CUMBERLAND, Md. (AP) — The chief of a cultlike group linked to 6 killings in three states was ordered held with out bail Tuesday in Maryland, the place she faces trespassing and different fees.
Jack LaSota, 34, and two others arrested together with her on Sunday appeared through videoconference for bail hearings in Allegany District Court docket. A decide ordered all three held with out bail, describing them as harmful flight dangers.
Jack “Ziz” Amadeus LaSota is seen in a Feb. 16, 2025 mugshot launched by the Allegany County Sheriff’s Workplace.
Allegany County State’s Lawyer James Elliott mentioned throughout the listening to Tuesday that LaSota has faked her personal loss of life up to now and “appears to be the leader of an extremist group” referred to as the Zizians that has been linked to a number of deaths.
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However LaSota, who is thought on-line as Ziz, requested for pretrial launch, saying she was homeless with no technique of touring. Talking haltingly, she additionally repeatedly requested a vegan eating regimen, saying she might starve in any other case and was already “in a mild state of delirium” as a result of lack of meals.
“I haven’t done anything wrong,” she informed the decide.
Members of the group have been tied to the loss of life of a lady throughout an assault on a California landlord in November 2022, the owner’s subsequent slaying in January, and the deaths of a Pennsylvania couple in between. Most just lately, the group has been linked to a freeway shootout in Vermont that left a U.S. Border Patrol agent and a automobile passenger lifeless.
The Pennsylvania victims had been the dad and mom of Michelle Zajko, who was arrested with LaSota and Daniel Clean.
All three had been charged with trespassing and obstructing regulation enforcement after a Frostburg, Maryland, resident informed police that three “suspicious” folks had parked two field vehicles on his property and requested to camp there for a month. The vehicles had been present in a largely distant wooded space close to the Maryland-Pennsylvania line, in keeping with police.
Zajko, 32, additionally was charged with resisting arrest and carrying a handgun; LaSota was charged with having a gun in a automobile.
They had been wearing black and two wore gun belts holding ammunition, in keeping with police. Officers discovered a rifle behind one truck and a handgun on the entrance floorboard. Zajko, who refused to place her palms behind her again and was taken to the bottom, additionally was carrying a handgun, police mentioned.
Elliott, the prosecutor, mentioned two different weapons Zajko bought had been recovered in reference to the Jan. 20 capturing loss of life of Border Patrol Agent Chris Maland, 44, following a site visitors cease in Coventry, Vermont. Felix Bauckholt, a passenger within the automobile, additionally died, and the driving force, Teresa Youngblut, has pleaded not responsible to federal firearms fees.
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Officers have mentioned the weapons they had been carrying had been purchased by an individual of curiosity within the Dec. 31, 2022, deaths of Richard and Rita Zajko in Chester Heights, Pennsylvania, and that Youngblut had been in shut contact with an individual of curiosity in a murder in Vallejo, California.
Maximilian Snyder, who utilized for a wedding license with Youngblut in November, is charged with the Jan. 17 stabbing loss of life of Curtis Lind, a Vallejo landlord who had survived an earlier assault by members of the Zizian group and was set to testify towards them.
Officers have supplied few particulars of the cross-country investigation, however Related Press interviews and a assessment of courtroom information and on-line postings inform the story of how a bunch of younger, extremely smart pc scientists met on-line, shared anarchist beliefs and have become more and more violent.
Their targets aren’t clear, however on-line writings included matters resembling radical veganism, gender identification and synthetic intelligence. On the center of all of it is LaSota, a transgender lady who revealed a darkish and typically violent weblog beneath the title Ziz.
Rebecca Francoeur-Breeden, a public defender representing LaSota, mentioned she had spoken with LaSota’s mom twice for the reason that arrest. The legal professional famous LaSota’s academic achievements, together with a level in pc engineering.
“This is a very, very bright person we’re dealing with,” she mentioned.
Francouer-Breeden additionally represented the opposite two defendants. Zajko and Clean didn’t immediately deal with the costs towards them throughout the listening to or by means of their legal professional, who described all of them as high-achieving younger folks and listed a few of their academic {and professional} accomplishments.
Francouer-Breeden described Clean, 26, as a “brilliant young man” with severe psychological well being issues and mentioned he was listed as a lacking or endangered particular person earlier than his arrest. Clean’s stepfather additionally addressed the decide, saying he hadn’t seen Clean in two years however was prepared to get him housing domestically to assist guarantee he exhibits up for courtroom.
Pennsylvania state police information describe Clean as Zajko’s housemate in Vermont. In January 2023, police investigating the capturing deaths of Zajko’s dad and mom detained each LaSota and Clean at a resort the place Zajko was staying. Clean was not charged. LaSota was charged with obstructing regulation enforcement and disorderly conduct.
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Ramer reported from Harmony, New Hampshire. Whittle reported from Portland, Maine.
