REPORT: Radical trans cultists hid out in Chapel Hill neighborhood before murdering Border Patrol agent in Vermont

Members of a militant leftist transgender cult known as the "Zizians" which are linked to at least four murders were holed up in a quiet Chatham County neighborhood near Chapel Hill for over a year prior to the latest killing associated with the group, a shootout with US Border Patrol in Vermont last month which left one agent dead, according to reporting by the Associated Press and Andy Ngo of the Post Millennial.

Shootout in Vermont

On the afternoon of January 20, Border Patrol agents stopped a NC-registered blue Toyota hatchback on a Vermont interstate containing two occupants: Teresa "Milo" Youngblut and Felix "Ophelia" Bauckholt, both transgender-identifying members of the "Zizian" cult.

The stop was nominally an "immigration inspection," as Bauckholt, the vehicle's registered owner, was a German national who was showing up in a Department of Homeland Security database as having an expired visa, according to an FBI affidavit.

However, the pair had been under "periodic surveillance" for the prior six days after a hotel employee had reported their suspicious appearance to law enforcement, including the pair's "all-black tactical style clothing with protective equipment" and an open-carry handgun worn by Youngblut.

Surveillance image of Teresa “Milo” Youngblut (Newport City Inn and Suites)

When approached on January 14 by Vermont State Police and Homeland Security Investigations, Bauckholt and Youngblut told the investigators that they were in the area to look at property. Although the duo "declined to have an extended conversation" with the investigators, it has been reported that the location they were looking for was for the purpose of establishing an "autonomous zone commune."

According to the agents who initiated the vehicular stop on the 20th, Youngblut drew and fired a handgun towards the law enforcement, and Baukholt attempted to draw a firearm as well. Baukholt and Youngblut were both shot in the ensuing gun battle, but not before fatally wounding Border Patrol Agent David Maland.

Baukholt was pronounced dead at the scene, while Maland was transported to a nearby hospital where he was also pronounced dead within the hour. Youngblut survived her injuries, and was taken into custody.

Youngblut is being held in pretrial detention while facing the following charges, which carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment:

• 18 U.S.C. § 111(a) and (b) - Intentional use of a deadly weapon while forcibly assaulting, resisting, opposing, impeding, intimidating, or interfering with federal law enforcement

• 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1 )(A)(iii) - Use and discharge of a firearm during and in relation to an assault with deadly weapon

Carolina Connection

Bauckholt and Youngblut both rented Airbnb units in a "Chapel Hill" neighborhood, according to reporting by the Associated Press, with Bauckholt beginning in July 2023 and Youngblut in November 2024.

The landlord who owned the units rented to both Bauckholt and Youngblut told the AP that he was a little suspicious of them and the fact that "they were always wearing black," and that there appeard to be another man living with Bauckholt, and both Bauckholt and Youngblut had box trucks parked in front of their units.

As additionally reported by Ngo, the Zizians' eponymous leader Jack "Ziz" LaSota as well as other members of the group were also living "at this property" while preparing to establish an "autonomous zone commune" in rural Vermont, and that the Zizians had previously lived in box trucks at a prior "autonomous zone commune" in Vallejo, CA.

Ngo has also identified a Google Streetview image captured in March 2024 which shows a parked box truck outside one of the units, as well as what he says is the same vehicle which was involved in the Vermont incident:

Although the Woodbridge Dr. neighborhood off 15-501 which was the site of a related FBI raid earlier this week has Chapel Hill mailing addresses, it is in Chatham County and, to the best of my research, is not within Town of Chapel Hill's incorporated limits.

What do the "Zizians" believe?

The Zizians are based on a cult of personality surrounding Jack LaSota, deriving the name from his transgender/online/cult identity as "Ziz." (LaSota is a biological male, although he is often referred to in the press by his "preferred pronouns" of she/her.)

Although the "rationality community" out of which the Zizians emerged is dedicated to human reasoning and the "art of thinking," LaSota introduced an esoteric dualist philosophy of the soul in which every person has two "cores," the right and left hemispheres of the brain.

LaSota's dualism reportedly was involved in both separating the cult from society as well as reinforcing his uniqueness, with ordinary humans possessing the least moral agency with two "nongood cores," cult members with one superior "core," and LaSota himself with two superior "cores."

The dualism is also closely tied with the transgender identity adopted by LaSota and the other cult members, as well as a sleep deprivation technique intended to induce a split personality in his followers.

LaSota justified violence on the basis of extreme utilitarianism, where the average person is evil for not adopting veganism and a moral equivalency of humans and animals, and an interpretation of game theory in which extreme violence is the logical choice over surrender in order to deter the use of force or coercion against oneself.

Violence and Murder

LaSota and three of his transgender followers were arrested in 2019 in California for blocking the entrances/exits of a retreat in black robes and Guy Fawkes masks in protest of an event by the Center for Applied Rationality, resulting in charges including child endangerment, false imprisonment, and conspiracy.

Mugshot of Jack “Ziz” LaSota from his 2019 arrest

At least four members of the group, including LaSota, moved onto a property in Vallejo, CA on which the landlord, Curt Lind, allowed people to live in RVs, trailers, etc.

The situation soured after the group stopped paying rent, reportedly taking advantage of the rent moratorium to continue squatting on the property.

However, in November 2022, after hearing that Lind planned to have them evicted by the sheriff, the Zizians ambushed the 80-year-old property owner, running him through the back with a sword. Lind defended himself with a firearm, fatally shooting one of the cultists and wounding another.

Although Lind survived the first attack by the cultists, he did not live long enough to testify against the two Zizians arrested and charged in the attack, as he was ambushed last month and had his throat slit by another individual associated with the group, according to the Solano District Attorney’s Office.

The Zizians have also been linked to a double murder in Pennsylvania of the parents of Michelle "Jamie" Zazko, another individual associated with the group who police say purchased the firearm used by Youngblut in the Vermont shooting.

There are a total of at least ten individuals associated with LaSota and these incidents, including LaSota himself and the two followers who were killed in these attacks, most if not all of whom identify as transgender.

For more information on the Zizians and their history, see Andy Ngo's reporting in the Post Millennial, the New York Post, as well as on Twitter/X.