Oakland man found guilty in 2024 murder, torture of Bay Area artist

A jury convicted an Oakland man in the 2024 torture and murder of a Bay Area artist, Alameda County District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson announced Tuesday.

Victor Frieson, 30, was found guilty of second-degree murder, torture, and corporal injury to a spouse with great bodily injury for the March 2024 murder of 25-year-old Zoe Nika Reidy Watts, a multidisciplinary artist, poet, and San Francisco State University graduate.

Frieson attacked Reidy Watts inside his Oakland apartment, inflicting what the DA's Office called "catastrophic injuries that resulted in her death." Evidence presented throughout the case showed that Reidy Watts and Frieson had been in an on-again, off-again relationship for less than one year. 

During that time, Reidy Watts was the victim of two reported domestic violence incidents - one in San Francisco and one in Oakland, the DA's Office said.

"Today's verdict delivers justice for Zoe, whose life was taken in an act of extraordinary violence. She was a talented artist, a dedicated student, and a young woman whose future was filled with promise," said Jones Dickson.  

Along with her other creative endeavors, Reidy Watts, also known as Nika Killa Watts, was a resident artist at Clayroom SF, a ceramics studio with locations in San Francisco, Oakland and San Mateo. 

In a post on its Instagram page, the studio said Reidy Watts "enriched our studion with curiosity, tenderness, and rich enthusiasm for her art and the people around her." The studios said Watts's ceramic work, large abstract pieces resembling amoebic structures, was inspired by "the ethereal and healing energy of nature."

Frieson's sentencing was set for September 17.