Zuzu Verk murder trial begins

ALPINE, LOCKHART – Testimony begins Tuesday, April 29, in the trial of Robert Fabian, who is charged with the first-degree murder of Sul Ross student Zuzu Verk. The court will convene in Lockhart, Texas, and Fabian will face a jury there rather than Brewster County, after the Alpine man was granted a change of venue in October 2017.

Fabian was charged with murder over two years ago, in March 2017, after the body of Verk was discovered in the Sunny Glen subdivision outside of Alpine that February. The young woman had been missing since October 2016. The charges were brought against Fabian after Verk’s body was discovered by authorities, wrapped in plastic sheeting, believed to be the same material Fabian purchased with Chris Estrada’s credit card at an Alpine store the night after Verk was last seen alive.

In conjunction, Estrada, a friend of Fabian’s, pleaded “no contest” in April 2018 to tampering with evidence in Verk’s death, and was found guilty by Judge Roy Ferguson. Estrada will finally be sentenced at the conclusion of Fabian’s case.

According to the Caldwell County Court Coordinator, a jury will be selected on Monday, and testimonies begin Tuesday.