SIOUX CITY — A Sioux City man has been formally charged with first-degree murder for fatally shooting his girlfriend.
Woodbury County Attorney James Loomis on Monday filed a trial information charging Austyn Self with first-degree murder and three counts of child endangerment.
Self's arraignment is scheduled for Feb. 3 in Woodbury County District Court. He is being held in the Woodbury County Jail on a $1 million bond.
Self, 23, is accused of shooting 31-year-old Sarah Zoelle on Jan. 14 at 3319 Nebraska St.
Loomis' filing gave no details of the shooting, instead citing Iowa code that Self "... with malice aforethought, willfully, deliberately and with premeditation killed another person ..."
Police were dispatched to the Nebraska Street address at 9:41 p.m. for a reported domestic disturbance after Zoelle called 911 pleading for help. According to court documents, Zoelle told a 911 dispatcher Self was pointing a gun at her, and while she was on the phone, the dispatcher heard a sound that sounded like a gunshot.
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Self then picked up the phone and said to the dispatcher, "I shot her," court documents said.
When they arrived at the scene, police officers found Zoelle with a single gunshot wound to her abdomen and still holding a 6-month-old child in her arms. A 4-year-old and a 5-year-old were also in the house.
Zoelle was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
The shooting was the first homicide of 2023 in Sioux City. If found guilty of first-degree murder, Self would face a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole. Child endangerment is a Class D felony that carries a five-year prison sentence.
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Nick Hytrek
Court Reporter
Hytrek has been at the Journal since 1998, covering courts for much of that time. He is a Nebraska native and University of Nebraska-Lincoln graduate.
