A member of the , who has denied killing her parents in Pennsylvania in 2022, has been charged with murder, a prosecutor said Wednesday.
Michelle Zajko, who has been jailed in Maryland on other charges since February 2025, has been charged with murder, burglary and conspiracy charges in the deaths of Rita and Richard Zajko, Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse said at a news conference. The prosecutor said she did not act alone.
Online court records didn鈥檛 immediately indicate whether Zajko had an attorney in the Pennsylvania case as of Wednesday. An attorney representing her in Maryland did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment, and the Delaware County Public Defender’s office declined to comment.
The couple was shot to death in their home on New Year鈥檚 Eve after police say a neighbor鈥檚 doorbell camera captured video of a car pulling up to their home in Chester Heights, a voice shouting 鈥淢om!鈥� and another voice exclaiming, 鈥淥h my God! Oh, God, God!鈥�
Michelle Zajko has denied any involvement, and in court filings suggested her father might have killed her mother and then himself.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 murder my parents,鈥� she wrote in an April 2025 鈥�
Authorities, however, had long described Zajko as a person of interest in the double homicide, two of the linked to a group of young, highly intelligent computer scientists who appear to share radical beliefs about veganism, animal rights, gender identity and artificial intelligence.
Since 2022, members have been tied to the death of one of their own during an attack on a , the landlord鈥檚 subsequent killing, the Zajkos鈥� deaths Pennsylvania, and a highway that left a border agent and another Zizian dead.
Zajko, who is charged with providing the gun used to kill U.S. Border Patrol Agent David Maland in January 2025, was along with Daniel Blank and Jack 鈥淶iz鈥� LaSota, whom authorities describe as the group鈥檚 leader. Police who responded to a landowner’s complaint about suspicious people parked in box trucks on his property described them as having 鈥渢ies with the Zizians Cult鈥� and said they would be questioned about crimes across the country.
All three face state charges of trespassing and illegal gun and drug possession, while LaSota faces a federal charge of illegal gun possession by a fugitive. A judge recently granted a defense request for a competency evaluation in the federal case.
In court filings, LaSota鈥檚 attorneys said their client eschews the term Zizian and denies that she and her friends have formed a cult. Zajko has claimed authorities arrested the group in Maryland to prevent them from exonerating , who has pleaded not guilty in Vermont to murder and could face the death penalty if convicted.
Zajko was living in Vermont at the time of her parents鈥� deaths and was questioned there by police shortly after they died. A few weeks later, officers briefly took her into custody at a Pennsylvania hotel but released her without charges. LaSota, staying at the same hotel, was charged with obstructing the homicide investigation and disorderly conduct.
Zajko had been estranged from her parents in the year leading up to their deaths, the prosecutor said. They were killed hours after Rita Zajko texted her daughter in an attempt to reconcile. 鈥淗er mother reached out and explained that she was sorry for the rift that had grown between them,鈥� the prosecutor said. 鈥淭hat text went unanswered.鈥�
A few hours later, at least two people entered the home. 鈥淭he lights go on in the home, and Richard and Rita Zajko are executed,鈥� he said.
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Ramer reported from Concord, New Hampshire.
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