A series of violent confrontations across the United States believed to be linked to members of a fringe group known as the Zizians has left at least six people dead, including a Border Patrol agent shot in Vermont, a man stabbed in California and a couple shot in a double homicide in Pennsylvania.
Seven people are currently in custody in connection with the sprawling web of crimes, which came further into view this week after three people were arrested on trespassing charges in Maryland.
Law enforcement and news media reports have connected these individuals to the “Zizians,” a name for the followers of a person known as “Ziz,” who blogged about self-improvement, ethics and artificial intelligence. The group’s goals aren’t completely clear but online writings about their beliefs touch upon veganism, artificial intelligence and gender identity.
The latest arrests in Maryland have brought renewed attention to the rash of cases across state lines, and prosecutors have said that they have the group’s leader in custody on trespassing and weapon charges. Legal representatives listed in court records for some of the defendants could not be immediately reached or had no comment.
Here’s what we know.
Three are held on trespassing charges in Maryland.
On Feb. 16, law enforcement authorities in Allegany County, Md., arrested Jack LaSota, 34, Michelle Zajko, 32, and Daniel Blank, 26, for an incident in Frostburg, Md., a small city about 130 miles west of Baltimore. LaSota and Zajko were accused of trespassing, obstruction, and possessing a handgun. Blank did not face the weapon charge, but was arraigned on the other charges, while Zajko was also charged with resisting arrest.
They were located after a resident reported three “suspicious” people on his property who had requested to camp there for a month, according to CNN. When police arrived, two of the suspects were sitting in a box truck wearing gun belts with ammunition, The Associated Press and ABC 6 in Philadelphia reported. A search of the truck discovered a long rifle in the back and a handgun on the floorboard.
The complaint in the case, as detailed by The A.P. and ABC 6, noted that “all of the subjects involved are to be questioned regarding other crimes that have occurred across the country.” County prosecutors and local law enforcement did not respond to repeated requests for more details on the arrests.
On Feb. 18, prosecutors said that Jack LaSota, also known as Ziz, “appears to be the leader of an extremist group known as Zizians,” which has been linked to multiple killings, The A.P. reported. James Elliott, the state’s attorney in Allegany County, noted in that hearing that LaSota had faked their own death. During the hearing, LaSota denied having done anything wrong and expressed a “mild state of delirium” because of lack of food.
LaSota’s beliefs are centered around upending moral norms, practicing extreme veganism and accepting the concept of gendered brain hemispheres, according to Zizians.info, a website that is critical of the group. The group itself does not appear to have an official presence online, outside of old blog posts.
The three defendants were held without bail and will next appear in court on March 24.
A federal agent is shot in Vermont.
In January, federal authorities arrested Teresa Youngblut in connection with a confrontation that led to the fatal shooting of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Coventry, Vt.
The Border Patrol said that Youngblut drew a handgun and fired it at agents without warning during a routine traffic stop on Jan. 20. The agent, David Maland, 44, and Youngblut’s companion in the vehicle, Felix Bauckholt, died from gunshot wounds in the crossfire.
Teresa Youngblut was charged with assaulting federal law enforcement officers with a deadly weapon, though no murder charge has been filed in relation to Mr. Maland’s death. Youngblut was being held without bail and would face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted, a federal prosecutor said.
According to an F.B.I. affidavit, Youngblut and Bauckholt had been under surveillance for nearly a week when the shooting occurred. Investigators said that they found tactical gear, night-vision goggles, a magazine loaded with cartridges and ammunition in their vehicle after the shooting.
A task force agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives later revealed that the firearms carried by the two on the day of the shooting had been purchased by a third person, Michelle Zajko, who was later arrested in Maryland. Zajko was also a “person of interest” in an investigation into a dual homicide on Dec. 31, 2022, in Delaware County, Pa., according to the A.T.F. complaint. The victims were Zajko’s parents.
Zajko faces a federal charge of making a false statement to a gun licensee by providing a fake address when purchasing the guns.
Prosecutors also linked Teresa Youngblut to a fourth person, identified in police and court records cited in news reports as Maximilian Snyder, who has been arrested in connection to a killing in Vallejo, Calif.
A landlord is stabbed, twice, in California.
Snyder is accused in the Jan. 17 fatal stabbing of Curtis Lind, 82, a landlord who was set to testify this spring against two former tenants, Suri Dao and Alexander Leatham, who have ties to the Zizians.
Mr. Lind had survived a previous attempt on his life in November 2022, when Dao, Leatham and their associate, Emma Borhanian, ambushed him and stabbed him multiple times, leaving him with a samurai sword impaled on his chest, according to a family account posted online and a news report in Open Vallejo. Mr. Lind was hospitalized for a month and lost his right eye in that attack.
Borhanian, 31, was killed during that altercation, when Mr. Lind shot at the trio of attackers, according to media reports and court documents. Dao and Leatham face murder charges in Borhanian’s death and attempted murder charges in Mr. Lind’s previous stabbing, according news reports, with a trial date set for April 2.
Referring to the second and fatal attack, the complaint filed against Maximilian Snyder said that Mr. Lind was “intentionally killed for the purpose of preventing his testimony in a criminal proceeding” or to retaliate for his testimony, according to ABC 7 San Francisco.
Public records show that Snyder and Teresa Youngblut had applied for a marriage license in King County, Wash., in November.
While Youngblut is in jail in Vermont, Snyder is being held without bail in California, charged with murder with a deadly weapon.
Questions remain in double homicide in Pennsylvania.
Richard Zajko, 72, and Rita Zajko, 69, were found dead in January 2023 at their home in Chester Heights, Pa., according to the Pennsylvania State Police, after they were shot. Their child, Michelle Zajko, has been questioned by police in the Dec. 31, 2022, murder, according to court documents.
During a search of a hotel room where Michelle Zajko was staying for their funeral, police found a 9-millimeter gun and five boxes of ammunition; a firearm trace indicated that Michelle Zajko had purchased it in February 2022 in Vermont, according to court documents.
In 2023, Jack LaSota, the purported leader of the Zizians who was arrested in Maryland, was charged with obstruction and disorderly conduct when police issued a search warrant in connection with the double homicide at an address in Chester City, Pa., according to police records.
LaSota, who was in the hotel room when the police arrived to execute the warrant, turned limp, closed their eyes and refused to comply with police orders, the authorities said. It was not the first time LaSota was said to have tried to thwart law enforcement: In August 2022, LaSota was reported to have gone missing and died in a boating accident in the San Francisco Bay, according to SFGate.com, only to be found alive more than a year later in Pennsylvania.