69 SOUTH
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69 SOUTH
Deaf to Her Cries: The Tragic Case of Zara Arnold
What happens when every system meant to protect a child fails at once? Five-year-old Zara Arnold's story answers this question in the most devastating way possible.
Zachary Arnold's violent history was no secret. With multiple arrests for violating protective orders, stalking charges, and even a rape accusation, he was a walking red flag. Yet somehow, the courts kept setting him free with minimal consequences, reducing his bonds from $200,000 to just $4,000, and dismissing serious felony charges in favor of misdemeanor pleas.
Meanwhile, Zara's mother Tiara fought a desperate battle to protect her daughter. She documented bruises, reported incidents to DCS, and even captured video evidence of Zachary grabbing Zara by the neck in public. Her reward? A family court judge who not only granted Zachary full custody but ordered Tiara to stop reporting abuse altogether, dismissing her legitimate fears as "paranoia."
The final days of Zara's life reveal a horror story of escalating violence. Hotel employees witnessed and reported Zachary choking Zara in a parking lot, but police never responded. Digital evidence would later show videos of Zachary placing a noose around his daughter's neck and strangling her repeatedly – all while his girlfriend Andrea watched via video calls without intervening.
By the time authorities found Zara's body on May 19, 2025, she had endured unimaginable suffering. The autopsy revealed blunt force trauma to her head, extensive bruising across her body, and evidence of repeated strangulation. At five years old, she weighed just 39 pounds.
This case exposes catastrophic failures at every level – from law enforcement to child protective services to family courts. It forces us to confront uncomfortable questions about how we handle domestic violence cases, particularly when children's lives hang in the balance.
Zara's story reminds us why we must speak up when we see something wrong. The system might fail, but perhaps we don't have to. Listen, share, and remember: your vigilance could save the next child that institutions overlook.
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Disclaimer: All defendants are INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY in a court of law. All facts are alleged until a conviction!
Because of you, I find it hard to trust, not only me but everyone around me, because of you. But her dreams give her wings and she flies to a place where she's loved.
Speaker 1:Welcome everyone to Podcast 69 South, where we cuss and discuss true crime, cold cases, current events and hot topics, along with our state of society today. This is your trigger warning. Our podcast content is produced for adult listeners, 18 years of age and older. We discuss situations that may be offensive and triggering to some listeners. Sit back, relax and enjoy. Welcome back everybody to 69 South. We missed you. We're glad you're back. We're glad to be back. I'm Chop, your host, and with me always is my beautiful co-host Sidekick, julie. How you doing today?
Speaker 2:I'm amazing.
Speaker 1:Man, those songs were kind of touching and I tell you they give me cold chills even when I listen to them. Knowing the story, we're about to tell you, we're about to get into it. But first we got some new Patreon members. Man, we'd like to really thank.
Speaker 2:And so here's our shout-out to our new amazing Patreon members. We have Amber, sarah, linda, danny, beth, amanda, nicole and Katie.
Speaker 1:You guys are really helping us keep the lights on in the studio. Man, we support y'all. Thank you for supporting us. Big thanks and shout out from 69 South. So, as always, we're going to dive right into it. We've had this story for a minute, man. We just I don't know, it's kind of eerie. I didn't want to tell it. And we tell these stories because we want to raise awareness. If you see something, say something.
Speaker 2:um, it's heartbreaking, it is very heartbreaking.
Speaker 1:You didn't want to tell it because it broke your heart, I know like it took me like days to read these probable cause affidavits, just thinking of the horror this poor little baby girl went through.
Speaker 2:But let's get into it and um so this story is out of indianapolis and I know that we have a lot of listeners in indianapolis nap down. So if you listen to this, please share this story, because it's a very, very important one. So today we're exposing the horrific actions of Zachary Arnold and his girlfriend Andrea Lopez Figueroa, whose actions in Indianapolis led to the alleged murder of Arnold's five-year-old daughter, Zara Elizabeth Arnold. These two exploited a broken system, while Zara's mother, Tiara, fought constantly to protect her daughter against overwhelming odds.
Speaker 1:Now let's piece together the criminal timeline of Zachary Arnold. He was a man whose unchecked obsessions and violence spiraled into unimaginable tragedy. We will walk through the notes, the records and the failures that defined his path. This isn't just a story, folks, it's a reckoning. Let's start at the beginning.
Speaker 2:So Zachary Robert Arnold is 41 years old and he's living on the east side of Indianapolis Between 2010 and 2014,. He racks up a public intox charge, followed by a misdemeanor battery. He is OR'd out of jail and six months later found not guilty. Then life seems stable from 2014 to 2020. No new criminal cases. But 2020 isn't going to be such a great year. Come September, everything goes downhill. Within 30 days, zach catches three new cases.
Speaker 1:It starts September 22nd 2020, charged with invasion of privacy for violating an ex's protective order. A warrant issues on September 23rd and he's arrested October 4th, released the same day with orders for video court the following month. But here's the kicker On that arrest day, he's charged again with invasion of privacy from another incident. He posts a $500 bond on the second case in his order to appear via Zoom.
Speaker 2:So again, just 15 days after that release, he is arrested and charged, again, this time with felony intimidation plus another invasion of privacy misdemeanor charge. The same day he posts a $2,500 bail and walks free. That's three new cases in 30 days, two jail stints. He hires private counsel, and all of this is wild. I mean he's out here breaking protection orders left and right while out on bond. It's just crazy.
Speaker 1:That is crazy and keep in mind, just so you guys are following along with the story man, because when I listen to the story I get pictures in my head, so I want to know what's going on. The three main characters in this story are hearing impaired or deaf people, so this dude must have like really been obsessed with his ex-lady. I mean you've three violation of protection orders and he must've had some loot because he bonded out 500, then 2,500, then hires a private lawyer for felonies and you know a list of other charges. So just to set the stage for you guys, let's back it up to early January 2021. Zach's out on bond for the prior invasion and intimidation charges when the state files heavy hitters an F3 rape, january 2020, an F5 stalking, january 10th 2020, and for a misdemeanor invasion of privacy counts across various states. Courts set a $200,000 bond. Then they had a reduction. Hearing drops it to $4,000. He bonds out after about two months in jail.
Speaker 2:Now, they didn't file these rape and stalking charges until January of 2021, but the charge date or the date of the incident dates back a year, so that's the reason for those 2020 dates. Now, those were big charges. He's looking at real time All four cases. They consolidate, piling on rape, stalking, intimidation and invasion of privacy. State and his defense attorney strike a plea Guilty to the four invasion of privacy misdemeanors. All of the felonies rape, stalking and intimidation are dismissed.
Speaker 1:I mean just from their charges. It was like this dude was obsessed and could not freaking control himself. All these charges were on Tiara, the mother of the child, correct? Now he was sentenced to one year plus four months on three counts time served, which was about 60 days I told you about. On the last, he makes it six months into the probation before he gets a violation. He gets one year, 365 days added, plus SAET and BIP programs, and if he completes those programs early termination is possible. Three months later, bam, another violation hearing.
Speaker 2:But per usual, nothing sticks. Three months after that, he's discharged from probation on April 27, 2023. But I still have questions. Why drop the felonies for misdemeanors With mountains of evidence he could have done nine years on that rape charge alone. That was mid-range guidelines. Usually it's three to 16 years for just one charge.
Speaker 1:Right, Aggravating and mitigating circumstances on a rape. I mean it could be like, like you said, maybe three to 16.
Speaker 2:And my brain's thinking like why isn't this man in prison? He had been, had he been properly prosecuted or the judge pushing a better plea. He may have been still in DOC as of right now.
Speaker 1:Right and I get Marion County is full and they got a lot of shit on their plate, but damn, it's like over and over and over shit, like back to back to back to back, obsessive shit and we really don't know a whole lot about the violation of protective orders, and then he got basically charged, was in jail a whole lot about the violation of protective orders, and then he got basically charged, was in jail, let out the same day, charged with another one that same day. So this dude just could not help himself.
Speaker 2:Could not at all.
Speaker 1:The plea deal couldn't I mean, it could have changed everything for Zara Arnold. That's Zach's daughter and you won't be surprised. A year post probation, arrested again in September 2024. That's Zach's daughter, and you won't be surprised. A year post-probation, arrested again in September 2024. Guess what? Another invasion of privacy. Three charges, two level six felonies thanks to the priors and a misdemeanor.
Speaker 2:He sits briefly and then post a $500 bail. He is on GPS until March of 2025. The plea hearing set for May 12th 2025, he is facing at least five years on those felonies. But this man mocks the system, leaning on his hearing disability for leniency. Now the state dismisses the felonies again and he pleads guilty to the misdemeanor invasion of privacy charge.
Speaker 1:This dude must have a leprechaun in his back pocket or something. On May 12, 2025, the court imposes check this out 360 days, with 360 days suspended and time served completely scot-free, total miscarriage of justice. Now, I think if the prosecutors and the judges had taken him seriously consequences, jail, a felony plea he had been behind bars. Seven days after this joke of a deal and five days after paternity court closes, zach Arnold's five-year-old daughter, zara, is dead at his home. That's the shocking shit that just gets me.
