Alleged leader of the vegan transgender 'Zizian cult,' linked to four murders, claims innocence and is held without bail.

An alleged leader of a peculiar vegan transgender group known as the Zizians, which has been associated with four murders nationwide, including that of a Border Patrol agent, is currently being held without bail in Maryland. Jack "Ziz" LaSota, a 34-year-old individual who identifies as a woman and prefers she/her pronouns, was apprehended along with followers Michelle Zajko, 33, and Daniel Blank, 26, in rural Frostburg, Maryland, on Sunday.

The trio made an appearance at the Allegany County Courthouse in Cumberland on Tuesday morning, where they were all ordered to be detained without bail. During the hearing, LaSota, appearing via video, maintained her innocence, stating, "I shouldn't be here, I haven't done anything wrong," as reported by journalist Andy Ngo on X.

Judge Erich Bean decided to incarcerate LaSota, citing her as a potential threat to the community and a flight risk. Prosecutors at the hearing alleged that LaSota seems to be the ringleader of an extremist faction called the Zizians, which has been implicated in several homicides.

LaSota stands accused of influencing members of the group in the San Francisco Bay Area to commit acts of violence. The group, consisting of highly intelligent computer scientists in their 20s and 30s, initially united online due to their shared anarchist ideologies but eventually escalated to violent behavior.

LaSota, Zajko, and Blank are facing charges of trespassing, obstructing and hindering, and possession of a handgun in a vehicle. Authorities have linked the eccentric group to four murders in Vermont, Pennsylvania, and California, with two of their own members also meeting tragic ends.

One of the incidents involves Teresa "Milo" Youngblut, 21, who is accused of fatally shooting Border Agent David Maland, 44, during a traffic stop near the Canadian border on January 20. Youngblut and German national Felix "Ophelia" Bauckholt allegedly engaged in a shootout with border agents in Coventry, Vermont, last month during another traffic stop. Both Bauckholt, an acclaimed young math prodigy, and Maland lost their lives in the altercation.

Youngblut, a computer science student at the University of Washington, pleaded not guilty to federal gun charges and sustained injuries during the gunfight. She had previously applied for a marriage license with Maximilian Snyder, 22, who is accused of murdering an 82-year-old landlord, Curtis Lind, on January 17 in California.

Lind had faced aggression from other cult members when attempting to evict them from his property in Vallejo. Tragically, Lind was discovered deceased just two days before the scheduled eviction. In a prior incident, Lind had shot Emma Borhanian, 31, in self-defense, only to be fatally attacked months later by Snyder, according to prosecutors.

Alexander Leatham, 29, and Suri Dao were charged in connection with Borhanian's death and the attempted murder of Lind. Zajko, a bioinformatics researcher, is a suspect in the January 2023 killings of her parents within a Pennsylvania residence.