SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — In San Mateo County the alleged chief of the “Zizians” is legally lifeless. Courtroom information present Jack “Ziz” Amadeus LaSota was declared deceased by a decide greater than two years in the past after she allegedly fell from a ship overboard into the San Francisco Bay.
LaSota was nonetheless alive, nevertheless, when state law enforcement officials discovered and arrested her Sunday in Allegany County, Maryland.
Inmate information present LaSota, 33, was booked into jail on suspicion of trespassing, possessing a gun, and obstructing an investigation. LaSota was arrested alongside one other member of the Zizians, 32-year-old Michelle Zajko.
Zajko’s dad and mom have been slain in Pennsylvania, and extra members of the Zizians have been tied to 6 killings in California, Vermont, and Pennsylvania.
Jack “Ziz” Amadeus LaSota is seen in a Feb. 16, 2025 mugshot launched by the Allegany County Sheriff’s Workplace.
One of many killings unfolded in Vallejo, California, the place 82-year-old Curtis Lind was stabbed to demise exterior his house final month. Maximilian Bentley Snyder, a 22-year-old information scientist and Zizian ideology follower, is charged with Lind’s homicide.
LaSota’s group attracted clever pc scientists, most of them of their 20s and 30s, who met on-line, shared anarchist beliefs, and have become more and more violent. The group’s on-line writings cowl subjects starting from veganism to gender identification to synthetic intelligence.
LaSota is described as a “male” in Allegany County Jail inmate information. In line with her weblog, LaSota identifies as a transgender lady.
Officers have supplied few particulars of the cross-country investigation. Daniel McGarrigle, a protection lawyer representing “Ziz,” declined to remark when requested whether or not she is linked to any of the deaths.
LaSota might have faked her personal demise, courtroom information present. She vanished into ocean waters midway between Alameda and South San Francisco on August 19, 2022, in line with two individuals who have been onboard LaSota’s boat. Her physique was by no means discovered throughout a two-day, 167 square-nautical-mile search by the U.S. Coast Guard.
LaSota’s sister, and her buddy, Emma Borhanian, wrote detailed accounts about what allegedly occurred. The sister mentioned their boat, named The Black Cygnet, launched from a harbor in San Francisco Bay and navigated previous Treasure Island. At one level, LaSota “leaned over the engine” and fell within the water, the sister wrote in courtroom paperwork.
“Emma looked for a life preserver and I called the Coast Guard moments after it happened. We tried to turn the boat around but did not see Jack anywhere. The Coast Guard search effort failed to find Jack,” the sister wrote.
LaSota’s physique was by no means discovered, Coast Guard officers mentioned it wasn’t potential to outlive within the bay’s frigid waters past 24 hours, and none of her associates nor household ever heard from LaSota after the accident, the sister wrote. Borhanian wrote the same story in courtroom paperwork, declaring that “Ziz” was “lost at sea.”
An obituary revealed for LaSota acknowledged that she beloved “adventure” in addition to “music, blueberries, biking, computer games, and animals.”
One other boat beforehand owned by LaSota, named The Caleb, can nonetheless be discovered partially sunk in Pillar Level Harbor. LaSota and her group lived on the 94-foot-long boat close to Half Moon Bay till the boat was deserted in early 2022, courtroom information present.
An deserted boat, The Caleb, is seen close to Half Moon Bay on Feb. 6, 2025. (Photograph by Ryan Mense / KRON4)
A few of The Caleb’s crew reportedly ditched the boat and moved onto Curtis Lind’s property in Vallejo. Lind was stabbed to demise on January 17, 2025. His suspected killer, Snyder, is being held within the Solano County Jail with no bail. Snyder is scheduled to look in courtroom on February 21.
LaSota’s whereabouts have been unknown till police discovered her on Sunday. She is scheduled to look in an Allegany County courtroom for an arraignment Tuesday.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
