Zizians：我們對與六人死亡有關的「邪教」了解多少

A group in the United States known as Zizians has been linked to a series of serious crimes, including six deaths, which has led to multiple arrests. The alleged leader of this group is a 34-year-old individual named Jack Lasota, who has long blonde hair. Lasota was arrested on a Sunday along with two other individuals, Michelle Zajko, aged 32, and Daniel Blank, aged 26. They are facing charges that include trespassing and obstruction of justice. Authorities are currently investigating at least six murders that are believed to be connected to members of the Zizians. These incidents include a double homicide in Pennsylvania, a knife attack in California, and the shooting of a U. S. border guard that occurred in January. Additionally, three other alleged members of the group have already been charged with murder. Jack Lasota, who identifies as a transgender woman, is said to be the leader of the Zizians. She graduated with a degree in computer science from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks in 2013. According to her blog, she moved to the San Francisco area three years later, where she applied for various jobs at tech companies and startups, including a brief internship with NASA. During this time, she began to associate with individuals involved in the rationalist movement, which is an intellectual trend popular in Silicon Valley that emphasizes the importance of clear thinking and eliminating bias. Lasota started blogging under the alias 'Ziz', but her writings soon took a strange turn, causing her to fall out with mainstream rationalists. Her blog featured lengthy posts that combined her personal experiences with theories about technology, philosophy, and various other topics, including pop culture and computer coding. At one point, she expressed her feelings of isolation, stating, 'I realized that I was no longer able to stand people. Not even rationalists anymore. ' Other themes in her writings included veganism and anarchism. In 2019, Lasota and three others were arrested while protesting outside an event organized by a rationalist organization. The last posts on her blog were made around this time. Over the next few years, Lasota and other members of the Zizians reportedly moved around the United States, at one point living on a boat and later staying on properties owned by others in California and North Carolina. In 2022, a warrant was issued for Lasota's arrest when she failed to appear for a court hearing related to the protest. However, her lawyer claimed that she had died in a boating accident in the San Francisco Bay area, which turned out to be false. An obituary was published, noting her love for adventure, friends, and family, but the story was incorrect as Lasota was still alive. Jessica Taylor, an artificial intelligence researcher who claims to know several members of the group, stated that Lasota and the Zizians twisted their rationalist beliefs to justify illegal actions, such as avoiding paying rent. Poulomi Saha, an associate professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who studies cults, mentioned that while there is no strict legal definition of a cult, several characteristics of the Zizians align with the popular understanding of the term. She noted that the group shares some unconventional viewpoints, and the presence of a leadership figure like 'Ziz' adds to the cult-like perception. However, Saha also pointed out that there is still considerable uncertainty regarding the relationships among group members and the motivations behind the alleged violent acts in recent years. After the false obituary was published, Lasota and other Zizians were found in Vallejo, California, which is located north of San Francisco. Several members were living in vans and trucks on land owned by a man named Curtis Lind. At some point, the Zizians allegedly stopped paying rent, leading Lind to sue them for eviction. The situation escalated, and in November 2022, Lind was attacked, stabbed multiple times, and blinded in one eye. In what police later described as self-defense, Lind fired a gun, which resulted in the death of Emma Borhanian, a former Google employee and one of the Zizians. Two other members, Suri Dao and Somni Logencia, were arrested and charged with attempted murder of Lind. They are currently awaiting trial in prison. Lasota was present during the attack but was not charged with any crime. The following month, two parents of a Zizian member were found dead in a small town in Pennsylvania. Richard Zajko, aged 71, and his wife Rita, aged 69, were discovered shot in the head in their home. The Zajkos were the parents of Michelle Zajko, a member of the Zizians, who was briefly detained by police but not charged with any crime. Lasota was arrested and charged with obstructing law enforcement and disorderly conduct in connection with this incident. Despite the connections to these two attacks, the Zizians remained largely unnoticed by the public until earlier this year. On January 17, Lind, the California landlord who had allegedly been attacked by members of the group, was killed. The Vallejo Police Department reported that he was stabbed to death by an assailant wearing a mask and a black beanie. Police later charged Maximilian Snyder with murder, alleging that Snyder killed Lind to prevent him from testifying in the attempted murder trial. Just a few days later, a U. S. border patrol agent was killed in a shootout with two Zizians in Vermont. The Zizians, Teresa Youngblut and Felix Bauckholt, were pulled over by Agent David Maland near the Canadian border. A firefight ensued, resulting in the deaths of both Bauckholt, who was a German citizen, and Maland. Youngblut, previously known as Milo, was wounded and later arrested on firearms charges. This shooting prompted a wider search for members of the group after police revealed that the gun used to kill Maland had been purchased by Michelle Zajko. Following the Vermont shootout, police in Pennsylvania discovered new evidence regarding the shooting of Zajko's parents, and Lasota was wanted for failing to appear at several court hearings. Their whereabouts remained unknown until they were arrested in Maryland on a Sunday, along with fellow group member Daniel Blank. A police report indicated that a resident of Frostburg, about 160 miles northwest of Washington, D. C. , called the police to report three 'suspicious' individuals who had asked to camp on his property for a month. Maryland State Police stated that the trio was charged with trespassing and obstruction, with Lasota and Zajko facing additional weapons violations. All three were denied bail. Lasota's lawyer, Daniel McGarrigle, declined to comment on the arrest but sent a statement urging the press and public to avoid speculation and premature conclusions.