William Zulock, 34, and Zachary Zulock, 36, a couple from Georgia, have been sentenced to 100 years in prison without the possibility of parole for committing horrific s*xual offenses against their adopted sons, as stated by the Walton County District Attorney’s office.
The victims, now aged 12 and 10, were adopted through a Christian organization that caters to special-needs children. The couple presented an image of a loving family while living in an affluent suburb of Atlanta. Zachary worked in banking, and William had a government job, projecting a façade of normalcy.
However, behind closed doors, the couple subjected the boys to ongoing s*xual abuse, compelling them to perform s*xual acts and recording these incidents to produce child pornography. The abuse reportedly began when the children were just three and five years old.
Evidence suggests that Zachary boasted about the abuse to friends, with one friend informing police that Zachary sent a Snapchat message reading, “I’m going to f**k my son tonight. Stand by,” along with images depicting the abuse.
The couple allegedly exploited social media to connect with at least two other individuals involved in a local abuse network.
When authorities first searched their upscale residence, they examined two weeks’ worth of interior surveillance footage, which revealed incidents of abuse occurring throughout the home.
The couple was arrested in 2022 after a suspected member of the abuse ring was caught downloading child pornography and disclosed to investigators that the Zulocks were filming s*xual acts involving young boys living with them.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children alerted authorities about suspicious material uploaded to a Google account linked to a Walton County address. A subsequent search yielded over seven terabytes of digital evidence, including surveillance footage, mobile data, and graphic images, videos, and text messages related to the abuse.
During their questioning, both William and Zachary admitted to years of abuse against their sons, whom they adopted in 2018 through a Christian agency that has since closed.
Both men pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including aggravated child molestation, aggravated sodomy, and s*xual exploitation of children. District Attorney Randy McGinley expressed the severity of their crimes, stating, “These two defendants truly created a house of horrors and prioritized their dark desires above everything and everyone else.”
He added, “However, the depth of the defendants’ depravity is not greater than the resolve of those who fought for justice and the strength of the victims. The determination I have witnessed from these two young boys over the past two years is truly inspiring.”