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Federal prosecutors will seek the death penalty for a 21-year-old Seattle woman accused of fatally shooting a U.S. Border Patrol agent during a January traffic stop in Vermont, the Justice Department announced Thursday.

A federal grand jury in the District of Vermont returned a four-count superseding indictment charging Teresa Youngblut with the murder of a federal law enforcement officer, the assault of two additional agents with a deadly weapon, and related firearms offenses.

Youngblut is part of the “Zizians,” whose members practice strict veganism, “unihemispheric sleep” deprivation, and abandonment of conventional careers — embrace an extreme interpretation of the AI thought experiment known as Roko’s Basilisk, which posits that a future superintelligent AI could punish those who fail to help bring it into existence.

“As alleged, this defendant shot and killed a United States Border Patrol Agent while he was performing his duties,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “We will not stand for such attacks on the men and women who protect our communities and our borders.”

The case stems from the Jan. 20 killing of Agent David “Chris” Maland during a stop on Interstate 91 in Coventry, near the Canadian border in the U.S. Border Patrol’s Swanton Sector. It covers the U.S.–Canada border across northern New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire.

According to court documents, Maland had pulled over a Toyota Prius driven by Youngblut. Her passenger, Felix “Ophelia” Bauckholt, a German citizen whose immigration status was in question, was also armed. Authorities said Youngblut stepped out of the vehicle and, without warning, opened fire, striking Maland and killing him. Another agent returned fire, wounding Youngblut and fatally shooting Bauckholt as he allegedly reached for a weapon.

Days before the shooting, police said the pair had drawn attention when a hotel employee reported seeing them in tactical gear and possibly armed. On the day of the killing, officers spotted them in Newport, Vt., where Bauckholt was observed wrapping unknown objects in aluminum foil.

Prosecutors allege that both weapons used in the attack were supplied by Michelle Zajko, 32, another member of the Zizian group, a fringe vegan, transgender, techno-rationalist cult led by Jack “Ziz” LaSota. Zajko is being held in Maryland on state charges and faces a federal gun charge in Vermont.

LaSota, 33, was arrested in Maryland in February alongside Zajko and fellow member Daniel Blank after a nationwide manhunt. She is being held on federal gun and drug charges.

It remains unclear why Youngblut and Bauckholt were in Vermont, though investigators say they were under surveillance and had been seen walking in black tactical gear with firearms. Zajko owns a small parcel of land in northern Vermont near the Canadian border.

U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi has authorized federal prosecutors to pursue the death penalty against Youngblut. If convicted, she could face execution or life in prison without parole.

“The murder of a federal agent is more than a tragic loss,” said Assistant Director Jose A. Perez of the FBI Criminal Investigative Division. “It’s an attack on the security of our nation and the safety of our communities. The FBI and our law enforcement partners will not rest until those responsible are held accountable.”

Prosecutors are working to bring more charges soon against Teresa Youngblut, the Zizian cultist arrested after a shootout that left Border Patrol Agent David Maland dead in northern Vermont.

Youngblut, 21, is not yet directly charged in Maland’s death. She has been held on gun charges since the January shooting. On Friday, United States District Court Judge Christina Reiss approved a delay in Youngblut’s case to give her legal team time to digest new evidence coming from prosecutors, as well as the new charges likely to follow.

“[Defense] Counsel also notes that the government has informed the defense that it is actively exploring additional charges,” Reiss’s order states.

Teresa Youngblut

Youngblut was the only survivor of the Jan. 20 shooting that erupted during a traffic stop. Maland was killed, as was Youngblut’s companion, German national Felix “Ophelia” Bauckholt. 

Youngblut, who is accused of firing the surprise shots that killed Air Force veteran Maland, was injured by return fire.

The incident occurred in the Customs and Border Patrol’s Swanton Sector, which includes all of the New Hampshire border.

Both Bauckholt and Youngblut were armed with guns believed to have come from Michelle Zajko, 32, another member of the Zizian cult led by Jack “Ziz” Lasota. Lasota is considered a person of interest in the murders of Zajko’s parents, though he has yet to be charged in that case.

Lasota, 33, is the leader of a group of militant vegan-rationalist-transgender-techno cult who believe a super powerful artificial intelligence being, known as the Basilisk, is coming into creation to punish those who do not work to create it. 

Youngblut went to high school on the West Coast with another Zizian, Maximilian Snyder, and the two may or may not have been married. Snyder and Youngblut at one point took out a marriage license, but it is unclear if they followed through. Snyder is facing charges that he stabbed to death 82-year-old Curtis Lind in California. Lind had been scheduled to testify at an upcoming criminal trial of other Zizian cultists who tried to kill him in an earlier assault. Lind managed to fight them off and kill one with a gun he was carrying.

Bauckholt, for a time, shared a condo with Lasota in North Carolina. 

