Palmer man jailed for allegedly raping woman

PALMER — A Palmer man is in jail after Alaska State Troopers allege he raped a 21-year-old woman.

According to an affidavit investigator Curtis Vik filed in the case against Zebulon Whisler, 24, troopers got wind of the case on Friday, when they received a call that the woman had been raped and was on her way to the hospital.

At the hospital they talked to the woman and her mother.

The woman said she’d gone on a date with Whisler that evening. He picked her up in a red Ford Ranger pickup and took her to Lazy Mountain to stargaze.

While parked, viewing the stars, Whisler started trying to have sex with the woman. She said “no” and asked him to stop but he wouldn’t, according to the AST report. At some point she hurt him, stopping his advances for a moment, but Whisler continued on.

The woman told troopers, “she was scared because Zebulon was so big,” and that “she stopped fighting,” according to Vik’s affidavit.

Vik writes a comparison between Whisler’s size and that of the woman — Whisler is 6 feet 8 inches tall and weighs 240 pounds. The woman is 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighs 150 pounds.

That evening, troopers showed the woman a photo-lineup from which she picked out Whisler as the man who allegedly raped her.

Later that day troopers arrested Whisler at North Bowl where he works as a cook. They jailed him at the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility on one count each of first- and second-degree sexual assault.