An Alameda County jury convicted a man of torturing and killing his girlfriend in Oakland in 2024, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Victor Tyrone Frieson III was convicted of second-degree murder, torture and other charges in connection with the death of Zoe Nika Reidy Watts, an artist.
The two had been in an on-and-off relationship for less than a year, during which Watts suffered from two domestic violence incidents from Frieson, the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
He assaulted Reidy Watts in his apartment March 1, 2024, which resulted in her death.
Reidy Watts was a musician and artist – her YouTube channel is full of her songs and poetry. At the time of her murder, she was an artist in residence at Clayroom in San Francisco, where her large, abstract ceramic sculptures resembled amoebic structures, according to an Instagram post from the studio. She graduated from San Francisco State University.
“Today’s verdict delivers justice for Zoe, whose life was taken in an act of extraordinary violence,” said Alameda County District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson in a statement. “She was a talented artist, a dedicated student, and a young woman whose future was filled with promise.”
Frieson is set to be sentenced Sept. 17 in the Alameda County Superior Court.
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This article originally published at Oakland man found guilty for torturing girlfriend, Oakland artist Zoe Nika Reidy Watts, to death.