Former Zizians Member Indicted for Murder of Her Parents

A former member of the Zizians cult has been charged with murder after denying involvement in the 2022 killings of her parents in Pennsylvania, according to a prosecutor.

Michelle Zajko, currently incarcerated in Maryland on unrelated charges since February 2025, now faces murder, burglary and conspiracy counts for the deaths of her parents, Rita and Richard Zajko, Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse announced at a press conference, noting she was not acting alone.

Initial court filings did not promptly reveal whether Zajko retained counsel for the Pennsylvania case as of Wednesday. Her Maryland attorney did not respond to inquiries, and the Delaware County public defender’s office declined to comment.

The couple was shot dead in their Chester Heights home on New Year’s Eve; police say a neighbor’s doorbell camera recorded a vehicle arriving, followed by shouts of “Mom!” and an exclamation of “Oh my God! Oh, God, God!”

Zajko has denied any participation and, in court filings, suggested her father may have killed her mother before taking his own life.

She wrote in an April 2025 open letter that “I didn’t murder my parents.”

Nonetheless, authorities have long regarded Zajko as a person of interest in the double homicide, part of six deaths attributed to a circle of young, highly intelligent computer scientists who espouse radical views on veganism, animal rights, gender identity, and artificial intelligence.

Since 2022, members have been linked to multiple killings, including the death of a fellow member during an attack on a California landlord, the landlord’s later murder, the Zajkos’ deaths in Pennsylvania, and a highway shootout in Vermont that resulted in the death of a border agent and another Zizian.

Zajko faces a charge for supplying the firearm used to kill Border Patrol Agent David Maland in January 2025. She was arrested in Maryland weeks later, together with Daniel Blank and Jack “Ziz” LaSota, the group’s alleged leader. Police responding to a landowner’s report of suspicious individuals in box trucks described the trio as having “ties with the Zizians cult” and said they would be investigated for crimes nationwide.

All three face state charges of trespassing, illegal gun possession, and drug offenses, while LaSota also confronts a federal charge of illegal gun possession as a fugitive. A judge recently approved a defense request for a competency evaluation in the federal case.

LaSota’s counsel asserted that he rejects the label “Zizian” and denies that he and his associates constitute a cult. Zajko contends that Maryland authorities arrested the group to thwart efforts to exonerate Teresa Youngblut, who has pleaded not guilty in Vermont to murder and may face capital punishment if convicted.

Zajko was residing in Vermont when her parents were killed and was questioned by police soon afterward. Weeks later, officers briefly detained her at a Pennsylvania hotel but released her without charge. LaSota, who was staying at the same hotel, faced charges of obstructing the homicide investigation and disorderly conduct.

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