Michelle Zajko, 32, of Media, an associate of the radical transgender-vegan “Zizian” cult, was arrested Sunday in Maryland, along with others linked to the violent organization.
Pennsylvania State Police had been searching for Zajko, who identifies as “nonbinary,” as a person of interest in the Dec. 31, 2022, deaths of her parents Rita and Richard Zajko. The couple died inside their Chester Heights residence.
A gun purchased by Michelle Zajko was used in the Jan. 20 shooting of U.S. Border Patrol agent David “Chris” Maland in Vermont. The suspects in that case were also linked to the Zizian movement.
Zajko was arrested in the western Maryland town of Frostburg, along with alleged cult leader Jack “Ziz” Lasota, 34, of Berkeley, Calif., and Daniel Arthur Blank, 36, of Sacramento, Calif. Published accounts link the San Francisco cult to six deaths.
Lasota was charged with trespassing, obstructing and hindering, firearm in vehicle; Zajko was charged with trespassing, obstructing and hindering, resisting arrest, handgun on person; and Blank was charged with trespassing, obstructing and hindering, according to the Maryland State Police.
All three were transported to the Allegany County Detention Center for an appearance before a district court commissioner, where they are currently held.
The Zizians are a bizarre offshoot of the Berkeley, Calif.-based Center for Applied Rationality (CFAR), a think tank that advocates extreme rationalism, or “thinking of your brain as a kind of computer.” While “Ziz” is sometimes described as the movement’s leader, another member told an internet journalist they have no leader.
“There’s no organization. There’s no centralization. We’re just a bunch of anarchist trans leftists that are trying to exist in current year in this world,” said Zizian Octavia Nouzen.
Seattle resident Teresa “Milo” Consuelo Youngblut, 21, is also associated with the Zizians. She is charged with one count of using a deadly weapon while assaulting a U.S. Border Patrol agent and one count of using and discharging a firearm during and in relation to that assault. She was traveling with Felix “Ophelia” Bauckholt, a German national, near the Canadian border when the Border Patrol stopped their vehicle.
Bauckholt died in a subsequent gun battle and Youngblut was injured.
LaSota is a biological male who identifies as a woman, the NYPost reported, with a warrant for an arrest in Delaware County after skipping out on court hearings on an open criminal case. Zajko reportedly has ties to LaSota’s group.
The Maryland State Police is working in coordination with federal law enforcement partners and the Office of the State’s Attorney in Allegany County as this investigation continues, officials said.
