Is this true or false?

Question

The fitness model influencer arrested after his personal trainer husband was found stabbed to death inside a New York City apartment was indicted on burglary and assault charges — but wasn’t charged for his hubby’s homicide as the investigation remains ongoing, Manhattan prosecutors said in court Wednesday.

Influencer Donald Zibenhood, 40, was arraigned on a slew of other charges — including burglary, assault, criminal possession of a weapon and criminal contempt — as prosecutors revealed they are still investigating the death of his 34-year-old husband, Jacob.

Answer 1

Think of this as your investigation log. Answer each question to explain what you discovered and how you got there.

After searching up Donald Zibenhood on Google, I found only a couple of articles that are written about his arrest. All of which include the fact he was not arrested with murder charges, but rather charged with burglary and assault related crimes. In the article written by the New York Post, the Manhattan Assistant District Attorney, Samantha LiTrenta, confirms that this investigation is still ongoing and that since the cause of death is yet to be determined, Zibenhood has yet to be faced with homicide charges. On the other hand, Zibenhood does confirm to police that he and his late husband were involved in a knife fight with one another, which definitely raises suspicion about the death. This article was written by Kyle Schnitzer, who on his LinkedIn says that he has written previously for New York Post and Ladders, where stories about crime have been one of his areas of focus. When I did some more searching for attention to this case, I came across an Instagram post by Robbie Harvey.. Harvey has a large following of around 759k and is known for posting videos/content about crime, regardless of the amount of media attention the case previously has gotten. Harvey also goes on to quote LiTrenta, as well as Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg. I didn't find any bias in these pieces of evidence, and therefore would say this claim is true.

Comments

Where did you read about the knife fight Zibenhood had with his husband, because I think that is a crucial piece of information? I think if you dove deeper into that particular detail it would provide a lot of clarity to if Zibenhood is guilty of not. I think that it doesn't only raise suspicion, it could be an admission of guilt that needs to be further researched. Overall, I think you found a lot of good information, but you just need to dive deeper into some facts.

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@alyseater, it's best to find legitmate sources besides Instagram. Such as https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/model-indicted-assault-charges-husband-found-dead-nyc-home-rcna234993

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I enjoy your response to this claim, and appreciate the depth that you went into to create the background information necessary to confirm the claim. I do, however, believe that you could and should have added sources for many of the claims that you made while fact-checking. This includes the source to the knife fight, which you said was written by Kyle Schnitzer but did not link that in the answer. I do still appreciate your answer and think that you looked around and thought outside of the box to verify the original claim.

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Your response has many details from many different sources and well written. I think that this claim is missing most of its sources. For example you are mentioning the New York Post as a source but the main question to this thread is whether the  New York Post is credible in the first place.  I think you have summarized the article well but I don't think you were able to prove if this is true or false.

Answer 2

My overall findings after searching news sources were that Jacob Ziben-Hood was indeed found stabbed to death, however he has not been charged with the homicide. However, investigators have confirmed that on July 31st, a call was made from Jacob to his father stating that Donald was "beating him and cutting him with a knife". When Donald called the police at 4 am, telling the officers that he found Jacob dead, he was immediately arrested at the scene. He is still currently in custody, and a verdict still has not been reached since this case is fairly new -- August 1st. 

While he has not yet been convicted of the murder of his husband, Donald has in fact been indicted on three criminal charges: " two counts of Burglary in the First Degree, two counts of Burglary in the Second Degree, one count of Assault in the Second Degree, two counts of Aggravated Criminal Contempt, eight counts of Criminal Contempt in the First Degree, and one count of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Fourth Degree" (though these are only allegations for the time being). On February 25, 2025, Donald was arrested after assaulting Jacob, after violating a restraining order, and was issued to stay away from Jacob's place of employment and home. On June 14, 2025, Donald threatened to kill Jacob with a knife, violating his court order to stay away, and refused to open his door to police, eventually ending in another arrest and another restraining order. And finally, on July 31, 2025, Jacob has called his father in concern for his life, as well as sending his father pictures of small cuts and wounds on his head, later sending a photo of a massive gash on his head bleeding, claiming Donald had attacked him. That was the last time that Jacob was heard of. So while Donald has not yet been convicted of the murder of his husband, Donald stands as the prime suspect in Jacob's murder.

The primary source that I found was from The Manhattan District Attorney's Office, D.A. Bragg Announces Indictment Of Donald Ziebenhood – Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, which provided me with the specific previous charges that are confirmed from police reports, including the violations and prior threats of violence. The secondary source that I found in relation to my research were posts on the UK Daily Mail, Fitness model stabbed and left to die on toilet seat after calling dad and warning husband was 'coming after him' | Daily Mail Online, and I learned that Jacob had called his father scared for his safety from this source, as well as very basic overview. The Manhattan District Attorney's Office does not have any particular bias considering it is an official police report, however the daily mail might have some bias and put out a headline that is exaggerated or grabs the reader's attention. The evidence that supports this claim Donald did indeed murder his husband is the multiple previous violated restraining orders and threats within the past year. The evidence that could undermine this claim are the mountains of headlines from biased news sources or ".com" websites that do not have reliable information, making it hard to find the official police report, as well as Donald has not been proven to be the killer of Jacob.

Answer 3

I was able to find an NBC article about the same news in detail. In the NBC news article it mentioned how the prosecutors has not charged anyone connected to the murder case of Jacob Zieben-Hood. It also mentioned about the previous crimes Donald has been convicted of. “escalated his threatening conduct towards his husband in multiple acts of intimate partner violence over the course of a year,” Donald Zieben-Hood said in the NBC article. Donald has been charged with two counts of first and one count of second degree burglary, with multiple criminal contempt charges. This domestic violence has been reported since last February, and the court ruled them both to no contact with each other. Donald was again arrested in June since he threatened Jacob saying "I will attack you." 

On the NBC article it also mentioned a quote from the Manhattan police “dead in the bathroom, slumped over on the toilet with cuts and stab wounds to the back of his leg and a head wound." I looked into this quote and was able to find a report from the Manhattan DA office with the exact quote written in the document. 

NBC is a reliable source since it follows journalistic standards when published. In conclusion I think this claim is true.