A Washington state girl was ordered held with out bail Thursday in reference to the dying 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 fees within the Jan. 20 dying of Agent David Maland. She’s accused of opening hearth on brokers throughout a site 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 capturing was bought by an individual of curiosity within the Dec. 31, 2022, killings of Richard and Rita Zajko, who had been shot to dying of their Chester Heights dwelling. Each Youngblut and the customer had 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 court docket submitting.
Prosecutors did not elaborate throughout a quick listening to Thursday throughout which neither Youngblut nor her legal professional spoke, in response to NBC affiliate WPTZ. 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 court docket information have shed some mild on the connections.
Jack LaSota is at present dealing with fees of obstructing legislation enforcement and disorderly conduct in Pennsylvania. Authorities received’t say whether or not these fees are associated to the Zajko deaths, however court docket information present that police had been looking for a gun utilized in two killings once 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 among the key gamers within the California case.
In 2019, LaSota and three others had been arrested whereas protesting an occasion hosted by the Heart for Utilized Rationality at a tenting retreat in Occidental, in response to the San Francisco Chronicle. In 2022, two of the others, Emma Borhanian and Jeffrey Leatham, had been accused of attacking their landlord with a sword in Vallejo. The owner, Curtis Lind, survived the November 2022 assault however was stabbed to dying Jan. 17.
Maximilian Snyder was charged this week with that killing. In November, somebody with the identical identify 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 throughout the 2022 landlord assault, in response to court docket paperwork that additionally counsel LaSota had been falsely reported useless three months earlier.
In response to a public information database, a Michelle Zajko was registered to vote in 2016 on the identical dwelling tackle in Pennsylvania as Richard and Rita Zajko. In 2021, a Michelle Zajko purchased a half-acre piece of property in Derby, Vermont, a number of miles (about 6 kilometers) from the Canadian border. In response to city information, the land is undeveloped.
