While touting “family values” agenda, the Zieglers were on the “hunt” for threesome partners, police report reveals

While Republican power couple Christian and Bridget Ziegler publicly pushed for “family values” and backed an agenda widely viewed as anti-LGBTQ, they were secretly on the “hunt” for threesome lovers and had prior concerns the woman who alleged Christian sexually assaulted her was too “broken” to properly consent to their advances, newly released police reports from the now-closed rape investigation reveal. 

Among the startling evidence recovered from Christian’s cell phone, according to the report, was a list of women, including the alleged sexual assault victim’s name, with a one-word subheading: “Fuck.” 

Police recovered text messages between Christian, the now former chairman of the Florida GOP, and Bridget, a Sarasota County School Board member who cofounded the national group Moms for Liberty, regarding their previous relationship with the woman who alleged Christian raped her on Oct. 2. 

The report indicates that the couple first engaged in a three-way sexual encounter with the woman roughly three years ago, and it was on Feb. 19, 2021 that Christian texted his wife to “come home, stop, and pick up [the woman] to play again and be crazy,” according to the police report. 

Christian further wrote to his wife that the woman “was an alcoholic, nice person with some issues” but with “no drama,” which “turns him on.” 

Bridget was worried that the woman was “going through some shit,” and wrote that “she prefers confident empowered people,” according to the report. 

“I just don’t want to feel like we ever take advantage of anyone (I know it’s always been consensual) but she seems … ‘broken,’” Bridget wrote her husband in an eerily prophetic text. “I don’t know – that’s the vibe I pick up from her – and my nature is more likely to help her versus … ya know.”

Christian Ziegler concluded that the couple needed “to hunt for somebody new.”  

Two and a half years later, on Oct. 2, 2023, Christian would be accused by the woman of raping her while she was drunk on tequila and unable to consent. That day he had offered the woman a threesome involving Bridget, but then told her his wife couldn’t make it. The woman canceled, but Christian arrived at her apartment anyway. 

She later alleged he then raped her, while Christian told police he had consensual sex with her. Police have closed the rape investigation with no charges filed, while a separate video voyeurism case remains under review at the State Attorney’s Office concerning Christian’s recording of the sex act with the woman, allegedly without her knowledge. 

“Our review is active and ongoing,” State Attorney Ed Brodsky told the Trident. “We are working closely with the Sarasota Police Department and are unable to comment further at this time.”

Christian Ziegler met the woman years before at the Joyland nightclub in Bradenton, according to the newly released information from police. The woman told detectives Ziegler “had been sexually battering her for years, and she never felt like she could say no to him.” She also told detectives Ziegler had entered her house on a prior occasion by climbing through an unlocked window. 

Detectives recovered a Dec. 16, 2021 text message on Ziegler’s phone that appears to corroborate part of her story. “I can come thru window,” he wrote her at 11:24 p.m. 

The report also shed new light on the investigation in the days following the alleged rape. When detectives interviewed the victim, they noted the woman appeared as if she had been drinking and “observed a partially empty bottle of tequila sitting on her bar.” 

The manager of a nearby restaurant visited by the woman on the day of the incident told police she appeared to be intoxicated, “looked troubled and couldn’t walk very well.” 

After detectives interviewed Ziegler in early November, they discovered he performed numerous Google searches on his phone regarding sexual assault allegations, including, “What is the average settlement for a premises liability sexual assault case,” and, “How sex crimes are investigated and prosecuted in the state of Florida.” 

Christian, whom the woman said liked to communicate in Instagram “vanish mode,” also searched for “Can vanish mode messages be recovered on Instagram.” 

Christian also searched for “OnlyFans,” an internet subscription service featuring sex workers, followed by a search for “remove subscriptions from list.”

The controversy over the allegations led to his ouster from his chairmanship of the Republican Party of Florida. While Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis publicly called for Christian’s resignation, he’s been silent on Bridget Ziegler, whom he personally endorsed for school board and appointed to the state’s Walt Disney oversight committee, where she continues to sit.

She has pushed many DeSantis-backed measures in Sarasota schools that have been widely criticized as discriminatory to the LGBTQ community and also helped formulate Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill. 

While Bridget Ziegler vacated her position at the conservative non-profit Leadership Institute, where she trained conservative parents to run for school boards around the country, she remains on the school board, despite calls for her resignation by countless residents and all four of her colleagues on the board.

About the Author: Michael Barfield focuses on the enforcement of open government laws. He serves as an investigative reporter and FLCGA’s Director of Public Access. He regularly assists journalists across the country with collecting information and publishing news reports obtained from public records and other sources.