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)
A timeline of activities of a cultlike group tied to the killing of a Border Patrol agent
Here’s a look at the timeline of events in a series of killings that culminated in a Jan. 20 highways shootout that killed a Border Patrol officer in Vermont. It is based on Associated Press interviews and a review of police reports, court records and online postings:
2016
Jack LaSota, a computer programmer and transgender woman living in the San Francisco Bay area, starts writing a blog under the online persona “Ziz” with complex and sometimes rambling theories about technology, gender identity and human cognition. LaSota, who uses feminine pronouns, gets involved in the rationalist movement, a community that seeks to understand human cognition and is concerned with the potential dangers of artificial intelligence.
2018
LaSota attends programs organized by rationalist groups but splits from them after they reject her theory that the two hemispheres of the brain can hold separate values and genders.
FILE – Law enforcement follow a hearse carrying fallen border patrol agent David Maland from the UVM Medical Center morgue to a funeral home in Burlington, Vt., Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. (WCAX via AP, File)
November 2019
LaSota and three others — Emma Borhanian, Gwen Danielson and Alexander Leatham — are arrested during what they called a protest against sexual misconduct within rationalist organizations.
August 2022
The U.S. Coast Guard responds to a report that LaSota had fallen out of a boat in San Francisco Bay. No body is found. An obituary is published.
November 2022
Teresa Youngblut, bottom, who is charged by the FBI in connection to the shooting death of US Border Patrol Agent David Maland, and Felix Bauckholt, top who were traveling with Youngblut, are seen in the office at the Newport City Inn on Jan. 14, 2025 in Newport, Vermont, in this still frame photograph from surveillance video released by the inn, who confirmed her identity. (Newport City Inn surveillance video image via AP)
Curtis Lind goes to court seeking to evict LaSota, Borhanian, Leatham and others who have been living in vans and box trucks on his property in Vallejo, California, for nonpayment of rent. On Nov. 15, two days before the eviction deadline, Lind is impaled with a sword and partially blinded in an attack during which he shoots and kills Borhanian.
Concluding that Lind acted in self-defense, officials charge Leatham and Suri Dao with murder. LaSota is not charged, but police report having contact with her at the scene.
December 2022
Rita and Richard Zajko are shot and killed in their home in Chester Heights, Pennsylvania, on New Year’s Eve. A neighbor’s doorbell camera captures audio and video of a car pulling up to their home, a voice shouting “Mom!” and another voice exclaiming, “Oh my God! Oh, God, God!”
January 2023
Maximilian Snyder, who is charged with allegedly killing an 82-year-old Vallejo landlord to prevent him from testifying in a murder case against his former tenants, walks into court with his hands up for arraignment Thursday, Feb 6, 2025, in Fairfield, Calf. (Chris Riley, Times-Herald via AP)/The Times-Herald via AP)
Police question the Zajkos’ daughter, Michelle, at her home in Vermont. A few weeks later, officers briefly take her into custody at a Pennsylvania hotel but release her without charges. LaSota, staying at the same hotel, is arrested and charged with obstructing the homicide investigation and disorderly conduct.
July 2023
Felix Bauckholt, also referred to in court documents as Ophelia, begins renting half a duplex in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
May 2024
Teresa Youngblut’s parents report her missing in Seattle after she sends her mother emails saying she has moved in with a friend and changed her number.
Teresa Youngblut, who is charged by the FBI in connection to the shooting death of US Border Patrol Agent David Maland, is seen in the office at the Newport City Inn on Jan. 14, 2025 in Newport, Vermont, in this still frame photograph from surveillance video released by the inn, who confirmed her identity. (Newport City Inn surveillance video image via AP)
November 2024
Youngblut and Maximilian Snyder apply for a marriage license in Washington state. Also this month, Youngblut begins renting a condo near Bauckholt’s in North Carolina.
January 2025
Youngblut and Bauckholt check into a hotel in Lyndonville, Vermont, on Jan. 14. Investigators put the pair under surveillance after a hotel worker reports concerns about their all-black tactical clothing and the gun Youngblut was carrying.
On Jan. 17, Lind, the landlord in California is killed. Snyder is charged with murder, and prosecutors allege he was trying to prevent Lind from testifying against his earlier attackers.
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)
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 is wounded, is charged with firearms charges.
February 2025
The FBI searches the Chapel Hill property where a landlord says Youngblut, Bauckholt and LaSota had been living earlier this winter.
On Feb. 16, LaSota was arrested in Maryland along with Michelle Zajko and Daniel Blank. They face charges including trespassing, obstructing and hindering and possession of a handgun in a vehicle. A judge ordered all three held without bail on Feb. 18.
Maximilian Snyder appears in court for arraignment on Thursday in Fairfield, Calif. Snyder is charged with allegedly killing an 82-year-old Vallejo landlord to prevent him from testifying in a murder case against his former tenants. Snyder asked for additional weeks to find proper counsel, moving the case back to Vallejo. (Chris Riley/Times-Herald)/The Times-Herald via AP)FILE – In this undated and unknown location photo released by the Department of Homeland Security shows Border Patrol Agent David Maland posing with a service dog. (Department of Homeland Security via AP, File)Maximilian Snyder, who is charged with allegedly killing an 82-year-old Vallejo landlord to prevent him from testifying in a murder case against his former tenants, walks into court for arraignment Thursday, Feb 6, 2025, in Fairfield, Calf. (AP Photo/Terry Chea)FILE – Teresa Youngblut, who is charged by the FBI in connection to the shooting death of US Border Patrol Agent David Maland, is seen in the office at the Newport City Inn on Jan. 14, 2025 in Newport, Vermont, in this still frame photograph from surveillance video released by the inn, who confirmed her identity. (Newport City Inn surveillance video image via , File)Flowers sit outside the property where San Francisco Bay Area prosecutors say Maximilian Snyder killed landlord Curtis Lind in Vallejo, California, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Janie Har)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)FILE – This image taken from video provided by WCAX shows police cars closing off a road after a shooting involving a U.S. Border Patrol agent on Interstate 91 near Coventry, Vt., on Jan. 20, 2025. (WCAX via AP, File)FILE – This Jan. 29, 2025 photo shows a Chester Heights, Pa., home, the scene of the 2022 killing of Richard and Rita Zajko, (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)FILE- Cars are backed up at the US-Canada border in Stanstead, Quebec, after a shooting involving a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Coventry, Vt., on Jan. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Chloe Jones, File)Flowers sit outside the property where San Francisco Bay Area prosecutors say Maximilian Snyder killed landlord Curtis Lind in Vallejo, California, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Janie Har)In this combination of undated photos provided by the Pennsylvania State Police, Richard Zajko, left, and his wife Rita Zajko, who police say were shot to death in their home in suburban Philadelphia on Dec. 31, 2022, are shown. (Pennsylvania State Police via AP)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, their landlord told The Associated Press. (WRAL-TV via AP)This combination of images from top left shows 2019 Sonoma County Sheriff’s office booking mug shots of Jack LaSota, Alexander Leatham, Emma Borhanian and, at bottom left, Gwen Danielson, court appearance of Maximilian Snyder and a Newport City Inn surveillance video image of Teresa Youngblut. They are associates of LaSota, also known as “Ziz.” (AP Photo)This image provided by the Allegany County Sheriff’s Office shows Jack Lasota. (Allegany County Sheriff’s Office via AP)This image provided by the Allegany County Sheriff’s Office shows Michelle Zajko. (Allegany County Sheriff’s Office via AP)
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