Zizians (rationalist splinter)
A small, decentralised network that splintered from Bay Area rationalist circles around the pseudonymous blogger 'Ziz', combining radical animal-rights ethics, unorthodox decision-theory doctrines, and total commitment demands. Members have been charged in connection with a series of violent deaths in California, Pennsylvania, and Vermont, including the 2025 killing of a US Border Patrol agent. Prosecutions are ongoing; all defendants are entitled to the presumption of innocence.
CLCI radar
BITE breakdown
+2 — members charged in connection with multiple killings across several states (2022–2025); cases ongoing.
Profile facts
In context
The network coalesced in the late 2010s around the blog of Jack 'Ziz' LaSota, a transgender computer scientist who drifted from the Bay Area rationalist scene after accusing the Center for Applied Rationality (CFAR) and the Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI) of discriminating against trans members and mishandling a staff misconduct allegation; LaSota developed idiosyncratic doctrines including a theory that the brain's hemispheres can independently hold distinct, even opposed, moral values. In 2019, LaSota and two associates -- including Emma Borhanian, later killed in Zizian-linked violence -- staged a masked, robed protest at a CFAR retreat that alarmed attendees; one participant pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges in 2026. From around 2017 LaSota also recruited a small 'Rationalist Fleet' to live aboard boats near Half Moon Bay, and the network later moved onto rented trailers in Vallejo, California.
Violence escalated from 2022. After Vallejo landlord Curtis Lind sued Zizian tenants over unpaid rent, an alleged November 2022 attack left him stabbed and blinded in one eye; Lind shot back, killing Borhanian and wounding another attacker, and two members were charged with Borhanian's murder under California's felony-murder rule (trial scheduled for March 2026), on the theory their attack precipitated Lind's self-defense. Days before the Vermont shooting below, Lind was stabbed to death outside his home in January 2025; prosecutors charged a 22-year-old Zizian member, allegedly to keep Lind from testifying in the Borhanian case. Separately, on January 2, 2023, Pennsylvania police found Richard and Rita Zajko fatally shot at their home; their daughter, who had bonded with LaSota over shared grief following Borhanian's death and is alleged to have bought guns later recovered at the Vermont shooting scene, was charged on June 24, 2026, with two counts of first-degree murder in her parents' killing.
On January 20, 2025, Border Patrol agent David Maland stopped a car on Interstate 91 in Coventry, Vermont; prosecutors allege Bauckholt's companion opened fire, and return fire killed both Maland and Bauckholt while wounding the surviving member, identified in press reports as Teresa Youngblut. Youngblut was charged in Maland's death and has pleaded not guilty; federal prosecutors have filed notice of intent to seek the death penalty, and the case remains pretrial. LaSota faked her death in an August 2022 'drowning,' resurfaced in a Pennsylvania hotel room during the Zajko murder investigation in January 2023, was later arrested near the Vermont case for trespassing and firearms offenses, and was indicted in June 2025 on a federal fugitive-firearms-possession charge carrying up to 15 years; she pleaded not guilty, and in March 2026 a court granted a defense request to evaluate her trial competency. Because every homicide charge above remains at the allegation, pretrial, or open-appeal stage, and no Zizian-linked defendant has yet been convicted of murder, this profile treats each case as alleged and scores the network's severance, total-commitment, and martyrdom-framing patterns at Medium confidence pending trial outcomes.
Key control doctrines
- Zizian decision-theory absolutism — total commitment or complicity
- Mainstream rationalist institutions framed as corrupted
- Radical vegan ethics as a life-or-death moral binary
Recovery resources
- ICSA Helpline — International Cultic Studies Association — questions about high-control groups, referrals to cult-aware therapists, peer support.
- Freedom of Mind Resource Center — Steven Hassan's organisation — BITE Model assessments, exit-counselling resources, family education.
- ICSA Cult-Aware Therapist Directory — ICSA-maintained directory of licensed mental-health professionals with specific cult-recovery training.
- Combatting Cult Mind Control — Steven Hassan, 1988 (revised 2018). The foundational BITE Model book; CLCI Hub's core methodology source.
- Take Back Your Life: Recovering from Cults and Abusive Relationships — Janja Lalich & Madeleine Tobias, 2006. Practical recovery workbook.
- Life After Hate / Exit USA — Support for those leaving violent extremist movements.
See the full curated list at /resources.
