Is Marilyn Stanley TikTok's 'Zombie woman'? She was scalped by partner in 2015
Back in May, a so-called Seattle “zombie woman” TikTok video caused a stir. The video was first shared by TikTok user SixTwentySeven, whose name is Ishea Brown Couch. The video went viral on May 8. Couch recorded the video of the “zombie woman” on May 6. The video had many people wondering who the so-called zombie woman was, with many speculating it was someone called Marilyn Stanley.
But was it? Stanley’s connection to the video seems both unlikely and farfetched. For one, she is not from Seattle. According to a 2017 Fox19Now report, northern Kentucky man Zachary Gross was sentenced to 21 years behind bars after being convicted of attacking and ripping his ex-girlfriend Marilyn Stanley's scalp off in 2015. He was found guilty of two counts of assault.
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After physically abusing Stanley for nearly an hour, Gross reportedly urged his dog to attack the woman after she refused to drop a knife she had picked up in self-defense. The dog tore off part of Stanley's ear and scalp. After the incident, Gross reportedly forced Stanley to look at herself in the mirror, ridiculing her appearance. “Look at you, you're bald. Now nobody's going to want you. Go look at yourself in the mirror,” he said.
With a portion of her scalp in a plastic bag, Gross drove Stanley to her mother's home and dropped her off in the front yard. As per medical professionals who treated her, 80 percent of Stanley's scalp was completely detached from her head. “I gagged in shock, realizing that what I thought had been clumps of hair in the bag was actually my skin with hair attached,” she told the Sun in 2021. “Zachary had scalped me, like something from an old cowboy movie. And he’d done it with my own knife.”
Stanley was permanently scarred both mentally and physically by this ordeal. “Sadly though, I don’t recognize the old me in photos before Zachary’s attack,” she told the Sun in April 2021. There is no mention of Stanley being in Seattle in the tabloid report that was published on April 27, nine days before the “zombie woman” video was captured.
Back when it went viral, Heavy.com reported that Couch, who shot the video, later posted an update about “the woman who was outside [her] window.” She said in the TikTok update that “Living in a city like Seattle, is it not uncommon for people to not have the resources to properly care for their mental health, their housing, for their addiction, and so, unfortunately, it’s not abnormal to hear someone screaming like that in the middle of the day. When I looked out my window and I saw her face, I was truly shook and a little bit scared, because I’ve never seen someone look like that.”
Addiction, especially methamphetamine abuse, is a problem in Seattle (as in many parts of the US). Addiction Center noted, “In 2016, opioid-related deaths hit a record high in King’s County, where Seattle is located, with the largest concentration happening in Seattle. Of the 332 deaths from overdose, two-thirds were from opioids.”
The report also said, “Methamphetamines, or meth, have become a popular stimulant in the Northwest, in particular with the homeless population. Living in a cold, damp environment can make it hard to wake up, go out, and accomplish something. When your whole life is spent living outside, it becomes even harder. The homeless of Seattle often need something to keep them going. Many of them turn to meth to cope.”
While it is altogether possible that the video showed an addict in need of help and rehabilitation, there just might be another explanation. Back in May, a Twitter user said in response to inquiries about the so-called zombie woman: “I was trying to figure out what it is too, and a lot of people are pointing out it might be filming for a movie called KIMI since the car plate is a Washington plate and it’s being filmed in Seattle. I really hope that’s all it is.”
I was trying to figure out what it is too, and a lot of people are pointing out it might be filming for a movie called KIMI since the car plate is a Washington plate and it’s being filmed in Seattle. I really hope that’s all it is 😬
— michelle 🍒 (@mishyyfishyy13) May 6, 2021
As per a March report in SeattleMet, director Steven Soderbergh was set to direct a new film for HBO Max starring Zoë Kravitz in the city. ‘Kimi’, the report said “is set to shoot in the streets of Seattle,” the movie’s unit publicist said. “An agoraphobic tech worker must venture out of her home and into protest-filled Seattle streets when she suspects she has evidence of a violent crime,” reads the film’s synopsis. The movie that began shooting in Los Angeles was reported to have “most of the bigger scenes in Seattle." The Seattle Times reported on May 10 that shooting for the film was in progress in the city.