Ziz LaSota: Ideology, Killings, and Maryland Arrest

Ziz LaSota, born Jack Amadeus LaSota, is a former computer scientist from Alaska who became the central figure of the “Zizians,” a fringe offshoot of Silicon Valley’s rationalist community now linked to six killings in California, Pennsylvania, and Vermont. As of mid-2026, LaSota is in federal custody in Maryland on a firearms charge, undergoing a court-ordered mental competency evaluation, while associates from her circle face murder prosecutions in three states.¹

Background and Early Career

LaSota grew up in the woods outside Fairbanks, Alaska, the eldest of three children. Her father, Dan, was a former physics and astronomy major who founded a database company and later worked as an instructional designer at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Her mother, Kate, was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate in integrated sciences.²

She graduated magna cum laude from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2013 with a bachelor’s in computer science and was recognized as a University Honors Scholar. She briefly attended graduate school at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign before dropping out. Her early work included a NASA internship, where she helped design a tool to measure plasma ejections from the sun’s atmosphere, along with video game development and jobs at Bay Area startups, from which she was reportedly fired twice for refusing to work more than eight hours a day.²

LaSota identifies as a non-transitioning trans woman and uses feminine pronouns. While still in college she found Eliezer Yudkowsky’s The Sequences, became convinced that superhuman artificial intelligence posed the greatest existential threat to humanity, and began donating to the Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI). In 2016 she moved to the Bay Area, attending workshops run by the Center for Applied Rationality (CFAR) and meetups organized through the LessWrong forum.²

The Ideology She Built

LaSota maintained a blog called Sinceriously, where she published roughly 100,000 words on engineering, gender theory, psychological manipulation, and AI motivations.³ Several strands run through her writing and would later define the group:

She treated AI alignment as a moral absolute. Interpreting Yudkowsky’s “Timeless Decision Theory” as a mandate to act as though one’s choices determined the fate of all sentient life, she concluded that one should “never back down or surrender.”³

She developed a “hemisphere theory” with her associate Gwen Danielson, arguing that each brain hemisphere possesses its own moral compass and gender identity. The pair practiced “debucketing” to give each hemisphere independent awareness and experimented with “unihemispheric sleep” as a form of mental “jailbreaking.”³

She adopted a radical veganism in which sentient animals are “people” and meat-eaters are “flesh-eating monsters.” She later said she was proud of followers who adopted veganism out of “fear of me.”⁴

She also described a self-styled “Sith” identity drawn from Star Wars, which she defined as removing “all obstructions” to express one’s deepest values, and she argued in writing that if the state were “seized by vampires,” there was “no moral obligation not to perform self defense.” On Discord, she posted that if adversaries “escalate to physical violence, we are prepared to perform self-defense.”³

Her blog posts ceased around 2019, but by then her writings had attracted a small circle of followers, many of them young, transgender, and struggling with isolation or identity.⁵ The label “Zizian” was coined by an anonymous blogger; members of the group reportedly did not use it themselves.⁶

Break With the Rationalist Mainstream

LaSota’s relationship with the organizations that had shaped her ideas deteriorated. She grew disillusioned after a CFAR official reportedly labeled her “net negative,” became fixated on allegations of sexual misconduct within MIRI’s leadership, and obtained information about a financial settlement MIRI had paid to a former employee, which she characterized as “blackmail.”²

LessWrong and CFAR banned LaSota and Danielson, with a moderator citing a “sufficient track record of being aggressive.” Prominent rationalist blogger Scott Alexander wrote that “Ziz tried to create an anti-CFAR/MIRI splinter group whose members had mental breakdowns.” An anonymous website, Zizians.info, catalogued the group’s activities and alleged that LaSota’s practices had contributed to a follower’s suicide.³

