Man sentenced to life without parole for murder of his wife:

Niki McKenzie

Yesterday, March 24, 2025, the sentencing hearing for Arrief McKenzie was held after his February 25, 2025 guilty plea to the murder of Niki McKenzie. The Court heard from numerous witnesses, including family members of the victim, former coworkers of the victim, a family member of the Defendant, and a psychologist on behalf of the Defendant. After a full day of testimony and argument, the Court sentenced Arrief McKenzie to life without parole plus 20 years.

In 2019, the Defendant pleaded guilty to family violence battery against his wife, Niki McKenzie. As part of the conditions of his sentence, the Defendant was to have no contact with Niki. Additionally, a court granted a temporary protective order, also ordering no contact. Due to this, the Defendant moved out of their Newton County home to a residence in Gwinnett County. During this time, the Defendant began to see another woman, Jillian Myles-Walters.

In the early morning hours of March 3, 2020, the Defendant went to Jillian’s townhouse apartment where she lived with her two young twin boys. The Defendant took a knife from Jillian’s kitchen and proceeded to stab and cut Jillian 7 times, leading to her death. The Defendant then fled the area and headed towards Niki’s residence.

When Niki raised the garage to head to work, the Defendant ambushed her. With the same knife that he used to kill Jillian, the Defendant stabbed and cut Niki 21 times. Family members in the house heard screams and called 911. The Newton County Sheriff’s Office quickly responded, arriving at the gruesome scene and finding Niki dead from her wounds. Based on the evidence collected and the statements given by family at the house, warrants were quickly obtained for the Defendant.

A short time later, the Defendant was stopped for suspicion of DUI in Dunwoody. During that stop, the Dunwoody Officer observed a large amount of blood on the Defendant’s clothes and his car. After removing some open beer bottles on his passenger seat, the officer found the knife that was used in both murders in the vehicle.

The case was prosecuted by District Attorney Randy McGinley, Chief Assistant District Attorney Amber Dally, Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney Bailey Wilkinson, Deputy Chief Investigator Jill Lumpkin, Chief Investigator Kelly Whire, Senior Victim Advocate Shay Payne, Victim Advocate Gabby Arredondo, Trial Assistant Ellen Bales, and Senior Legal Assistant Cindi Hendrix. The investigation was led by the Newton County Sheriff’s Office, the Gwinnett County Police Department, and the District Attorney’s Office with assistance from the Dunwoody Police Department, the GBI Crime Lab, and the Gwinnett County Medical Examiner’s Office. The victim’s family received services from A Child’s Voice.

The charges in Gwinnett are pending.

I first want to thank Niki’s family for their everlasting support of their loved one. She raised amazing children who will push forward and do great things. While this conclusion will not undo what happened, the sentence will provide some level of justice for the family. But it also sends a strong message to our community that crimes like this will lead to the most severe consequences. I also want to thank the hard work of multiple agencies working together to bringing justice to Niki’s family.

Randy McGinley

District Attorney

Alcovy Judicial Circuit

Two men who adopted two young boys and then sexually abused them sentenced to 100 years without parole:

On December 19, 2024, the sentencing hearing for Zachary and William Zulock was held before Judge Jeffrey L. Foster. Back on August 20, 2024, William Dale Zulock entered guilty pleas to the crimes listed below. Then on October 21, 2024, Zachary Jacoby Zulock entered guilty pleas to the crimes below except for the Incest charges. For those Counts, the Judge found him guilty after a brief bench trial on a purely legal issue. After those guilty pleas, the Court scheduled the sentencing hearing.

The Defendants were facing sentences for the following crimes:

William Zulock

William Zulock: 6 Counts of Aggravated Sodomy, 3 Counts of Aggravated Child Molestation, 2 Counts of Incest, and 2 Counts of Sexual Exploitation of Children.

Zachary Zulock

Zachary Zulock: 2 Counts of Aggravated Sodomy, 3 Counts of Aggravated Child Molestation, 2 Counts of Incest, 2 Counts of Sodomy, 3 Counts of Sexual Exploitation of Children, and 2 Counts of Pandering for a Person Under 18.

After hearing arguments from both the State and the defense, the Court essentially followed the State’s sentencing recommendation for both Defendants: 100 years in prison followed by life on probation. Because of the nature of the offenses, the Defendants will not be eligible for parole for the entire 100 years.

