By HOLLY RAMER, PATRICK WHITTLE and MARK SCOLFORO
Within the wooded outskirts of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, a perplexed landlord seen odd sights at two of his rental properties.
Tenants wore lengthy black coats and parked field vans outdoors the duplexes. They ran {an electrical} twine from one field truck into one of many condos, and stored a stretcher inside one other.
A neighbor remembers equally dressed figures strolling round at evening holding arms. They by no means spoke a phrase.
By the point the FBI searched the property final week, one of the vital latest tenants had been killed in a shootout with U.S. Border Patrol brokers in Vermont, and a second was underneath arrest. A 3rd, a shadowy determine identified on-line as “Ziz,” stays lacking after authorities linked their cultlike group to 6 deaths in three states.
Officers have provided few particulars of the cross-country investigation, which broke open after the Jan. 20 capturing dying of a Border Patrol trooper in Vermont throughout a visitors cease. Related Press interviews and a evaluation of court docket data and on-line postings inform the story of how a gaggle of younger, very smart pc scientists, most of them of their 20s and 30s, met on-line, shared anarchist beliefs, and have become more and more violent.
Their targets aren’t clear, however on-line writings span matters from radical veganism and gender id to synthetic intelligence.
On the center of all of it is “Ziz,” who seems to be the chief of the unusual group, who known as themselves “Zizians.” She has been seen close to a number of crime scenes and has connections to varied suspects.
She was even declared useless for a time, earlier than reappearing amid extra violence.
Who’s Ziz?
Jack LaSota moved to the San Francisco Bay space after incomes a pc science diploma from the College of Alaska Fairbanks in 2013 and interning at NASA, in line with a profile on a hiring web site for programmers, coders and different freelance staff. NASA officers didn’t reply to a request to substantiate LaSota’s internship, however a Jack LaSota is listed on a web site about previous interns.
In 2016, she started publishing a darkish and rambling weblog underneath the title Ziz, describing her idea that the 2 hemispheres of the mind might maintain separate values and genders and “often desire to kill each other.”
LaSota used she/her pronouns, and in her writings says she is a transgender lady. She railed towards perceived enemies, together with so-called rationalist teams, which function principally on-line and search to grasp human cognition by motive and data. Some are involved with the potential risks of synthetic intelligence.
LaSota started selling an excessive mixture of rationalism, moral veganism, anarchism and different worth methods, mentioned Jessica Taylor, an AI researcher who met LaSota each in individual and on-line by the rationalist neighborhood and knew her as Ziz.
When LaSota left the rationalists behind, she took along with her a gaggle of “extremely vulnerable and isolated” followers, Anna Salamon, govt director of the Heart for Utilized Rationality, instructed the San Francisco Chronicle.
Taylor mentioned Ziz adherents use the rationalist ideology as a motive to commit violence. “Stuff like, thinking it’s reasonable to avoid paying rent and defend oneself from being evicted,” she mentioned.
Poulomi Saha, a professor who has studied cults, mentioned LaSota’s beliefs and writings could have made readers really feel seen, an usually central issue within the formation of teams generally labeled cults. That’s very true within the period of on-line communities, wherein it’s simpler for marginalized folks to hunt fellow believers.
“For the person who feels hailed by that blog post, there is likely to be a kind of dual experience,” mentioned Saha, co-director of this system in vital idea on the College of California, Berkeley. “One where they feel like ‘I have been saying this, or thinking this, all along, and no one has believed me.’”
Ziz and followers’ first run-in with the legislation
In November 2019, LaSota was arrested together with a number of different folks at a protest outdoors a Northern California retreat heart the place the Heart for Utilized Rationality was holding an occasion. Sheriff’s deputies known as in a SWAT group and armored automobile after the mask-wearing group blocked the property’s exits and handed out fliers railing towards the rationalist group. The group mentioned they have been protesting sexual misconduct contained in the rationalist group.
The case towards LaSota, Emma Borhanian, 31, Gwen Danielson and Alexander Leatham, 29, was pending in August 2022 when the U.S. Coast Guard responded to a report that LaSota had fallen out of a ship in San Francisco Bay. Her physique wasn’t discovered, however her mom confirmed the dying and an obituary was printed.
