BREAKING: 'Zizian' trans cult member Michelle Zajko charged with 2022 double murder of her parents

An alleged member of the "Zizian" cult has been charged with the double homicide of her parents, prosecutors said Wednesday. Michelle Zajko is alleged to have shot Rita and Richard Zajko to death execution style inside their Pennsylvania home on New Year's Eve in 2022.

Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse announced during a press conference that Zajko faces charges of murder, burglary, and conspiracy. Rouse said Zajko had at least one accomplice and did not act alone, the Independent reported.

Zajko, who uses "they/them" pronouns, has been held in Maryland custody since February 2025 for an unrelated case. In that incident, she was charged with providing the gun allegedly used by another Zizian cult member, Teresa Youngblut, to shoot and kill US Border Patrol agent David Maland in January 2025 in Vermont.

Zajko has repeatedly denied killing her parents. She wrote in an April 2025  "Open Letter to the World" that she "didn't murder" Rita and Richard. Instead, she accused her father of murder-suicide, according to court filings. Zajko has been a person of interest since their deaths.

Rita and Richard were shot dead in their Chester Heights, PA home on New Year's Eve. Police said a neighbor's doorbell camera recorded a voice shouting "Mom!" and another voice repeatedly exclaiming, "Oh my God!" A vehicle was also recorded arriving at the home that night, per court documents.

Zajko was living in Vermont at the time of her parents' death and had been estranged from them for about a year prior. Court filings state that her mother sent Zajko a text message attempting to reconcile just hours before she was killed.

The transgender Zizian cult is a group of individuals comprised of computer scientists who reportedly share radical extremist beliefs about gender identity, veganism, animal rights, and artificial intelligence. Members of the group have been linked to at least six deaths since 2022.