David Maland: The Shooting, Youngblut Case, and Zizians

David “Chris” Maland was a 44-year-old U.S. Border Patrol agent shot and killed on January 20, 2025, during a traffic stop on Interstate 91 in Coventry, Vermont, roughly six miles south of the Canadian border. His killing is being prosecuted as a federal capital case against Teresa Youngblut, a 21-year-old from Seattle tied to a small, cult-like offshoot of Silicon Valley’s rationalist movement known as the Zizians.

Who David Maland Was

Maland was born in Blue Earth, Minnesota, and grew up in Fairmont, graduating from high school there in 1999. He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and served nearly a decade in uniform, including a stretch on security detail at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. After the attacks, he was assigned to guard a military undersecretary at a bunker at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling.¹

He spent 15 years in federal service after leaving the Air Force. He worked as a U.S. Marshal, served on special security details at the White House and the Pentagon, and worked as an independent federal security contractor before joining the Border Patrol.¹ Maland worked as a K-9 handler and was stationed in Texas near the Mexican border before transferring to the Swanton Sector’s Newport Station in Vermont.² At the time of his death he had served with the Border Patrol for more than nine years.³

He was survived by his partner, whom he had been about to propose to. His cousin is Minnesota State Representative Krista Knudsen.¹⁴⁵

How the Shooting Happened

At about 3:15 p.m. on January 20, 2025, Maland and other Border Patrol agents pulled over a 2015 Toyota Prius on southbound I-91 near mile marker 168 in Coventry. The stop was framed as an immigration inspection of the vehicle’s two occupants, Teresa Youngblut and Felix Bauckholt, a German national.⁶

When Maland asked Youngblut to step out, she drew a firearm and fired four rounds at the agents. One struck Maland in the neck. A fellow agent returned fire, hitting Youngblut in the arm and leg, then saw Bauckholt reaching for his own weapon and ordered him to stop. When Bauckholt did not, the agent fired eight rounds total during the exchange and struck Bauckholt twice in the chest. Bauckholt died at the scene. Maland was driven to North Country Hospital in a police cruiser and died of his injuries. Youngblut, treated with a tourniquet at the roadside, was taken by ambulance.⁷

Recovered from the Prius were a .380 caliber pistol, a .40 caliber pistol, 48 rounds of hollow-point ammunition, a ballistic helmet, night vision equipment, a tactical belt with holster, two-way radios, and shooting range targets.⁸ A bomb squad was called in to inspect foil-wrapped packages in the vehicle, which proved harmless.⁷

Why the Pair Was Already Being Watched

The stop was not chance. On January 14, a hotel employee in Lyndonville, Vermont, called police after seeing Youngblut and Bauckholt in all-black tactical clothing with protective gear, Youngblut openly carrying a firearm.⁶ Vermont State Police and Homeland Security Investigations began periodic surveillance. The pair moved to the Newport Inn and Suites and mostly kept to themselves.⁹ On January 19, officers spotted them in downtown Newport, again in tactical clothing and with a visible handgun, and asked for a voluntary interview. They declined and said they were in the area to look at real estate. On the morning of the shooting, investigators followed them to a Walmart parking lot, where Bauckholt bought aluminum foil and wrapped their cellphones in it, an apparent attempt to defeat electronic tracking.¹⁰ The traffic stop followed hours later.

The Federal Case Against Teresa Youngblut

Youngblut was taken into federal custody after the shooting and has been held ever since. Following a January 30, 2025 detention hearing, she was remanded to the U.S. Marshals without bail.¹¹ She was first indicted on February 6, 2025, on two counts and pleaded not guilty the next day before Judge Kevin J. Doyle.

In August 2025, a federal grand jury in the District of Vermont returned a four-count superseding indictment charging her with the murder of Agent Maland, assault of two other Border Patrol agents with a deadly weapon, and related firearms offenses.¹² The indictment alleges she “intentionally killed” Maland “with malice aforethought” while he was performing his official duties.¹³ She pleaded not guilty to the upgraded charges on September 5, 2025.¹⁴

A Federal Death Penalty Case

U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi authorized and directed the Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Vermont to seek capital punishment against Youngblut, citing this case specifically. The authorization came shortly after President Trump signed an executive order on January 20, 2025, the same day as the shooting, lifting the federal death penalty moratorium that had been in place under the Biden administration.¹³

Vermont has no state death penalty, and the last execution in the state took place in 1954. The prosecution proceeds under federal law, which permits capital punishment for certain offenses regardless of state policy. The only other recent federal death penalty case in Vermont involved Donald Fell, sentenced to death in 2006; his conviction was later overturned, and the matter ended in 2018 with a plea deal for life without parole.¹³

Where the Case Stands

United States v. Youngblut (2:25-cr-00015) is before Chief District Judge Christina Reiss. In February 2026, prosecutors and defense counsel filed a joint motion for more time to file pretrial motions, citing the volume of discovery drawn from multiple agencies and jurisdictions.¹⁵ No trial date has been set. Youngblut remains in custody without bail, represented by federal public defender Steven L. Barth.¹¹

The Zizian Connection

Both Youngblut and Bauckholt were affiliated with the Zizians, a small cult-like group of young computer scientists and rationalists whose adherents have been linked to six killings across California, Pennsylvania, and Vermont.¹⁶ The group takes its name from Jack LaSota, a software developer from Alaska who blogged under the alias “Ziz” and broke from mainstream rationalist circles after developing extreme theories that she pursued through hallucinogens and sleep deprivation. Members mixed radical veganism, anarchism, and an interpretation of rationalism used to justify illegal acts.¹⁷

Youngblut graduated from Lakeside School in North Seattle in June 2022 and afterward reconnected on Instagram with Maximilian Snyder, a former classmate tied to the group. She and Snyder applied for a marriage license in Washington in November 2024.¹⁸ By May 2024, her parents had tried to file a missing persons report, describing her as deceptive and estranged from childhood friends; neighbors told them she had been researching rationalism.¹⁹ Investigators recovered a journal from the Prius with cryptic notes about LSD experiences.

