They have been called a “death cult” and a “murder gang” and, supposedly, their bizarre beliefs were influenced by ideas that sprang up on a popular online tech forum. Little is otherwise known about the “Zizians” other than that the body count allegedly connected to the group only continues to grow.
So far, at least two murders have been tied to people allegedly connected to the group. Curtis Lind, an 82-year-old landlord was stabbed to death in Vallejo, California, on January 17th and, not long afterward, a Border Patrol agent, David Maland, was shot to death during a traffic stop in Vermont.
The two suspects in those separate (but, according to police, potentially related) criminal cases—Maximilian Snyder, 22, and Teresa Youngblut, 21—are believed to share a marriage license, though it is unclear whether they are actually married. Snyder was recently arrested for the Vallejo murder; Youngblut has been taken into custody for the lethal incident in Vermont.
On Friday, new reports suggested additional killings might also be tied to the group. Police are currently searching for 32-year-old Michelle J. Zajko, who is suspected of having purchased firearms that were later used in the shooting in Vermont, NBC has reported. It has been reported that Zajko’s parents, Richard and Rita Zajko, were shot to death at their home in Pennsylvania in 2022. The Zajkos’ deaths remain unsolved, though it is considered a double homicide by police.
To complicate things further, the figure known as “Ziz” (who has been described as the “flagbearer” of the group, and whose online writings are said to have inspired the group’s formation) is currently in custody in Pennsylvania. Ziz’s legal name is Jack LaSota. LaSota, who has “connections to some of the key players in the California case,” has been charged by police with obstructing law enforcement and disorderly conduct, the Associated Press has reported.
Even more weirdly, LaSota was previously thought to be dead. AP writes that, in the summer of 2022, the U.S. Coast Guard responded to reports that LaSota had fallen into the San Francisco Bay. Subsequently, an obituary for him was published and his mother also seemed to confirm he had died, AP writes. However, LaSota subsequently popped back up in Vallejo and was said to have been contacted by police at the site of yet another crime.
It should be heavily caveated that all of these connections are only alleged and there is a whole hell of a lot that we do not know about who these people are or what is going. All we really know at this point is that at least six people are dead, and all of the deceased seem to share ties—if, so far, only tangential ones—to this group.
The tenets of the Zizian belief system are difficult to understand, although it has been described as a philosophy that applies scientific and technological concepts to human decision-making. They have also been characterized as supporting an extreme form of veganism, and are said to be an offshoot of the “rationalist” movement that was fostered on the LessWrong forum.
