By Steve Neavling
The alleged leader of a cult-like group with ties to the killing of a U.S. Border Patrol agent has been arrested in Maryland, state police said Monday.
Jack Lasota, 34, and Michelle Zajko, 33, were taken into custody Sunday. The two, described as members of a group known as the Zizians, face multiple charges, including trespassing, obstructing and hindering, and possession of a handgun in a vehicle, CBS News reports.
Lasota and other Zizians have been linked to the January killing of Border Patrol Agent David Maland near the Canadian border, along with five other homicides in Vermont, Pennsylvania, and California.
Maland, 44, was shot and killed on Jan. 20 after a traffic stop in Coventry, Vermont, about 20 miles from the Canadian border. According to a criminal complaint, 21-year-old Teresa Youngblut was driving with a German national, Felix Baukholt, when Border Patrol agents pulled them over. Shortly after, gunfire erupted.
Court documents say Youngblut allegedly pulled a handgun and fired at an agent without warning. Maland, Youngblut, and Baukholt were all shot. Baukholt died at the scene, and Maland was taken to a hospital, where he later died.
Authorities say Baukholt had an expired visa and was flagged in a Department of Homeland Security database. The gun used in the shootout was later traced to the Dec. 31, 2022, killings of Richard and Rita Zajko in Pennsylvania. Investigators say Youngblut and the person who purchased the weapon had been in frequent contact with a suspect in that case, who is also a person of interest in a separate California homicide, according to a court filing by U.S. Attorney Michael Drescher.
Federal and state officials have released few details about the sprawling investigation, which gained traction after Maland’s death. But records, interviews, and online postings reviewed by the Associated Press suggest that a group of highly intelligent, young computer scientists — most in their 20s and 30s — met online, shared anarchist beliefs, and became increasingly violent.