Legal cases & controversies
- Multiple ongoing state and federal prosecutions of affiliates (2022–2026)
Evidence by BITE axis
- Shared safehouses and vehicle-based transience
- Total-commitment lifestyle demands
- In-group blog corpus as doctrinal canon
- Outside rationalist institutions cast as corrupt
- Absolute moral binary; complicity framing for outsiders
- Idiosyncratic decision-theory jargon structuring choices
- Severance from families documented in reporting
- Martyrdom framing of members killed in confrontations
Timeline
- 2019Sonoma County protest incident brings the group to police attention
- 2022Vallejo sword attack on a landlord; one member killed
- 2023Pennsylvania couple killed; member charged
- 2025Vermont shootout kills Border Patrol agent; affiliates arrested
Evidence matrix
Structured sources cross-linked to the claims they document. Tiered per the source hierarchy. For free-text citations see the Sources section below.
Sources
- Wired investigation into the Zizian network (2025) search ↗
- The Guardian reporting on the Vermont shootout and network history (2025) search ↗
- Open Vallejo investigative series (2023–2025) search ↗
- Federal and state charging documents (2023–2025, ongoing) search ↗
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zizians ↗ Wikipedia
- District of Vermont | Woman Charged With Discharging Firearm During Assault of United States Border Patrol Agent — https://www.justice.gov/usao-vt/pr/woman-charged-discharging-firearm-during-assault-united-states-border-patrol-agent open ↗
- Chairman Green Issues Statement Mourning Loss of Border Patrol Agent David Maland in the Line of Duty — https://homeland.house.gov/2025/01/21/chairman-green-issues-statement-mourning-loss-of-border-patrol-agent-david-maland-in-the-line-of-duty/ open ↗
- FBI Albany Update on Federal Investigation in Connection with the Fatal Shooting Involving a U.S. Border Patrol Officer in Coventry, Vermont — https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/albany/news/fbi-albany-update-on-federal-investigation-in-connection-with-the-fatal-shooting-involving-a-us-border-patrol-officer-in-coventry-vermont open ↗
- Police arrest apparent leader of cultlike 'Zizian' group linked to multiple killings in the US — https://apnews.com/article/zizians-killings-border-patrol-bf599db6b9ec354c68ed5ff4d5701b84 open ↗
- A Silicon Valley Intellectual Society Kicked Them Out. Now They're Tied to a Killing Spree — https://www.wsj.com/us-news/zizians-group-jack-lasota-killings-6f3aa40a open ↗
- The Delirious, Violent, Impossible True Story of the Zizians — https://www.wired.com/story/delirious-violent-impossible-true-story-zizians/ open ↗
- Investigations into 6 Killings Look to a Fringe Group Known as the Zizians — https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/22/us/zizians-killings-investigations.html open ↗
- They wanted to save us from a dark AI future. Then six people were killed — https://www.theguardian.com/global/ng-interactive/2025/mar/05/zizians-artificial-intelligence open ↗
- Police arrest apparent leader of Zizian group tied to killing of U.S. border agent near Canada — https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/zizian-group-leader-arrest-1.7461231 open ↗
- A 'death cult' on the run: The Bay Area fringe group terrorizing America — https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/new-details-bay-area-zizians-death-cult-20165754.php open ↗
- Government wants to execute Teresa Youngblut after Vermont shooting that killed border agent, her lawyer says — https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/06/28/metro/government-execute-teresa-youngblut-vermont/ open ↗
- She Wanted to Save the World From A.I. Then the Killings Started — https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/06/business/ziz-lasota-zizians-rationalists.html open ↗
- Who are the Zizians, the cult-like group under FBI investigation? — https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/02/19/zizian-cult-like-group-details/79108035007/ open ↗
- A member of the cultlike Zizians group is charged in the killings of her parents in Pennsylvania — https://apnews.com/article/zizians-pennsylvania-zajko-parents-killed-shooting-4d7019022a2b5076ad06b51d1d6be6bf open ↗
- Double murder of Pennsylvania couple linked to Border Patrol shooting in Vermont, state police say — https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/richard-rita-zajko-vermont-shooting/ open ↗
- Suspects in killing of U.S. border patrol agent had an arsenal of weapons — https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/2-suspects-killing-us-border-patrol-agent-arsenal-weapons-rcna189098 open ↗
- Associates of woman in Border Patrol shooting tied to other homicides — https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/associates-woman-border-patrol-shooting-tied-20058348.php open ↗
