PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A judge in western Maryland has ordered three people connected to the 2022 murder of a Delaware County couple to be held without bail, as police across the nation connect a cult to a half-dozen murders.
Michelle Zajko, 32, is a person of interest in the investigation of the murder of her parents, Richard and Rita Zajko, on New Year’s Eve 2022, and in the death of a Vermont border patrol agent in a shootout along the Canadian border, according to court records.
She was arrested in western Maryland on Sunday, along with two others — Daniel Blank, 26, and Jack “Ziz” Lasota, 33.
Days after Zajko’s parents were killed, police took Blank and Lasota into custody while investigators searched her hotel room for a gun connected to the murder.
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Blank is also named as a person of interest in the Zajko murders. Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer says the case remains open.
“We are committed to finding justice for the Zajkos, and we’re taking every single investigative step we possibly can to get his case solved,” Stollsteimer said. “And hopefully hold somebody accountable for this heinous murder.”
Maryland state troopers on Sunday found Zajko, Blank and Lasota in two box trucks parked on private property in a remote area of western Maryland less than an hour from the West Virginia border and took all three into custody.
All three face trespassing and firearms charges and are being held without bail.
During a hearing on the trespassing charges in Maryland, prosecutors said Lasota is the leader of the Zizian cult, which investigators say is connected to six murders across the U.S.
Blog posts and interviews suggest a group of well-armed, vegan, mostly transgender, anti-AI, doomsday prepping, high-IQ computer scientists and mathematicians.
Zajko previously worked at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in bioinformatics — a blend of bio-analysis, statistics and computer science.