Michelle Zajko, who has been jailed in Maryland on other charges since February 2025, has been charged with murder, burglary and conspiracy charges in the deaths of Rita and Richard Zajko, Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse said at a news conference. The prosecutor said she did not act alone.<\/p>\n
Online court records didn\u2019t immediately indicate whether Zajko had an attorney in the Pennsylvania case as of Wednesday. An attorney representing her in Maryland did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment, and the Delaware County Public Defender\u2019s office declined to comment.<\/p>\n
The couple was shot to death in their home on New Year\u2019s Eve after police say a neighbor\u2019s doorbell camera captured video of a car pulling up to their home in Chester Heights, a voice shouting \u201cMom!\u201d and another voice exclaiming, \u201cOh my God! Oh, God, God!\u201d<\/p>\n
Michelle Zajko has denied any involvement, and in court filings suggested her father might have killed her mother and then himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t murder my parents,\u201d she wrote in an April 2025 \u201c Open Letter to the World.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n FILE \u2013 In this combination of undated photos provided by the Pennsylvania State Police, Richard Zajko, left, and his wife Rita Zajko, who police say were shot to death in their home in suburban Philadelphia on Dec. 31, 2022, are shown. (Pennsylvania State Police via AP, File)\n<\/p>\n FILE \u2013 This Jan. 29, 2025 photo shows a Chester Heights, Pa., home, the scene of the 2022 killing of Richard and Rita Zajko, (AP Photo\/Matt Rourke, File)\n<\/p>\n Show Caption<\/p>\n 1 of 2<\/p>\n FILE \u2013 In this combination of undated photos provided by the Pennsylvania State Police, Richard Zajko, left, and his wife Rita Zajko, who police say were shot to death in their home in suburban Philadelphia on Dec. 31, 2022, are shown. (Pennsylvania State Police via AP, File)\n<\/p>\n Expand<\/a><\/p>\n Authorities, however, had long described Zajko as a person of interest in the double homicide, two of the six deaths<\/a> linked to a group of young, highly intelligent computer scientists who appear to share radical beliefs about veganism, animal rights, gender identity and artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n Since 2022, members have been tied to the death of one of their own during an attack on a California landlord<\/a>, the landlord\u2019s subsequent killing, the Zajkos\u2019 deaths Pennsylvania, and a highway shootout in Vermont<\/a> that left a border agent and another Zizian dead.<\/p>\n Zajko, who is charged with providing the gun used to kill U.S. Border Patrol Agent David Maland in January 2025, was arrested in Maryland a few weeks later<\/a> along with Daniel Blank and Jack \u201cZiz\u201d LaSota, whom authorities describe as the group\u2019s leader. Police who responded to a landowner\u2019s complaint about suspicious people parked in box trucks on his property described them as having \u201cties with the Zizians Cult\u201d and said they would be questioned about crimes across the country.<\/p>\n All three face state charges of trespassing and illegal gun and drug possession, while LaSota faces a federal charge of illegal gun possession by a fugitive. A judge recently granted a defense request for a competency evaluation in the federal case.<\/p>\n![\"FILE](\"https:\/\/www.orlandosentinel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Prosecuting_Zizians_7228_.jpg?w=620\")
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