The case was prosecuted by District Attorney Randy McGinley, Senior Assistant District Attorney Lacey Majors, Victim Services Director Kim Kelly, Senior Legal Assistant Melanie Sims, as well as investigators Josh Chambers, Alicia Chandler, Eric Yarbrough, and Melindy White. The case was investigated by the Walton County Sheriff’s Office with assistance from the GBI, including their Cyber Crimes Center, Walton County DFCS, the Walton County District Attorney’s Office, and others.

On July 22, 2022, Walton County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO) was contacted by the GBI’s Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes Unit regarding a “Cyber Tip” they had received from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding suspected homemade child sexual abuse material (CSAM) that had been uploaded to a Google account with an IP address in Walton County. After further investigation, WCSO investigators executed a search warrant at that address. They met with Hunter Lawless who admitted to receiving and viewing CSAM. Lawless stated that he had received the pictures and videos from “Zach Zulock.” Lawless later pleaded guilty to Sexual Exploitation of Children and was sentenced to 20 years with the first 12 years in prison and agreed to fully cooperate in any prosecution of the Zulocks.

This led investigators to obtain a search warrant for the Walton County residence where both Zachary and William Zulock lived with the victims. Investigators learned that the Zulocks had adopted two young boys a few years before the search warrant was executed. Both Defendants were interviewed that night. They both admitted to sexually abusing both boys over a period of time.

Numerous pieces of electronic evidence were seized and submitted to the GBI. Surveillance cameras from inside the house contained video of approximately 14 days before the DVR was seized. This digital analysis took significant time to go through by the experts with the GBI since it contained over 7 terabytes of video. A thorough analysis found videos of multiple incidents of the Defendants committing sexual abuse in different parts of the house. Cell phones were analyzed which contained graphic images and videos of the abuse as well as graphic text and social media messages about the sexual abuse.

The information obtained from the cell phones led to evidence of a Luis Vizcarro-Sanchez receiving messages from Zachary Zulock about sexual abuse of one of the victims. Vizcarro-Sanchez later pleaded guilty to Pandering for a Person Under 18. At the same time, he pleaded guilty to numerous counts of Computer Theft in which he was stealing from his employer, the Loganville Kroger. He was sentenced to a total of 60 years with the first 15 years in prison along with a requirement that he testify in any proceeding or trial of the Zulocks.

“I am grateful for the hard work of so many to obtain an appropriate outcome in this case. The hard work of law enforcement put an end to the abuse suffered by the victims and this resolution will help the victims continue their process of healing. William and Zachary Zulock will now spend 100 years in prison without parole. This all but guarantees that the victims will not have to worry as they grow older about their abusers being free.

It cannot be stressed enough how important it is for our society to have individuals willing to adopt children in need. But anyone who does so and then abuses those children deserves extremely harsh consequences and decades in prison. The sentence imposed not only appropriately punishes these Defendants for their repeated selfish actions but also sends the message to the public that such actions will never be taken lightly.

Those involved with the investigation and prosecution of this case will never forget what they had to see and hear in this case. These two Defendants truly created a house of horrors and put their extremely dark desires above everything and everyone else. However, the depth of the Defendants’ depravity, which is as deep as it gets, is not greater than the resolve of those that fought for justice and the strength of the victims in this case. The resolve I have seen from these two young victims over the last two years is truly inspiring.”

Randy McGinley

District Attorney

Alcovy Judicial Circuit

Professionalism in the legal field

Earlier this month, District Attorney Randy McGinley had the honor to be a part of a panel on judicial professionalism. The Chief Justice's Commission on Professionalism put on this virtual continuing legal event that about 850 attendees.

In the past, the Commission has hosted panels of Judges as a "View From the Bench" discussion on professionalism from the eyes of judges. This panel, however, was from the other side. As the event advertised, "But what do lawyers want judges to consider when reflecting on judicial professionalism?"

The panel, which was moderated by Judge Kreuziger of the Griffin Judicial Circuit, consisted of prosecutors, criminal defense attorneys, and civil attorneys. All panel members have vast experience in litigating in courtrooms across Georgia. The panel had the opportunity to discuss and share our thoughts on subjects such as judicial temperament, promoting public confidence in the courts, and ex parte communications (or communications by a judge with just one side, which rules prohibit except in certain circumstances).

From District Attorney Randy McGinley: "We have the greatest court system in the world in our great country. That does not mean that we cannot all work towards making it better. Events like this put on by the Chief Justice's Commission on Professionalism help us strive for self reflection and self improvement. I am beyond honored to be a part of such a great group of lawyers on this panel. Lastly, thank you to my friends and fellow members of the bar that attended this virtual event and sent me screen shots!"