Speaker 2:A dissent from petty charges to unchecked violence fueled by obsession and enabled by leniency helped kill Zara Arnold.
Speaker 1:Zara was born February 16, 2020. Was born February 16, 2020. In May 2020, Zach Arnold, a manipulative predator, files a paternity petition in Marion County Superior Court 9 to claim his daughter from her mother, Tiara. He postures as a father, but chaos hits immediately, tries to dismiss days later, then reinstates. It's a classic control tactic. We see this shit all the time.
Speaker 2:So he's going and filing these papers and it seems like a threatening type of manner and then, oh well, let's say if she comes back to him or something he's going to recant and take—.
Speaker 1:Right, I see exactly what you're saying, absolutely.
Speaker 2:I bet that's what it was. I bet she left him and he was like, oh, I'm going to go file these papers. And then she was like no, and then she came back and she was like, fuck this, I can't handle this, and left again.
Speaker 1:Guarantee you, that's what happened.
Speaker 2:So he thrives on breaking boundaries, using his hearing impairment to demand ASL interpreters and stay engaged. So while he's abusing the family court to see Zara, he's out here terrorizing her mother nonstop.
Speaker 1:Then comes a gut-wrenching blow. November 16, 2020, nine-month-old Zara returns from time with Arnold with bruises and scratches on her abdomen. Dcs substantiates physical abuse. This monster is harming his infant daughter, yet he's out on bond, manipulating the paternity case. He and Tiara reach a shaky agreement by October, and I bet you that was by fear. I mean, he's already got rape charges and just violating protective order after protective order after protective order. You'd think the domestic laws that they have nowadays would have stopped this shit.
Speaker 2:Let me tell you something. When I was reading through the case files and all the notes and stuff, every time he got arrested and they put him in jail they would place a no contact order. But there was already one in place, so why place a new one? And then he's not following it and you're not enforcing it. So I'm sitting here thinking like what the fuck is the point?
Speaker 1:That doesn't make sense to me.
Speaker 2:At all.
Speaker 1:While Arnold's chaos unfolds, tiara fights tooth and nail to protect her daughter Zara In the paternity case. She files a child support worksheet in 2020 to stabilize things. A child support worksheet in 2020 to stabilize things. By July 2021, notice of intent to relocate, likely fleeing Arnold's orbit. In the rape charges and the stalking charges, she's probably trying to get away from this dude. He counters with child support modification, tightening his grip. Tierra withdraws relocation by January 2022, trapped in a toxic battle.
Speaker 2:Tierra's efforts go beyond filings. She's repeatedly reported Arnold to DCS and police, starting with the 2020 substantiated abuse bruises and scratches on nine-month-old Zara. Post-visitation In 2023, multiple bruising reports on Zara's legs and body 2023, multiple bruising reports on Zara's legs and body by 2024, flagging neglect, physical abuse and Arnold's drug use around Zara. She tells detectives about a chilling 2020 incident of Arnold pointing a gun at 10-month-old Zara's head during an argument.
Speaker 1:May 2024, reports escalate. Tiara tells police she saw Arnold grab Zara by the neck at a Wendy's, yanking her into his car. She provides three videos. They don't fully capture the strangulation, but surveillance confirms his aggression. Despite this, marion County Judge Amber Collins grants Arnold full custody in May of 2024, citing Tierra's unstable housing and paranoia Quote, unquote, paranoia. Shockingly, she orders Tierra to stop reporting Arnold to DCS and police silencing her cries. Keep that in mind, folks.
Speaker 2:So this judge, amber Collins, tells her stop reporting Arnold to DCSM police. What a bitch.
Speaker 1:Yeah, she's like you're paranoid. Quit reporting this shit to DCSM. How do you think she feels now? I bet she feels like shit she should. If she don't, then she's a piece of shit.
Speaker 2:Well, Tiara is muzzled, apparently, but DCSM reports keep coming in. Seven total from 2020 to 2024, including finger-shaped bruises, inappropriate grabbing, drug use. Only the 2020 report was substantiated, though, but the volume screams danger.
Speaker 1:She's fighting a system dismissing her as unreliable, handing a predator access to Zara by 2023, Lopez Figueroa enters Arnold's orbit, likely living with him and Zara the paternity case is under Judge Collins and grants Tierra primary custody in March of 2023. She also grants Arnold parenting time. He files motions alleging Tierra's non-compliance, clawing control like he always does, guarding Adelaide monitors.
Speaker 2:So Tiara had custody of her in 2023. And then by 2024,. This judge is giving all the custody in the world to Arnold. This judge is giving all the custody in the world to Arnold and it's because of in 2023, dcs report five physical abuse allegations, bruises, some finger shapes on the three-year-old after time spent with Arnold, and then because they're all substantiated. This is why they're calling her crazy and paranoid. But she's not. She's honestly fighting for her daughter.
Speaker 1:She's raising hell, trying to get custody of her daughter. Obviously she's going through some shit, like we all do. I mean, she's up on LaSalle Street, up on the east side of Indianapolis, which also reminds me. Do you remember the LaSalle Street murders? No, have you ever heard of them? They happened before my time. But my grandpa, who reminds me. Do you remember the LaSalle Street murders? No, have you ever heard of them? They happened before my time. But my grandpa, who raised me, he would always tell me about the LaSalle Street murders. They happened like. It was like the 200 block of LaSalle Street, I think it's. I'm pretty sure it's still unsolved. Three businessmen were killed, execution style. It was big shit in Indianapolis back when I was a kid, but yeah anyway.
Speaker 2:Goodness, we might do a story on that. We should, we should.
Speaker 1:Now Andrea Lopez complicity is chilling, present as Arnold slaps Zara or uses drugs, echoing her 2018 violence in front of her 11-month-old son.
Speaker 2:So in 2018, Andrea was married and she had a child with this guy, and this other man had a previous child in his previous relationship and he was trying to get custody of that child. Well, because he was trying to get custody of his child, Andrea starts freaking out and attacks him in front of their 11-month-old son together, and she gets charged with domestic battery. And so she's a wild one too, let's say.
Speaker 1:But the courts ignore all these abuse reports against Arnold and grants him 23 consecutive overnights. In January of 2024, after finding Tierra in contempt for denying him time, Despite warnings. August 2024, Arnold charged again with invasion of privacy, likely against Tierra. Another just a mere $500 to get him to come out of jail again. That blows my mind.
Speaker 2:So on May 15th 2025, the paternity case between Tiara and Zach closes. Magistrate Roseanne Tan Ang denies Arnold's claims against Tiara, but May 21st, horror erupts. Arnold is charged with murder and his girlfriend, andrea Lopez, faces charges for assisting a criminal in murder, failure to report two counts of neglect of a dependent resulting in death. An aggravated battery causing death of a child under 14 to mean Zara.
Speaker 1:That's so sad.
Speaker 1:Let's get into this probable cause affidavit because there's a lot of shocking shit in here, man, so I want to get right into it. This probable cause is all the detectives in the coroner's reports on it, so some of it may be repeated, but we're going to read all of them because it's all important. Detective Davis swears, which basically means that they affirmed that on Monday, may 19th 2025, indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department IMPD Detective Heiser, who is currently assigned to the IMPD Child Abuse Unit, received a page to call IMPD Officer Emminger. Detective Heiser responded to the IMPD Child Abuse Unit, received a page to call IMPD Officer Eminger. Detective Heiser responded to the page and spoke to Officer Eminger via phone. Officer Eminger stated that he, along with other IMPD East District officers, were dispatched to a death investigation on North LaSalle Street located in Indianapolis, indiana, marion County.
Speaker 1:On North LaSalle Street located in Indianapolis, indiana, marion County. Officer Eminger further stated that the information that he was given via Marion County dispatchers was a five-year-old female had fell down the stairs and was non-responsive. The initial 911 came through via a relay service used by hard-of-hearing and deaf individuals relay service used by hard-of-hearing and deaf individuals. Officer Eminger said that IMPD Sergeant Perkins arrived at the residence first and located the five-year-old child Zara Arnold. She was a black and white female on the couch. Officer Eminger noted that the only other person in the residence was Zara's father, zachary Arnold, a white male, 41 years of age.
Speaker 2:So it says the initial 911 call came through via a relay service used for hard of hearing and deaf individuals. Now, what this is and I only know this because I had a friend that was deaf and it's like it looks like a VCR box.
Speaker 2:You know an old VCR box that you would set on your TV or under your TV, well, and it's got like a video camera facing you and what they do is they have a remote that activates it and they call a person who can see them and then they sign language to them and then that person is the translator basically between them and whoever they're calling. So that's what that relay service is. It's actually pretty cool to see.
Speaker 1:I'm glad you filled in on that, because I'd never heard of it.
