Killing of Border Patrol agent appears linked to 'Zizian' radical leftist trans cult
By: Andy Ngo
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The murder of a US Border Patrol agent near the Canadian border appears to be linked to a radical leftist trans militant cult accused of killings across the country.
Around a week before the Jan. 20 attack, federal law enforcement had been surveilling German national Felix "Ophelia" Bauckholt and University of Washington student Teresa "Milo" Consuelo Youngblut.
Staff at a Lyndonville, Vermont, motel alerted authorities about seeing the duo with a firearm and black tactical clothing.
When law enforcement visited them, the pair claimed to be looking at property in the area and promptly checked out of the motel on Jan. 14, according to court documents.
Then, on Inauguration Day, Border Patrol Agent David Maland stopped their car in Coventry, Vermont.
Youngblut allegedly shot at Maland, who was killed, and border agents returned fire, killing Bauckholt. Youngblut is in custody.
Authorities now say the guns used by Youngblut and Bauckholt are owned by a person of interest in other murders — and connected to a mysterious cult of transgender "geniuses" who follow a trans leader named Jack LaSota, also known by the alias "Ziz."
Bauckholt was a biological male who identified as trans and used feminine pronouns. He was an award-winning youth math genius from Freiburg, Germany, who later graduated from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada.
Around 2021, he was hired as a quantitative trader at Tower Research Capital in New York. It is believed Baukholt was in the US on an H-1B visa. The Department of Justice says he was armed in the car and tried to aim his firearm before being shot dead.
Youngblut, who is accused of firing the surprise shots that killed Air Force veteran Maland, was injured by return fire.
Youngblut is a biological female who identifies as trans and lists having neo-pronouns as "xe/xem/xyrs" on social media. Youngblut was a University of Washington student studying computer science.
Youngblut graduated from the prestigious and woke north Seattle private institution Lakeside School, which Bill Gates also attended.
Youngblut's family had reported her missing to Seattle police in May 2024. Her family said she was in a controlling relationship and cut off contact, according to the police report. Her social media account on BlueSky shows she followed some Antifa-aligned far-left accounts.
In November 2024, Youngblut filed a marriage application with a 22-year-old fellow Lakeside alumnus named Maximilian Bentley Snyder.
Last week, Snyder, an "any pronouns" computer science whiz from a wealthy Seattle family, was arrested in Vallejo, Calif., for the murder of an elderly key witness set to testify in an upcoming attempted murder trial against alleged members of the trans extremist group.
The arrest has revealed previously hidden close associations between Youngblut, Bauckholt and a cult linked now to four killings.
THE ZIZ CULT
Authorities are investigating the connection between murders across the country to the "Zizians" — a cult of highly-educated trans vegan "rationalists."
Jack "Ziz" LaSota
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The transgender leader of the group, who has posted about "transhumanism" and other topics. Some followers say LaSota is dead, but that seems to be a plot to avoid authorities. LaSota used the name "Andrea Phelps."
Alexander "Somni" Leatham and Amir "Emma" Borhanian
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Curtis Lind (victim)
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Two Zizians who are accused of attacking Curtis Lind in Solano County, Calif., because they were squatting on his property. Lind, who lost an eye in the attack, shot and killed Borhanian, but was going to testify against Leatham and another accused assailant and "Ziz" follower, Suri Dao.
Maximilian Bentley Snyder
20Special to the Chronicle
Snyder has been arrested for killing 82-year-old Lind to prevent him from testifying at the trial. Lind was stabbed and had his throat slit on the street outside his home in Vallejo, Calif. on Jan. 17.
Teresa "Milo" Consuelo Youngblut and Felix "Ophelia" Bauckholt
Teresa Youngblut / Instagram
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David Maland (victim)
AP
Snyder was engaged to be married to Youngblut. Youngblut and Bauckholt were stopped by Border Patrol agent David Maland on Jan. 20 in northern Vermont. Youngblut allegedly shot at Maland, who was killed. Bauckholt was killed by return fire. Youngblut was arrested.
Michelle Jacqueline Zajko
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Rita Zajko and Richard Zajko (victims)
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Authorities say the gun Youngblut used in the border patrol attack was bought by Michelle Jacqueline Zajko — the trans nonbinary adult child of Rita and Richard Zajko, who were found killed in mysterious and unsolved circumstances in Delaware County, Pa. in early 2023. Zajko, whose blog shows connections to the Ziz cult, has not been charged with a crime.
That group, the "Zizians," are highly educated trans vegan "rationalists" who hold fringe, esoteric ideological beliefs about transhumanism and animal rights.
Their leader, Jack "Ziz" LaSota, is a biological male who identifies as a woman. He also used the name Andrea Phelps, and is accused of influencing followers to kill. LaSota's archived prolific blog writings ramble about the use of violence and radical anarchist tactics to achieve various ends.
LaSota has a warrant for an arrest in Delaware County, Pa., after skipping out on court hearings on an open criminal case. His supporters say he died in 2022, but that appears to be based on a fake online obituary to try to escape the law.
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A source with knowledge says LaSota was living with Bauckholt and other members of the group in an Airbnb rental in Chapel Hill, NC, since 2023.
A Jan. 27 motion by federal prosecutors to deny Youngblut bail strongly suggests links with the group.
"Her [Youngblut] associations with other individuals suspected of violent acts also warrants caution," prosecutor Matthew Lasher wrote in a court filing.
"The individual who purchased the firearms the defendant and Bauckholt possessed on January 20, 2025, is a person of interest in a dual-homicide investigation in Delaware County, Pennsylvania."
