Leader of cultlike Zizians linked to 6 killings ordered held without bail in Maryland

CUMBERLAND, Md. (AP) — The leader of a cultlike group connected to six killings in three states was ordered held without bail Tuesday in Maryland, where she faces trespassing and other charges.

Jack LaSota, 34, and two others arrested with her on Sunday appeared via videoconference for bail hearings in Allegany District Court. A judge ordered all three held without bail, describing them as dangerous flight risks.

Allegany County State’s Attorney James Elliott said during the hearing Tuesday that LaSota has faked her own death in the past and “appears to be the leader of an extremist group” called the Zizians that has been linked to multiple deaths.

But LaSota, who is known online as Ziz, asked for pretrial release, saying she was homeless with no means of traveling. Speaking haltingly, she also repeatedly requested a vegan diet, saying she could starve otherwise and was already “in a mild state of delirium” due to lack of food.

“I haven’t done anything wrong,” she told the judge.

Members of the group have been tied to the death of a woman during an attack on a California landlord in November 2022, the landlord’s subsequent slaying in January, and the deaths of a Pennsylvania couple in between. Most recently, the group has been linked to a highway shootout in Vermont that left a U.S. Border Patrol agent and a car passenger dead.

The Pennsylvania victims were the parents of Michelle Zajko, who was arrested with LaSota and Daniel Blank.

All three were charged with trespassing and obstructing law enforcement after a Frostburg, Maryland, resident told police that three “suspicious” people had parked two box trucks on his property and asked to camp there for a month. The trucks were found in a largely remote wooded area near the Maryland-Pennsylvania line, according to police.

Zajko, 32, also was charged with resisting arrest and carrying a handgun; LaSota was charged with having a gun in a vehicle.

They were dressed in black and two wore gun belts holding ammunition, according to police. Officers found a rifle in the back of one truck and a handgun on the front floorboard. Zajko, who refused to put her hands behind her back and was taken to the ground, also was carrying a handgun, police said.

Elliott, the prosecutor, said two other guns Zajko purchased were recovered in connection with the Jan. 20 shooting death of Border Patrol Agent Chris Maland, 44, following a traffic stop in Coventry, Vermont. Felix Bauckholt, a passenger in the car, also died, and the driver, Teresa Youngblut, has pleaded not guilty to federal firearms charges.

Officials have said the guns they were carrying were bought by a person of interest in the Dec. 31, 2022, deaths of Richard and Rita Zajko in Chester Heights, Pennsylvania, and that Youngblut had been in close contact with a person of interest in a homicide in Vallejo, California.

Maximilian Snyder, who applied for a marriage license with Youngblut in November, is charged with the Jan. 17 stabbing death of Curtis Lind, a Vallejo landlord who had survived an earlier attack by members of the Zizian group and was set to testify against them.

Officials have offered few details of the cross-country investigation, but Associated Press interviews and a review of court records and online postings tell the story of how a group of young, highly intelligent computer scientists met online, shared anarchist beliefs and became increasingly violent.

Their goals aren’t clear, but online writings included topics such as radical veganism, gender identity and artificial intelligence. At the middle of it all is LaSota, a transgender woman who published a dark and sometimes violent blog under the name Ziz.

Rebecca Francoeur-Breeden, a public defender representing LaSota, said she had spoken with LaSota’s mother twice since the arrest. The attorney noted LaSota’s educational achievements, including a degree in computer engineering.

“This is a very, very bright person we’re dealing with,” she said.

Francouer-Breeden also represented the other two defendants. Zajko and Blank did not directly address the charges against them during the hearing or through their attorney, who described them all as high-achieving young people and listed some of their educational and professional accomplishments.

Francouer-Breeden described Blank, 26, as a “brilliant young man” with serious mental health concerns and said he was listed as a missing or endangered person before his arrest. Blank’s stepfather also addressed the judge, saying he hadn’t seen Blank in two years but was willing to get him housing locally to help ensure he shows up for court.

Pennsylvania state police records describe Blank as Zajko’s housemate in Vermont. In January 2023, police investigating the shooting deaths of Zajko’s parents detained both LaSota and Blank at a hotel where Zajko was staying. Blank was not charged. LaSota was charged with obstructing law enforcement and disorderly conduct.

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Ramer reported from Concord, New Hampshire. Whittle reported from Portland, Maine.