As blood gushed from a gaping gash on his leg, a fitness trainer and social media influencer found dead in his Harlem apartment was desperately calling his father to relay what was happening — even texting him a picture of what was likely the fatal knife wound.
Victim Jacob Zieben-Hood told his worried dad that the attacker — his estranged, violent husband — was coming at him with a knife and would not let him out of the apartment, according to prosecutors.
The father even heard the husband shouting vile insults at his son.
The new details about the horrific death of Jacob Zieben-Hood, 34, are the highlight of court documents which also lay out the timeline of events.
Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News
A 34-year-old man was pronounced dead on scene after he was found stabbed multiple times in the legs inside a fourth-floor apartment on W. 138th St. in Manhattan on Friday, Aug. 1, 2025. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News)
What they show, according to prosecutors, is that court orders and police intervention weren’t nearly enough to save the victim from a violent death in the Harlem home he once shared with his quick-tempered husband, a model.
“The victim’s father heard the defendant’s voice in the background screaming at the victim and calling him derogatory names,” an assistant Manhattan district attorney said in court Sunday night.
Hours later, the victim “was 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 prosecutor said.
Autopsy results will determine if the knife wounds that killed him were accidental, self-inflicted or the result of a homicide, officials said.
Meanwhile, the victim’s estranged husband, Donald Zieben-Hood, 40, was held without bail following an arraignment on burglary, criminal contempt and weapon possession charges after defying an order of protection directing him to stay clear of the Harlem apartment where cops found his husband dead on a toilet after a bloody clash between the two men.
According to a criminal complaint, Donald told cops that he and Jacob got into a fight Thursday evening around 7 p.m.
A short time after the fight began, Jacob sent a picture of the leg wound to his father. Donald, meanwhile, didn’t make the 911 call until almost nine hours later, according to police.
Donald Zieben-Hood walks the runway wearing ARI during the Seventh Annual Blue Jacket Fashion Show at Moonlight Studios on Feb. 1, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by JP Yim/Getty Images for Blue Jacket Fashion Show)
Cops said it was Donald who called police to the W. 138th St. apartment near Frederick Douglass Blvd. at 4 a.m. Friday, telling responding officers that Jacob had attacked him.
Donald did not mention any of the victim’s injuries, but said that he himself was “gashed wide open” and needed medical attention. He had three cuts to his arms that required stitches. The victim, meanwhile, was slumped over on the toilet, covered in blood, dead.
Prosecutors said an order of protection had barred Donald from being in the apartment or in contact with Jacob after at least two violent attacks in the past six months. It was among Donald’s first concerns when talking with authorities, police said.
“I have an order of protection placed against me,” Donald told a dispatcher during the 911 call. “I’m totally getting arrested, right?”
Police said they believe the leg wounds Jacob suffered cut an artery, and that the victim bled to death. Multiple knives were recovered from the apartment.
The charges could be upgraded to murder, officials said.
A 34-year-old man was pronounced dead on scene after he was found stabbed multiple times in the legs inside a fourth-floor apartment on W. 138th St. in Manhattan on Friday, Aug. 1, 2025. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News)
According to court records, the Thursday night into Friday morning clash wasn’t the first time Jacob had been attacked.
There were nine domestic violence reports documenting Donald’s pattern of violence against his husband, dating as far back as 2022, prosecutors said.
In March 2024, a neighbor called 911 after hearing the defendant and victim screaming.
Just this year alone, Donald was arrested twice for two alleged attacks on Jacob.
Donald was arrested earlier this year for two assaults against his husband in the Harlem apartment — one at 11:30 p.m. Feb. 26, and the other early the next day. He was accused of choking Jacob and then two hours later choking him again and hitting him in the face.
Jacob almost lost consciousness in the earlier incident and suffered swelling, pain and cuts to his face in the second assault, prosecutors say.
Donald Zieben-Hood walks the runway during the 8th Annual Blue Jacket Fashion Show in 2024 in New York City. (Photo by JP Yim/Getty Images for Blue Jacket Fashion Show)
Donald was hit with a slew of charges including assault, strangulation, harassment, criminal obstruction of breathing and contempt of court in that case and was freed on $20,000 bail.
At about 7:05 p.m. on June 14, Donald allegedly confronted Jacob outside their Harlem home with a knife and said, “I will attack you,” according to a criminal complaint. He was charged with menacing and contempt of court and released on $5,000 bail. Donald is due back in court Aug. 28 for those cases.
Michael Musto, a former Village Voice writer, described Donald as a slick go-getter who once worked at a Chelsea gay bar called Splash.
“He basically came off nice and the opposite of obnoxious,” Musto said. “But that was quite a few years ago.”
Originally Published: August 4, 2025 at 5:29 PM EDT