Trial starts for man who propped dead wife on sofa with sunglasses while kids opened Christmas presents nearby

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Nearly ten years after 26-year-old Za’Zell Preston’s dreams of becoming a domestic-violence counselor ended when she was murdered on Christmas Eve, 2011, the trial against her husband, William Wallace, now 39, began this week. 

Officials at the time referred to the homicide as a “sickening and brutal” case of a man who murdered his wife sometime on Christmas Eve, before propping her body up on a couch the next morning, placing sunglasses over her eyes, and having the couple’s unsuspecting children open their presents within feet of their dead mother.

To make matters even more “twisted and horrifying” according to officials, while the children opened their presents, Wallace – who had already served jail time for an earlier domestic violence conviction – told the children, “Mommy ruined Christmas, she got drunk and ruined Christmas.”

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In her opening statements, Senior Deputy District Attorney Heather Brown addressed the jurors, telling them, “This Christmas story does not have a happy ending, and unfortunately this is not just a story, it is real life,” The Orange County Register has reported.

Brown went on to describe an ongoing violent relationship, telling jurors that Preston’s relatives told investigators that Wallace had a pattern of physical and emotional abuse, was extremely controlling, and had allegedly threatened to kill Preston on several different occasions.

She also described one violent incident where a relative once found Preston, who was pregnant at the time, lying in the fetal position in the middle of the street after a violent beating at Wallace’s hands.

William Wallace, now 39, stands accused of murdering his wife on Christmas Eve, before propping her dead body up on a sofa the next morning, placing sunglasses on her face, and then having the couple’s unsuspecting children open their Christmas presents within feet of their dead mother. O.C. Jail booking photo

According to Brown, on the night of Preston’s violent murder, She and Wallace had attended a neighbor’s Christmas Eve party, before returning home to their three children, a newborn son and Preston’s daughters, who were three and eight at the time.

Brown went on to describe how on the night of the murder one neighbor heard the couple arguing, while another neighbor later reported seeing Wallace pick up and carry back to his apartment what appeared to be a body near one of the gates at the apartment complex where the couple resided.

Brown also described how Wallace later admitted to family members to having “tossed her around a bit” while drinking and arguing with Preston after the party.

Wallace also allegedly admitted that at one point Preston tried to flee the couple’s apartment, but said he caught her and dragged her back into the apartment, according to Brown, who said Preston died sometime later that night.

Brown told jurors that on Christmas morning, Wallace dragged his wife’s lifeless body from the bedroom to the living room couch. He then sat her down and propped her up and put sunglasses on her. When the children later woke up, he had them open their Christmas presents just a short distance from their dead mother.

When Preston’s daughters asked why their mom was not interacting with them or joining in on the Christmas morning festivities, Brown said Wallace allegedly told them, “Mommy ruined Christmas, she got drunk and ruined Christmas.”

Police and paramedics who later responded to the scene found Preston’s body slumped over on the couch and soon discovered blood and other evidence of a violent struggle throughout the apartment, including a shattered glass table as well as holes punched in walls and a door that was torn completely off its hinges.

Although Wallace later claimed he was innocent, telling several people that his wife had possibly suffered a concussion after falling and hitting her head the previous night, and had not woken up, the prosecution also pointed out to jurors that in a recorded jail phone call after Preston’s death, he told one of his in-laws he was “on my way to the penitentiary.” 

Wallace also told family members that he expected Preston to live after the deadly beating, “like she always did.”

During opening arguments, jurors learned that just a few months before her tragic death the victim, 26-year-old Za’Zell Preston, had enrolled in college courses to become a domestic abuse counselor. Preston family photo

Wallace’s defense maintains Preston’s death was an accident and the accused man’s defense attorney Heather Moorhead told a different story, saying that one of Preston’s daughters told officials her mother had gotten drunk and fell through a glass table.

“Mr. Wallace is being accused of something that is not his fault,”Moorhead asserted in her opening arguments; adding, “You will hear about a relationship that was full of arguing and yelling, but also a lot of love.”

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Moorhead went on to describe how on that Christmas Eve the eight-year-old daughter said she saw her mother and Wallace arguing near each other when her mom tripped and fell into a glass table inside the apartment, shattering it.

She described helping to pull glass shards out of her mother’s body and helped clean her wounds before Wallace carried her off to the bathtub. However, she also described that while being carried by Wallace toward the bathroom, she heard her mother’s head strike something along the way.

On a tragic side note, jurors also learned that just months before her brutal death, Preston had enrolled in classes at Cypress College, where she wanted to learn to become a domestic-violence counselor.

Wallace faces up to 25 years to life in prison, if convicted of first-degree murder. He remains in custody in lieu of $1 million bail or bond.

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Trevor Montgomery, 49, moved in 2017 to the Intermountain area of Shasta County from Riverside County and runs Riverside County News Source (RCNS) and Shasta County News Source (SCNS).

Additionally, he writes or has written for several other news organizations; including Riverside County-based newspapers Valley News, Valley Chronicle, Anza Valley Outlook, and Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle; the Bonsall/Fallbrook Village News in San Diego County; and Mountain Echo in Shasta County. He is also a regular contributor to Thin Blue Line TV and Law Enforcement News Network and has had his stories featured on news stations throughout the Southern California and North State regions.

Trevor spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg, breaking his back, and suffering both spinal cord and brain injuries in an off-duty accident. (Click here to see segment of Discovery Channel documentary of Trevor’s accident.)

During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations; including Robert Presley Detention Center, Southwest Station in Temecula, Hemet/Valle Vista Station, Ben Clark Public Safety Training Center, and Lake Elsinore Station; along with other locations.

Trevor’s assignments included Corrections, Patrol, DUI Enforcement, Boat and Personal Water-Craft based Lake Patrol, Off-Road Vehicle Enforcement, Problem Oriented Policing Team, and Personnel/Background Investigations. He finished his career while working as a Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Investigator and was a court-designated expert in child abuse and child sex-related crimes.

Trevor has been married for more than 30 years and was a foster parent to more than 60 children over 13 years. He is now an adoptive parent and his “fluid family” includes 13 children and 18 grandchildren.