FBI arrests cult members linked to at least six murders in US

On February 17, Maryland police arrested 34-year-old Jack "Ziz" Lasota, 34-year-old Michelle Zajko, and 32-year-old Daniel Blank. They call themselves "Zizians." The group resembles a destructive cult, and its members are suspected of committing at least six murders, according to reports USA Today и Associated Press.

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A Maryland resident reported suspicious men in black clothing to police on his property. According to law enforcement, the men were carrying a shotgun and two pistols, including a loaded one that Zaiko had in her waistband.

"All those arrested will be questioned in connection with other crimes committed throughout the country," Officer Brandon Jeffries wrote in the arrest warrant.

On the subject: Arizona cult leader kidnapped children and forced them into sex with adults

Court records and interviews indicate that Lasota was the ideological leader of a small group of highly educated computer scientists and vegans who called themselves the Zizians. They lived in trucks in California and North Carolina and were linked to at least six deaths across the country. Several members of the group, including Lasota, are transgender.

The FBI is investigating but is not releasing details. One expert noted that the group has some characteristics of a religious cult, with Lasota acting as a charismatic leader who inspires his followers.

“They’re not necessarily tied together by a common pattern. It’s not necessarily like the structure of the Manson Family,” said Mark Pitcavage, a senior fellow and counsel at the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Combating Extremism. “If you look at LaSota’s writings, they’re mostly talking about the mind and consciousness. He doesn’t seem particularly interested in left-wing political issues in the traditional sense.”

Blank is a suspect in the late 2022 murders of Zayko's parents in Pennsylvania. Authorities are also investigating Lasota and Zayko's possible involvement in other crimes, including the Jan. 20 shooting death of a U.S. Border Patrol officer in Vermont.

According to investigators, Zaiko may have handed over the weapon used in the shootout that killed border guard David Maland and German citizen Ofelia Bauckholt. Teresa Youngblatt was arrested in that shootout and is currently in custody and charged with using the weapon.

In addition, the man Youngblatt got a marriage license with last year, Max Snyder, is in jail in California, charged with assaulting and fatally shooting a landlord who once allowed Lasota and other group members to park their trucks on his property. That landlord shot and killed another group member in self-defense after the man attacked him over a pending eviction, according to court records.

“These people are educated, they’re good at math, they’ve lived moral lives, they have reasonable beliefs, and then suddenly they join a gang of murderers — it’s just weird,” said Jessica Taylor, 32, an AI security researcher in California who briefly dated Bauckholt and knew several members of the group.

Pennsylvania State Police questioned Zaiko in Vermont in early 2023 after her parents' deaths and found a legally purchased 9mm pistol in her possession. She was not arrested at the time, but later that month it was revealed that her parents had been shot at point-blank range with a 9mm pistol, and ballistics showed that Zaiko's gun could have been used in the murders.

Vermont police then returned to search Zaiko's home, but found only three 9mm rounds of ammunition and no gun.

In January 2023, Zayko was questioned by Pennsylvania police in connection with her parents' deaths, but according to court records, she disappeared before she could be arrested, leaving behind a car and $40 in cash. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is now seeking federal charges of unlawful possession of a firearm against her.

In an arrest warrant issued Feb. 17, Maryland State Police said they found Zaiko, Lasota and Blank parked two trucks with temporary license plates on a dirt road. When asked to exit their vehicles, Blank quickly surrendered, but Zaiko, crying and begging not to kill her, refused to be handcuffed until officers wrestled her to the ground. A loaded pistol was then found in her waistband.

All three refused to give their names or sign arrest papers. The identities of the detainees were established only after their photographs were shown to an FBI agent.

From a blog to a cult

Here's a timeline of the events that led to the Jan. 20 highway shootout that left a U.S. Border Patrol officer dead in Vermont, based on interviews with The Associated Press and a review of police reports, court records and online posts.

2016

Jack LaSota, a transgender female programmer living in the San Francisco Bay Area, starts a blog under the pseudonym Ziz, where she posts complex and sometimes confusing theories about technology, gender identity, and human consciousness. LaSota, who uses female pronouns, joins the rationalist movement, a community that studies human cognition and is concerned about the potential risks of artificial intelligence.

2018

Lasota participates in programs organized by rationalist groups, but breaks ties with them after her theory that the two hemispheres of the brain can have different values ​​and genders is not accepted.

November-2019

Lasota and three others - Emma Borhanian, Gwen Danielson and Alexander Leatham - were arrested during what they called a protest against sexual harassment in rationalist organizations.

August-2022

The U.S. Coast Guard responds to a report that Lasota fell from a boat in San Francisco Bay. No body has been found. An obituary is forthcoming.

November-2022

Curtis Lindh goes to court to evict Lasota, Borhanian, Leatham and others who were living in vans and trucks on his property in Vallejo, California, for failure to pay rent. On November 15, two days before the eviction was due, Lindh is stabbed with a sword and partially blinded. During the attack, he shoots and kills Borhanian.

After finding that Lindh acted in self-defense, authorities charged Leatham and Suri Dao with the murders. Lasota has not been charged, but police recorded her presence at the scene.

December-2022

Rita and Richard Zayko were shot to death in their Chester Heights, Pennsylvania, home on New Year's Eve. A neighbor's doorbell camera captured audio and video of a car pulling up, a scream of "Mom!" and then "Oh my God! Oh my God, oh my God!"

January-2023

Police question the victims' daughter, Michelle Zayko, at her home in Vermont. Weeks later, officers briefly detain her at a Pennsylvania hotel but release her without charge. Lasota, who was staying at the same hotel, is arrested and charged with obstructing a murder investigation and disorderly conduct.

July-2023

Felix Bauckholt, known in court documents as Ophelia, begins renting half of a duplex in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

May-2024

Teresa Youngblatt's parents report her missing in Seattle after she texted her mother that she had moved in with a friend and changed her phone number.

November-2024

Youngblatt and Maximilian Snyder apply for a marriage license in Washington state. That same month, Youngblatt rents an apartment near Bauckholt, North Carolina.

January-2025

On January 14, Youngbluth and Bauckholt check into a hotel in Lyndonville, Vermont. Investigators begin surveillance after a hotel employee reports suspicious behavior by guests dressed in black tactical gear and reports Youngbluth carrying a weapon.

January 17: Curtis Lind, a California landlord, is killed. Snyder is charged with murder, and prosecutors say he tried to prevent Lind from testifying against his previous attackers.

On January 20, U.S. Border Patrol agents stop Youngbluth and Bauckholt on Interstate 91 in Coventry, Vermont. The shootout leaves Agent David Maland and Bauckholt dead. Youngbluth, who is wounded, is charged with unlawful possession of a firearm.

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February-2025

The FBI is searching a Chapel Hill home where the landlord says Youngbluth, Bauckholt and LaSota lived this winter.

On February 16, Lasota was arrested in Maryland along with Michelle Zayko and Daniel Blanc. They were charged with trespassing, obstructing an investigation and possessing a firearm in a motor vehicle. On February 18, a judge ordered all three held without bail.

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