Bauckholt, contrary to some early reports, was not an unlawful entrant. He held an O-1A visa reserved for individuals of extraordinary ability, and had worked as a quantitative trader in New York. He had been of interest to Homeland Security Investigations for about a week before the stop, and law enforcement sources indicated he did not initiate the gunfire.²⁰ He also went by the name Ophelia and had ties to the Zizians.¹⁶

The Vermont shooting sits within a wider pattern of violence tied to the group. In November 2022, member Emma Borhanian was fatally shot in self-defense by Vallejo, California landlord Curtis Lind after two other members stabbed him; both were charged with attempted murder.²¹ In December 2022, Richard and Rita Zajko were found shot to death in Chester Heights, Pennsylvania; their daughter Michelle Zajko, tied to the group, was charged in June 2026 with murder, burglary, and conspiracy.²² On January 17, 2025, three days before Maland’s death, Lind was killed. Snyder, Youngblut’s fiancé, was charged with capital murder with the special circumstance of lying in wait; prosecutors allege he killed Lind to prevent him from testifying in the earlier attempted murder case.²³

Where the Guns Came From

Federal prosecutors charged Michelle Zajko with making false statements to a federally licensed firearms dealer in connection with the Vermont shooting. Charging documents allege she bought three firearms from a gun store in Mount Tabor, Vermont, in February 2024, giving a false address and falsely certifying she was not buying on behalf of another person. Two of those weapons, a Glock .40-caliber pistol and a Smith and Wesson M&P Shield .380-caliber pistol, were the guns recovered from Youngblut and Bauckholt after the shootout. A third, a Ruger pistol, has not been recovered.²⁴ As of mid-2026, Zajko had not appeared in Vermont on the federal firearms charge; she has been in custody in Maryland since February 2025 on separate state charges including drug trafficking and illegal gun possession.²⁵

LaSota herself was arrested in Frostburg, Maryland, on February 16, 2025, along with Michelle Zajko and Daniel Blank, on charges of trespassing, illegal gun possession, and drug possession; a judge ordered all three held without bail.¹⁶ LaSota also faces a federal charge of illegal gun possession by a fugitive and charges of obstructing the Pennsylvania homicide investigation. In March 2026, a federal judge ordered a mental competency evaluation, which is expected to delay her state and federal proceedings. Authorities have connected her to investigations involving six deaths but have not charged her with causing any of them.²⁶

The Ongoing Investigation

The FBI Albany Field Office is leading the inquiry into Maland’s death as an alleged assault on a federal officer, deploying its Evidence Response Team, digital forensics specialists, victim services, and dozens of special agents.²⁷ It has coordinated with the Newport Police Department, Orleans County Sheriff’s Office, Vermont State Police, ATF, Homeland Security Investigations, and Border Patrol. At the September 2025 hearing, a federal prosecutor stated that investigators were still actively pursuing potential accomplices and examining evidence of coordinated activity within the Zizian network.¹⁴

1
CBS News Minnesota. US Border Patrol Agent David Maland Killed, Minnesota Native
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WMUR. David Maland, Border Patrol Agent Killed
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Officer Down Memorial Page. Border Patrol Agent David Christopher Maland
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Fox 9. MN Funeral for Slain Border Patrol Agent
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Minneapolis Star Tribune. David Maland Obituary
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ABC News. Suspects in Border Patrol Agent’s Killing in Vermont Surveilled for Days
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MYNBC5. Documents Unveil New Details in Fatal Shooting of Border Patrol Agent David Maland
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NBC News. Two Suspects in Killing of US Border Patrol Agent Had Arsenal of Weapons
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Open Vallejo. Before the Shooting of Border Patrol Officer, Visitors Took Interest in a Remote Northeast Vermont Property
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CNN. Vermont Border Patrol Agent Shooting Arrest
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CourtListener. United States v. Youngblut
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U.S. Department of Justice. Seattle Woman Indicted for Murder of US Border Patrol Agent in Vermont
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VTDigger. Grand Jury Returns New Indictment Against Teresa Youngblut
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VTDigger. Teresa Youngblut Denies Murder Charge in Fatal Shooting of Border Patrol Agent
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VTDigger. Prosecution and Defense Push for Delay in Border Agent Case
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PBS NewsHour. A Timeline of Cultlike Zizian Group Tied to Killing of a Border Patrol Agent in Vermont
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Wired. The Delirious, Violent, Impossible True Story of the Zizians
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ABC7 News. Maximilian Snyder, Teresa Youngblut Linked to Vallejo Murder and Vermont Border Patrol Shooting
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The Seattle Times. Timeline: How Two Seattleites Are Linked to Ziz and Web of Killings
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Vermont Daily Chronicle. Suspect Shot and Killed in Vermont Border Patrol Encounter Was German National, Math/Computer Whiz
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BBC News. The Zizians
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PBS NewsHour. A Member of the Cultlike Zizians Group Is Charged in the Killings of Her Parents in Pennsylvania
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Open Vallejo. Defendant Linked to Zizians Pleads Not Guilty to Capital Murder
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Open Vallejo. Federal Prosecutors Charge Alleged Zizian Over Firearm Purchase
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VTDigger. Three People Linked to the Zizians Face New Charges in Maryland
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U.S. News. Lawyers for Jack Ziz LaSota Seek Competency Review
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FBI. FBI Albany Update on Federal Investigation in Connection With the Fatal Shooting in Coventry, Vermont