A personal trainer who was found stabbed to death in his Harlem apartment last week had reportedly made a frantic phone call to his father, warning that his fitness model husband was “coming after him.”
Donald Zieben-Hood, a 40-year-old fitness model, was arrested on a burglary charge after his husband, Jacob Zieben-Hood, 34, was found dead on the toilet Friday, having suffered multiple stab wounds. Neighbors and court documents revealed a tumultuous relationship between the couple— both of whom were models and social media influencers — marked by accusations of domestic abuse. Jacob had previously made allegations that Donald tried to choke him and threatened to kill him with a knife.
Killed His Husband
Jacob Zieben-Hood, a medical student, phoned his father the night before his death, saying that his husband was “coming after him” and stopping him from leaving their apartment on 138th Street, according to the New York Daily News.
“The victim’s father heard the defendant’s voice in the background screaming at the victim and calling him derogatory names,” the prosecution said.
When cops arrived, they found Jacob “slumped over on the floor covered in blood with gashes from his head and multiple stab wounds to the back of his leg, including a stabbing on the back of his calf that penetrated his muscle,” the prosecution claimed at his arraignment on Sunday, according to the news outlet.
Police, who are treating the case as a homicide, said that one of the stab wounds cut an artery, leading to Jacob’s death from blood loss.
Donald Zieben-Hood, who had multiple lacerations on his arms that needed stitches, reportedly told police he had gotten into a knife fight with Jacob in their apartment the night before.
He claimed that after the fight, he fell asleep and awoke around 4 a.m. to found Jacob dead.
According to prosecutors and neighbors, the couple had been locked in ongoing conflicts for several months. “They fought all the time, I would hear it,” Craig Wesley, 44, a neighbor in their building, told The Post on Monday.
Months-Long Conflict Between the Two
Prosecutors said that Donald showed “demonstrated an escalating pattern of violence toward his husband in defiance of multiple public court orders, culminating in his husband’s death,” according to the Daily News
Records suggest he was arrested earlier in 2024, which resulted in a protective order.
In February, Donald was arrested again for allegedly choking Jacob during a dispute in their Harlem apartment.
Despite prosecutors requesting a $20,000 bail, the judge set Donald Zieben-Hood’s bail at $5,000, according to court documents.
Court records reveal that the model was arrested once gain on June 14 after allegedly threatening Jacob Zieben-Hood with a kitchen knife and saying, “I will attack you.”
Donald was charged with violating the protection order and was granted $5,000 bail — once again falling short of the $30,000 prosecutors had requested.
When police arrived at the scene of the most recent and deadly incident, Zieben-Hood reportedly admitted to once again violating the restraining order. “I had an order of protection placed against me. I’m getting arrested, right?” he asked the dispatcher, prosecutors said at his arraignment Sunday night, according to the Daily News.
Zieben-Hood is facing charges of first-degree burglary, possession of a weapon, and aggravated criminal contempt.
A judge ordered him held without bail, and the case is currently being treated as a homicide investigation.
