OAKLAND — A surveillance camera positioned outside apartment number four at 185 15th Street captured Zoe Reidy-Watts’ last known act — a final attempt to escape a violent death.
The haunting footage, described in court filings, depicts the seriously injured 25-year-old artist lying near the front door, “barely moving” but still alive. A few moments later, a naked man, identified as 29-year-old Victor “Frito” Frieson III, emerges from the unit and drags her back inside. It was about 12:30 a.m. on March 1, 2024.
Six hours later, police were called to the apartment for a report of a suspicious death; the officer who responded placed Frieson in handcuffs almost immediately, and prosecutors charged him with murder after a cursory view of the evidence. The footage, obtained by police days later, has now been cited by the Alameda County District Attorney to justify a new, additional charge before his trial begins next year: torture.
Reidy-Watts, a San Francisco State University alumnus, was a visual artist and poet with an extensive resume that included numerous performances and exhibit work, time as an arts instructor and a clothing designer. Frieson’s neighbor testified at the December 2024 preliminary hearing that Frieson introduced her as his girlfriend, and that the two had a “normal” but sometimes volatile relationship that included Frieson remarking he would “beat her (expletive)” over about $10 of marijuana.
“I was trying to console him and say, ‘Hey, let that go. Humble yourself. It’s only weed. You know, it’s not worth all of that,’ ” Frieson’s neighbor testified. “And he said, ‘You know what, Green? You’re right.’ ”
Frieson, a sex offender who had failed to register for nearly two years before his arrest in this case, had been accused of sexual assault and domestic violence by Reidy-Watts before, according to authorities. They’d broken up and re-ignited their relationship, witnesses testified at the hearing. Hours before Reidy-Watts was killed, the two went to San Francisco for a meal, then returned back to their Lake Merritt-adjacent apartment on BART, authorities said.
Surveillance footage outside their apartment shows them going inside a little before 11 p.m. They were the only known occupants, and Reidy-Watts appears alert and healthy on the footage, according to court records. Less than two hours later, she was near death, unable to walk, but still mustered enough strength to get herself out of the apartment before Frieson allegedly yanked her back in.
In the video, Frieson “grabbed her as if she wasn’t even a human being, and pulled her so far into that apartment that her body was twisting and flailing against the walls,” Deputy District Attorney Nick Homer argued at the hearing, later writing in court filings it showed Frieson derived “pleasure” from her suffering.
“It reflects a cold, calculated intent to inflict as much pain as possible. Ms. Watts was left to bleed internally for hours until she died,” Homer said, citing a pathologist’s determination she died from blunt force trauma and strangulation inflicted over a “substantial period of time.”
Frieson’s neighbor’s account is equally chilling. He was fast asleep the morning of March 1, 2024, but something told him to open his eyes. When he did, Frieson was standing there, inside the apartment, coming towards him. The neighbor said he was shocked and groggy, but later realized the lock to his front door had been busted open.
“So I jumped up and I’m like, ‘Bro what’s going on?’ ” he testified. Frieson said that he needed help and suggested Reidy-Watts. A pathologist testified her death wasn’t caused by drugs.
The neighbor followed Frieson into apartment number four. He said he remembers vividly the sight that greeted him.
“I’m still affected. She wasn’t with us. She was clearly dead,” he testified. Frieson abruptly pulled off a towel that covered her, displaying the extensive injuries.
“That’s when I asked him directly, ‘Bro, what is all these bruises on her body?’ ” the neighbor testified. Frieson responded with a claim that he’d picked Reidy-Watts up from San Francisco, where she’d been in a fight. The neighbor told Frieson “10-12 times” to call 911, he said.
Prosecutors say that rather than help her, Frieson spent the early morning of March 1 attempting to clean up the crime scene. Still, blood marks were found on the walls and floor of every part of the dwelling, they say.
During their interactions, Frieson’s demeanor never changed, his neighbor said on the stand.
“(Frieson) appeared real calm. I’m not gonna lie,” he testified.