When TikTok Beef Turns Deadly: The Durhams vs. The Lathams

When TikTok Beef Turns Deadly: The Durhams vs. The Lathams

Let’s be clear—this isn’t some medieval tale of knights defending family honor. It’s not epic. It’s not noble. It’s suburban South Jersey in 2020. The only armor involved was probably Carhartt, and instead of swords, it was cell phones and pickup trucks.

On one side of the property line, you’ve got the Durhams: a tight-knit family led by 51-year-old William Durham, a corrections officer who didn’t exactly shy away from confrontation. Husband. Father. Not the kind of guy to let things slide.

On the other side? The Lathams—and their eighteen-year-old son, Zachary. Loud truck, louder personality, and a TikTok account that basically doubled as a digital middle finger to anyone who didn’t find him hilarious. Spoiler: the Durhams did not find him hilarious.

Zachary liked to peel around the neighborhood like it was his personal racetrack. The noise was obnoxious, sure. But it was the way he drove—fast, careless, like everyone else’s safety was an afterthought—that pushed people past annoyed and straight into worried. Especially the Durhams.

And from that, a neighborly standoff started brewing—one phone camera, one viral video, and one ego at a time.

Viral Vendettas and a Neighborhood Gone Sideways

At first, it felt like things might cool off. The Durhams did what any decent neighbors would do—they walked over and told the Lathams, “Hey, your kid’s driving like a maniac. Our families live here too.”

That night, Zachary showed up at the Durhams’ door, probably dragged there by his parents, to offer what we can only assume was a half-hearted apology. And on the surface, that should’ve been the end of it.

Except Zachary didn’t drop it. He stewed. And then he did what any teenage ego wrapped in Wi-Fi and validation does: he picked up his phone and turned petty into content.

He started recording his interactions with the Durhams—confrontations, insults, whatever he could provoke—and posting them to TikTok. And the algorithm ate it up. One clip of him harassing Mrs. Durham? Over three million views. Comments poured in, cheering him on. Encouraging him to go even further.

So he did. Zachary wasn’t just being obnoxious anymore—he was building an audience, one aggressive encounter at a time. He’d see the Durhams in their yard and walk up just to tell Mrs. Durham her face had gone viral.

The Durhams, meanwhile, were stuck. They tried going to the police. Filed complaints. But this was 2020, and the courts were closed thanks to COVID. No hearings. No restraining orders. No progress. Just more views for Zachary and more fear for the Durhams.

And still, no one could stop him.

A TikTok Feud Turns Fatal in Suburban New Jersey

May 4th, 2020. Things hit a new level of reckless.

Zachary Latham was behind the wheel of his truck when he swerved toward the Durham’s 17-year-old son, who was just riding his bike down the street. He didn’t hit him—but he came close. Way too close.

The kid made it home, rattled, and told his parents what happened. That’s when William Durham had enough. He parked his own truck in a way that blocked Zachary from getting into the Latham driveway. A silent message that basically said: we’re done playing games.

Zachary didn’t take that well.

He stormed over to the Durham house, ready to escalate. William wasn’t home, but his wife was—and she did something smart. She started recording. She knew by now how fast this kid could twist things. What she didn’t know? Zachary was already recording too.

The video that went up on Zachary’s TikTok later showed him screaming at Mrs. Durham about his truck, then violently elbowing her and knocking the phone out of her hand. Real tough guy energy.

He managed to get his truck out of the blocked driveway and sped off toward his house. But when William Durham got home and found out Zachary had physically attacked his wife, he didn’t wait. He grabbed his sons and went straight to the Latham house.

This time, the Lathams were the ones recording. On that video, you can hear them repeatedly tell the Durhams to leave their property. But the Durhams didn’t back down. And then it happened—Zachary stepped in front of William and fired a stun gun at him. It didn’t stop William.

So Zachary pulled a knife.

He slashed once, then ran into the garage. But it didn’t end there. The fight kept going. Zachary kept firing the stun gun. Kept slashing. The whole thing escalated in seconds.

