my desire to gather data and gather information. And it's been great, frustrating because the process was so long. And I just think the criminal justice system can be a frustrating process in general. But they were, they've, they've been great. It's been good. If you could ask him something, if you wanted and he was truthful, about it. If you could ask him something and try to get an answer to something that you want,

what would you ask him if you had the opportunity? And again, if he was transparent and honest about it. I wouldn't ask him. I don't want to hear anything he has to say. Listen, this is an incredibly sad case. I'm so sorry for what you and your family and the community and your friends are going through. I know it's not easy talking about this, but you're incredibly strong. I'm so happy I got an opportunity to talk to you and learn a little bit more about Sorai that our audience knows a little bit more about Sarai because sometimes again that gets lost. I'm wishing you nothing but the best and thinking about you as you go into this next chapter. I know you said it that this, you know, ends the legal case. It's a form of accountability.

It doesn't bring your daughter back. But I'm just wishing you all the best and I really appreciate you coming out to talk about it. Yeah, of course. Thank you. And that's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you. appreciate your podcast. You can also check us out on NBC's Peacock as well. If you want to follow me, X Instagram, my News Nation show, Jesse Weber Live, Monday through Friday, 11 p.m. Eastern. See you next time, everybody.