Speaker 2:Now Detective Heiser was further informed by Sergeant Perkins, moved Zara to the floor to perform life-saving measures on Zara, probably CPR. Sergeant Perkins noticed at the time that Zara was cold to the touch and her body was rigid.
Speaker 1:That means she didn't just now fall down the stairs when dude used a relay to call 911.
Speaker 2:Right, because rigid.
Speaker 1:they're talking about rigor mortis, Rigor mortis is set in Set in Right.
Speaker 2:So Indianapolis Emergency Response Services arrived at the residence and ultimately pronounced Zara deceased. At 11.07 am IMPD child abuse detective Heiser, kinder and Harris responded to the residents. Meanwhile IMPD child abuse detective Taylor applied for, and was granted, a search warrant for the residents. The warrant was granted by Judge Wehmeyer with stipulations. Now these stipulations say unable to seize any guns, ammunition or bladed piercing weapons and I just find that weird. You're coming up on a death investigation of a child. Why would the warrant expel those things? If you find them, that means you can't use them as evidence or take them into custody.
Speaker 1:They could have found a bloody knife, or they could have found a pistol or an AR or anything and they couldn't have fucked with it, because she stipulated that on the search warrant.
Speaker 2:I'm just wondering. I don't know a lot about law, but that's weird to me. Why would you?
Speaker 1:What's really weird about it is the dudes had so many cases for violence and and and violating protective orders and this judge is like, yeah, you can look around, but don't touch anything that could have killed anybody.
Speaker 2:I don't know, it don't make sense well, it does have a reference cause number of 49d32-2505-mc, which I think that's a criminal misdemeanor or something like that 015647. So why would she reference another case In this warrant?
Speaker 1:I don't know, that's weird.
Speaker 2:Now, once at the residence, Detective Heiser observed Zara lying on the floor just inside of the residence front door. Zara was observed to have multiple bruises and abrasions on her arms and face. She also appeared to have dried blood on her face her face. During Detective Heiser's initial walkthrough of the residence, he observed what appeared to be a child's tank top with blood on it by the kitchen sink and a security surveillance cameras on the exterior and interior of the residence.
Speaker 1:While at the residence, another 911 call came in from a female claiming to be Zara's mother. The female identified herself as Andrea Lopez Figuera, a Hispanic female, 30 years of age. She had pulled over to the side of the road. While contacting Marion County dispatchers, andrea was located by officers who assisted her to the IMPD Child Abuse Office. Impd child abuse office Officer Heiser noted that the call came in shortly after he observed Zachary take a phone out of a black case and appeared to send a text message.
Speaker 2:So he was already at the house.
Speaker 1:Right, and he noticed that Zach texted somebody and then bam, that call came in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Like she was trying to.
Speaker 1:That's suspicious.
Speaker 2:That's very suspicious. Yeah, that's like she was trying to. That's suspicious. That's very suspicious. Now, Detective Davis arrived on scene a short time later and was updated on the above information. Marion County Coroner was already on scene. Detective Harris and Coroner Ramos went inside the residence with Detective Davis so she could observe Zara and the residents prior to conducting interviews of Andrea and Zachary. In addition to Detective Heiser's observations, Detective Davis observed what appeared to be bruising on the side and near the center of Zara's neck. Due to the crime lab not being on scene yet, Zara had not been moved and the extent of her visible injuries were not yet known. Detective Davis observed the main level of the home and the items which he had noted down. Detective Davis also observed the stairs to access the second floor of the home and noted that hair was found on the stairs. Detective Davis then requests that Zachary be transported to the IMPD child abuse office to be interviewed.
Speaker 1:I'll bet he did. Detective Davis noted while she was on scene that the property also had a detached garage on it and in front of the residence on the street was a Cadillac Escalade. Warrants were requested and granted for the detached structure and vehicle, as well as for electronics capable of storing data within the home and the detached structure vehicle and on Zachary's person, as well as Andrea's. Detective Flynn and Detective Taylor were compiling information from various law enforcement sources, open sources, commercial sources, and learned Zara's mother was not Andrea but was Tiara, a black female 33 years of age. Sergeant Flynn also learned the following information On May 11, 2025, two documented police dispatches occurred to Zachary's residence after Tiara called in with concerns for Zara's welfare due to believing Zachary had strangled Zara.
Speaker 1:Further research resulted in a documented police report of domestic disturbance involving Zachary, tiara and Zara at a Wendy's located on North Shadeland Avenue. The report stated Zachary strangled their daughter, zara. The responding officer, officer Austin, tried to locate Zara and Zachary with no success, including attempting to locate them at Zachary's residence on the South Street. So that was May 11th and they found Zara on May 19th. So eight days, eight, just yeah. Eight days later, tiara had called the law and was like, hey, zachary. Just I just saw Zachary strangle Zara in the Wendy's parking lot on Shadeland Avenue.
Speaker 2:I think she got video of it, but it was just him being aggressive. It wasn't him actually choking her.
Speaker 1:Right at this point in time. But I think we'll get into more of that in the probable cause here in a minute, More of that in the probable cause here in a minute. But they ended up finding the video at the Wendy's security camera system that he did freaking grab her by the neck eight days before they found her dead.
Speaker 2:That's another reason that this shit pisses me off. So Detective Davis arrived back to the IMPD child abuse office. Two individuals who know ASL, which is American Sign Language, but are not certified interpreters, assisted with the interpretation Because one of the employees, who works at the emergency or the EMS as a SWAT medic, has over 45 years of ASL signing experience due to one of his family members being deaf. And then there was another IMPD officer who offered his assistance as well because he had been using ASL sign language since he was eight or nine years old due to having family who were deaf as well. Now Detective Davis and Detective Kinder interviewed Andrea with the assistance of the ASL interpreter that they had at that time. Detective Davis was already informed that Andrea was not Zara's mother, like she tried to call in and say.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was a weird little snippet.
Speaker 2:She texted her, allegedly texted her, and she calls in and says she's Zara's mother.
Speaker 1:Like they could look at you two and tell that's not your mother.
Speaker 2:That's just weird that she would claim to be her mother.
Speaker 1:They didn't have their story straight from the gate, that's for sure.
Speaker 2:Not at all. Not at all. So not only was she not her mother, but Andrea is telling the detectives that she was Zach's ex-girlfriend and that she did not live at the residence with Zachary. Detective Davis and Detective Kenner introduced themselves to Andrea and asked her to talk to them about why she was at the IMPD child abuse office. To talk to them about why she was at the IMPD child abuse office, andrea stated that she received a text at 1107 from her ex-boyfriend, zachary, stating his daughter, zara, had died. Andrea said she thought Zachary sent the text due to them arguing. Andrea said he texted her telling her he was going to kill Zara. Andrea said she kept telling him to stop. Andrea was asked if Zachary told her why and she said it was because she and Zachary were arguing, and this is the person the judge felt was mentally stable enough to give custody of Zara. You know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and Zara's mother man. She had called like DCS or made reports. I'm talking about so many multiple times, we're not going to read them all because it's just a list as long as you know.
Speaker 2:Alaska.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and most of them were unsubstantiated. I mean, dude must have had a good lawyer or something, is all I can figure out, or a good act.
Speaker 2:I'm telling you he was using his hearing disability as a way to dummy down and play stupid, when he wasn't at all. He was a master manipulator. Apparently, he's manipulating the Marion County judges up there. Y'all didn't see it.
Speaker 1:Right, and I'll tell you something about DCS up there and DCS everywhere. I've seen people have their kids taken away for flunking a urine screen and having weed in their system. You know what I mean and I get that DCS can't jump on every time somebody calls. If somebody gets one call from DCS and said hey, I've seen them beating their kids' ass or they're doing dope around their kids, woo, woo, woo, somebody can just call and make that claim just because they're pissed off at somebody. But this isn't just one call or one report. You know what I mean. This is freaking a list as long as my arm.
Speaker 2:I know this is true too, because I have this friend and she's been in this relationship let's say, I don't know, four or five years. Well, ever since she's been in this relationship, I mean, she's got a mouth on her and she likes to tell people how she thinks and they get mad and they'll just call DCS on her. And she's the best mom in the world, from everything I've always seen, and her kids always act so good. But it's like once a month they're calling on her for the dumbest shit.
Speaker 1:Well, it's like you can't like the police come out and they say, well, it's a, he said, she said shit. But when it's so many freaking times, man, and there's evidence of something, something needs to be done. You know what I mean. I get it because people are like I'll call the law and just tell them this dude was pointing a pistol at me or I seen him with a bag of weed, or just some bullshit, just because they're mad at somebody trying to get him to go to jail in the heat of the moment, type shit.
Speaker 1:But this isn't a one-time thing here. This has been ongoing for years. The dude violated protective order. He's known for violence. He had a rape charge on the mother. I mean, it's just. It's just over and over and over.
Speaker 2:It's fucking sickening to me that nothing was done yeah, and and people who are calling in falsely on on people just because they're mad at them and they haven't seen abuse or, you know, they don't even suspect it.
