A year after border agent’s killing, 7 Zizians fight criminal charges in 3 states

A year after the violent deaths associated with the Zizians came to a halt following the killing of a U.S. border agent, seven members of the group remain jailed across three states awaiting trial. The arrests in western Maryland last February marked a turning point in investigations that span multiple states and include charges ranging from homicide to drug possession.

Maryland state police connected three members—Jack “Ziz” LaSota, Michelle Zajko, and Daniel Blank—to ongoing homicide investigations in California, Pennsylvania, and Vermont after finding them living in box trucks at the end of a snow-covered dirt road. A local landowner had reported their presence to authorities.

“All the suspects involved are to be questioned regarding other crimes that have occurred across the country and have ties with the Zizians Cult,” wrote Maryland state Trooper Brandon Jeffries following their February 16, 2025 arrests. Despite this breakthrough, prosecutions have progressed slowly amid trial delays and limited action in related cases.

The group, dubbed “Zizians” by outsiders, consists of young, highly educated computer scientists who appear to share radical beliefs about veganism, animal rights, gender identity, and artificial intelligence. Since 2022, members have been linked to multiple deaths, including one of their own during an attack on a California landlord, the subsequent killing of that landlord, the shooting deaths of Zajko’s parents in Pennsylvania, and a highway shootout in Vermont that left a border agent and another Zizian dead.

In Maryland, LaSota, Zajko, and Blank face charges including possession of LSD with intent to distribute, multiple gun violations, trespassing, and hindering a police officer. Their trial, originally scheduled to begin this week in Cumberland, has been delayed until June after Zajko fired her attorney, briefly represented herself, and then hired new counsel.

Zajko has filed handwritten court documents alleging rights violations by informants inside the Allegany County Detention Center and misconduct by law enforcement and prosecutors. “In the interest of Hope, Justice and Truth, for the good of all people, and for the establishment of a true peace, the defense moves to dismiss this case,” she wrote in meticulously small handwriting spanning 20 pages.

The Vermont case stems from a January 2025 incident where Zajko allegedly supplied weapons used in a fatal shootout. Teresa Youngblut stands accused of killing Border Patrol Agent David Maland during a traffic stop before another agent wounded her and killed her companion, Felix Bauckholt. This confrontation occurred just hours after President Donald Trump’s second inauguration.

In her court filings, Zajko has attempted to link the case to broader political issues, claiming authorities arrested the group to prevent them from exonerating Youngblut, who has pleaded not guilty to murder charges that could potentially carry the death penalty. The complexity of the case led a judge to suspend deadlines for pretrial motions last week.

Two other Zizians, Suri Dao and Alexander Leatham, face charges related to a 2022 attack in California that left fellow member Emma Borhanian dead. Their trial has been repeatedly postponed. Another member, Maximilian Snyder, is charged with killing the landlord Curtis Lind three years after the initial attack, just days before the Vermont shooting. Proceedings against Dao are currently suspended for competency hearings.

LaSota, described as the group’s apparent leader, faces a separate federal trial in Baltimore in May for being an armed fugitive—a charge she’s seeking to dismiss on Second Amendment grounds. Authorities allege she faked her own death to evade charges following a 2019 California protest and disappeared again after being implicated in obstructing the investigation into the December 2022 shooting deaths of Zajko’s parents in Pennsylvania.

No one has been charged yet in the Zajko parents’ deaths. The Delaware County district attorney’s office confirmed the case remains under investigation. Maryland Trooper Jeffries reported that “Blank is under investigation for a double homicide that occurred in Delaware County, PA.” Authorities have also described Michelle Zajko as a person of interest in her parents’ deaths, though she denies involvement and has suggested her father might have killed her mother and then himself.

The Maryland arrests occurred after James Broadwater encountered the black-clad strangers near his home in Eckhart Mines. After initially allowing them to stay temporarily, Broadwater contacted state police following a conversation with his wife. Trooper Jeffries testified that his suspicions were raised by recent news coverage about the Zizians, their tactical gear including ammunition on gun belts, and the way their trucks were strategically parked with chains on the tires.

While the jailed Zizians in Maryland have been working on a joint defense, Blank’s parents are pushing for his release on bail. His attorney has sought to distance him from the others, arguing that Blank “should not be detained because of the company in which he was arrested.”