That follower was Maia Pasek, a 28-year-old transgender woman who died by suicide on March 22, 2018, in Poland after participating in online hemisphere-theory experiments. LaSota later wrote that the experiment caused “intense internal conflict” between Pasek’s brain hemispheres and acknowledged in a blog post that it “caused Pasek to kill themself.” Pasek’s ex-girlfriend noted that Pasek had experienced suicidal thoughts before encountering rationalism, and no formal investigation into the circumstances has been reported. CFAR Executive Director Anna Salamon said LaSota used the hemisphere theory to “entice her own followers and manipulate a number of smart, mostly autistic-ish transwomen.”⁷

In November 2019, LaSota, Danielson, Emma Borhanian, and Alexander Leatham staged a protest at a CFAR alumni reunion at the Westminster Woods retreat center near Occidental, California, arriving in a box truck, a small school bus, and a Toyota Prius, wearing black robes and Guy Fawkes masks and blocking the venue’s entrance. All four were arrested on felony charges of child endangerment, false imprisonment, and conspiracy; a four-hour search found no weapons.⁸

The Faked Death

On August 19, 2022, the U.S. Coast Guard received a report that LaSota had fallen overboard from a vessel called The Black Cygnet in San Francisco Bay. Her sister and Emma Borhanian told authorities she had leaned over the engine and fallen into the water. A nearly 30-hour search covering 167 square nautical miles turned up no body. An obituary ran in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner in September 2022, and her family and attorneys operated under the belief that she had died.⁹

Three months later, on November 13, 2022, Vallejo police made contact with LaSota at the scene of an attack on a landlord. A Sonoma County prosecutor subsequently informed her defense attorney that she was “alive and well.” Her lawyer, Jerold Friedman, later said “something scared them” into staging the disappearance.⁹

The Killings Linked to Her Circle

Between late 2022 and early 2025, six people died in incidents tied to the Zizians. LaSota herself has not been charged with any of the killings, but prosecutors across three states describe the deaths as the work of her followers.

Vallejo, California

On November 15, 2022, Alexander Leatham and Suri Dao allegedly lured their landlord, Curtis Lind, to his Vallejo property and attacked him with knives and a sword. Lind survived by shooting back, but Emma Borhanian, who was present during the attack, was killed; police concluded Lind had acted in self-defense.¹⁰ Lind lost an eye and suffered permanent disfigurement. Leatham and Dao were charged with Borhanian’s murder under felony murder law and with the attempted murder of Lind; Dao has since been found incompetent to stand trial.¹¹

On January 17, 2025, Curtis Lind was fatally stabbed. Prosecutors charged Maximilian Snyder, a 24-year-old data scientist, with murder with special circumstances, alleging he was “lying in wait” and killed Lind to prevent him from testifying against Leatham and Dao. Snyder pleaded not guilty in March 2025.¹²

Chester Heights, Pennsylvania

On December 31, 2022, Richard Zajko, 71, and his wife Rita Zajko, 69, were shot to death in their home in Chester Heights, Delaware County. The killings occurred on the birthday of their daughter, Michelle Zajko, who had become associated with LaSota’s circle and had been estranged from her parents for about a year. In June 2026, Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse charged Michelle Zajko with first-degree murder, conspiracy, and burglary, describing the killings as an execution and saying authorities do not believe she acted alone. Zajko has denied involvement, writing in a letter that her father may have killed her mother and then himself.¹³¹⁴

Coventry, Vermont

On January 20, 2025, U.S. Border Patrol agents stopped a blue Toyota Prius on Interstate 91 in Coventry, Vermont, for an immigration check after a hotel employee in Lyndonville had reported that its occupants were wearing all-black tactical clothing and carrying a handgun.¹⁰ According to an FBI affidavit, passenger Teresa Youngblut opened fire on agents with a Glock pistol. Border Patrol Agent David “Chris” Maland was struck in the neck and killed. The driver, German national Felix Bauckholt, reportedly also drew a firearm and was shot twice in the chest, dying at the scene. Investigators recovered hollow-point ammunition, night vision equipment, and a ballistic helmet from the vehicle; the firearms had been traced to purchases by Michelle Zajko.¹⁵