Speaker 1:You guys are only hurting kids. Man, that's really getting abused, so don't fucking do that shit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because when they call and, call and call, and every time they go out there it's unsubstantiated. It's going to make each visit to me a little less important if they're never finding anything, because, in the case I was telling you, there's never abuse Right.
Speaker 1:It's disgusting, but these calls, the bullshit calls, they're really causing harm.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they cause more harm than they do good.
Speaker 1:You want to get revenge, drive by and stick your middle finger up at them or something. Don't call DCS if there's not a real, substantiated case that you've seen. Man, come on, be real. That shit just fires me up, my bad. But Andrea explained that she had stayed the weekend with Zachary from Friday until Sunday. She said Zara was not at the house but was staying with a friend of Zachary's. Andrea did not know the friend's information other that they called her Aunt B. Andrea said when Zachary went to pick up his daughter they were arguing. Zachary wanted Andrea to stay the night Sunday to watch Zara, but Andrea said she didn't want to stay, that she wanted to go home. Andrea said that they were arguing all night. Zachary said he was going to hurt her. Zachary said to call 911. Andrea said she wasn't there when this was happening but she did see Zara. Andrea said she saw Zara around 2 or 3 pm in the afternoon.
Speaker 2:Andrea said in the morning that Zachary told her to go pick up Zara. Andrea said they left Zachary's house two or three times that day. She said that one of the times she left Zachary called her and was arguing. She left to go try to pick up Zara and Detective Davis asked Andrea if she picked Zara up and she said she did not, so you left to go pick her up. But then I guess dude called you arguing and she was probably like I'm not listening to this shit. You can go pick up her. I'm not even coming back. That's what she's saying.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:So Andrea said Zachary picked Zara up from Aunt Bea's. Andrea said that she hadn't seen Zara in person since last week and she said that when she did see Zara in person, zara was not hurt and she did not see any bruises, scratches or injuries. She's lying.
Speaker 1:Detective Davis asked Andrea about Zachary texting saying he was going to kill Zara. She said Zachary called her on FaceTime and she said he was going to kill Zara. She said Zachary called her on FaceTime and she said he was going to kill Zara. Now Andrea said she thought that he was just talking but said she saw them arguing on FaceTime and Facebook Messenger. I bet that's some like deaf people. They're calling on Messenger. I wonder if they're doing sign language on Messenger.
Speaker 2:You can video call on Messenger.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they'll stand there. It's like FaceTime, but they just stand there and look at each other and sign.
Speaker 1:Right. I bet the people around them are probably glad they're not screaming in an argument. They're screaming with their hands. I mean, that's basically what it is. I've never really known any deaf people so I don't know what it's about. I've just seen them like on TV and shit.
Speaker 2:I'll tell you this real funny story. That deaf friend I had was drunk one night and they were sitting at the table it was probably like one or two in the morning, because you know, after you drink you want to eat and then go to bed or whatever. But he was drunk and he was walking around the and he was making a sign for food, food. He was hungry. And then he finds some catfish nuggets or some shit like that and throws them in the oven and then he cooks them in the oven, takes them out of the oven and puts syrup all over them.
Speaker 1:Oh, my God.
Speaker 2:I'm telling you it's like a 9x12 pan of these catfish nuggets and syrup all over him. Oh my God. I'm telling you, it's like a nine by 12 pan of these catfish nuggets and syrup all over him, just sitting there eating.
Speaker 1:Like pancake syrup? Yes, pancake syrup. And while he's sitting, there eating them.
Speaker 2:he's sitting there signing to his food. Oh, food, good, food good. These are good. Oh, I just lost it.
Speaker 1:I can see that shit in my head.
Speaker 2:It was hilarious, but anyway, yes, thank God that they had to sign to argue instead of get loud loud, because that would have been scary.
Speaker 1:So then Andrea explained that she left Zachary's and said that she had turned her location off and they had shared each other's locations, like on iPhones. Andrea said that when she did this, Zachary called her and then they were arguing. Andrea said they kept arguing In attempt, he kept amping it up and Zara was crying. Andrea said that she was telling Zara. It was just words. Andrea said sometimes it's just words and it isn't personal. Andrea said Zachary was trying to hurt her. So this dude has all these protective orders that he's violated on his ex-old lady, Zara's mom. So you know, when she turned her fucking location off, this dude went nuts.
Speaker 2:I thought why was she sharing locations if that's her ex-boyfriend? I mean, did it become her ex-boyfriend?
Speaker 1:That day.
Speaker 2:After that day or after the murder occurred, Because you could have fooled me thinking that your ex, if you're still standing there giving him the time of day arguing with him.
Speaker 1:And your location, all that shit.
Speaker 2:And sharing your location with him Bullshit. That's still your boyfriend.
Speaker 1:Shut up.
Speaker 2:So later that night, when Zachary told andrea to call 9-1-1 now I see this is the first clue to make. This is what made me think that she this is when she passed away. Why? Why is she telling him to call 9-1-1 that night? She was alive but she was hurt. So this makes me think that the incident that took zara's life was the night before. But anyway, Andrea said she was telling Zachary to stop. She told him to stop multiple times and told him not to hurt her. She asked Zachary what Zara would do to make him hurt her. Andrea told him there was no need to hurt Zara. Andrea explained when Zachary said he was going to kill Zara, she thought that they were playing when they were talking and texting. But now she knows it's true.
Speaker 1:Also, dude said I'm going to fucking kill my daughter if you don't come back home and turn your location on.
Speaker 2:I thought he was just playing Bullshit and you'll see when you've watched him choke out this poor baby multiple times before this, you thought he was playing. Yeah. Now Andrea went on to say she and Zachary were arguing all night and he kept saying he was going to hurt Zara. Andrea explained the arguing was worse. There was choking and white foam coming from Zara's mouth. Andrea said Zachary hurt her. She was telling him on FaceTime to stop and he never listened. Andrea said Zara got in trouble because she wasn't listening to the rules at Aunt Bea's house. Andrea said during that time Zachary sent photos of Zara on the floor and said Zara had white foam coming from her mouth.
Speaker 1:And this was the night before the 911 call where they found the poor little baby passed away.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:So she was gone on the 18th, which was only seven days from the mother's report of him strangling her at the Whitney's on Shadeland Avenue.
Speaker 2:Detective Davis suggested they take a break. Detective Davis and Detective Kinder stepped out and at this point learned that certified interpreters were located to assist both in person and via video relay. Detective Davis also learned Zara's mother had been located and was on her way to the IMPD child abuse office. Zara's mother arrived and was taken into an interview room so they could speak with her.
Speaker 1:I bet she was heartbroken, Like I told you, motherfuckers, that he's been doing this shit Like a week ago. He choked her at Wendy's. God it pisses me off, but this is the interview of Zara's mother. Sergeant Flynn utilized the interpreter via the video relay, who informed the mother of Zara's death Shortly after Detective Davis and Detective Kinder stepped into the room to speak with the mother about Zara. Davis and Detective Kinder stepped into the room to speak with the mother about Zara. While taking a statement from the mother, LTC, an interpreter Swinton arrived and took over the translation. The mother explained that she did not have custody of Zara and had not seen Zara since September of last year, except for happening onto Zara and Zachary at Wendy's last week. She stated that when she saw Zara last September, Zara looked skinny but was otherwise fine. She said that she had been told by people who know Zachary and Zara that Zara wasn't living with Zachary but with her grandma. She also heard that Zachary and another person were doing cocaine in front of Zara and Zachary was starving Zara.
Speaker 2:That would explain his manic, crazy effort behavior of arguing with his old lady for hours on end. Who can argue that long?
Speaker 1:Flying off the handle like instantly and tripping out on locations and violating you know order. Yeah, paranoia and shit. Absolutely it fucking describes it and yeah, explains it. Tiara explained that zachary had been very controlling during their relationship. She stated one day it got very serious and they had been arguing for seven hours. She stated that Zachary went into the garage and came back with a gun. She said Zachary pointed the gun at Zara's head.
Speaker 1:Zara was an infant during this time. She said she tried to leave him after this incident and he got pissed off. She said when she did leave him this incident and he got pissed off. She said when she did leave him, zara was around 10 months old. She explained Zachary had parenting time with Zara but was court ordered to have a third party with him and Zara during this time. She stated that Zara would come back from multiple visits with bruises. She also spoke about the police report she filed a week prior regarding Zachary and Zara at Wendy's. She claimed Zachary had been following her and she said she saw them at Wendy's while she had been across the street. She said Zara tried to run to her and Zachary grabbed Zara by the throat and took off.
Speaker 1:She shared three short video recordings of this incident with the detectives. The video that she shared did not show Zachary strangling Zara. Detective Taylor had applied for, and was granted, a warrant for the restaurant's video surveillance. Detective Taylor was able to retrieve the video from Wendy's Detective Taylor, davis and Kinder observed this video and could see Zachary grab Zara by her neck and put Zara in a black Cadillac Escalade in an aggressive, quick manner, then drive off. Now why did it take like seven days? I mean to get the video when somebody says, hey, this dude has just strangled my baby girl.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's an unanswered question I have. If she's saying, oh, it happened at Wendy's, well, why didn't the responding officer in their investigation go to that Wendy's and request If her videos didn't show it? And there was going to be another surveillance system, which you're? At Wendy's there's a surveillance system there.
