Posted By Travis Uresk | Aug. 29th, 2022 | Domestic Violence |
By Travis Uresk
August 29th, 2022
Vernal, Ut.- On 5/17/22, Chief Simper was dispatched by phone and was told Koby Ziegler broke into the victim's home and strangled her. Chief Simper called the victim by phone as requested by the victim, and she believed that Koby could still be inside the house.
The victim told Chief Simper that Ziegler broke into the home earlier that morning and strangled and pushed her, which caused her to fall and hit her head on the wall.
Chief Simper called for backup and staged an ambulance nearby, the victim permitted officers to enter the home, and other additional units arrived and set up a perimeter around the property.
Chief Simper entered the home with his K9, and multiple call-outs were given, stating that the police were there and the K9 was released to search the house. Officers then cleared the residence, and Koby was not found in the home or on the property.
As officers continued, the search Chief Simper interviewed the victim and told him that Koby had not been living there since February. Around 5 AM, the victim woke to Koby standing over her. They started arguing about his phone being shut off. The victim told Koby that he couldn't break into her home and convinced him to go outside. The victim dead bolted and locked the door and placed boards in the window to prevent Ziegler from getting into the home.
Later the victim went outside to take her children to school to find all four tires had been deflated. She then loaded her kids in the car, drove to the closest gas station to pump up her tires, drove her kids to school, then returned home.
Once returning home, she noticed one of the camper windows was broken out, and multiple totes on the property had been ransacked and thrown all over the lawn.
When the victim walked inside her home Koby was inside and broken inside her home again. Once inside, Koby started threatening to kill her; he charged toward her and placed both arms around her neck. This caused her to fall onto the bed. Koby then began to thrash her head up and down onto the mattress. The victim said, "I thought I was going to die, and I couldn't breathe." At this point, physically, she couldn't do anything to get Koby to stop beating her.
She told Chief Simper she couldn’t remember if she had lost consciousness or not. The victim kept telling Koby he could not be there and to stop stealing her things. Koby said the victim "he will do whatever the f**k he wants and if she calls the police, he will burn the house down while she was asleep."
Photographs were taken of the victim's injuries, and a person from the Victims Advocates office assisted with information and options to keep the victim and her family safe.
Chief Simper began to photograph the scene; when entering the home, he observed a male subject hiding between a shelf and the bed. Simper drew his service weapon and ordered him to show his hands and to stand up. The male subject was placed in handcuffs and searched. The male subject identified himself as Koby Ziegler.
Koby was transported to the Uintah County Jail for questioning and was willing to answer questions. Koby said he and the victim had not been living together since she found out he had a warrant out of Florida. Koby stated he was drinking the night before and struggled with his pain medication, and he ran out of his medication and drank the alcohol to help him sleep. Koby said his medication makes him “act out.”
Koby admitted to entering the home, but the door was unlocked, and the argument started over the victim shutting his phone off and he tried to take the victim's phone away from her. Ziegler also admitted to saying numerous disgusting things to the victim. But he didn't know how she got the red marks on her neck. Koby told Chief Simper the victim left home after the argument, and he got into the shower; the next thing he knew, the police were there.
Chief Simper asked Koby if he heard us calling out for him, and he said yes, I did but didn't want to be bitten by their police dog. Koby said he wasn't inside the home; he was outside hiding in the bushes.
Koby continued speaking for some time about how the police were the cause of his marital problems.
While in jail Kobe stole other inmates commissary and stole their pin numbers and made numerous phone calls. Details are on the last page of the indictment.
Koby Ziegler was booked on the charges below:
Indictment
Criminal & Traffic Records
