Pennsylvania woman charged in parents’ 2022 killings

Pennsylvania prosecutors have charged Michelle Zajko with murder in the 2022 shooting deaths of her parents, announcing a break in a case that drew national attention because of her ties to a cultlike group linked to violence in several states.

Zajko, 33, is accused of arranging the killings of Richard and Rita Zajko at their home in Chester Heights, a well-to-do Philadelphia suburb, on Dec. 31, 2022 — the morning of her 30th birthday. Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse said Wednesday that Zajko faces murder, burglary and conspiracy charges and that investigators believe at least one other person was involved.

“She did not act alone,” Rouse said at a news conference. “At this time, we don’t know who her co-conspirators were.”

Rouse said investigators are still working to identify a second person seen on surveillance footage entering the couple’s home before the killings. A neighbor’s doorbell camera captured a car arriving, a voice shouting “Mom!” and another voice saying, “Oh my God! Oh, God, God!” according to authorities.

The Zajkos were found dead on Jan. 2, 2023. Rita Zajko, 69, had been shot in the back of the head, and Richard Zajko, 71, had been shot in the right hand and right temple, according to autopsy findings cited by NBC News.

Rouse said the case took years to build and rests on a combination of evidence, including text messages, ballistics analysis and enhanced surveillance audio. He said Zajko had received a text message from her mother seeking to repair their relationship before the killings.

“We don’t have a smoking gun,” Rouse said. “It is piece after piece after piece of evidence that’s been collected painstakingly over years.” He added: “It was an exhaustive investigation, and it took years to pull together, but we are finally at the point where we can say beyond any doubt that Michelle Zajko was at least in part responsible for the death of her parents.”

Zajko has denied involvement. “I didn’t murder my parents,” she wrote in an April 2025 “Open Letter to the World,” according to The Guardian. In court filings, she suggested her father might have killed her mother and then himself, the newspaper reported. Online court records did not immediately show whether she had a lawyer in the Pennsylvania case, and attorneys contacted by news outlets did not immediately comment or declined to comment.

Authorities have described Zajko as connected to the Zizians, a group of young, highly intelligent computer scientists who appear to share radical beliefs involving veganism, animal rights, gender identity and artificial intelligence. People familiar with the group told NBC News that Zajko, Teresa Youngblut and Ophelia Bauckholt had ties to the Zizians.

The Pennsylvania case resurfaced after a January 2025 shootout in northern Vermont that killed U.S. Border Patrol agent David Maland. Federal prosecutors say Youngblut opened fire after Maland pulled over a car occupied by Youngblut and Bauckholt. Bauckholt was killed as she attempted to draw her own weapon, and Youngblut was wounded and survived. She has pleaded not guilty to federal weapons charges, and The Guardian reported she has also pleaded not guilty to murder in Vermont.

Vermont prosecutors later said the person who supplied the guns used by Youngblut and Bauckholt was a person of interest in the Pennsylvania double homicide. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives identified that person as Michelle Zajko, according to NBC News. The Guardian reported that Zajko is charged with providing the gun used to kill Maland.

Zajko has been jailed in Maryland since February 2025, when she was arrested in Frostburg with Daniel Blank and Jack “Ziz” LaSota on state charges including trespassing and weapons offenses. All three have pleaded not guilty. Authorities describe LaSota as the Zizians’ leader; LaSota’s attorneys have said their client rejects the term Zizian and denies that she and her friends formed a cult.

Rosanne Zajko, Michelle Zajko’s aunt, praised investigators Wednesday. “We don’t know yet if the trial will begin to heal the void in our lives and the ache in our hearts, but we do know the detectives, the DA’s office and we the family have done everything possible to achieve justice for Rita and Rick,” she said.