Suspected Mastermind Behind Silicon Valley's Alleged "Murder Cult" Detained
The alleged leader of what's been dubbed a Bay Area "murder syndicate" was apprehended over the weekend, alongside several other suspected members of this shadowy group. Jack LaSota, a 34-year-old "blogger" hailing from Berkeley, was nabbed in Maryland. LaSota, who identifies as a woman using she/her pronouns, is more commonly known online as "Ziz."
For years, Ziz has been associated with a loose-knit group that emphasizes a peculiar form of techno-fundamentalism, and that may be linked to numerous fatalities. Ziz was recently charged with trespassing, obstructing and hindering, and possessing a firearm, as reported by the Associated Press. Two other individuals believed to be part of the group were also detained: Michelle Zajko, 32, from Media, Pennsylvania, and Daniel Blank, 26, from Sacramento, California. These are the most recent arrests in a case that spans various states and may be connected to at least six murders.
Previously, other alleged members of the group had been detained, including Maximilian Snyder—accused of stabbing an 82-year-old California landlord to death—and 21-year-old Teresa Youngblut, tied to the shooting death of a Border Patrol agent in Vermont. It's worth noting that Snyder and Youngblut were also apparently married, although it's unclear if they were legally married. Felix "Ophelia" Bauckholt, a German citizen and apparent quantitative trader, who was also a suspected member, was slain during the Vermont shootout.
Recently, Zajko's parents were found murdered in her Pennsylvania residence in 2022. Authorities believe these unsolved homicides may be connected to the recent string of deaths.
Fascinatingly, LaSota had previously been presumed dead. The U.S. Coast Guard responded to reports that LaSota had plunged into the San Francisco Bay during the summer of 2022, and subsequently, an obituary was published for her. Her mother also seemed to confirm her demise, according to the Associated Press. However, LaSota somehow resurfaced in Vallejo and was subsequently contacted at the scene of another crime, causing rumors to swirl that she had staged her own death.
In the wake of the arrests, the group has been referred to as a "death cult" and a "murder gang," but the specific links between all the group's suspected members are still not entirely clear. Some of them shared living arrangements, and a property in Vallejo, California, that belonged to the murdered 82-year-old landlord was allegedly occupied by group members.
Their broader mission remains something of a mystery, though they did appear to hold a distinct ideology, given expression on the popular e-forum LessWrong. Digging into the online postings of Zizian members is an exercise in examining sanity—the group has been linked to veganism, AI doomerism, and the "rationalist" movement.
The murder suspect Snyder addressed a notable member of the rationalist movement, Eliezer Yudkowsky, in a cryptic screed directed at him in The San Francisco Chronicle. "I am not one of Ziz's friends, and neither she nor her friends endorse me or my words so far as I know," Snyder said, referring to Yudkowsky, the founder of LessWrong, where many of the Zizians have posted their thoughts.
- Despite recent reports of her alleged death, Jack LaSota, also known as Ziz, was actually arrested for trespassing and other charges, as mentioned in an obituary published after her supposed drowning in the San Francisco Bay.
- The future implications of these arrests and connections between the group members are unclear, with some suspects identified as part of a "death cult" or "murder gang," but the specific ties between all members remain largely elusive.
- The tech-focused ideology of the group, which includes veganism and AI doomerism among other beliefs, can be traced back to their online activity on LessWrong, a popular e-forum.
- As more information about the group's activities and alleged murders surfaces, discussions regarding LaSota's tech-oriented blog and her affiliations with this controversial techno-fundamentalist collective continue to gain attention.