In August 2025, a federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment charging Youngblut, 21, with the murder of Agent Maland, assault of two additional agents with a deadly weapon, and related firearms offenses. Attorney General Pamela Bondi authorized prosecutors to seek the death penalty.¹⁶ Youngblut pleaded not guilty at a September 2025 hearing in federal court in Burlington.¹⁷

Arrest in Maryland

On February 16, 2025, Maryland state police arrested LaSota, Michelle Zajko, and Daniel Blank in Frostburg, Maryland, after a complaint about suspicious individuals trespassing on private property while dressed in all black. Officers found two white box trucks containing a long rifle, a handgun, and ammunition. All three were charged with trespassing, obstruction, and weapons offenses. A judge ordered them held without bail, citing concerns that LaSota was a flight risk and a danger to public safety, and noting she was wanted for missing court appearances in two states.¹

The arrests helped connect investigations that had been running separately. The FBI searched a Chapel Hill, North Carolina, property where Bauckholt, Youngblut, and LaSota had been living earlier that winter. Federal authorities also charged Zajko with providing false information on firearm purchase paperwork in Vermont, alleging two of the guns she bought were used in the I-91 shootout.¹⁸

Where LaSota’s Case Stands

LaSota faces a federal felony charge of being a fugitive from justice in possession of firearms and ammunition, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years. Prosecutors allege she possessed a .50-caliber rifle, a handgun, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition when she was arrested.¹⁹ She also faces state charges in Maryland for trespassing, illegal gun and drug possession, and obstruction of the investigation into the Zajko parents’ deaths.²⁰

In March 2026, her attorney, Gary Proctor, filed a motion arguing there was “reasonable cause to believe that the defendant is presently suffering from a mental disease or defect rendering her mentally incompetent.” Proctor cited LaSota’s inability to follow court proceedings, her conflation of being a fugitive with being transgender, and her accusation that the presiding judge was part of an organized crime ring. U.S. District Court Judge James Bredar granted the motion and ordered a mental competency evaluation, halting a scheduled suppression hearing.²¹

In those filings, her attorneys stated that LaSota “eschews the term Zizian and denies any and all allegations that she and her friends have formed a cult.”²² With many of the group’s core members dead or incarcerated, the Zizians are not considered active or led by a replacement figure.⁶

1
PBS NewsHour. Leader of Zizians Cultlike Group Ordered Held Without Bail in Maryland
2
Rolling Stone. Ziz Lasota Zizians AI Cult
3
Wired. The Delirious Violent Impossible True Story of the Zizians
4
The Nation. Trans Vegan Cult Zizians Murders
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BBC News. Zizians Cult Linked to Six Killings
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WBUR. Zizians Silicon Valley Rationalism
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San Francisco Chronicle. Ziz Rationalism Lasota Pasek
8
San Francisco Chronicle. Mystery in Sonoma County After Kidnap Arrests
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Open Vallejo. Zizian Namesake Who Faked Death in 2022 Is Wanted in Two States
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PBS NewsHour. A Timeline of the Cultlike Zizian Group
11
Mercury News. Zizian Suspect to Face Charges in Escape Attempt
12
The Reporter. Preliminary Hearing to Be Rescheduled in Zizian Case
13
Delco Times. Charges Filed in Chester Heights Murders Connected to Cult-Like Group
14
WHYY. Delaware County Zizian Group Murder Charge
15
NBC News. German Math Genius Drawn Into Cult Accused of Coast-to-Coast Killings
16
U.S. Department of Justice. Seattle Woman Indicted for Murder of US Border Patrol Agent in Vermont
17
Vermont Public. Woman Pleads Not Guilty to Murder in Shooting of Border Patrol Agent
18
6ABC. FBI Search in NC Cultlike Group Zizians Case
19
VTDigger. Federal Authorities Bring Firearms Charge Against Alleged Leader of Zizians
20
U.S. News. Lawyers for Jack Ziz LaSota Seek Competency Review
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Courthouse News. Lawyers for Jack Ziz LaSota Seek Competency Review While Rejecting Zizian and Cult Labels
22
NewsNation. Zizians Cult Leader Competency Evaluation