Speaker 1:I watched the first 48. Why wouldn't you go down there? I watched the first 48. A lot on these murders and shit. And they go straight in there and be like, hey, can I see your video? You know what I mean. And they show it to them. It's not like they have to have a search warrant for a video at Wendy's.
Speaker 2:Because usually if a detective or something goes in there and asks, they'll oblige.
Speaker 1:most of the time Because they want to help. It's just a restaurant.
Speaker 2:They didn't do anything wrong.
Speaker 1:Like hey, somebody's seen a little girl get strangled out in your parking lot. Can we check your video out? You would think. I mean, I don't know the process, in different states there are different laws and rules. Had they done that, though? Had they done that?
Speaker 2:would Zara have been in his care and control seven days later? Absolutely not. No, she would have still be here.
Speaker 1:Absolutely would.
Speaker 2:So they go and do a second interview with Andrea Lopez. Detective Davis and Detective Kinder interviewed Andrea again, this time utilizing a certified interpreter. Due to Andrea disclosing her initial statement that she witnessed Zachary choking Zara last night, Detective Davis and Detective Kinder believed Andrea was possibly more involved than initially known to them and wanted to advise Andrea of her rights. The ASL interpreter interpreted her rights to her during this interview. Detective Davis went over what they had talked about earlier. Andrea then explained in further detail what occurred on Sunday May 18th.
Speaker 2:Andrea confirmed the arguing started over relationship issues. The argument started around 2 pm and went all the way until about 1 am when she finally got to go to sleep. She confirmed she left Zachary's house at 2 pm. Andrea said this was when the arguing started between herself and Zachary. She said she thinks it stopped around 1 am. Andrea said at first she left to go to the mall with Zachary because she had to exchange something. Well, they must have not been arguing too damn bad, because if you're arguing for 11, 12 hours, you sure in the hell ain't going to want to take him to go exchange something with you. You're going to want some peace and quiet, right?
Speaker 1:And she was at the house.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, I thought they were broke up. They're not boyfriend and girlfriend, remember. That's what she's saying.
Speaker 1:But they argued for hours on end over relationship issues and she was there that Sunday when we believed that the poor little girl was attacked.
Speaker 2:They came back to Zachary's house. She dropped him off and then she had to go. She told him she thought she wanted to be single and needed to think and Jerry said, after she left around 2 pm, Zach called her. But then, well, it just said she left at 2 pm with him to go to the mall to exchange stuff, so it must have been later that day. Well, anyway, Zach called her and she told him that he should pick up Zara so he could spend time with her. Zachary started getting frustrated and argumentative so she hung up. Zachary then went to pick up Zara hung up. Zachary then went to pick up Zara.
Speaker 2:After confirmation of what Andrea had stated in her initial statement, Andrea was then advised of her rights prior to further questioning. Andrea said sometimes they would be on Facebook Messenger, then FaceTime and then at times he would hang up. He went back and forth on both. Andrea said on the last call, when they were talking, he took Zara to the bedroom and at that time it looked like she was breathing. Andrea said Zara's face was red and it looked like she had blood in her mouth. Andrea described one of the video calls. She said this was in the morning, May 19th, after he had sent multiple texts to her. She said she and Zachary were arguing and he was changing Zara's clothes. When she came back, Zachary was crying and crying. Andrea said Zara was just lying there. Andrea said she asked Zach what he did. Andrea said she could see Zara and could see bruises on her backside and her arms, but she didn't get a full look.
Speaker 1:So on Messenger she saw the bruises all over this child but didn't get a full look. And this is the like first thing the next morning.
Speaker 2:Well, they'll know if—they'll be able to ping her phone and find out exactly where she was.
Speaker 1:Oh, absolutely, she was bullshitting.
Speaker 2:Now Zachary said that she wasn't breathing and he was doing compressions on the bed. Zachary took Zara upstairs and changed her clothes in the bedroom and Zachary tried to wake her up. He took Zara back downstairs on the couch. Zachary told Andrea that Zara's nose was bleeding and he tried to clean it with a towel. Andrea said Zachary was pacing back and forth. Now Andrea was asked what clothes Zara had on before Zachary changed them and she said Zara had blue leggings on and said that Zachary told her that Zara had urinated in them.
Speaker 1:See, man, I mean, if my little baby girl was laying there not breathing obviously rigid, which we know now. The last thing I'm going to do is drag her up and down the stairs, move her in multiple places and change her clothes.
Speaker 2:You know why she probably had urinated in them? Because he killed her.
Speaker 1:Yeah, don't when you die your body. Expels the fluid, change her clothes. You know why she probably had urinated in them Because he killed her. That's why she Don't when you die your body expels the fluid. You lose your bodily fluids Absolutely.
Speaker 2:I bet you that's why she had urinated in them. I almost guarantee it.
Speaker 1:What it was was dude woke up, seen what he did last night, started to try to cover up shit and was like oh, she must have fell down the stairs.
Speaker 2:It's a mess, andrew said yesterday when they were arguing he went upstairs to the bedroom and they continued arguing more. She said there was something about the bath. In the arguing andrew said zachary put zara in the bath last night, just a quick one to wash her. Wash off her face due to blood being on her face. Andrea explained zara and zachary were in the car and zara had a little blood on her face and blood spots on her shirt from when he picked her up from aunt bees. Andrea and zachary facetimed her while he was in the car and told her look, look, look and showed her Zara's face. Andrea said she knows he hurt her.
Speaker 1:Andrea said Zachary continued to call via FaceTime or send Facebook messages, arguing with her. Andrea said later Sunday evening Zachary FaceTimed her at one point and was choking Zara. Andrea said she was waving at him, telling him to stop multiple times. Andrea said she was waving at him, telling him to stop multiple times. She said Zara was kicking and he held her legs down with his feet while he was choking her. Andrea said Zachary also held Zara up by her throat. Andrea said she had foam on her mouth and her eyes were closing while his hand was around her neck. Andrea said she screenshotted this because she kept telling him to stop.
Speaker 1:Detective Davis asked Andrea how Zara's body was during this. Andrea said before Zara was trying to run and escape and trying to run off. Andrea said she kept telling Zachary to leave Zara alone, making Andrea feel angry. Andrea said she was telling him to stop and he said no, zara would try to run and Zachary would grab her, grab her by her hair and kick and kept grabbing her. Andrea said Zachary would kick and hold Zara's feet and then choke her.
Speaker 2:That is so horrible, I'm telling you. I think this is the moment that he murdered her.
Speaker 1:I absolutely do do too, and he's yanking her by her hair.
Speaker 2:That's probably how the hair got on the staircase andre said, most of the time zachary would choke zara in the bedroom, sometimes in the kitchen, on the stairs and upstairs. Zachary would also choke zara while she was on the bed and sometimes he would hold her in the air, choking her. Andrea describes Zara struggling when she was trying to breathe. She ended up telling Zachary, while he was choking Zara, that she thought she was pregnant.
Speaker 1:So in the middle of her choking Zara, or him choking Zara, she's like stop choking her, I'm probably pregnant with another baby. You're going to kill mine too. Basically is how I took that. That's crazy. You think it was a stop tactic or something.
Speaker 2:Why would that be crossing your mind when this little girl's getting the shit choked out of her?
Speaker 1:I don't know man, it's weird.
Speaker 2:It's very odd, to say the least. Now, Andrea said Zachary stopped choking Zara and started crying. Andrea said she thought Zara looked like she was breathing. Andrea was asking if she knew choking someone could kill them. She said she thought he wouldn't do it anymore, even though she said he has choked Zara more than 10 times already. Andrea said she felt like it was too late for her she should have called. Andrea said she told him don't hurt Zara and to hurt her instead. Andrea admitted to not calling 911 for Zara due to her fear of Zachary. Well, she's not even in the same spot as him, so Supposedly Right.
Speaker 2:But anyway, Andrea disclosed Zachary has beat her multiple times in the past and stated she has reported this to police. She said more recently he started beating Zara. Andrea said she never reported the abuse to Zara. He was beating Zara from the time she was an infant.
Speaker 1:This dude was beating everybody that was around him like a domestic freaking maniac. But now the probable cause affidavit goes to the interview of Zara's father, zachary Arnold. Detective Davis and Detective Kinder interviewed Zachary at the child abuse office with the help of aara's father, zachary Arnold. Detective Davis and Detective Kinder interviewed Zachary at the child abuse office with the help of a sign language interpreter. Zachary was advised of his rights, to which he stated that he understood. He waived his rights and spoke to the detectives. Initially, zachary said that he told the officers what happened that Zara had fell down the stairs. When he woke up this morning she was already cold. Zachary said that he was so upset when he was clutching the floor and he was like hurry, but it was too late. He said he woke up this morning and she was lying by the stairs. Zachary said Zara was happy until this morning when he found her. He said he picked her up and fell and that's how he got the marks on him.
