The "Zizians"^[1] are a radical offshoot of theBay Arearationalist community^[2], with alleged involvement in six violent deaths across theUnited States.^{[3][4][5][6][7][8]} Zizians holdanarchist beliefs,^[9] emphasizeanimal rights andveganism, and believe people can switch between separate personalities by activating differenthemispheres of their brains.^[10][1] They advocate "timeless decision theory", an alternative tocausal andevidential decision theory proposed byEliezer Yudkowsky.^[1][10][11]

Although the group itself does not use this name.^[12], the Zizians are named after their founder,Ziz LaSota, a self-declared "vegantransgenderanarchistrationalist" blogging atSinceriously^[13] who established anintentional community forBay Area rationalists in a fleet of boats^[14].^[15] According toThe San Francisco Chronicle, LaSota targeted "smart, mostlyautistic-ishtranswomen who were extremely vulnerable and isolated" for recruitment.^[10]

LaSota, who was 34 years old as of 2025, earned a bachelor's degree incomputer engineering from theUniversity of Alaska Fairbanks in 2013,^[8] where her father works as an artificial intelligence researcher.^[10] LaSota had an internship atNASA^[10] and persued a master's degree at theUniversity of Illinois Urbana-Champaign from 2013 to 2014 but did not graduate.^[8]

LaSota attended threeCenter for Applied Rationality (CFAR) events between 2014 and 2018 followed by a month-long fellowship in summer 2018.^[8] CFAR co-founder Anna Salamon attempted to prevent LaSota from attending the fellowship due to strange beliefs and behavior at previous events, but was overruled by a committee.^[8] These included LaSota's theories that human consciousness can be split between the twohemispheres of the brain, which may hold different values, genders, and may be "good", "evil", or both.^[10][8] After concerns were raised by more CFAR staff members LaSota was no longer invited to the group's events.^[8]

In 2019, LaSota and three other members of the movement were arrested for protesting at a CFAR event inOccidental, California; the members filed a federalcivil rights lawsuit againstSonoma County, which was dismissed.^[4][16] LaSota faked her death in a supposed boating accident in August 2022,^[15] but was arrested in January 2023 inPhiladelphia forobstruction of justice.^[8][4][10]

Ophelia Bauckholt was atransgender^[17] German citizen^[15] on a currentvisa working as aquantitative trader forTower Research Capital inNew York since October 2021.^[3][18][19] Before working at Tower, she worked as a trader atRadix Trading for two years and as an intern atJane Street Capital.^[20] Bauckholt reportedly quit working for Tower in 2023, which put her visa's extension at risk.^[21]

Bauckholt was raised inFreiburg im Breisgau and attended the Goethe-Gymnasium there, where she was praised as having "remarkable knowledge" inmathematics.^[22][23] In 2014 and in 2015, she won gold and bronze medals for the German team at theInternational Olympiad in Informatics.^[22][20][24] She graduated from theUniversity of Waterloo in 2019 with a bachelor's degree in mathematics.^[20][21]

Bauckholt had joined therationalist community after attending a CFAR event in 2019. According to rationalist blogger and formerMachine Intelligence Research Institute researcherJessica Taylor, she was known to be "somewhat of a Ziz fan".^[15][25] She reportedly cut off contact with friends in the fall of 2023.^[7][8] In the summer of 2023, she was described as taking part in "anxious, secretive phone calls" that coincided with her deepening involvement in the Zizian movement.^[1]

On January 20, 2025, Bauckholt was killed in a shootout inCoventry, Vermont after being stopped by border patrol agent David Maland, who was also killed.^[26][27][15] The Freiburgpublic prosecutor's office is investigating the circumstances surrounding Bauckholt's death, as is done whenever a German citizen dies abroad.^[21]

Teresa Youngblut is a 21-year-old woman fromSeattle.^[28][29] She graduated from theLakeside School in Seattle and was studying computer science at theUniversity of Washington.^[30][7]

Youngblut's parents reported her missing to theSeattle Police Department in May 2024. They feared she was in acontrolling relationship and being forced to cut off contact with friends and family.^[30] Authorities allegedly found a journal containing "cypher text" and a mention of having recently takenLSD.^[31][26]

On January 20, 2025, during a traffic stop in Coventry, Vermont, Youngblut allegedly fired at border patrol agent David Maland, who was killed in the shootout that followed.^[30] Youngblut was also wounded and taken toNorth Country Hospital before being transferred toDartmouth–Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire.^[30] Youngblut was federally charged with assaulting a federal officer with a deadly weapon and using and discharging a firearm during a violent crime; she was ordered detained without bail.^{[32][33][34][27]}

A court filing by federal prosecutors claims that Youngblut and the Zizians are associated with persons of interest in the murders of four people: David Maland, Curtis Lind (a landlord in California), and Richard and Rita Zajko (the parents of one of the persons of interest inPennsylvania).^[31]

Curtis Lind, a landlord inVallejo, California, who owned atrailer park, rented a trailer to a group of people, including LaSota. During theCOVID-19 pandemic, the group stopped paying rent. Group members also began placing locks on trailers meant for other tenants. When Lind took the group to court for back rent, one member brandished a knife, causing Lind to start carrying a pistol.^[10]

On November 15, 2022, Lind, then 80, was attacked by a group of people after being called in to fix a water leak. He was struck in the head, stabbed through the chest with a sword, and stabbed in his right eye, leaving him blind in that eye,^[31] but survived and fatally shot one of his attackers, 31-year-old Emma Borhanian, and injured another. They had been arrested alongside LaSota at the 2019 CFAR protest, and Borhanian had reported LaSota's 2022 alleged drowning. Two of Lind's alleged attackers were charged with Borhanian's murder due to their actions precipitating Lind's self-defense, underCalifornia's felony murder rule. LaSota was contacted by police during the incident but was not charged.^[10]

