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Man convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend in bank drive-thru

The woman had broken off their "tumultuous" on-again, off-again relationship five days before she was murdered.
Credit: Sarasota Sheriff's Office
William Tollard

VENICE, Fla. — A Sarasota County man was convicted of the 2020 murder of his ex-girlfriend in a Venice bank teller drive-thru, according to the state attorney's office. 

William Tollard was convicted on Nov. 17 by a jury of first-degree premeditated murder in the death of 40-year-old Angela Zeigler. 

The murder happened on Oct. 5, 2020, in the drive-up teller line of what was then a BB&T bank on Pointe Loop Drive in Venice. According to the state attorney's office, Tollard pulled directly behind Zeigler in the drive-up teller line at the bank, trapping her Jeep between his truck and a work van directly in front of the teller window. 

Surveillance video captured what happened next on camera. 

Once Tollard parked behind Ziegler, he got out of his truck and walked up to Ziegler's driver's side. They talked for only a few moments before Tollard fired three close-range gunshots directly at Ziegler. He then walked around the Jeep to the passenger window's side and fired two more shots at her. 

Ziegler's Jeep drifted forward about 100 yards before crashing into a light pole.

RELATED: Man arrested for murder after shooting woman in drive-thru lane at Venice bank, deputies say

Tollard, still armed with a gun, walked back to his truck and drove it from the teller line to where Ziegler's Jeep had crashed. After parking next to her, he got back out and fired several more shots into the Jeep's front windshield before driving away. 

As he fired those final shots, witnesses reportedly heard Tollard scream "Who the **** do you think you are? You can't **** do this to me." 

Tollard was found and arrested a short distance away at Jacaranda Boulevard and Sklar Drive. Sarasota County deputies found a semi-automatic firearm, a magazine with eight rounds and a pair of binoculars on his truck's front passenger seat. 

According to investigators, Tollard and Zeigler had a "tumultuous on-again, off-again" relationship that spanned about 18 months before the 2020 shooting. 

Investigators said they learned Zeigler had broken off the relationship five days before the deadly shooting on Sept. 30, 2020. 

“The successful prosecution of this brutal murder was directly attributable to round-the-clock efforts by Detective Carlos Verdoni and his fellow SCSO detectives in the hours and days following Angela Zeigler’s death," Assistant State Attorney Karen Fraivillig said in a statement. "After downloading the defendant’s phone records, detectives uncovered overwhelming evidence of Tollard’s guilt, including dozens of manipulative text messages to the victim, her estranged husband, and other members of her family. The evidence established Tollard’s determination to seek revenge for being spurned by Angela Zeigler. This is a case of a man who would not take no for an answer …. a classic and ultimately tragic replaying of “If I can’t have her, no one can.”

Tollard will be sentenced to life in prison, which is mandatory for this case, the state attorney's office said. His official sentencing date hasn't been set yet. 

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