Speaker 1:Zachary showed the detectives multiple bruises, scratches and swelling on his arms and legs. Zachary later admitted Zara did not fall down the stairs. He stated Zara had stayed the weekend with Aunt Bea, who is like an aunt to Zara. He stated Zara had stayed the weekend with Aunt Bea, who is like an aunt to Zara. He stated Aunt Bea will help watch Zara for him and he pays her $60 to watch her over the weekend. Zachary said he dropped Zara off around 9 or 10 am on Friday and Zara stayed there for the weekend. He picked her up on Sunday around 3 or 4 pm. He claimed Zara was happy when he picked her up.
Speaker 1:Zachary then went on to confirm he and Andrea had been arguing over their relationship issues. He admitted to wrapping his hands around Zara's neck and choking her. He said that he did this two or three times last night, but also confirmed that he has choked Zara on previous occasions as well. Zachary was shown photos of Zara's injuries and described how Zara was injured. He admitted to grabbing Zara's arms because her behavior was terrible. At Aunt Bea's, zachary said she wasn't listening. Zachary admitted to hitting Zara's face with his open hand, holding Zara's legs down with his feet while choking her and holding Zara's head down with his foot while choking her. He was asked how is there blood in your car? He said that it doesn't make any sense that all the bleeding happened inside the house.
Speaker 2:So there's blood in his car. That blood is probably from a previous abuse incident. I mean, if not Zara, he's abusing Andrea. I mean it could be from anybody he hit.
Speaker 1:Who knows? But I thought Andrea did say that she saw blood on her face in her shirt, but was that a FaceTime call or whatever? Who knows? Their stories are so mixed up at this point, but we know the fucking truth and it's coming out.
Speaker 2:Zachary was asked to describe Zara while his hands were wrapped around her throat. This is so heartbreaking. Zachary said Andrea was telling Zara she loved her and everything was going to be okay, while he was grabbing her by the throat. Zachary said Andrea did this to him and is making him out to be a monster. Zachary said Andrea was laughing the whole time. I'm telling you I got a weird vibe from this Andrea chick because she threw a fit because her ex-husband wanted custody of his previous child. She literally domestically battered him and went to jail over it. So I don't think this Andrea is as innocent as she's playing it up to be at all. I think she definitely had a part, a hand in it.
Speaker 1:100 no, and do you see something that's um the same parallel with her last bullshit case and her last? Oh man, this is zachary's baby girl from a previous marriage.
Speaker 2:So yes you know, she was hating too yeah, and which was probably fueling his anger more. She was probably antagonizing it. That's the vibe that I'm getting now. Zachary said this happened now and the past times, which he stated was less than five times bullshit. I don't believe that. While he was having an argument with andrea, zachary said she drove him to do this. He said this time was just a little bit worse, referring to the severity of him choking and strangling zara. Zachary said he wasn't trying to kill zara and said andrea just made him go crazy. Zachary said he told andrea to kill Zara and said Andrea just made him go crazy. Zachary said he told Andrea to call 911 before he hurt her. Zachary said he was sober on Sunday when he did this. So you're sober and acting like this, which obviously I don't believe, but I mean. But if you're acting like this sober, could you imagine all up on cocaine?
Speaker 1:no, I couldn't imagine that you know, what's really heartbreaking to me is, you know, growing up as a kid up there, I've been in all kinds of situations and shit. When I was a kid I could only imagine the hell this poor little baby girl went through happy times they're probably getting high on coke and maybe happy for an hour or two and then they're beating the shit out of her and then they're arguing and then she's getting choked and getting fucked up.
Speaker 1:I don't know. It's just horrible to even think about. Even picture it in my head. It's disgusting.
Speaker 2:And life in the inner city is not pretty. It's really not pretty for anyone. Because I'm telling you, a lot of them, a very high percentage of them, are living in poverty. A lot of them are on Social Security and disability and they have nothing.
Speaker 1:It's been 15 years since we've been up there and it's just changed a whole lot since we've been up there, so I can only imagine what the fuck's going on up there now.
Speaker 2:Detective Davis and Kinder continued to ask Zachary to walk through the last moments he saw his daughter alive. To help the detective understand how she obtained all of her injuries and what her body was like when she was being strangled. Zachary was shown a picture of Zara's injuries behind her ear. Zachary said he didn't pull her ear but she probably got the injury from him hitting her in the face with an open hand. A five-year-old baby girl. Zachary said that the bruising on Zara's neck is from him choking her, zachary said after he stopped choking her the last time that night, zara told him she was tired and then she climbed into bed. Zachary said it was her bedtime so he thought she was just tired, zachary said. Zara asked him why'd you hurt me? Why do you hurt me? I love you Dad.
Speaker 1:That sounds like some shit that he fabricated in his own head. She told him she was tired and ready to go to bed and he took her up there and tucked her in and read her a story.
Speaker 2:After he just got done strangling the fuck out of her. Zachary described Zara's eyes closing while she was asking him why he hurt her. So his. That makes me think he was strangling her. He was strangling her. This makes me think that he is strangling her at this time that she's saying why are you hurt? Or trying to say why are you hurting me, dad?
Speaker 1:That's what I'm saying. That's some shit. He fabricated up. She's not even talking manners. She's screaming and crying.
Speaker 2:Even young children. They sign certain stuff if they have both parents. Oh, I didn't think about that If they have both parents, if her arms are free and she could maybe try to sign, because I'm sure if both of her parents are hearing disabled, she knows some sign language.
Speaker 1:Just like a five-year-old can pick up us talking, they pick up how their parents sign.
Speaker 2:Yes, and I know this because my friend, friend, I told you they had a son and his name was I don't even remember his name, maybe jeremiah or something like that, but he, um, he would. He was young, maybe five or six, when I met him and he was signing and talking to them, and so they can communicate with their parents.
Speaker 1:It's just like a language so he, so she could have been signing. Why are you hurting me? I love you, dad.
Speaker 2:Please stop type yeah, even if she's right jesus so back to where we were.
Speaker 2:Zachary said she couldn't keep her eyes open. Zachary said he should have gone back to check on her. He always went back to check on her after choking her. So here we go. This is multiple times, but he was so upset with Andrea he didn't this time. Zachary continued to go through the photos and said he didn't understand the injury to Zara's face. Zachary explained the first time he choked Zara Sarah last night. She was fighting him. He held her legs down with her feet while choking her. He then held her head down with his feet. He said he wasn't wearing shoes and he wasn't pressing hard on her face but thought the socks caused the injury from rubbing against her face. Well, he's already said he openly had smacked the shit out of her.
Speaker 1:This ain't some young punk man who's immature either. This dude is 41 years old.
Speaker 2:This is a grown, grown man, yeah he's an older dude, 41?.
Speaker 1:I mean, you're not no little kid, immature punk.
Speaker 2:And you know right from wrong. And people, just because somebody has a hearing disability, that does not make them any less smart than you. It may disable them from hearing, but I promise you the rest of their senses are extra like picking up stuff right they don't have that.
Speaker 2:They're not able to talk. So you know, their other senses make up for some, uh, some of that stuff. Zachary said the second time he choked Sarah last night she wasn't fighting. He described seeing bubbles come out of her nose and said that has never happened before. Zachary said he woke up this morning and found Sarah in bed. He said she was cold when he touched her and the blanket wasn't all the way on her. He said he made her a warm bath and went back downstairs to get her. Zachary said Zara's leg was stiff and straight. He was asked if Zara had stopped breathing before he put her in bed last night and he said she was breathing fine and normal, but then he admitted she was struggling to breathe a little bit.
Speaker 1:So this is kind of some deranged shit. The little baby has obviously passed away. When he goes up there the next day, she's dead from last night, yeah, okay. So he's taking this baby and trying to put her in a warm bath. You know, she's already stiff and cold and gray.
Speaker 2:Do you think he did, or do you think he's just saying that? I don't know. Because didn't he put her in the bath the night before. Oh, he put her in the bath because she had urinated all over herself, and he changed her clothes before the EMS got there.
Speaker 1:Trying to hide some shit.
Speaker 2:Trying to hide her. You know expelling.
Speaker 1:Right and blood and whatever else have you Uh-huh.
Speaker 2:Now Zach's injuries were photographed and a buckle swab was collected. Zach admitted some of the scratches on his arms were probably from Zara. She was fighting him.
Speaker 1:Hell yeah, she was fighting him For life.
Speaker 2:Zachary was arrested and transported to the Marion County Intake at the Community Justice Center.
Speaker 1:The old paddy wagon. Now we move to the interview of Aunt Bea. Detective Davis and Detective Kendrew interview her with the assistance of an interpreter. So she must have been deaf too. So now Andrea is deaf, the mother, Tiara, is deaf, Zach, the father, is deaf and Aunt Bea is deaf. It must be like I wonder if the baby was deaf too, it's easier for them to communicate with.
