A former Delco woman wanted for questioning in the death of her parents will remain in custody with other cult members
A former Delco woman wanted for questioning in her parents’ deaths was among three people arrested in Maryland, all members of a group called the Zizians.
CUMBERLAND, Md. — Three members of what prosecutors say is an “extremist group” linked to violent crimes across the country — including a former Delaware County woman who is wanted for questioning in the 2022 deaths of her parents — were held without bail on trespassing charges Tuesday after a judge ruled that they might pose a threat to the public.
Michelle Zajko, 32, Jack LaSota, 33, and Daniel Blank, 26, will remain in custody in western Maryland on charges including trespassing, resisting arrest, and weapons offenses.
Prosecutors used their brief court appearances to lay out the web of crimes connected to the Zizians, a cultlike group of vegan activists obsessed with artificial intelligence and based in California. LaSota, who identifies as female, is the group’s leader, authorities said, and had eluded law enforcement for years until she was arrested Sunday, along with Zajko and Blank, on a secluded patch of Maryland forest for camping illegally in a box truck filled with guns and ammunition.
In addition to facing charges in Maryland, authorities said, the three are persons of interest in the slaying of Zajko’s parents, who were found shot to death in their Chester Heights home in December 2022.
Zajko was wanted by federal authorities in connection with a shootout last month in which two Zizians fired at a group of border patrol agents in Vermont, Allegany County State’s Attorney James Elliot said in court Tuesday. He said Zajko purchased the guns used by Felix Bauckholt and Teresa Youngblut in that shooting, in which Border Patrol Agent David Maland and Bauckholt were killed.
Federal authorities are expected to file charges against Zajko in that case in the coming days, Elliot said.
LaSota is wanted on a bench warrant for failing to appear in court in Delaware County, where she faces obstruction of justice charges for refusing to answer questions about the deaths of Zajko’s parents, Rita and Richard.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” LaSota said in court Tuesday. “I shouldn’t be here.”
LaSota told Allegany District Judge Erich Bean she had been denied vegan food in custody and was in danger of starving.
Blank and Zajko did not address Bean during their hearings.
A public defender for the three defendants, Rebecca Francoeur-Breeden, argued without success that they should be released from custody but did not address the merits of the charges they face.
The three were arrested after a homeowner in Frostburg, Md., found them on his property, dressed in black and acting suspiciously, according to the affidavit of probable cause for their arrests.
When Maryland State Police arrived, they found two trucks, one of which was registered to Youngblut, who authorities say was one of the shooters in the attack on the Border Patrol agents.
Blank, who was in the passenger seat of one of the trucks, refused to follow the troopers’ commands, saying he has a learning disability and couldn’t understand them, the affidavit said.
In the second, smaller box truck, the troopers found LaSota and Zajko, according to the affidavit. Both were wearing ammunition belts, the document said, and officers found a Sig Sauer pistol inside the truck that records show Zajko had purchased in Vermont. A rifle was also found inside the truck. Zajko initially refused to show her hands to the troopers and screamed at them not to kill her, the affidavit said.
The three promised to leave the property but refused to identify themselves, authorities said. Zajko initially provided the alias “Alex Clark,” according to court filings.
In arguing for the defendants’ release, Francoeur-Breeden told the judge they were “brilliant” and have backgrounds in computer science or, in Zajko’s case, biology.
She said that she had been in contact with LaSota’s mother and Blank’s parents, and that both families had promised to find local housing for them and ensure they attend court appointments.
Elliot, the prosecutor, said Blank had been reported missing by his parents in California, who told authorities they had not had contact with him for two years before his arrest.
Bean, the judge, described the circumstances of the case as “odd at best” and said that, given the trio’s lack of ties to Maryland, releasing them from custody was “simply not an option.”