Federal prosecutors have signaled they’re planning to bring additional charges against a woman detained in Vermont following the shooting death of a Border Patrol agent.
Theresa Youngblut has been jailed since the Jan. 20 death of agent David Maland, and already faces charges of using a firearm during the confrontation in which Maland and Youngblut’s companion Ophelia Bauckholt were killed near the Canadian border. The current charges don’t directly accuse Youngblut of firing the shots that killed Maland.
Federal investigators have declined to discuss details of the case.
A USA TODAY investigation earlier this year indicated that the violent confrontation is connected to multiple other homicides around the country that some legal experts have tied to the influence of a California-based cultlike group known as the Zizians.
In a May 8 court filing, Youngblut’s public defenders asked a judge to give them more preparation time before her next court appearance because they expect new charges and “voluminous” new evidence disclosures from prosecutors.
“Additional time is also needed to conduct any necessary investigation and discuss with the government any potential non-trial resolutions in this case,” federal public defender Steven Barth said. “Time is needed to determine whether additional charges will be filed and whether such charges, if filed, will materially alter the trajectory of the case.”
Named after their purported leader, Jack “Ziz” LaSota, 34, the group is connected to at least six deaths nationwide, according to police, interviews with people who know group members, the FBI and court records. LaSota was assigned male at birth but uses female pronouns. Federal and state court records refer to LaSota as a man.
Experts and people who know them say the group is led by LaSota, who in online postings discussed the nature of consciousness and rational decision making. Many of the group members are vegan, and either have degrees in computer science or have studied related fields. Some members of the group are transgender, or have rejected binary sexuality.
LaSota and two other people were arrested in February in Maryland, and remain in custody there on trespassing and firearms charges. One of the people arrested alongside LaSota was Michelle Zajko, who faces separate federal charges alleging that she bought the guns Youngblut and Bauckholt were carrying during the shootout with Maland, the Border Patrol agent.
Zajko is also a “person of interest” in the Pennsylvania homicides of her parents in late 2022, according to court filings.
Youngblut was due to marry a Washington state man who is currently jailed on charges that he ambushed and murdered a California landlord on Jan. 17, following a violent confrontation between the landlord, LaSota and several other people.
Federal investigators say they confronted Youngblut and Bauckholt in Vermont after receiving reports the two were walking around a rural area with handguns and wearing tactical clothing. Investigators said they also mistakenly believed Bauckholt’s visa to visit from Germany had expired.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Feds signal new charges may be coming in ‘Zizian’ case in Vermont