Byrom Zuniga Sanchez, a California man, was charged in a federal court today for threatening to kill an Orange County judge who presided over a family law dispute involving his son. The case was first highlighted by the Court Watch newsletter.
According to the charging document, that family court case ended in 2021.
“You’re already dead. The remainder of my life will be dedicated to assassinating judges, attorneys, and a police station’s entire shift staff,” Zuniga allegedly wrote in one email.
“I am more committed to murdering you than I am to being present as a father,” he allegedly wrote in another email.
The FBI agent who wrote the document said that he was able to identify Zuniga as the author of the emails because he signed the emails with his full name, and because he cross posted some of the emails to his Instagram account.
Zuniga also posted threats on that account in the past 24 hours.
“Sometimes people have to die. This is kidnapping me. Return my son or I will rifle your people in the streets starting at the checkpoint,” Zuniga allegedly said in one story where he accused the mother of his child and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department of abusing his son. “These people tried to kill me for exposing them,” he allegedly wrote. “Off-duty deputies acting as gangs broke into my home multiple times. These individuals tried to kill me on numerous instances to hide deeply corrupt government.”
Zugina’s bio includes a link to a nearly hour-long video where he details his grievances.
“TLDR,” he allegedly wrote in another story around 1 in the morning on the 5th, “you return my son, or I kill you with and thru any group willing to align, despite their intentions and motives. The clock already started. You don’t have days. I’m not filing shit.”
According to the document, Zugina was arrested in May 2022 after violating a domestic violence court order. Orange County Sheriff’s Department deputies chased him to a business, where he was cornered before surrendering after hours of negotiation.
In Feb and March 2021, Zuniga showed up at the Orange County District Attorney’s office three times, where he “made a scene of dancing and singing erratically,” according to the charging document. In October of the same year, he allegedly went to the Orange County District Attorney’s home and asked if they were home. “Tell him Byrom stopped by,” Zuniga said.
On Monday, Meta told the FBI agent who wrote the document that the “byromzuniga” account was associated with somebody called Byrom Zuniga who was operating the account from a Mexico-based IP address.
According to the agent, he also reviewed a Facebook account associated with Zuniga, which had photographs indicating his location in Mexico in early June.
Based on these photographs and other communications posted by the “byromzuniga” account, the agent concluded that Zuniga was likely in Mexico as of October 2nd.