Three people linked to a Northern California cultlike group dubbed “the Zizians” — including its alleged leader — have been arrested in Maryland, authorities said Monday.
Michelle Jacqueline Zajko, 32, Daniel Arthur Blank, 26, and Jack “Ziz” LaSota, 33, were arrested in Frostburg, Md. on Sunday after allegedly trespassing on a private property, court records show.
The Zizians, described by the San Francisco Chronicle as a mysterious “cultlike group of vegan ‘rationalists,’” are believed to be connected to the killings of at least six people in Vermont, Pennsylvania and California — including the slaying of Zajok’s parents at their Chester Heights, Pa. home in January 2023 and the shooting of a U.S. border patrol agent last month.
Agent David Maland, an Air Force veteran, was killed in a shootout following a traffic stop in Vermont near the Canadian border on Jan. 20.
Members of the group are dubbed the “Zizians” because they follow the writings of LaSota, who sometimes writes in a blog under the name “Ziz,” authorities said.
In her blog, described as “dark and sometimes violent,” LaSota has proposed a theory suggesting that the two hemispheres of the human brain could hold different values and may “often desire to kill each other.”
LaSota, who’s transgender, is an Alaska-born computer programmer who once worked in Berkeley.
She was said to have died in a boating accident nearly three years ago, NBC News reported, citing an August 2022 obituary brief obituary that ran in her hometown newspaper in Alaska.
LaSota and her attorney, Daniel McGarrigle, declined to comment when asked whether she is connected to any of the deaths.
All three suspects are being held without bond at the Allegany County Detention Center as of Tuesday morning. They are expected in court later in the day for a bail review hearing.
With News Wire Services
