June 24, 2026
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Michelle Zajko, 33, was charged in the 2022 shooting death of her parents at their home in Chester Heights. Zajko is in custody for separate charges in Maryland. Above, the Delaware County courthouse.
Prosecutors in Delaware County have charged Michelle Zajko, 33, in the 2022 shooting deaths of her parents, Richard and Rita Zajko, in their Chester Heights home.
The Delaware County district attorney filed charges for first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder against Michelle Zajko on Wednesday. DA Tanner Rouse said Zajko, who is in custody in Maryland on separate charges, was allegedly in the home with one other person, although authorities are unsure who her co-conspirators are at this time.
"This (investigation) had to be cobbled together, we don't have a smoking gun, it is piece after piece after piece of evidence that has been collected painstakingly over years," Rouse said.
Zajko became estranged from her parents due to disagreements regarding her lifestyle. In 2022, Zajko became affiliated with Jack "Ziz" LaSota, the founder of a cultlike extremist group called the Zizians. In the weeks leading up to the shooting, Zajko allegedly purchased a firearm and burner cell phones. She also moved large amounts of cash just before and after the incident, which prosecutors consider suspicious activity.
On New Year's Eve of 2022, which is also her birthday, Zajko received a text message from her mother apologizing for a recent rift. The message went unanswered, and several hours later, video showed a car approaching her parents' residence and two people were seen getting out of the vehicle.
At the time of the shooting, investigators said someone said something on the video which detectives could not understand. After reaching out to federal officials, the audio was enhanced, and Rouse said the word "mom" can be heard very clearly, and the Zajkos only had one child, Michelle. Both individuals were seen leaving the house nine minutes later.
Rouse added that Zajko went "completely dark" for the period around the shooting — her phone was left at her residence in Vermont, and she made no outgoing or returning calls during the time of the homicide. Two shell casings found at the scene matched a still unrecovered firearm that had been used at her Vermont home, Rouse said.
Following the shooting, investigators said they recovered text messages and a list from Zajko about mistakes that were made around the incident, such as not removing the shell casings from the Delaware County home and the Vermont backyard and not sending fake texts from the phone in Vermont.
Zajko was arrested in rural Maryland in March 2025 alongside LaSota and fellow Zizian Daniel Blank, who she was thought to be living with at the time of the shooting, after the trio stopped on a private property and asked if they could camp overnight in their vehicles. The owner of the property then called state police, who arrested them on charges of trespassing and weapons offenses.
All three were considered persons of interest in the slaying of Zajko's parents. Jury selection for the state police charges was supposed to begin in February, but was pushed back after Zajko fired her lawyer, briefly represented herself in court before hiring a new attorney.
Zajko and LaSota's association in the killing goes back to 2023, when Zajko allegedly hid in a hotel room in Chester with LaSota and refused to cooperate with police. Prior to her parents' funeral, Zajko was called in for questioning, did not speak to police, left the precinct and "disappeared." Prosecutors said that their understanding was that Zajko walked to a local diner, borrowed a cellphone, called for a ride and left the area, leaving behind a car with $40,000 inside.
LaSota was arrested and charged with obstructing the investigation and held at a Delaware County correctional facility for several months before her bail was lowered and she could leave custody. She never attended scheduled court dates after her release.
In the months leading up to the deaths of the Zajkos and the years that followed, LaSota's group was connected to a number of violent incidents. LaSota, a transgender woman and computer programmer, developed an online following beginning in 2016 through her blog, where she shared views about veganism, gender identity and the dangers of technology and artificial intelligence.
In August 2022, she allegedly faked her own death after reports that she fell off a boat and was presumed to have drowned. In November of that year, LaSota and other Zizians were living in box trucks and vans in the San Francisco Bay area and were taken to court by their landlord for failure to pay rent. The landlord, Curtis Lind, was attacked with a sword a few days before the eviction deadline and was partially blinded. One of the Zizians was left dead following the incident after Lind opened fire, and two others were charged with homicide. LaSota was reportedly at that scene, though she was not charged.
On Jan. 17, 2025, Lind was found dead with his throat cut on the same California property. Prosecutors in that case say that the group wanted to stop Lind from providing testimony in the 2022 shooting. A Zizian named Maximilian Snyder was charged with his death.
Three days later, two other alleged members of the group were part of a deadly shootout with U.S. Border Patrol agents at the U.S.-Canada border in Vermont. One member of the Zizians and a border patrol agent were killed. Two firearms found at the scene were purchased by Zajko, according to prosecutors.