On January 17, 2025, three days before the shootout with Maland, Lind was stabbed to death and had his throat slit outside his gated property in Vallejo.^[31] Lind was expected to be an important witness in Borhanian's murder trial. Prosecutors charged a 22-year-old man with Lind's murder. Youngblut had attended high school with the suspect and had recently applied for amarriage license to marry him.^[35][10] The suspect dictated to reporters a statement addressed toEliezer Yudkowsky, calling himself "a student of Yudkowsky who became disillusioned with him".^[36]

LaSota and Zajko were arrested inMaryland on February 16, 2025.^[9] They are being held in custody without bail;^[37] LaSota requested a pretrial release, which a local judge denied.^[38]

During awelfare check on January 2, 2023, Pennsylvania state police discovered the bodies of husband and wife Richard and Rita Zajko, age 72 and 69 respectively, at their home inChester Heights, Pennsylvania.Autopsies found that Rita had a gunshot wound in the back of her head and Richard had wounds in his right hand and temple. Their daughter, Michelle Jacqueline Zajko, who is associated with the Zizians, has been named aperson of interest in the murders. She is alleged to have purchased guns found at the scene of Maland's killing and to have been in contact with a person of interest in Lind's murder.^[39]

Killing of David Maland
Malandc. March 2022
Location	Interstate 91 inCoventry, Vermont
Date	January 20, 2025
Deaths	2 (including an assailant)
Injured	1
Victim	David Maland
Accused	1
Charges	Assault on a federal officer with a deadly weapon (18 U.S.C. § 111(b)) Use and discharge of a firearm during a violent crime (18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A))

On January 20, 2025, after atraffic stop,United States Border Patrol agentDavid Christopher Maland was killed in a shootout with Youngblut, who was wounded, and Bauckholt, who also died in the shootout. The pair were traveling south onInterstate 91 inCoventry, Vermont, when they were pulled over.^[40] They were put under "periodic surveillance" nearly one week before the shooting after they were reported to be armed and wearing all-black tactical clothing when checking in to their hotel.^[41] The case has been connected to other murders due to connections between the suspects: the murder of Curtis Lind inVallejo, California,^[35] and the double murder of Richard and Rita Zajko inChester Heights, Pennsylvania.^[42]

Before traveling to Vermont, Youngblut and Bauckholt lived in separateAirbnbs inChapel Hill, North Carolina.^[43] Both have been described as having cut off all contact with friends in fall 2023 and May 2024.^[7]Homeland Security Investigations agents had been conducting "periodic surveillance" of them since January 14.^[44]

A hotel employee inLyndonville, Vermont, reportedly contacted law enforcement about the duo after seeing Youngblut carrying "an apparent firearm in an exposed carry holster". Both wore "all-black, tactical style clothing with protective equipment".^[44] After the report,Homeland Security agents contacted the duo, who refused to speak with them. They said they were in Vermont only to purchasereal estate.^[44] The duo checked out of the Lyndonville hotel and were seen five days later inNewport, Vermont, with Youngblut carrying a handgun. The next day, hours before the shootout, the two were seen at aWalmart, with Bauckholt buying aluminum foil.^[44]

After the shooting, authorities found ammunition, a helmet,night-visionmonoculars, a tactical belt with a holster, a pair ofwalkie-talkies, amagazine loaded withcartridges, and shooting-range targets in their car.Smartphones were also found, wrapped inaluminum foil, apparently toprevent their phones from being tracked.^[44][26] Their handguns were reportedly bought by an associate inMount Tabor, Vermont.^[31][45]

Around 3:15 p.m., Agent David Maland initiated a traffic stop onI-91 southbound, about 15 kilometers from the border with Canada, with a blue 2015Toyota Prius registered in North Carolina to conduct an immigration inspection.^[46] Bauckholt, a German national and the car's registered owner, appeared to have an expired visa in a Homeland Security database.^[44] The driver allegedly drew a handgun and fired at least two shots at the agents during the stop while Bauckholt also attempted to draw a firearm.^[44][47][26] At least one Border Patrol agent returned fire and shot the duo. Maland and Bauckholt were pronounced dead at the scene while the second suspect was taken to a hospital and later arrested.^[47]

The victim, 44-year-old David Maland, was aUnited States Air Force veteran.^[48] According to his family, he had been planning to marry his partner.^[49] Maland was an active security officer atthe Pentagon during the9/11 attacks before handling security atJoint Base Anacostia–Bolling.^[50][26] He had worked for the last 15 years for theDepartment of Homeland Security as a border patrol agent and as aK-9 handler.^[49] Maland was the first Border Patrol agent killed by gunfire in the line of duty since 2014.^[49]

Vermont's U.S. SenatorsBernie Sanders andPeter Welch and U.S. House RepresentativeBecca Balint issued a joint statement saying, "Our deepest condolences go out to the agent’s family, and to the Border Patrol".^[49] RepresentativeMark Green, who chairs theHouse Committee on Homeland Security, issued a statement saying he was "heartbroken by the loss of Agent David Maland", adding, "[w]e must never forget that the men and women in green on the frontlines of this border crisis defend our homeland at great personal cost" and that "[f]ar too often these courageous public servants, like Agent Maland, pay the ultimate price".^[51]

Maland's flag-draped casket was carried by amotorcade from Burlington, Vermont toAlbany International Airport by agents of the Border Patrol andVermont State Police, and was flown to his family inMinnesota.^[52][53][54]

• 2025 in Vermont
• Anarchism in the United States
• Cults of personality
• Deaths by firearm in Vermont
• January 2025 crimes in the United States
• Rationalism
• Transgender history in the United States
• Transgender organizations in the United States

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