A small cult-like group of highly-educated, vegan computer experts in America, known as the Zizians, are currently under FBI investigation following a string of murders
A string of heinous murders have been tied to a cult-like group known as the Zizians.
The group, many of which are highly-educated vegan tech experts in their 20s and 30s, is believed to be behind at least six killings in the US, including a double homicide in Pennsylvania, a knife attack in California and a shooting in Vermont.
Several of them have been arrested and four alleged members are in custody on murder charges. The apparent leader, a transgender woman called Jack ‘Ziz’ Lasota, began blogging under the alias ‘Ziz’ a decade ago, and allegedly leads the group of a few dozen followers. But who are they?
LaSota, 34, completed a degree in computer science from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks in 2013, and then applied to jobs at big tech companies, including Nasa. She started writing her online blog, which was sometimes dark and violent, and attracted an audience of extremists, radical vegans and anarchists. One section describes her theory that the human brain can hold separate values and genders and “often desire to kill each other”.
During a post about the TV series The Office and artificial intelligence, according to the BBC, she wrote: “I realised that I was no longer able to stand people. Not even rationalists anymore. And I would live the rest of my life completely alone, hiding my reaction to anyone it was useful to interact with.
“I had given up my ability to see beauty so I could see evil.” Her last post dates back to 2019, around the time she was arrested while holding a protest.
But in 2022, a warrant was issued after LaSota failed to show up for a court hearing about the protest and her lawyer at the time stated she was “now deceased after a boating accident in the San Francisco Bay area”.
An obituary even appeared in an Alaska newspaper, describing her as an adventurous woman with a love for “friends and family, music, blueberries, biking, computer games and animals”. But Lasota was very much still alive.
At the time, she was living with other members of the group in vans and trucks in Vallejo, California. Around November 2022, they allegedly stopped paying rent to their land owner, Curtis Lind, and he sued to evict them.
It was then that things got violent. Lind was attacked and stabbed 50 times, blinded in one eye. Authorities say he defended himself when he fired a gun which killed Emma Borhanian, a former Google employee and member of the Zizians.
Two other group members, Suri Dao and Somni Logencia, were arrested and charged with attempted murder.
They are currently behind bars awaiting trial. The case escalated this year when Lind was killed on January 17 after he was allegedly attacked by members of the group. Maximilian Snyder was charged with murder.
A few days later, a US border patrol officer, David Maland, was killed following a shootout with two alleged Zizians. Teresa Youngblut, 21, is accused of shooting at the agent, while her friend, Felix Bauckholt was also killed in the exchange. Youngbult is currently in custody.
Then two days ago, Lasota was arrested in Maryland alongside Michelle Zajko, 32, and Daniel Blank, 26, on charges including trespassing and obstruction. Zajko is a person of interest in the Pennsylvania homicides of her parents, who were shot in their home in late 2022.
Blank is too a suspect in their deaths. A lawyer for Lasota declined to comment on the arrest but told the BBC : “I urge members of the press and the public to refrain from speculation and premature conclusions.”