A Washington state girl was ordered held with out bail Thursday in reference to the loss of life of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in a case that has grown to embody killings in a number of states.
Teresa Youngblut, 21, faces federal firearms expenses within the Jan. 20 loss of life of Agent David Maland. She’s accused of opening fireplace on brokers throughout a visitors cease in northern Vermont, sparking a shootout that additionally left her companion, Felix Bauckholt, useless.
Pennsylvania state police stated Wednesday that the gun used within the Vermont taking pictures was bought by an individual of curiosity within the Dec. 31, 2022, killings of Richard and Rita Zajko, who have been shot to loss of life of their Chester Heights house. Each Youngblut and the client have been in frequent contact with somebody who was detained as a part of the Pennsylvania investigation and is an individual of curiosity in one other killing in California, U.S. Legal professional Michael Drescher stated in a courtroom submitting.
Prosecutors didn’t elaborate throughout a quick listening to Thursday throughout which neither Youngblut nor her legal professional spoke, in keeping with NBC5-TV. Youngblut’s legal professional has not responded to requests for touch upon the fees. A preliminary listening to is scheduled for Feb. 7.
Within the meantime, police and courtroom data have shed some mild on the connections.
Jack LaSota is presently going through expenses of obstructing legislation enforcement and disorderly conduct in Pennsylvania. Authorities gained’t say whether or not these expenses are associated to the Zajko deaths, however courtroom data present that police have been looking for a gun utilized in two killings after they arrested LaSota 12 days later at a lodge about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the scene of the killings.
LaSota additionally has connections to a number of the key gamers within the California case.
In 2019, LaSota and three others have been arrested whereas protesting an occasion hosted by the Middle for Utilized Rationality at a tenting retreat in Occidental, in keeping with the San Francisco Chronicle. In 2022, two of the others, Emma Borhanian and Jeffrey Leatham, have been accused of attacking their landlord with a sword in Vallejo. The owner, Curtis Lind, survived the November 2022 assault however was stabbed to loss of life Jan. 17.
Maximilian Snyder was charged this week with that killing. In November, somebody with the identical title utilized for a wedding license with a Teresa Youngblut in Kirkland, Washington. Snyder’s legal professional declined to touch upon the fees.
LaSota could have been current through the 2022 landlord assault, in keeping with courtroom paperwork that additionally recommend LaSota had been falsely reported useless three months earlier.
On Aug. 19, 2022, the U.S. Coast Guard responded to a report that LaSota had fallen out of a ship in San Francisco Bay and performed a search however didn’t discover a physique, in keeping with paperwork included in a civil rights lawsuit LaSota and others had filed after their 2019 arrest. An obituary was revealed, and LaSota’s mom confirmed the loss of life to LaSota’s felony protection legal professional. However months later, a prosecutor emailed the legal professional and stated LaSota was contacted by police in Vallejo and was “alive and properly” on the website of against the law on or about Nov. 13, the date Lind was attacked.
Jerold Friedman, who represented LaSota within the civil case, stated Thursday that he verified the Coast Guard report on the time and that he doesn’t recall the final time he was involved with LaSota. The legal professional who represented LaSota within the 2019 felony case didn’t instantly reply to an e mail looking for remark. A cellphone message was left on the workplace of the lawyer listed as representing him within the present Pennsylvania case.
Although authorities haven’t publicly recognized the one who purchased the gun utilized in Vermont, the VTDigger information website reported that federal authorities issued an alert to firearms sellers looking for details about purchases made by Michelle Jacqueline Zajko and describing her as an individual of curiosity within the Vermont taking pictures.
In keeping with a public data database, a Michelle Zajko was registered to vote in 2016 on the similar house handle in Pennsylvania as Richard and Rita Zajko. In 2021, a Michelle Zajko purchased a half-acre piece of property in Derby, Vermont, a couple of miles (about 6 kilometers) from the Canadian border. In keeping with city data, the land is undeveloped.