Speaker 2:There's a big community of deaf people in Indianapolis and they're probably all friends.
Speaker 1:You know what I remember being up there, like at 10th and Rule and there was a sign like a deaf school. There was like signs up through there.
Speaker 2:There is a deaf school up there, like at 10th and Rule, and there was a sign like a deaf school. There was like signs up through there there is a deaf school up there.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, you know I feel bad for them because and I don't mean to feel bad for somebody because of their disability or anything but sometimes I get so wound up and pissed I can't even hardly talk. I could only imagine trying to express myself with sign language. I mean like I would be like frustrated, like I don't know if my hands would even work. You know, I used to get so worked up, it's horrible. But she stated that she is Zara's aunt and that she would babysit Zara while her dad worked. She advised that she would watch Zara mostly on the weekends and she watched her this past weekend. She advised that Zara was at her house on Friday until Sunday morning around 10 to 11 am. She advised that she has all kinds of videos and pictures of Zara.
Speaker 1:She showed a video of Zara on the slide that was dated Saturday, the 17th at 4.59 pm. There were no visible injuries on that video. Injuries on that video. She advised Zara had no injuries on her body this weekend when she was with her and she did not get injuries in any way when they were at the park. She advised that she had no incidents at her house with Zara. She advised she was happy and had a lot of fun. She had to tell Zara to sit down to eat, but that was about it. There was no physical discipline. She disciplines by having her sit down and talk about it.
Speaker 2:That kind of makes my heart feel better. You know that she had somewhere to go.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, me too.
Speaker 2:I mean, she had somewhere to go other than Zach's, because Zach had been keeping Zara from her mother and she hadn't seen her in nine months before she died. I couldn't imagine that she had fought so hard for her. And now he's keeping her for nine months, and you know what just is so horrible about this? This is so horrible about this. On May 15th actually it was three days before Zara's murder the paternity case for Zara, the custody stuff, the case had closed. Wow, Three days before this happened and all Zara's mother got was you're crazy, Quit calling the police, Quit calling DCS. This is what a judge in Marion County told this mother, when she's doing everything she can to fight for her daughter. I mean, why were they given more? I don't even know what it is the word I'm looking for Credit To.
Speaker 1:Zach.
Speaker 2:It's like he had manipulated them so perfectly, like he had done every time in all of his criminal cases. While he's fighting this same case, he's got 11, 12 charges rape, stalking, intimidation but he still got custody of this little girl. And he's doing all this shit Like where was the oversight?
Speaker 1:I wouldn't think this would have anything to do with him being a white dude and her being a black chick. Sure to God, not in this time of age. Up in Indianapolis it wouldn't have.
Speaker 2:I would hope not. I mean, but you never know.
Speaker 1:I mean you don't? He had them? Bullshitting and blind for real.
Speaker 2:And that would be a horrific, just injustice if that played a reason which I'm praying to God.
Speaker 1:It didn't Me too. Aunt said Zachary was angry Sunday morning when he picked up Zara. She asked why he was mad. She said Zara was not behaving good on Friday when Zachary dropped her off, but once she got into her house she was fine and well-behaving. She said she begs for Zachary to leave Zara at her house until Monday. But he refused because he wanted to pick the little baby up and use that to get Andrea back home, I believe.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because he could say oh, I'm going to put my hands on the baby or I'm going to use her as leverage to get what I want.
Speaker 1:She advised Zara always wanted to stay with her and begged to stay with her. She said Zara was scared and crying when she had to go home on Sunday. She is not sure why Zara was scared, she did not tell her. She advised Zara had been scared to go home before she was asked if Zara had ever expressed any concerns to her. She advised Zara never said anything serious. She would just say grab, but nothing serious. She said one time before Zara told her Zachary grabbed her. This was about one month ago. She said Zara just said it and went right back to playing. She did have a happy place at this Aunt Bea's house. It seems like Thank God.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that warms my heart, but God, this case just pisses me off so bad.
Speaker 1:We always picked our kids up. They was always happy as hell to see us, this little baby's, begging not to go. Please don't make me go home. You know what I mean. That's just that hurts my heart. She advised that Zachary was the primary person who would pick up and drop off Zara. She did not care for Andrea. She advised that Andrea would cause a lot of issues in the home and was not good for Zachary. She is unaware of anything that has occurred in Zachary's home as she has never went to his house. Zara would always come to her house. She is very sorry for Zara and wished she could have saved her.
Speaker 2:I bet she did. I bet she does too. I bet her heart hurts bad and she misses that little girl and she thinks you know, why didn't I see this shit? Or why didn't I see that shit?
Speaker 1:But there had to be signs somewhere, and I'm not saying nothing bad about.
Speaker 2:Aunt B. Well, she was five years old and what Weighed? 39 pounds.
Speaker 1:Well, she was five years old and what weighed? 39 pounds. Yeah, she was 47 inches tall and weighed 39 pounds. That's like skinny as a rail.
Speaker 2:That's a sign, but some people don't know that.
Speaker 1:Right, maybe they was keeping it hid, good.
Speaker 2:Now. During this time, detectives were still on scene at the residence. Detective Harris relayed the coroner's initial exam of Zara, while on scene to Detective Davis. Detective Harris stated that Deputy Coroner expressed concern about the following injuries there was pattern bruising on the right left arm, the right left hip and the left right leg. Abrasions and ligature marks on Z. Abrasions and ligature marks on Zara's neck and chin. Contusions on her left arm with an outward V-shaped injury. Forgive me if I butcher this, but conjunctival pettia in the left and right eyes.
Speaker 1:That means the blood vessels were fucked up for being strangled. Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Detective Harris also relayed the progression of processing the scene. He stated that CSU brinkmen took photographs and recorded video. Also, they collected and recovered the following items inside of the residence thus far, but the steam was still being processed.
Speaker 1:Basically, the stuff that they found and they noted in their investigation was a bunch of child's clothes on the floor and behind doors and stuff. One thing that caught my eye was there was a light-colored rope with a loop at the end of the rope, resembling a noose, at the top shelf of a red toolbox in the dining room. Also, the following digital items was recovered an AT&T Wi-Fi modem in the living room, then a funky name digital video recorder, which was probably the sign language interpreter apparatus. Yeah, A PlayStation 5, a VTech camera, a black gaming device and a black gaming drive and an iPad.
Speaker 2:You know what's weird?
Speaker 1:Sorry to interject here real quick, no go ahead.
Speaker 2:Is that when he's going through all of his criminal cases, he gets indigent status and doesn't have to pay his GPS monitoring shit.
Speaker 1:He gets his.
Speaker 2:GPS monitoring, shit taken away because he says he's indigent. But you got an iPad and you got a gaming device and you got a PlayStation 5 and you're rolling around in Escalade and you're indigent, you, a lying ass motherfucker.
Speaker 1:Radio edit. So the vehicle was ultimately towed to auto return for processing and completed by the following day, on May 20th 2025. Detective Heiser and Detective Cohen were present for the continued search and processing of the vehicle and noted blood was found on the driver's seat of the vehicle and in the seat directly behind the driver's seat.
Speaker 2:The autopsy of Zara was also conducted on May 20, 2025 by a medical pathologist doctor. Detectives Kinder and Heiser attended the autopsy and learned that at the time of the autopsy, zara weighed 39 pounds and was 47 inches tall at five years old. Dr Kavanaugh observed additional bruising on the feet, right hand and both hips. There were bald patches observed in the scalp, along with lacerations found inside both the upper and lower lips, meaning her lips were busted. Dr Kavanaugh said there was significant bruising on over 50% of the scalp. So if there's bruising on her scalp, he's either banging her head on the floor or he's punching her in the head and pulling her hair out bald spots on her scalp.
Speaker 2:Bruising was observed on both the right and left side of the scalp and on the back. All were consistent with impact injuries. Dr Kavanaugh said it would take three separate falls to cause bruising like that. Bilateral subdural hemorrhages were seen. No bruising was observed inside the neck.
Speaker 1:The coroner ultimately ruled Zara's primarily cause of death as blunt force trauma to her head, with the lethal injury being one of the three impact injuries. That means she was hitting her head so hard there was three injuries that could have been the death blow, without a better way of saying it.
Speaker 2:So not only was he strangling her, he this just hurts my heart.
Speaker 1:The blood vessels busted in her eye told that story. And this dude saying oh, she was still breathing.
Speaker 2:No, she wasn't.
Speaker 1:I don't know man, it's just heart-wrenching.
Speaker 2:It makes me cry because I just feel so bad for this poor little girl. And then I can't even imagine what her mother is thinking, you know, after she fought so hard, I mean, can you imagine the failure she feels? I bet she feels rage towards these courts. As a parent, I'm just I mean, I get it.
Speaker 1:I mean we've both been mad at our kids and wanted to maybe whoop their ass or something. But how could you take it that far? And I'm sorry man, this dude has had so many charges of violence, domestic in nature it's really hard for me to believe that there was never signs other than what the mother had reported. I mean, come on.