When it was over, William Durham had been stabbed multiple times—one of those wounds went under his arm and punctured his lung. He didn’t survive.

Claims of Self-Defense, A Viral Trail of Evidence, and a Legal Mess

Right after the stabbing, the Lathams claimed self-defense. They pointed to the video—they’d told the Durhams to get off their property, multiple times. The Durhams didn’t listen.

But the Durham family had their own story. They said this wasn’t about a property line—it was about a months-long campaign of harassment that Zachary had been building like a playlist. All of it centered on one thing: attention. They believed he wanted to be famous, and William’s death was the final performance in a string of viral content.

Zachary’s own videos didn’t help his case. The TikToks he’d posted—where he harassed, provoked, and escalated things—were now evidence. He was arrested for murder.

He made bail. Then left the state.

In Florida, he picked up a whole new charge—allegedly flashing a gun at another driver and trying to ram their car. Using his vehicle as a weapon, again. That case sat pending while New Jersey’s courts, finally reopened post-COVID, started looking into the killing of William Durham.

And here’s where it gets sticky.

Yes, Zachary stabbed William. Yes, William died. But the law isn’t always about what happened. It’s about how it happened. The Durhams were unarmed. But they were on the Lathams’ property. And they’d been warned to leave.

Under New Jersey law, that made it a gray area. A self-defense claim wasn’t impossible to argue. The jury didn’t find enough to convict him.

Zachary was acquitted. He packed up and went back to Florida, like none of it had ever happened.

Except… it didn’t stop there.

He was arrested again—this time on charges of aggravated stalking, sexual voyeurism, and violating a restraining order.

The victim’s identity hasn’t been released, which sparked speculation that it could be Mrs. Durham—but that theory doesn’t hold up. With entire states between them, and everything that had already happened, it’s almost impossible to imagine she’d have anything to do with him again.

A Pattern of Obsession: Stalking, Retaliation, and Another Arrest

In Florida, the story picked up right where it left off—just with a new victim and a different kind of cruelty.

According to the latest case against him, Zachary secretly recorded himself having sex with a woman he was in a relationship with. When she later broke things off, he didn’t just take the loss and move on. He sent the video to her parents—and at least one other person.

That was the pattern. In Zachary’s world, rejection meant war.

After sending the video, he started stalking and harassing her. It escalated quickly—enough for her to get a restraining order. But a court order didn’t matter much to Zachary. He just kept going.

One detective later wrote that Zachary “willfully, maliciously, and repeatedly followed and harassed the victim,” even while the domestic violence injunction was active.

One encounter was especially disturbing. The woman was at a store, checking out at the register, when Zachary walked up behind her and started rubbing her back. She panicked and ran to hide in the bathroom. He followed her.

She tried to get to her car—he followed her again. Forced his way into the back seat and told her to drive somewhere. She eventually managed to escape when he got out of the vehicle, but that moment was enough to land him right back in jail.

And even then, he didn’t stop.

From behind bars, Zachary tried calling her 26 times over just four days. She’d already blocked the jail’s number, so she didn’t pick up—but the calls kept coming.

Because for Zachary Latham, the rules never seemed to apply. Not in Jersey. Not in Florida. Not in court. And apparently, not even in jail.

Final Thoughts: When Attention Is the End Goal

Zachary Latham didn’t start with violence. He started with TikTok. He liked the attention, the comments, the views. And when that attention came from harassing his neighbors, he leaned into it.

That should’ve been the red flag. But no one stepped in. Not fast enough.

He filmed the Durhams. He mocked them. He shoved a camera in their faces and called it content. And when it finally blew up into something no one could ignore, it was already too late.

William Durham is dead. And Zachary? He walked. Moved states. Kept spiraling. Different city, same behavior. The people around him changed—but the pattern didn’t.

Even a jail cell didn’t shut it down. He kept calling his victim. Twenty-six times in four days. You’d think that would be rock bottom. But with this guy, there never seems to be one.

Some people get a wake-up call. Others just double down.

And if you’re still wondering how far someone will go to stay relevant, here’s your answer.