Jury Convicts Man Of Torturing SFSU Student To Death

OAKLAND, CA — A man has been convicted of second-degree murder for the "brutal" killing of a beloved Bay Area student and artist in Oakland more than two years ago, prosecutors said.

A jury found Victor Frieson guilty of killing 25-year-old Zoe Nika Reidy Watts in Oakland on March 1, 2024, the Alameda County District Attorney's Office said Tuesday.

Jurors also found Frieson guilty of torture and corporal injury to a spouse with great bodily injury.

"Today's verdict delivers justice for Zoe, whose life was taken in an act of extraordinary violence," District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson said in a statement. "While no verdict can restore what her family, friends, and the Bay Area artistic community have lost, we hope today's decision provides a measure of accountability and peace."

Frieson is due back in court on Sept. 17 for sentencing, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors say Frieson and Watts had been in an on-again, off-again relationship for less than a year. During that time, police responded to two domestic violence incidents involving the pair, according to authorities.

Frieson beat Watts inside his Oakland apartment on March 1, 2024, prosecutors said. He inflicted so much damage on Watts during the assault that she suffered "catastrophic injuries that resulted in her death," prosecutors said.

Frieson was arrested and charged in connection with Watts' death soon after, pleading not guilty to the charges, according to the Golden Gate Express, the student-run newspaper at San Francisco State University.

Watts was an artist and student at SFSU, who prosecutors say had a future "filled with promise."