Speaker 2:And she had been reported him for years. And you know what's funny is, none of these criminal escapades started with him until right after Zare was born. It was like something happened with this. I mean, no shit was going on with this dude before this baby was born, because when she was three months old, that's when he started filing in paternity court to control the mom. And then he would be like, oh, I don't want to file this no more, let's stop this. And then he would go back and say, oh no, I want to refile this. It was all about control.
Speaker 1:Zara wasn't a baby or a person or a daughter. In his eyes, she was a pawn, she was a tool, she was something that he used to get what he wanted from the women in his life 100%. I've seen this shit a thousand times.
Speaker 2:You're 100% right. And the first woman that he wanted and she left she was like he's going to beat me to death, I can't do this no more. I'm not saying she said that, but this is just, in my opinion, what's going through her mind. I can't do this no more. And then she's like I'm getting out. And she got out and she got custody of her daughter. But then, you know, and then she kept her daughter from having to go over there and be abused. And the judge in Marion County Court 9, judge Amber Collins, I think it was it was like bitch, you need to quit calling CPS and the police on Zach. He's a good dad. You better stop, because that's basically what she did. What are you going to do when a judge tells you to quit calling CPS?
Speaker 1:and quit calling the police on this dude.
Speaker 2:Quit being paranoid.
Speaker 1:Well I'd have went out of state or something. I'd rather kept a kidnapping charge for my own kid and maybe take care of that shit down the road.
Speaker 2:I get that, but what about these people who are up in the city? I mean, she's deaf, so I felt like this judge just did her so dirty. I do too. Now, on May 20th 2025, sergeant Detective Flynn spoke with Zach's brother via phone. Now his brother stated that he lived out of state and he was on the phone with his brother the morning of May 19th. He said when Zachary called him, he told him Zara was dead. Now Zara's uncle said Zachary told him she had fallen down the stairs and when he woke up the next morning he found her cold at the bottom of the stairs. Zara's uncle said he tried to adopt Zara. He had talked to Zachary about this. Zara's uncle said he has heard about the issues with Zachary and his ex, and what started as a paternity case became a custody battle.
Speaker 1:So after they got dude locked up, the poor baby's probably getting ready for her funeral, if she hasn't already had it already. But check this shit out. It was May 21st and a state trooper had received a voicemail from a manager at a hotel. There was a person that was concerned after making a 911 call on May 18, 2025, after witnessing a male choking a child. Initially she stated that she observed a vehicle pull into the parking lot and she pulled it up on their camera system because she thought it was an ex-employee who had been stalking them. However, she quickly realized it was something else had been stalking them. However, she quickly realized it was something else.
Speaker 1:She observed a male assaulting a child and called 911 two times and was put on hold two times. Another employee called while she was on hold and got through, while the other lady started chasing the male assaulting the child. She said police never responded to the hotel on May 18th. Sergeant Rainey was able to get to the hotel on May 21st to obtain the video. He observed the video and saw that it contained a time stamp of May 18th at approximately 4 pm. He then confirmed that approximately 3 pm on May 18th. When he saw the video, he realized the suspect was Zachary and knew that he was just arrested for the murder of his five-year-old daughter, zara. Sergeant Rainey obtained the video and turned it over to Detective Heiser.
Speaker 2:Now, this was 19 hours before he called and they pronounced her dead. Exactly this is 19 hours before this little girl was pronounced dead.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it says. The video shows a male who appears to be Zachary getting out of a black-ass glade. At one point he grabs the child, who appears to be Zara, from the vehicle. They observed him with his hands wrapped completely around her throat, holding her against the car in the air and shaking her. A vehicle. They observed him with his hands wrapped completely around her throat, holding her against the car in the air and shaking her. He can be seen throwing Zara into the car. Then he appears to be punching, kicking and hitting. So for all we know, this asshole killed this baby right here as soon as he picked her up from Aunt Bea's house. I mean, that's serious why didn't these police show up.
Speaker 2:They were called two times. Actually they were called three times Two times by this one person and then another time by this other person, and they were put on hold while a little girl's, a five-year-old baby is getting assaulted. They never showed the fuck up.
Speaker 1:And these hotel people. They have it on video. You know the police didn't call and they said well, the dude's gone, don't worry about it bullshit. This one girl was chasing this motherfucker down the road trying to stop him. Why didn't they ever show up? I'm shocked.
Speaker 2:I don't know. But you know what Kudos to them for reaching out to the Indiana State Police, because whenever they called Marion County 911 three times, nobody showed up for this little girl getting beat in the parking lot of the country inn and suites.
Speaker 1:I have a hard time saying well, we don't know the full circumstances, this kid was failed by the system or the system did this. The system did that? Because I understand the system is fucked up. It's especially been fucked up since COVID, when all the shit was video and everything was weird. I get that, but this little girl was failed in so many different ways that it's not even funny, it's sickening.
Speaker 2:She was failed. She was failed by her father. She was failed by the system. She was failed by DCS. She was failed by the Marion County Court judges who ordered her in the custody of her father. I hope you sleep real good every night thinking about the name Zara Arnold and where you put her.
Speaker 1:I'll tell you a shout out to the chicks at the hotel, because the video also shows that another vehicle pulls up. Later learned to be this witness Zachary pulls off and the other vehicle follows this, so this chick jumped in her ride and was trying to chase this motherfucker down.
Speaker 2:Look, that gave me cold chills. Good for her.
Speaker 1:Shout out girl.
Speaker 2:You did everything you possibly could.
Speaker 1:Now, here's a trigger warning folks. I know we do it at the beginning, I know this is a long episode, but this is in memory and you know stuff was there. But this is some really fucked up shit. The preliminary digital forensic unit results. Detective Davis and Kendra submitted both Andrea and Zachary's phones to the IMPD digital forensics unit for examination. Detective Scheringer was assigned. The detective reported very preliminary results to detective Davis on May 20th 2025. A forensic examination of Andrea's phone confirms Zachary sent a text to Andrea saying he was going to kill Zara. It also confirmed Andrea's timeline of FaceTime calls and Facebook messenger calls and text.
Speaker 1:On May 21st, digital Forensic Unit contacted Sergeant Flynn with additional findings from the forensic examination of Andrea's cellular device. Multiple videos were found, some as early as April 10th 2025, some as early as April 10th 2025, depicting Zachary strangling Zara. There are multiple videos from May 18th, beginning at the approximately 6 pm, that also depict Zachary strangling Zara. This includes a video that appears to be a FaceTime recording where Zachary has a noose around Zara's neck and is swinging her body around. These videos also depict Zachary throwing Zara over his shoulder and letting her body hang behind his back. While the noose is around her neck, zara appears to still be alive in all of these videos.
Speaker 1:That just shocked the fuck out of me my gosh I'm sorry folks if but holy shit, we're just telling the whole story here I am. I am in shock over this. How could you put a noose around a five-year-old baby's?
Speaker 2:neck and swing her and throw her over your back. You, you, a sick, demented motherfucker. I'm sorry, and so is this Andrea bitch for even putting up with this shit.
Speaker 1:Some of these videos are in April, so this is a month. This is a month.
Speaker 2:A month and a week, yeah.
Speaker 1:Before Five weeks, so you can tell me there wasn't no marks on this little girl's neck from where he threw a noose around her neck. This isn't just hearsay, folks. This is a fucking real video of him swinging her body around by a noose on her neck. Come on now, unless he hid her I mean hid, hid her well she was going.
Speaker 2:She was at the day before she died. She was at the babysitter's house.
Speaker 1:I know man.
Speaker 2:Or did he hide her out while the bruises were still there and she didn't go there?
Speaker 1:I mean, it could have been cold and he put a hoodie on her, but I don't know. I'm in shock, I am too. I am too. I have to say that just fucked me up.
Speaker 2:This system failed her every step. It failed her mom, it failed Zara. Marion County Court judges should be ashamed of their self. And I'm telling you what I have no faith, no faith whatsoever in the family court system in Marion County, because this is not the first case that we have done that. The Marion County family court system has failed parents drastically.
Speaker 1:I'm sure there's some good dcs officers up in mary county.
Speaker 2:Just some of the shit we're seeing is disgusting, but where's dcs in that? Oh I forgot. Judge amber collins told zara's mother to stop fucking calling dcs and to stop reporting zach to the police. She's just. I think she should be charged too. I'm sorry, but come on, we need to start holding people accountable for these babies that are dying 100%.
Speaker 1:This has been a very long episode. Folks, we sure appreciate you sticking around and listening to the Zara story and rest in peace. Zara man, you're just a little angel flying up there and I hope you appreciate us trying to bring awareness and maybe us talking can save another child If you see something fucking say something, man hey, we love you here at 69 South.
Speaker 1:We support you, so support us and help us keep the lights on the studio. If you want to support us, if you can, that's fine. If you do go to, wwwpatreoncom forward slash 69 south. Until then, next week, man, we can't wait to bring another episode. We're so glad we got the shit fixed in the studio. Have a good day, Good evening, whatever, bye.
