At-Large City Councilmember Zach Oyler is firing back at new allegations of domestic abuse by his soon-to-be ex-wife Heather Oyler.
Heather Oyler has been revealing all about her relationship with Zach in a series of blog posts. In these posts, she alleges years of manipulation, physical & emotional abuse, and potential illegal activity by the city councilman.
Agitation Rising has been at the forefront of covering the Oylergate scandal and was the first news outlet to report on Heather’s new blog.
The first corporate news to cover this story was the Peoria Journal Star written by JJ Bullock.
The Oylers are in divorce proceedings. Their trial date is on July 16, 2024.
While Zach Oyler never responded to Agitation Rising’s request for comment, he did provide the Journal Star with one. He stated:
Divorce is a painful experience for all involved and even more challenging to live it out in public. As we enter the final weeks of the divorce process; I am disappointed to learn of these blog posts. There are most certainly two sides to every story and these are filled with inaccuracies as even others mentioned in them will attest. It is not my character to publicly speak negatively of someone else and I will continue to let my business and public reputation speak for themselves. I wish her nothing but the best in her journey.
Zach then immediately took to Facebook accusing the Journal Star of becoming tabloid journalism. Someone should ask him if he’d like some cheese with his copium flavored whine.
How dare journalists cover the serious & credible accusations against a elected official with aspirations for more power to live out his delusion of being a “servant leader.” These accusations date back half a decade. Accusations which are backed up by police reports & interviews. Accusations that include multiple instances of domestic abuse, intimidating a witness (a Class 3 felony), obstruction of justice (another Class 3 felony), and potentially unlawful restraint, also known as, false imprisonment (a Class 4 felony).1
In her most recent blog post, Heather claims she has copious documentation verifying these accusation. She states:
I first and foremost wanted to be able to back up anything that I wrote in one way or another. I wanted to make sure that if my writing was challenged for any reason that there would be data whether it was a text message, call log, email, or something physical to back up my writing. This is a reaction I am trained to from years of gaslighting and manipulation. I always keep a log, evidence, if you will, of my experiences so I know what I can trust later on.
Heather declined an interview with Agitation Rising.
However, she did post on her Instagram account the following video & statement saying she is ending her series of blog posts related to “her abuser”.
Zach Oyler states he will now go back to doing whatever it is he allegedly does for the community. This includes co-splaying as homeless person for charity while denigrating the homeless.
Oyler is real estate agent that wouldn’t know the first thing about the plight of the homeless. He likely has wet dreams about new policies to grease the wheels for real estate developers.
Local activist Anthony Walraven listed Oyler’s “contributions” in a blog post:
“He has voted to close fire stations, cut the number of police officers, slash public services, all while making sure every conceivable tax break goes to anyone wanting to build a condo in downtown Peoria. He has railed against public employees living outside Peoria while taking money hand over fist from out of town business people like Rita Kress and the Bearce Family.”
Leave a comment below if you know what his contributions to the community have been that actually benefit the city.
Rumor is Zach Oyler is thinking about running for Mayor in 2025. As an At-Large Council Member, his voting constituency is already the entire city, like the Mayor.2 Oyler came in fourth in his re-election campaign in 2023. While it seems unlikely, nothing has prevented mediocre, middle-aged men with serious drinking problems from being elected Mayor of Peoria in the past (look up former-Mayor Jim Ardis).
Note: Zach Oyler has not been charged with any new crimes, and he is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
- All of these alleged crimes are passed the statute of limitations, and Zach Oyler could not face criminal charges for them.
- Peoria City Council is made up of five district seats and five At-Large seats, plus the Mayor, essentially giving the council six at-large members. See our critique of Peoria’s At-Large electoral system here.
