How the 'Zizian cult' started, and may have led to VT
COVENTRY, Vt. (ABC22/FOX44) – As details about the shooting death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Vermont continue emerging, new information now shows the two people who were pulled over and involved in the shooting may have ties to a group that's been described as a 'dangerous cult.'
The group is known as the 'Zizians', and a combination of court records, investigative reporting and witness accounts show the group may have been around since 2019. That's when its alleged leader, Jack 'Ziz' LaSota, a transgender tech whiz and devout vegan, organized a group of people similar to him to protest a rationalist reunion on the outskirts of San Francisco, California.
Matthias Gafni, an investigative reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, covered the protest in 2019, not realizing at the time that it would spiral into one of the most bizarre investigations of his career.
'I just happened to be the reporter here at the Chronicle that covered this bizarre protest,' Gafni reminisced. 'They (LaSota and co.) showed up there in all black robes, in Guy Fawkes masks, and they blocked the entrance and exit to this place with a school bus and a flatbed truck and started handing out flyers about what they were protesting about.'
'Now we know these years later that that was really a launching point,' Gafni said.
'Zizian cult' could be tied to Border Patrol agent death
Fast forward to 2022, LaSota and his associates bought a World War II tugboat in Alaska and sailed it down to San Francisco Bay with plans to live on it, according to multiple reports. But eventually, the boat sank and the group abandoned it, with LaSota faking his death in the process.
'His (LaSota's) supporters and friends and family in California, in the Bay Area, had alleged that he died in a boating accident, and his counsel told the court that,' said Andy Ngo, the Senior Editor for The Post Millennial, a Canadian conservative news website.
'The attorney told the judge that his client, Jack LaSota, was dead, and it turns out that there was an elaborate scheme to make it look like Ziz fell off a sailboat,' Gafni said.
The people who were on the boat with LaSota then turned to a landlord they met in the marina: Curtis Lind. According to court documents, after renting from Lind in Vallejo, California for a while, the group attacked him with knives and a samurai sword in November 2022. Lind fought back, shooting and killing one of them, Emma Borhanian, and injuring another.
Sunken boat linked to 'Zizians,' mysterious Vallejo murder case
About a month-and-a-half later on New Year's Eve, a set of murders happened in Pennsylvania, when Richard and Rita Zajko were found dead in their home, shot execution-style. The killings seemed to be unconnected to everything that had gone on in the Bay Area at first, until police arrested someone on an obstruction charge connected to the Zajko's murders.
That person was none other than Jack 'Ziz' LaSota
'According to the police record, he acted very bizarre,' Ngo said. 'He pretended to be dead during the booking … the staff had to hold him up for the photo.'
LaSota's bail was eventually lowered to $10,000 in 2023, which he paid and got out.
LaSota hasn't been seen since, but Zizian activity may still be going on.
This year, Curtis Lind was set to testify as the lone witness in his own attempted murder case, and with a fading memory, his attorney filed paperwork to move his testimony up to happen as soon as possible.
But less than one month ago on January 17, Lind was found dead.
Who are the 'Zizians'? Recent deaths linked to Bay Area 'cult'
'Literally the next day, prosecutors allege that Maximilian Snyder walked up to him in a cul-de-sac just outside his property in Vallejo and stabbed him to death, slit his throat,' Gafni said.
'He was the sole witness to one of their attacks, one of their alleged attempted assassinations, and the trial is set for April and that witness has now been murdered,' Ngo said.
Then, three days later was the deadly shootout in Vermont between U.S. Border Patrol agents and the team of Teresa 'Milo' Youngblut and Felix 'Ophelia' Bauckholt, which claimed the lives of Bauckholt and U.S. Border Patrol Agent David 'Chris' Maland. In November 2024, Youngblut had filed for a marriage license with Snyder, the man accused of killing Lind in Vallejo.
Suspect pleads 'not guilty' to firearms charges in shooting of VT border patrol agent
Furthermore, Pennsylvania State Police say a woman named Michelle Zajko, the daughter of the slain Pennsylvania couple Richard and Rita Zajko, purchased the firearms that were in Youngblut and Bauckholt's possession. Records also show Michelle Zajko owns property in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom, and Essex County State's Attorney Vince Illuzzi says someone who went to Zajko's Coventry property in late January 2025 was met by a person wearing a black cloak, armed with a sword-like weapon at their hip, who told them to leave.
It was at this point that some of the possible connections became clear, especially with court documents suggesting Youngblut could be linked to other violent cases across the country. What also became clear was that Youngblut and Bauckholt were looking for property in Vermont, and may have been trying to grow a Zizian foothold in the state.
'There's definitely evidence that they were looking to plant some roots in Vermont,' Gafni said. 'Each time we'd learn something new, it would get more and more bizarre.'
'What's scary about it is that there are people who are at large,' Ngo said. 'It almost sounds like it's been written by AI. It's so unbelievable that, if the allegations are true … there was an extremist cult killing people for several years across the U.S., operating essentially in the open, and federal authorities completely missed the seriousness of this.'
Snyder and Youngblut both have more court dates coming up. Snyder will have his first hearing next week in the Lind murder case, and Youngblut will be back in federal court in May to answer to charges connected to her role in the shooting death of Agent Maland.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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