It wasn’t lengthy earlier than Ziz surfaced once more.
A landlord is attacked in California
By the autumn of 2022, LaSota had moved with different group members, together with Borhanian and Leatham, into vans and field vans on property owned by Curtis Lind in Vallejo, about 30 miles north of San Francisco.
“Emma’s van was amazing,” mentioned somebody who knew Borhanian. “It had a refrigerator and freezer and microwave. It was truly a work of art.”
The individual, who spoke on situation of anonymity due to fears for her security, described Borhanian as a sort and loving younger lady so good that she labored at Google whereas in school. Google didn’t reply to an inquiry about Borhanian’s employment there.
Prosecutors say she was amongst those that attacked Lind on Nov. 13 when he tried to evict the group for not paying lease.
Impaled by a sword and partially blinded, Lind fought again, fatally capturing Borhanian. Concluding that Lind acted in self-defense, officers charged Leatham and Suri Dao, 23, with homicide in Borhanian’s dying, in addition to tried homicide of Lind.
An individual reached by an Related Press reporter at a cellphone quantity listed for Alex Leatham’s father declined to remark. Makes an attempt to achieve relations for Dao weren’t profitable.
Police consider LaSota was on the scene of the crime, however she was not arrested.
An aged couple is killed in Pennsylvania
On New Yr’s Eve of 2022, a pair was shot and killed of their dwelling in Chester Heights, Pennsylvania.
A doorbell digicam captured audio and video of a automobile pulling as much as the house of Richard Zajko, 71, and his spouse, Rita, 69. A voice shouts “Mom!” and one other voice exclaims, “Oh my God! Oh, God, God!” in line with a Pennsylvania state police affidavit. Police discovered the couple shot within the head in an upstairs bed room after they failed to point out as much as deal with Rita’s mom.
Police questioned the couple’s daughter, Michelle, at her dwelling in Vermont, and some weeks later, took her into custody at a Pennsylvania lodge. She wasn’t arrested or charged with something. LaSota was on the lodge, too, and was arrested after refusing to cooperate with officers, and charged with obstructing legislation enforcement and disorderly conduct.
Six months later, LaSota was launched on bail however stopped displaying up for court docket.
LaSota’s legal professional, Daniel McGarrigle, mentioned final month his consumer was “wholly and unequivocally innocent of the charges filed in this case.”
The owner in California is discovered useless
In the meantime, the case concerning the owner in California was headed to trial. The owner, who was 82, was the one eyewitness, and prosecutors needed to rush alongside the proceedings.
However on Jan. 17, Lind’s throat was lower, and he died, not removed from the place he had survived the sooner assault.
Maximilian Snyder, 22, who’s charged with homicide, appeared in court docket Feb. 6, solely lengthy sufficient to request a brand new legal professional. It’s not clear how he was recognized as a suspect; he has ties to a girl who simply days later could be concerned in a shootout.
Snyder is listed as in custody within the Solano County Jail in California. Makes an attempt to achieve relations of Snyder weren’t profitable.
A Border Patrol agent dies in a shootout Vermont
On. Jan 20, in Vermont, U.S. Border Patrol brokers stopped a automobile carrying two folks linked to the Ziz group. A lodge employee had known as authorities after seeing one among them, Teresa Youngblut, with a gun.
Youngblut was driving the automobile when it was pulled over on Jan. 20, and authorities say she shortly opened fireplace on officers. The passenger, Felix Bauckholt, a German nationwide who can also be listed in court docket paperwork as Ophelia, died, together with the border patrol agent, David Maland.
Youngblut was wounded and arrested and has pleaded not responsible to firearms fees.
Authorities who searched the automobile discovered a ballistic helmet, night-vision goggles, respirators and ammunition, the FBI mentioned. In addition they discovered two-way radios and used capturing vary targets.
Youngblut utilized for a wedding license with Snyder, the person accused of murdering the aged landlord. He was a childhood pal; it was unclear in the event that they have been married. Authorities say the gun she was carrying was bought by an individual of curiosity within the Zajko killings.
The final sighting of Ziz
Youngblut and Bauckholt had been dwelling on the two condos in North Carolina, the place the owner and neighbors now say they noticed the odd conduct.
