UPDATE
Feb 18, 2025 4:16 PM CST
The leader of a cult-like group connected to six killings in three states was ordered held without bail Tuesday in Maryland, where she faces charges including trespassing. Jack LaSota, 34, and two others arrested with her Sunday appeared via videoconference for bail hearings in Allegany District Court, the AP reports. A judge ordered all three held without bail, describing them as dangerous flight risks. A prosecutor said LaSota has faked her own death in the past and "appears to be the leader of an extremist group" known as the Zizians. LaSota, known online as Ziz, asked for pretrial release, saying she was homeless with no means of traveling. She also repeatedly requested a vegan diet, saying she could starve otherwise and was already "in a mild state of delirium" due to lack of food.
Feb 17, 2025 2:54 PM CST
The leader of a cult-like group known as the Zizians has been arrested in Maryland along with two other members of the group, Maryland State Police said Monday. Jack Lasota, 34, was arrested Sunday along with Michelle Zajko and Daniel Blank, the AP reports. They face multiple charges including trespassing, obstructing and hindering, and possession of a handgun in a vehicle. A bail hearing for the the two is scheduled for 11am Tuesday at Allegany District Court.
The Zizians have been tied to the killing of US Border Patrol Agent David Maland near the Canadian border in January and five other homicides in Vermont, Pennsylvania, and California. Zajko was sought by authorities in connection with the shootout that killed Maland, the Baltimore Banner reports. She allegedly bought the gun that was used by Teresa Youngblut, who was arrested after the shooting. Zajko is also considered a "person of interest" in the 2022 murders of her parents in Pennsylvania, reports the Times Union.
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LaSota is also wanted for failing to appear in court in Pennsylvania and California on multiple occasions, the Banner reports. LaSota published a dark and sometimes violent blog under the name Ziz and, in one section, described her theory that the two hemispheres of the brain could hold separate values and genders and "often desire to kill each other." LaSota—who used she/her pronouns, and in her writings says she is a transgender woman—railed against perceived enemies, including so-called rationalist groups, which operate mostly online and seek to understand human cognition through reason and knowledge. Some are concerned with the potential dangers of artificial intelligence.
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