- Survivor charged in shootout that left Border Patrol agent dead in Vermont — https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/teresa-youngblut-charged-shootout-killed-border-20053959.php open ↗
- None of the So-Called Zizians Have Told Their Side of the Story — Until Now — https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/gwen-danielson-zizians-interview-1235552043/ open ↗
- Alleged leader of cultlike Zizian group linked to Vermont border agent's killing arrested in Maryland — https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jack-lasota-zizian-leader-arrested-in-maryland/ open ↗
- Grand jury indicts accused leader of cultlike 'Zizian' group — https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/06/20/grand-jury-indicts-accused-leader-of-cultlike-zizian-group/84293701007/ open ↗
- Competency review ordered for Jack 'Ziz' LaSota, who rejects 'Zizian' and 'cult' labels — https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/03/12/nation/jack-lasota-zizan-leader-mental-competency/ open ↗
- How did a German math genius get drawn into a 'cult' accused in coast-to-coast killings? — https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/german-math-genius-get-drawn-cult-accused-coast-coast-killings-rcna189309 open ↗
- Mann in USA getötet - Deutsche Behörde schaltet sich ein — https://www.faz.net/aktuell/gesellschaft/kriminalitaet/mann-in-usa-getoetet-deutsche-behoerde-schaltet-sich-ein-110261206.html open ↗
- Ophelia Disappeared: A Wall Street Analyst and a Deadly Shootout — https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/us/zizians-group-disappearance.html open ↗
- Felix B. aus Freiburg: Rätsel um Schusswechsel an kanadischer Grenze – Junger Deutscher unter den Toten — https://www.welt.de/vermischtes/article255247804/Felix-B-aus-Freiburg-Raetsel-um-Schusswechsel-an-kanadischer-Grenze-Junger-Deutscher-unter-den-Toten.html open ↗
We cite sources by name and outlet rather than fabricating links. Where a source includes its own URL, the open ↗ link opens it directly; otherwise search ↗ runs a Google Scholar query for the cited title — useful for verifying academic sources. For news outlets, search the outlet's own archive.
Relevant hubs
Curated entry points on CLCI Hub for situations connected to this group.
- Start herePick the reading path that matches your situation.
- PatternsDocumented control patterns with linked profiles.
- Online groupsPolitical and ideological coercion often operates via online communities.
- FamiliesHow families and close friends can engage with high-control members.
- RecoveryIf you have left or are preparing to leave.
You may also want to explore
Frequently asked questions
Q.Is Zizians a cult?
CLCI Hub deliberately avoids the binary label "cult." Instead it places groups on a transparent 0–40 spectrum of documented control using Steven Hassan's BITE model (Behaviour, Information, Thought, Emotional). Zizians scores 32 out of 40 — "Destructive / Extreme", at medium confidence. The score describes documented control patterns, not a judgement of members' sincerity or beliefs; many members do not personally experience the patterns listed.
Q.What is Zizians's CLCI score?
Zizians scores 32 out of 40 on the Cult-Like Control Index, which falls in the "Extreme" band. That total is the sum of four BITE axes — Behaviour 8, Information 6, Thought 8, Emotional 8 — plus a signed modifier of +2 for aggravating or mitigating factors.
Q.Why does Zizians score 32 on the CLCI?
The score reflects publicly documented patterns including: Members charged in connection with multiple killings; Absolute moral binary separating members from everyone else; Severance from families; shared transient housing; Sleep-manipulation practices tied to doctrine. These map onto the BITE axes of behaviour, information, thought, and emotional control, and a signed modifier of +2 is applied for factors such as financial demands, leadership accountability, and exit costs. Every claim is backed by the citations in the Sources section on this page.
Q.How reliable is the Zizians rating?
This profile is rated Medium confidence. Medium confidence means the score rests on reputable journalism plus consistent ex-member testimony. CLCI scores are not fixed — they are revised whenever new public evidence appears, and groups that reform can score lower over time.
Q.Where can I get help regarding Zizians?
If you or someone you care about is affected by Zizians, start with the Recovery resources listed on this page. General cult-aware support is available from the International Cultic Studies Association (icsahome.com) and the Freedom of Mind Resource Center (freedomofmind.com). CLCI Hub is an educational resource, not a crisis service — if anyone is in immediate danger, contact local emergency services.
Found something wrong on this profile?
We accept correction requests from anyone — current and former members, researchers, journalists, family members, and the listed organisation. Submissions are reviewed by an editor; we do not auto-publish.