Zizians killings investigation: Who's who ...Middle East

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- Several key figures in a complex cross-country investigation are members of an extremist group called the Zizians that has roots in the San Francisco Bay Area. The investigation includes two killings in Vallejo, California, a Pennsylvania couple's slaying, and a deadly a highway shootout in Vermont.

Jack "Ziz" Amadeus LaSota, 33, of Berkeley

Jack "Ziz" Amadeus LaSota is a computer programmer, transgender woman, and alleged leader of the Zizians. The Alaska native moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to work in the tech industry. She lived in Berkeley in 2016 and later lived on a boat illegally anchored in a harbor near Half Moon Bay.

LaSota joined a rationalist movement community that seeks to understand human cognition and is concerned with the potential dangers of artificial intelligence. She split from the community after they rejected her theory that the two hemispheres of the brain can hold separate values and genders. Online, she went by the name "Ziz" and attracted a group of followers, referred to as the Zizians.

LaSota faked her own death on August 19, 2022. Her sister and friend told the U.S. Coast Guard that "Ziz" fell overboard into the San Francisco Bay and never resurfaced. She was declared legally deceased in San Mateo County later that year. Her whereabouts were unknown until Sunday, when LaSota was arrested in Allegany County, Maryland.

Allegany County State’s Attorney James Elliott said during a bail hearing Tuesday that LaSota "appears to be the leader of an extremist group" and has been linked to multiple deaths. At the hearing, LaSota said she is homeless and demanded a vegan diet.

"I haven’t done anything wrong," she told the judge. The judge ordered LaSota to be held behind bars without bail.

Daniel Arthur Blank, 26, of Berkeley

Daniel Arthur Blank was arrested with LaSota and Michelle Jacqueline Zajko by state troopers in Maryland on Sunday. The trio was arrested on charges including trespassing, obstructing and hindering, and gun possession.

Blank's mother said Blank was born in Berkeley.

Rebecca Francoeur-Breeden, a public defender representing the trio, described Blank as a "brilliant young man" with serious mental health concerns. He was listed as a missing person before his arrest. Blank’s stepfather said he hadn’t seen Blank in two years but was willing to get him housing if released from jail.

Police records state that Blank was Zajko and Ziz's housemate in various states.

Michelle Jacqueline Zajko, 32, of Pennsylvania

Michelle Jacqueline Zajko's parents were shot and killed in their home in Chester Heights, Pennsylvania, on New Year’s Eve of 2022. Police found the bodies of 72-year-old Richard Zajko and his 69-year-old wife, Rita, while officers were conducting a welfare check.

A few weeks after the mysterious double homicide, officers briefly took Michelle Zajko into custody. Police also detained LaSota and Blank, who were with Michelle Zajko at a Pennsylvania hotel.

No charges have been filed in connection to Zajko's parents deaths.

Curtis Lind, 82, Vallejo homicide victim

Curtis Lind befriend LaSota and her boat crew in Pillar Point Harbor near Half Moon Bay around 2018. Lind was living on a large boat in the harbor while LaSota's crew lived on another boat, the Chronicle reported. LaSota's crew abandoned the vessel in early 2022 when it partially sunk, court records show.

Lind allowed the crew to move onto his Vallejo property and live in box trucks and vans, according to the Chronicle. By November 2022, Lind was seeking to evict LaSota, Alexander Leatham, Emma Borhanian, and others for failing to pay rent. Two days before the eviction deadline, Lind was impaled with a sword and partially blinded in an attack.

Lind shot and killed Borhanian in self defense during the sword attack, investigators said. Prosecutors charged Leatham with murder for indirectly causing Borhanian's death.

Maximilian Bentley Snyder, 22, of Vallejo

Maximilian Bentley Snyder is a data scientist who reportedly followed Zizian ideologies. According to police and prosecutors in Contra Costa County, Snyder stabbed Lind to death on the landlord's Vallejo property on January 17, 2025. Snyder is charged with murder.

Teresa Youngblut, 21, of Seattle

Teresa Youngblut's parents reported her missing in Seattle in the spring of 2024. Six months later, Youngblut and Snyder applied for a marriage license in Washington state. 

Youngblut and Felix "Ophelia" Bauckholt checked into a hotel in Lyndonville, Vermont, on Jan. 14, 2025. Investigators put the pair under surveillance after a hotel worker became concerned about their all-black tactical clothing and a gun Youngblut was carrying.

Border Patrol Agent David Maland, 44, Vermont homicide victim

On Jan. 20, U.S. Border Patrol agents pulled Youngblut and Bauckholt's vehicle over in Coventry, Vermont. Youngblut, who had been driving Bauckholt’s car, got out and opened fire on agents without warning, the FBI alleges.

Agent David Maland and Bauckholt were killed in a shootout. Youngblut was wounded. She was charged in connection to Maland's death. The border patrol agent was killed in Vermont just three days after the Vallejo killing.

During a search of the car after the shootout, authorities found cellphones wrapped in foil, a ballistic helmet, night-vision goggles, respirators and ammunition, the FBI said. They also found a package of shooting range targets.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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