The apparent leader of the cult-like group the Zizians connected to a half dozen killings in the US has been busted alongside another member. Jack Lasota, 34, and Michelle Zajko, 33, were arrested on Sunday evening in Maryland. Lasota goes by Ziz, which is the namesake of the group made up of mostly transgender and non-binary computer scientists in their 20s and 30s. Lasota has described herself as a transgender woman and in writings blasted rationalist groups and other perceived enemies.
![[In this Jan., 2023 booking photo provided by the Delaware County, Pennsylvania, District Attorney's Office, Jack LaSota refused to speak and kept her eyes closed while being photographed after being detained in a hotel in suburban Pennsylvania on Jan. 23, 2023. (Delaware County, Pennsylvania, District Attorney's Office via AP)]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/SEI_239881852-74d5.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
In a blog, Ziz detailed her theory that the right and left hemispheres of the brain could have their own gender and values and ‘often desire to kill each other’. Zajko, of Media, Pennsylvania, is a person of interest in shootings in her home state and Vermont. A police bulletin stated that she was armed and has an ‘anti-law-enforcement ideology’. The Zizians have also been linked to US Border Patrol agent David Maland, 44, who was killed after a traffic stop near the US border with Canada on January 20. The group has been tied to five other homicides in California, Pennsylvania and Vermont.
![[FBI agents search a neighborhood in Chapel Hill, North Carolina on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025 where Teresa Youngblut and Felix Bauckholt, who were involved in the shooting death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Vermont, had been renting homes in the neighborhood, their landlord told The Associated Press. (WRAL-TV via AP)]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/SEI_239881863-ab20.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
Their writings online have addressed gender identity, artificial intelligence and radical veganism. The alleged cult members were detained due to ‘on-site activity’ and not for outstanding warrants, Allegany county jail official Elizabeth Shoemake told VTDigger. Lasota has been charged with possession of a firearm, obstruction and trespassing. Zajko has been charged with obstruction, trespassing and resisting or interfering with an arrest.
‘The investigators that are working on the case aren’t going to do any press releases at this time because the investigation is kind of fluid and ongoing and the FBI is involved now,’ stated Maryland State Police Lieutenant Jeremy Stonebraker. Both are expected to appear at a bail hearing on Tuesday morning at Allegany District Court. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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