I've written a couple of times about this group of mostly trans rationalists who have been connected to a number of murders. It's difficult to briefly summarize the group's long and strange history but their leader is a trans woman who was born Jack Amadeus LaSota who became trans sometime after college and began going by the name "Ziz."

Ziz attracted a group of other trans people who were associated with a movement called rationalism which was developing in the Bay Area, especially around Berkeley. Though highly educated, Ziz and members of his group seemed to want to live off the grid without being burdened by the need for careers or even regular jobs. Initially they intended to create a flotilla of boats captained by rationalists and they bought an old tug boat in Alaska and sailed it to California.

The old boat eventually became too much for them and they abandoned it. The new plan was to create a fleet of box trucks in which the group's members could live. Initially they lived on rented land in Vallejo, California but they soon stopped paying rent. The owner of the land, Curtis Lind, planned to have them removed by law enforcement at which point members of the group attempted to murder him. He survived, despite being run through with a samurai sword, and managed to shoot and kill one of his attackers. 

Ziz was not charged in that crime though he was found to be at the scene despite having previously faked his own death. The other two members of the group who attacked Lind are awaiting trial. Lind was supposed to be the main witness against them but last month another person connected to the group murdered him, apparently to prevent him from testifying. A suspect in that case, Maximilian Snyder, has been arrested and is also facing trial.

Snyder had at one point taken out a marriage license with another member of the group named Teresa Youngblut, though it seems they never married. Youngblut is one of two people who attacked and killed a Border Patrol agent in Vermont a couple months ago. The agent had pulled over Youngblut and a trans math whiz named Felix Bauckholt. They were both armed and opened fire on the agent. Baukholt was killed in the shootout but Youngblut survived and is awaiting trial.

The guns used by Bauckholt and Youngblut in that deadly shootout were registered to another member of the group, Michelle Zajko. Zajko's wealthy parents were shot execution style in their Pennsylvania home two years ago. She was a suspect in the case but no one has been arrested for that murder

Yesterday, Ziz, Zajko and another member of the group were found hiding in a remote area of Maryland. They were all armed.

Jack LaSota, 34, who goes by “Ziz” and has espoused the dangers of artificial intelligence, was taken into custody Sunday in Frostburg, a rural area roughly midway between Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C., Maryland State Police said in a statement.

LaSota, of Berkeley, California, also faces a firearms charge and obstructing and hindering, according to the statement. Two other people — Michelle Zajko, 32, of Media, Pennsylvania, and Daniel Blank, 26, of Sacramento, California — were arrested on similar charges...

In January 2023, the parents of Michelle Zajko — the woman arrested Sunday — were found dead in their Pennsylvania home. Both had been fatally shot. LaSota was charged with obstructing the investigation into their deaths and was released from jail after having posted $10,000 bail.

A bench warrant for LaSota’s arrest was issued after she failed to appear in court. Her whereabouts were unknown as recently as earlier this month.

Andy Ngo, who was covering this story before anyone else, has some additional details on the arrest.

The trio were found in Frostburg after a property owner called police. They drove two white box trucks and had several firearms. The "Ziz" group believes in living off-the-grid in box trucks that function as mobile homes. According to a court filing, Zajko had a loaded Sig Sauer pistol on her waistband. A rifle and a second pistol were found in one of the box trucks. 

LaSota and Zajko refused to identify themselves, but the three were identified with internal FBI photos. Members of the group have a history of providing law enforcement and the courts with false identities and having their surrogates tell the courts they died in an effort to get cases closed. Zajko refused to cooperate in the arrest and had to be taken down to the ground in order to be handcuffed, according to the criminal complaint.

Ngo has also been collecting photos of the group's members.

“Ziz” Trantifa terror member Daniel Arthur Blank was arrested alive and well along with Jack LaSota and Michelle Zajko in a rural Appalachian area of Maryland on Feb. 16.

Blank had been missing from his family since late 2022. There were rumors he had died but this was another… pic.twitter.com/wa3P4WLuP7

— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) February 17, 2025

A new Allegany County, Md. booking photo of Trantifa terror member Michelle Zajko has been released after she pretended to be dead in her first photo. (Jack "Ziz" LaSota also pretended to be dead when he was arrested in Pennsylvania in 2023.)

I can exclusively confirm that Zajko… pic.twitter.com/95KEzFq0dz

— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) February 17, 2025

Ziz is apparently claiming innocence.

Feb. 18 update: "I shouldn't be here, I haven't done anything wrong," Jack LaSota, the leader of the trans terror group, said at his first court hearing in Allegany County, Md. He appeared remotely, as did his co-defendants.

He has been denied bail, even though currently he is… pic.twitter.com/Kgoy1mHP4s

— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) February 18, 2025

Another update from the courtroom.

Feb. 18 courtroom update: At her first court hearing, Trantifa terror cult member Michelle J. Zajko said, "I'm not a man, I'm not a man" after she was misgendered by her public defender.

Zajko is a biological female who identifies as trans nonbinary. She recently shaved her… pic.twitter.com/BtCtlUpKPX

— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) February 18, 2025

Will they all remain silent or will someone start talking and implicate the others? Now that the whole group has been rounded up we'll hopefully begin to see some movement on these criminal cases.

The most amazing part of this story may be that these intelligent, highly educated people consider themselves rationalists. If this is what rationalism looks like, I'll pass.