The Christmas Murder Of Za’Zell Preston
FacebookZa’Zell Preston and William Wallace had a newborn son together.
On Christmas morning in 2011, Za’Zell Preston’s children gathered around the tree in their Anaheim, California, home and found their mother slumped on the couch wearing sunglasses. Her husband, William Wallace, allegedly told the children that “Mommy” had gotten “drunk” and “ruined Christmas.”
In fact, Wallace had killed her the night before — and then propped her up on their couch to fool the children.
As the New York Post reported, Wallace and Preston attended a Christmas Eve party together on Dec. 24 before getting into an argument at home. Neighbors heard them shouting, and Wallace allegedly told one of Preston’s relatives “we were drinking and during the argument I tossed her around a bit.”
Orange County JailWilliam Wallace was later sentenced to 15 years in prison for killing Za’Zell Preston in 2011.
The next morning, Wallace brought Preston out of their bedroom and set her up on the couch as Preston’s two children opened presents. “Mommy ruined Christmas, she got drunk and ruined Christmas,” he allegedly told them.
Police were called to the house, where they found Preston dead and clear evidence that she and Wallace had a violent argument. According to the New York Post, investigators found blood throughout the apartment, holes punched into the walls, and a door that had been yanked off its hinges.
Though Wallace claimed that Preston had gotten drunk, tripped, and fallen onto a glass table, he was found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Preston’s mother, Saidell, accused him at his sentencing of not only beating and torturing Preston but also “mentally assassinating her children” by pretending she was still alive.