LaSota additionally had been dwelling there as just lately as this winter, mentioned the owner, who reviewed LaSota’s 2019 police reserving photograph. He spoke to The Related Press on the situation of anonymity as a result of he was involved for his security.
Expressing related issues, a neighbor who lived within the different aspect of Bauckholt’s duplex till September 2023 recalled seeing three folks sporting lengthy black robes and tactical garments.
“They rarely came out during the day but would walk around the neighborhood and in the woods at night,” the previous neighbor mentioned, who additionally spoke solely on situation of anonymity due to issues for his or her security. “Sometimes all three of them would go for a walk and they all held hands. They seemed to care for each other a great deal.”
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Right here’s a timeline of occasions in a sequence of killings that culminated in a Jan. 20 highways shootout that killed a Border Patrol officer in Vermont. It’s primarily based on Related Press interviews and a evaluation of police studies, court docket data and on-line postings:
2016: Jack LaSota, who makes use of female pronouns, a pc programmer and transgender lady dwelling within the San Francisco Bay space, begins writing a weblog underneath the web persona “Ziz” with advanced and typically rambling theories about expertise, gender id and human cognition. She will get concerned within the rationalist motion, a neighborhood that seeks to grasp human cognition and is worried with the potential risks of synthetic intelligence.
2018: LaSota attends packages organized by rationalist teams however splits from them after they reject her idea that the 2 hemispheres of the mind can maintain separate values and genders.
November 2019: LaSota and three others — Emma Borhanian, Gwen Danielson and Alexander Leatham — are arrested throughout what they known as a protest towards sexual misconduct inside rationalist organizations.
August 2022: The U.S. Coast Guard responds to a report that LaSota had fallen out of a ship in San Francisco Bay. No physique is discovered. An obituary is printed.
November 2022: Curtis Lind goes to court docket in search of to evict LaSota, Borhanian, Leatham and others who’ve been dwelling in vans and field vans on his property in Vallejo, California, for nonpayment of lease. On Nov. 15, two days earlier than the eviction deadline, Lind is impaled with a sword and partially blinded in an assault throughout which he shoots and kills Borhanian.
Concluding that Lind acted in self-defense, officers cost Leatham and Suri Dao with homicide. LaSota just isn’t charged however police report having contact along with her on the scene.
December 2022: Rita and Richard Zajko are shot and killed of their dwelling in Chester Heights, Pennsylvania, on New Yr’s Eve. A neighbor’s doorbell digicam captures audio and video of a automobile pulling as much as their dwelling, a voice shouting “Mom!” and one other voice exclaiming, “Oh my God! Oh, God, God!”
January 2023: Police query the Zajkos’ daughter, Michelle, at her dwelling in Vermont. A couple of weeks later, officers briefly take her into custody at a Pennsylvania lodge, however launch her with out fees. LaSota, staying on the identical lodge, is arrested and charged with obstructing the murder investigation and disorderly conduct.
July 2023: Felix Bauckholt, additionally referred to in court docket paperwork as Ophelia, begins renting half a duplex in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
November 2024Youngblut and Maximilian Snyder apply for a wedding license in Washington state. Additionally this month, Youngblut begins renting a condominium close to Bauckholt’s in North Carolina.
January 2025: Youngblut and Bauckholt examine right into a lodge in Lyndonville, Vermont, on Jan. 14. Investigators put the pair underneath surveillance after a lodge employee studies issues about their all-black tactical clothes and the gun Youngblut was carrying.
On Jan. 17, Lind, the owner in California is killed. Snyder is charged with homicide, and prosecutors allege he was attempting to forestall Lind from testifying towards his earlier attackers.
On Jan. 20, U.S. Border Patrol officers pull Youngblut and Bauckholt over on Interstate 91 in Coventry, Vermont. Agent David Maland and Bauckholt are killed in a shootout. Youngblut, who’s wounded, is charged with firearms fees.
February 2025: The FBI searches the Chapel Hill property the place a landlord says Youngblut, Bauckholt and LaSota had been dwelling earlier this winter.
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Related Press writers Kathy McCormack, Lisa Baumann, Janie Har, Maryclaire Dale and Gary Robertson contributed to this report.
Initially Printed: February 15, 2025 at 8:50 AM PST
