(NewsNation) — The slaying of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Vermont in January could be connected to at least five other deaths that may have been carried out by a group that police is characterizing as a “death cult”, authorities say.
Federal investigators are looking into whether the shooting death of agent David Maland is part of a series of deaths that were carried out by a fringe online community known as the “Zizians.” In addition to Maland’s death in Vermont, police are investigating whether the cult is behind a California landlord being stabbed with a Samurai sword and other crimes.
Police said that the gun used in Maland’s death has been linked to a 2022 double homicide in Pennsylvania. Teresa Youngblut, 21, was charged in Maland’s death on Jan. 20 in Coventry, Vermont, which is about 20 miles from the Canadian border.
Youngblut had been traveling with Felix Bauckholt, a German national, who was also killed in the shootout last month But police believe that Youngblut and Bauckholt could be connected to the two deaths in Pennsylvania as well as the death of the California landlord.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Curtis Lind was allegedly attacked by a group of tenants who lived in box trucks on his property in 2022. When Lind confronted the group and accused them of squatting on his property and was stabbed with the Samurai sword.
Lind survived the attack but then was stabbed to death on the property on Jan. 17 and a 22-year-old data scientist, Maximilian Synder, was charged with murder, the report said.
The death cult is reportedly made up of students who studied artificial intelligence and computer science. The Zizians are named for a 34-year-old computer engineer, Jack Amadeus LaSota, who goes by the nickname “Ziz.”
Police believe that LaSota faked his death in 2022 and is now wanted in two states, according to the media site Open Vallejo. The site reported LaSota was detained by police after a stabbing death in Northern California.
The report said LaSota has warrants for his arrest in California and Pennsylvania. The site also reported that the gun used in the Vermont slaying came from a person who has ties to the death of the landlord as well as the Pennsylvania double homicide.
The death cult is reportedly linked to what investigators say is a fringe online community known as the “Zizians” which is on offshoot of the Rationalism movement.