A Seattle woman is charged with murder in the killing of a U.S. Border Patrol agent and may face the death penalty if convicted.
WASHINGTON — A Seattle woman was federally charged Thursday with murder in the January killing of a U.S. Border Patrol agent and could face the death penalty if convicted.
Teresa Youngblut, 21, is accused of shooting and killing David Maland when he attempted to conduct a traffic stop on her vehicle in Vermont on Jan. 20. Youngblut is charged with murder, assault of two additional agents with a deadly weapon and firearms offenses.
“The United States Attorney’s Office intends to continue to honor the men and women of law enforcement, and the memory of Border Patrol Agent Maland, by performing its prosecutorial duties so that justice may be done,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Michael P. Drescher for the District of Vermont.
Court documents say Youngblut was traveling with Felix Bauckholt, a German citizen when Maland tried to pull over their vehicle on Interstate 91 in Coventry, Vermont. Investigators had begun looking into the pair after a hotel employee reported that they were wearing tactical gear and appeared to be armed.
Youngblut exited the vehicle when she was stopped and opened fire without warning on agents at the scene, according to court documents. Youngblut was shot twice by other agents, and Bauckholt also exited the vehicle with a weapon despite an agent ordering him to stop. The agent shot Bauckholt twice in the chest, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Youngblut attended the prestigious Lakeside School in north Seattle and filed for a marriage license in November 2024 in King County. She is part of a cultlike group known as Zizians that has been connected to six killings in three states.
In February, Youngblut was federally charged with firearms offenses in the assault of a federal agent.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) release indicates that Attorney General Pam Bondi has authorized and directed the federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty in the case if Youngblut is convicted. Youngblut’s attorneys had asked the court in July if they could have until January 2026 to submit mitigation evidence in her case.
Youngblut and Bauckholt were among the followers of Jack LaSota, a transgender woman also known as Ziz whose online writing about veganism, gender identity and artificial intelligence attracted young, highly intelligent computer scientists who shared anarchist beliefs. Members of the group have been tied to the death of one of their own during an attack on a California landlord in 2022, the landlord’s subsequent killing earlier this year, and the deaths of a Pennsylvania couple in between.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.