A woman accused of killing a U.S. Border Patrol agent during a Vermont traffic stop in January has been indicted on murder and other new charges that make her eligible for the death penalty.
Teresa Youngblut, 21, of Washington state, is a member of the Zizians, a cultlike group of radical computer scientists focused on veganism, gender identity and artificial intelligence who have been linked to six killings in three states. She’s accused of fatally shooting agent David Maland on Jan. 20, the same day President Donald Trump was inaugurated and signed a sweeping executive order lifting the moratorium on federal executions.
Youngblut initially was charged with using a deadly weapon against law enforcement and discharging a firearm during an assault with a deadly weapon.
But the Trump administration signaled early on that more serious charges were coming. In February, Attorney General Pam Bondi mentioned Maland’s death as an example in saying she expects federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty in cases involving the murder of law enforcement officers. Under a four-count indictment made public Thursday, Youngblut was charged with murder of a federal law enforcement officer, using a gun while assaulting an officer, using a gun during a violent crime and using a gun during a murder.
Prosecutors have not yet confirmed that they will seek the death penalty based on the new charges, but Youngblut’s attorneys recently said they had been given a July 28 deadline to offer preliminary evidence about why she should be spared such a punishment. They asked a judge last month to delay that deadline until January, but the judge declined.
At the time of the shooting, authorities had been watching Youngblut and her companion, Felix Bauckholt, for several days after a Vermont hotel employee reported seeing them carrying guns and wearing black tactical gear. She’s accused of opening fire on border agents who pulled the car over on Interstate 91. An agent fired back, killing Bauckholt and wounding Youngblut.
The pair were among the followers of Jack LaSota, a transgender woman also known as Ziz whose online writing attracted young, highly intelligent computer scientists who shared anarchist beliefs. Members of the group have been tied to the death of one of their own during an attack on a California landlord in 2022, the landlord’s subsequent killing earlier this year, and the deaths of a Pennsylvania couple in between.
LaSota and two others face weapons and drug charges in Maryland, where they were arrested in February, while LaSota faces additional federal charges of being an armed fugitive. Maximilian Snyder, who is charged with killing the landlord in California, had applied for a marriage license with Youngblut. Michelle Zajko, whose parents were killed in Pennsylvania, was arrested with LaSota in Maryland, and has been charged with providing weapons to Youngblut in Vermont.
Vermont abolished its state death penalty in 1972. The last person sentenced to death in the state on federal charges was Donald Fell, who was convicted in 2005 of abducting and killing a supermarket worker five years earlier. But the conviction and sentence were later thrown out because of juror misconduct, and in 2018, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison.
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Ramer reported from Concord, New Hampshire
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