A Washington woman was ordered held without bail Thursday in connection with the death of a US Border Patrol agent in a case that has expanded to include killings in other states.
Teresa Youngblut, 21, is facing federal firearms charges in connection with Agent David Maland’s killing on January 20. She’s suspected of opening fire on agents during a traffic check in northern Vermont, resulting in a gunfight that also killed her friend, Felix Bauckholt.
Pennsylvania state police stated Wednesday that the pistol used in the Vermont massacre was acquired by a person of interest in the Dec. 31, 2022, murders of Richard and Rita Zajko, who were shot to death in their Chester Heights home. According to a court filing, Youngblut and the buyer had frequent contact with someone who was jailed as part of the Pennsylvania investigation and is a person of interest in another California killing.
According to NBC5-TV, prosecutors did not elaborate at Thursday’s brief session, during which neither Youngblut nor her counsel spoke. Youngblut’s counsel did not reply to calls for comment on the charges. The preliminary hearing is scheduled for February 7.
In the meanwhile, police and court records have shed light on the relationships.
Jack LaSota is currently charged with impeding law enforcement and disorderly behavior in Pennsylvania. Authorities will not say whether the accusations are related to the Zajko deaths, but court records show that police were looking for a gun used in two killings when they apprehended LaSota 12 days later at a motel about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the crime scene.
LaSota also has relationships with some of the major participants in the California case.
LaSota and three others were detained in 2019 while opposing an event held by the Center for Applied Rationality at an Occidental camping retreat, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Emma Borhanian and Alexander Jeffrey Leatham, two of the others, were arrested in Vallejo in 2022 after allegedly attacking their landlord with a sword. The landlord, Curtis Lind, escaped the November 2022 attack but was stabbed to death on January 17.
Maximilian Snyder was accused this week with the murder. In November, someone with the same name applied for a marriage license with Teresa Youngblut in Kirkland, Washington. Snyder’s attorney declined to comment on the charges.
According to prosecution documents, LaSota may have been present during the 2022 landlord attack. He was also falsely reported dead three months previously.
According to records included in a civil rights complaint brought by LaSota and others following their 2019 arrest, the US Coast Guard reacted to a tip that LaSota had fallen off of a boat in San Francisco Bay on August 19, 2022, and performed a search but did not uncover a body. An obituary was written, and LaSota’s mother informed the criminal defense counsel of her death. However, months later, a prosecutor emailed the attorney, stating that LaSota had been contacted by police in Vallejo and was “alive and well” at the scene of a crime on or around November 13, the day Lind was attacked.
Jerold Friedman, who represented LaSota in the civil lawsuit, said Thursday that he validated the Coast Guard report at the time and does not recall the last time he spoke with LaSota. The attorney who defended LaSota in the 2019 criminal case did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment. A phone message was left at the office of the lawyer who is identified as representing him in the current Pennsylvania case.
Though authorities have not publicly identified the person who purchased the gun used in Vermont, the VTDigger news site reported that federal authorities sent an alert to firearms dealers seeking information about Michelle Jacqueline Zajko’s purchases and describing her as a person of interest in the Vermont shooting.
According to a public records website, Michelle Zajko registered to vote in 2016 at the same Pennsylvania residence as Richard and Rita Zajko. Michelle Zajko purchased a half-acre plot of land near Derby, Vermont, a few miles (about 6 kilometers) from the Canadian border. According to town records, the property is undeveloped.
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