That person of interest is bioinformatics researcher Michelle Jacqueline Zajko, according to the ATF.
no credit
Zajko is the trans nonbinary adult child of Rita and Richard Zajko, an elderly couple found killed in mysterious and unsolved circumstances in Delaware County in early 2023. Zajko's past archived blog posts show close associations with "Ziz."
According to public records in reporting by Vermont news site vtdigger, Zajko had purchased a plot of land in rural Vermont close to where the deadly shootout occurred. Members of the "Ziz" group are known to live in communes in box trucks.
Zajko has not been charged with any crime.
A dispute over a former Bay-area "Ziz" commune is at the center of the murder case against Snyder, the Seattle man who applied for a marriage license with Youngblut.
In November 2022, 82-year-old Curtis Lind narrowly survived an assassination attempt by three members of the "Ziz" group who were squatting on his property in Solano County, Calif.
They impaled him with a sword and repeatedly stabbed him. Lind shot two of the assailants, killing Amir "Emma" Borhanian. He lost an eye in the attack and spent a month in the hospital.
Two other alleged members of the cult, Suri Dao and Alexander "Somni" Leatham, both transgender, have a trial in April for the attempted murder of Lind, causing the death of their comrade and other felonies. Both of them have tried to escape from custody and face other charges.
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But that trial may be in jeopardy with the sole witness, Lind, murdered — allegedly by Snyder.
The Solano District Attorney's Office accuses Snyder of lying in wait for Lind and then slitting his throat.
"The victim was a witness to a crime who the defendant intentionally killed for the purpose of preventing his testimony in a criminal proceeding," the DA alleges.
Special to the Chronicle
Snyder's last transaction on Venmo last year was noted for "Milo," the trans name of his fiance.
Without naming LaSota, the court filing strongly suggests he is the linchpin among all the suspects and persons of interest.
After the shooting of the border agent, a bomb squad investigated Bauckholt and Youngblut's Toyota Prius hatchback.
WCAX via AP
Investigators found two pistols, ammunition clips, night-vision goggles, two full-face respirators, a ballistic helmet, 48 rounds of hollow-point ammunition, shooting range targets, interstate lodging information, two-way radios and a dozen electronic devices, some of which were wrapped in foil.
At their Airbnb rentals in North Carolina, where they lived before going to Vermont, the property owner says Youngblut parked a new box truck on his property, where they spent much of their time during the day, along with other individuals in black clothing.
Some trans activists online are pressuring people not to talk to authorities or journalists, and are cheering the killings.
After it was announced that the elderly witness was murdered earlier this month, one X account that has expressed support of the Vallejo, Calif., trans defendants wrote: "Ladies and gentlemen, we got him."
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This is much bigger than expected.
White punks on dope.
So many of them turned out to be mentally ill and homicidal.
I can't help but wonder what law enforcement was really doing. These were known killers.
We won't have to wonder anymore.
Let's just say things are changing.
In a US population of 1.6 million transgenders, what is "many"? And, please, no silly comments such as 1 is too many.
‘In a US population of 1.6 million transgenders’
Most, if not all, probably have some form of me tal deficiencies
Yep, gender dysphoria is very prevalent in that group.
As do many people no matter their orientation.
Argument from the few to the many trying to discredit all of a specific group, otherwise known as "prejudice".
Wow,. This cult is what the fbi should be investigating, not parents upset that men are using girls bathrooms in junior high schools.
Anyone have a link to info about this "cult"?
Google search turned up nothing outside news stories referencing this case. Wikipedia the main source for everything and nothing (at the same time), has nothing on it.
Contact the author.
Why rely on a crowd sourced site? You may as well declare your sources as "Trust Me Bro".
Because nothing turned up anywhere else. I listed it to try and show that I even looked in one of the most unreliable sources and still nothing.
Because they've operated in obscurity until recently, it seems likely that the most concerning or abusive aspects of Zizian philosophy are not public knowledge. What is known at the present is more than enough to be alarmed. Ziz preaches a doctrine of radical high-tech veganism that promotes punishing your ideological enemies.
How do you tell the difference between groups that have no internet footprint and those that simply do not exist?
In this day and age, any "group" that is organized will have something listed somewhere on the internet.
Bullshit, over 1/3 of the world has never been on the internet.
according to Gov Hochel, there are people in the US who don't know how to use a computer to access the internet.
There are 11 million plus in the US without internet access, and something like 500,000 using dial up. but every group has a web page.
That's a deep question, ranks right up there with "if a tree falls in the forest and there's no one around to hear it does it really make a sound".....
You asked for a link, you're welcome.
i doubt anyone will find anything outside the stated cases , kinda like the old Manson family of the late 60s and 70s , they didnt really come on the radar until AFTER, things happened , and then they were all over the news .
i put "Ziz community" in my search engine , and had to do a few refined sub searches using key words to find much actually connected to them .
and even then it wasnt very telling past whats been reported .
60's and 70's did not have the internet. The Mansion family was known of at that time, they were just not considered dangerous until after the crime occurred.
So where is the link to what you did find?
I actually do want to find out about them, but like I said all I found was links (non-mainstream) to the story, and authors talking about the group after the fact and only based on one of the original stories.
THAT is why i posted no links.
i found nothing new within the parameters requested
It sounded like you may have actually found a little, which is why I asked for the links.
Thank you, but after reading it, the referenced zizian website appears to have been created after the crime...
The Militia Etheridge...
with a left leaning
Oh, I see. This is what my friends on the left must have been talking about with dangers of White Supremacy.
Thx friends ……