SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — A number of key figures in a fancy cross-country investigation are members of an extremist group known as the Zizians that has roots within the San Francisco Bay Space. The investigation consists of two killings in Vallejo, California, a Pennsylvania couple’s slaying, and a lethal a freeway shootout in Vermont.
Jack “Ziz” Amadeus LaSota, 33, of Berkeley
Jack “Ziz” LaSota is seen in a February 2025 mugshot launched by the Allegany County Sheriff’s Workplace.
Jack “Ziz” Amadeus LaSota is a pc programmer, transgender lady, and alleged chief of the Zizians. The Alaska native moved to the San Francisco Bay Space to work within the tech business. She lived in Berkeley in 2016 and later lived on a ship illegally anchored in a harbor close to Half Moon Bay.
LaSota joined a rationalist motion group that seeks to grasp human cognition and is anxious with the potential risks of synthetic intelligence. She break up from the group after they rejected her concept that the 2 hemispheres of the mind can maintain separate values and genders. On-line, she glided by the title “Ziz” and attracted a gaggle of followers, known as the Zizians.
LaSota faked her personal dying on August 19, 2022. Her sister and buddy informed the U.S. Coast Guard that “Ziz” fell overboard into the San Francisco Bay and by no means resurfaced. She was declared legally deceased in San Mateo County later that 12 months. Her whereabouts had been unknown till Sunday, when LaSota was arrested in Allegany County, Maryland.
Allegany County State’s Lawyer James Elliott mentioned throughout a bail listening to Tuesday that LaSota “appears to be the leader of an extremist group” and has been linked to a number of deaths. On the listening to, LaSota mentioned she is homeless and demanded a vegan food regimen.
“I haven’t done anything wrong,” she informed the decide. The decide ordered LaSota to be held behind bars with out bail.
Daniel Arthur Clean, 26, of Berkeley
Daniel Arthur Clean is seen in a February 2025 mugshot launched by the Allegany County Sheriff’s Workplace.
Daniel Arthur Clean was arrested with LaSota and Michelle Jacqueline Zajko by state troopers in Maryland on Sunday. The trio was arrested on costs together with trespassing, obstructing and hindering, and gun possession.
Clean’s mom mentioned Clean was born in Berkeley.
Rebecca Francoeur-Breeden, a public defender representing the trio, described Clean as a “brilliant young man” with critical psychological well being considerations. He was listed as a lacking particular person earlier than his arrest. Clean’s stepfather mentioned he hadn’t seen Clean in two years however was keen to get him housing if launched from jail.
Police data state that Clean was Zajko and Ziz’s housemate in varied states.
Michelle Jacqueline Zajko, 32, of Pennsylvania
This picture supplied by the Allegany County Sheriff’s Workplace reveals Michelle Zajko.
Michelle Jacqueline Zajko’s dad and mom had been shot and killed of their dwelling in Chester Heights, Pennsylvania, on New Yr’s Eve of 2022. Police discovered the our bodies of 72-year-old Richard Zajko and his 69-year-old spouse, Rita, whereas officers had been conducting a welfare verify.
A number of weeks after the mysterious double murder, officers briefly took Michelle Zajko into custody. Police additionally detained LaSota and Clean, who had been with Michelle Zajko at a Pennsylvania lodge.
No costs have been filed in connection to Zajko’s dad and mom deaths.
Curtis Lind, 82, Vallejo murder sufferer
Curtis Lind (Picture through GoFundMe)
Curtis Lind befriend LaSota and her boat crew in Pillar Level Harbor close to Half Moon Bay round 2018. Lind was dwelling on a big boat within the harbor whereas LaSota’s crew lived on one other boat, the Chronicle reported. LaSota’s crew deserted the vessel in early 2022 when it partially sunk, court docket data present.
Lind allowed the crew to maneuver onto his Vallejo property and reside in field vehicles and vans, based on the Chronicle. By November 2022, Lind was in search of to evict LaSota, Alexander Leatham, Emma Borhanian, and others for failing to pay lease. Two days earlier than the eviction deadline, Lind was impaled with a sword and partially blinded in an assault.
Lind shot and killed Borhanian in self protection throughout the sword assault, investigators mentioned. Prosecutors charged Leatham with homicide for not directly inflicting Borhanian’s dying.
Maximilian Bentley Snyder, 22, of Vallejo
Maximillian Bentley Snyder (Mugshot through Vallejo Police Division)
Maximilian Bentley Snyder is a knowledge scientist who reportedly adopted Zizian ideologies. In line with police and prosecutors in Contra Costa County, Snyder stabbed Lind to dying on the owner’s Vallejo property on January 17, 2025. Snyder is charged with homicide.
Teresa Youngblut, 21, of Seattle
Teresa Youngblut’s dad and mom reported her lacking in Seattle within the spring of 2024. Six months later, Youngblut and Snyder utilized for a wedding license in Washington state.
Youngblut and Felix “Ophelia” Bauckholt checked right into a lodge in Lyndonville, Vermont, on Jan. 14, 2025. Investigators put the pair underneath surveillance after a lodge employee turned involved about their all-black tactical clothes and a gun Youngblut was carrying.
Border Patrol Agent David Maland, 44, Vermont murder sufferer
This picture launched by the Division of Homeland Safety reveals Border Patrol Agent David Maland.
On Jan. 20, U.S. Border Patrol brokers pulled Youngblut and Bauckholt’s automobile over in Coventry, Vermont. Youngblut, who had been driving Bauckholt’s automobile, acquired out and opened hearth on brokers with out warning, the FBI alleges.
Agent David Maland and Bauckholt had been killed in a shootout. Youngblut was wounded. She was charged in connection to Maland’s dying. The border patrol agent was killed in Vermont simply three days after the Vallejo killing.
Throughout a search of the automobile after the shootout, authorities discovered cellphones wrapped in foil, a ballistic helmet, night-vision goggles, respirators and ammunition, the FBI mentioned. In addition they discovered a package deal of capturing vary targets.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
