A member of the cultlike Zizian group is set to be arraigned on murder charges Friday in the death of a border patrol agent in Vermont, weeks after federal prosecutors announced they would seek the death penalty against her.
Teresa Youngblut, 21, of Seattle, is accused of firing the bullet that killed USBP agent David Maland in a shootout following a traffic stop on Interstate 91 about 20 miles south of the Canadian border on Jan. 20.
She was initially charged with using a deadly weapon against law enforcement and discharging a firearm during an assault with a deadly weapon.
But last month, a federal grand jury in Vermont indicted her for the murder of a border patrol agent — a charge that could carry the death penalty — as well as the assault of two other agents with a deadly weapon and related firearms offenses.
“Attorney General Pamela Bondi has authorized and directed the Acting United States Attorney for the District of Vermont to pursue capital punishment in this case,’ the Department of Justice said on Aug. 14. “Consistent with that authorization and direction, the Acting U.S. Attorney has filed a notice of intent to seek the death penalty against Youngblut.”
Prosecutors say Youngblut and a male companion, Felix Bauckholt, were pulled over by border agents on I-91. A shootout followed, killing both Bauckholt and Maland.
Youngblut is one of at least six individuals associated with the Zizians — a group with links to Northern California that’s described as a “cultlike group of vegan ‘rationalists’” — facing criminal charges in connection with multiple killings across three states.
Members of the group earned their nickname for following the writings of Jack LaSota, a transgender woman who sometimes writes in a blog under the name “Ziz,” authorities said.
Members are believed to be connected to the killings of at least six people in Vermont, Pennsylvania and California. One member of the group, 33-year-old Michelle Zajko, is accused of fatally shooting her parents in their Chester Heights, Pa., home on New Year’s Eve 2022.
Zajko, LaSota and another Zizian member, Daniel Arthur Blank, were arrested in Maryland in February.
In April, Zajko denied killing her parents in a 20-page handwritten letter, in which she blamed news outlets for misinforming the public, accused the police of lying and defended LaSota.
With News Wire Services
