The violent deaths linked to the group known as Zizians stopped at six a year ago, after a U.S. border agent was killed and three members were arrested on trespassing and gun charges in the woods of western Maryland. Seven of the group\u2019s members are jailed in three states, all awaiting trial.\n<\/p>\n
Police in Maryland quickly connected Jack \u201cZiz\u201d LaSota, Michelle Zajko and Daniel Blank to homicide investigations in California, Pennsylvania and Vermont after a landowner found them living in box trucks at the end of a snow covered dirt road last February, according to court documents and pre-trial testimony.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the suspects involved are to be questioned regarding other\u00a0crimes that have occurred<\/a>\u00a0across the country and have ties with the Zizians Cult,\u201d Maryland state Trooper Brandon Jeffries wrote after their\u00a0Feb. 16, 2025 arrests<\/a>. But their prosecutions have only inched along amid trial delays and little action in other cases.\n<\/p>\n Called \u201cZizians\u201d by outsiders, the young, highly intelligent computer scientists appear to share radical beliefs about veganism, animal rights, gender identity and artificial intelligence. Since 2022, members have been tied to the death of one of their own during an attack on a\u00a0California landlord<\/a>, the landlord\u2019s subsequent killing, the shooting deaths of Zajko\u2019s parents in Pennsylvania, and a highway\u00a0shootout in Vermont<\/a>\u00a0that left the border agent and another Zizian dead.\n <\/p>\n Arguing they\u2019re victims of injustice<\/p>\n Jury selection was supposed to start this week in Cumberland, Maryland, where LaSota, Zajko and Blank are charged with possession of LSD and possession with intent to deliver LSD, multiple gun violations, trespassing and hindering a police officer.\n<\/p>\n The trial was delayed until June, however, after Zajko, who also is charged with resisting arrest, fired her attorney, briefly represented herself and hired a new lawyer.\n<\/p>\n In handwritten filings, she has made sprawling allegations of rights violations by snitches inside the Allegany County Detention Center and lies by police and prosecutors.\n<\/p>\n \u201cIn the interest of Hope, Justice and Truth, for the good of all people, and for the establishment of a true peace, the defense moves to dismiss this case,\u201d Zajko declared in 20 pages of neat but almost indecipherably small handwriting.\n<\/p>\n Their lawyers and the lead prosecutor have all declined comment or not responded to interview requests.\n<\/p>\n Vermont border agent killed<\/p>\n Zajko also is accused of supplying the guns two other Zizians used in a fatal shootout in Vermont in January 2025, although her federal court docket starts and ends with the complaint charging her with lying to a Vermont gun dealer.\n<\/p>\n