Washington Woman Held Without Bail In Border Patrol Agent's Fatal Shooting

A 21-year-old woman from Washington State was detained by court order without bail on Thursday in connection with the death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.

The case has expanded to include killings in multiple states. Teresa Youngblut faced federal firearms charges for the Jan. 20 shooting that killed Agent David Maland. Authorities said she fired at agents during a traffic stop in northern Vermont, triggering a shootout that also resulted in the death of her companion, Felix Bauckholt, CBS News reported.

The gun used in the Vermont shooting was purchased by a person connected to the killings of Richard and Rita Zajko, as per Pennsylvania state police on Wednesday. The couple was shot and killed in their Chester Heights home on Dec. 31, 2022.

U.S. Attorney Michael Drescher said that both Youngblut and the buyer were in frequent contact with someone, who was detained in the Pennsylvania investigation and was also a person of interest in another murder case in California.

Prosecutors did not provide further details during a brief hearing Thursday. During the hearing, neither Youngblut nor her attorney spoke. Youngblut's attorney has not responded to requests for comment on the charges. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Feb. 7.

New details have been found in the police and court records.

Another person named Jack LaSota was facing charges in Pennsylvania for obstructing law enforcement and disorderly conduct. Authorities have not confirmed if these charges were linked to the deaths of Richard and Rita Zajko.

However, court records show that the police were looking for a gun used in two killings when they arrested LaSota 12 days later at a hotel about 10 miles from where the Zajkos were killed. LaSota was also connected to some key people involved in the California case.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, LaSota and three others were arrested for protesting an event organized by the Center for Applied Rationality at a camping retreat in Occidental in 2019.

In 2022, two of those individuals, Emma Borhanian and Jeffrey Leatham, were accused of attacking their landlord, Curtis Lind, with a sword in Vallejo. Lind survived the attack in November 2022 but was later stabbed to death on Jan. 17.

Court documents suggest that LaSota may have been present during the 2022 attack on the landlord. The documents also indicate that LaSota was falsely reported dead three months earlier.