It’s unclear what Youngblut and Bauckholt were doing in Vermont. The pair was under surveillance and was seen walking around in black tactical gear carrying guns. Zajko owns a small piece of property in northern Vermont near the Canadian border. 

Some questions surrounding the Vermont shooting may start to get answered as prosecutors begin providing more evidence through discovery. 

Zajko is currently charged with federal gun crimes in Vermont and is being held in Maryland on other gun and trespassing charges. Zajko, Lasota, and Zizian Daniel Blank were arrested in February in Maryland. They all remain behind bars pending resolution of the Maryland charges.

Lasota began collecting young followers in California from the tech industry using “Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality” as a holy book. The fan-fiction book is popular in the AI tech community and central to the quasi-scientific faith of Lasota and his followers.

Lasota subjected his followers to sleep deprivation as part of his attempts to unlock a separate personality in their brains. Typically, the “other person” is a different gender under Lasota’s regime. At least one reported suicide is linked to Lasota’s sleep deprivation techniques.

Lasota faked his own death in 2022, reportedly staging a boating accident in the waters between Alameda and South San Francisco. In 2023, Richard and Rita Zajko were murdered in their Pennsylvania home. Lasota, very much alive, was arrested and held as a person of interest in those murders for months before police let him go.

The woman accused in the killing of U.S. Border Patrol Agent David C. Maland near the Canadian border in Vermont appears to be part of a techno-rationalist cult founded by a biological male who identifies as a woman and goes by the name of Ziz. The group has been linked to at least three other murders.

Teresa “Milo” Consuelo Youngblut, 21, from Washington state, is being held without bail on federal charges connected to Maland’s Jan. 20 killing. Youngblut’s associate, German national Felix “Ophelia” Bauckholt, was killed during the traffic stop that ended in gunfire.

United States Magistrate Judge Kevin Doyle said Thursday the evidence against Youngblut appears strong enough to keep her in custody without bail, according to VTDigger.

Assistant United States Attorney Matthew Lasher relied on his previous court filing to make the case Youngblut is too dangerous to be released pending trial. According to Lasher, the connection to Ziz helps make her a danger.

“The defendant’s possession and use of a firearm, combined with her itineracy and associations, suggests she poses a current and substantial danger to the community that could not be addressed by a condition or a combination of conditions of pretrial release,” Lasher wrote.

Both Youngblut and Bauckholt have ties to Jack LaSota, AKA Ziz, a California man who espouses a violent philosophy based on veganism, techno-rationality, artificial intelligence, and transgenderism, according to court filings and media reports. LaSota’s small group of followers, known in the San Francisco area as Zizians, are connected to the murder of an elderly rancher and the murders of a Pennsylvania couple, parents of another Zizian.

“Reject morality. Never do the right thing because it’s the right thing. Never even think that concept or ask that question unless it’s to model what others will think,” LaSota reportedly wrote on a now-defunct blog.

LaSota reportedly faked his own death at least once, and is currently being held on charges connected to the Pennsylvania murders. Like most Zizians, LaSota identifies as a transgender woman. The teachings Ziz espouses encouraged followers to unlock different personas and genders within their minds, using sleep deprivation techniques. The followers are also pressured into cutting off family ties.

LaSota’s teaching reportedly became violent and militant over time, with anger directed at fellow members of the Bay Area tech community who did not adhere to veganism. In a blog since taken offline, Ziz wrote of bringing hell to non-vegan rationalists, and wrote that people should always escalate every conflict. 

Ziz first gained notoriety in 2019 when Zizians protested an event put on by CFAR, the Center For Applied Rational Thinking, a popular self-help non-profit for people in the tech industry. The Zizians alarmed attendees, who called the police.

On Jan. 17, Zizian Maximilian Snyder stabbed 82-year-old Curtis Lind to death in Vallejo, Calif. Lind had been a landlord for the Zizians before three of them allegedly tried to murder him in 2022. Lind survived the 2022 attack thanks to a firearm, killing one Zizian and wounding the two others. He was set to testify at the upcoming Zizian trial against the surviving attackers, Alexander Leatham and Suri Dao, when Snyder killed him.

Snyder went to high school with Teresa Younblut, and the two applied for a marriage license in November in Washington state, though there is no evidence they were married. 

Another Zizian, Michelle Zajko, who identifies as nonbinary, allegedly bought the guns Youngblut and Bauckholt had on them when Maland stopped their car on Interstate 91 in Coventry, Vt. Zaijko is currently wanted as a person of interest in the 2023 Pennsylvania murder of her parents, Richard and Rita Zajko. 

Youngblut reportedly fired her handgun at Maland during the stop, while Bauckholt fumbled his pistol and was killed during the brief shootout. The couple had been under federal surveillance for a week in Newport, Vt. They reportedly wore black, tactical clothing and openly carried their guns when walking around town.

On Thursday, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem made a surprise trip to the Vermont border to speak with Border Patrol agents, though she did not make any public remarks during her visit.