A Georgia couple will spend the rest of their lives in prison after sexually abusing two young boys they adopted.
William and Zachary Zulock of Walton County were sentenced to 100 years in prison without parole on Thursday after they both pled guilty to several charges related to sexually assaulting their adopted children.
“Those involved with the investigation and prosecution of this case will never forget what they had to see and hear in this case,” District Attorney Randy McGinley said in a statement. “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,” he added. “The resolve I have seen from these two young victims over the last two years is truly inspiring.”
The investigation began in July 2022, when police received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about suspected “homemade child sexual abuse material,” McGinley said in his statement. This led investigators to Hunter Lawless, a man who admitted to viewing this material and claimed he received it from Zachary, according to McGinley.
Lawless was sentenced to 20 years, with the first 12 to be served in prison, after pleading guilty to charges related to the material. He also cooperated with police as they investigated the Zulocks.
Officers then searched the Zulocks’ residence, and the couple admitted to sexually abusing their two boys, according to McGinley. In their search, police seized indoor surveillance cameras and their cell phones. This led them to discover footage of the Zulocks abusing the children.
The couple sent text messages and made posts about the abuse. Luis Vizcarro-Sanchez was one of the people receiving messages from Zachary about the abuse, McGinley said. He later pleaded guilty to Pandering for a Person Under 18
“This resolution will help the victims continue their process of healing,” McGinley said. “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.”
William pleaded guilty to six counts of aggravated sodomy; three counts of aggravated child molestation; two counts of incest; and two counts of sexual exploitation of children.
Zachary pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated sodomy; three counters of aggravated child molestation; two counts of sodomy; three counts of sexual exploitation of children; and two counts of pandering for a person under 18.
He pleaded not guilty to two counts of incest, but a judge found him guilty on those charges after a brief bench trial earlier this year.
