Vegan Siths: The Rise and Fall of the Zizians

About Vegan Siths: The Rise and Fall of the Zizians

Vegan Siths is a serialized documentary series tracking the rise and violent collapse of the "Zizians", a fringe network of militant vegan computer whizzes led by a disillusioned software developer named Ziz LaSota. Hosted by Andrew Westlund, this limited series explores how an offshoot of a Silicon Valley artificial intelligence safety movement traded philosophy for extreme paranoia, isolation, and sleep-deprivation experiments. Over several episodes, Vegan Siths follows the digital breadcrumbs of a utopian experiment that spiraled into faked deaths, tactical ambushes, and a trail of blood stretching across three states. From the crowded waterways of the California coast to a chilling double execution in suburban Pennsylvania, this limited series pulls back the curtain on a modern descent into radicalization.

Publisher

Tales From the Closet Presents

Category

true crime

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

24 Jun 2026

Latest episode

8 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

4 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   8 Oct 2026

   Chapter 4: Connie & Sam

   On January 20, 2025, a Border Patrol agent pulled over a blue Toyota Prius on Interstate 91 in Coventry, Vermont. Within seconds, Agent David Maland was dead, one of the two women in the car was dead, and the other, Teresa “Milo” Youngblut, was in handcuffs. This episode traces how two strangers in head-to-toe black tactical gear ended up on that road, from a motel in Lyndonville, VT, to a rental in Chapel Hill, NC, to a Vermont realtor who knew them only as “Connie” and “Sam” and listened to a cash offer on a snowed-in property that couldn’t wait until spring. Along the way, we meet Felix “Ophelia” Bauckholt, a math prodigy and Wall Street quant trader who gave away much of her salary before vanishing from her friends’ lives. We also find: a federal database error, a journal entry about a “high vibrationy” LSD trip, and a surprising amount of aluminum foil. From there, the trail of gun purchases leads back to Michelle Zajko and on to a Maryland campsite, where police found two box trucks, a loaded Sig Sauer, and Ziz LaSota herself. We also read from a sprawling jailhouse “Open Letter to the World,” including its four-paragraph complaint about...margarine. Six deaths, three states, and one question nobody has answered yet. This episode asks what actually connects these killings, and why the answer has so little to do with artificial intelligence. Sources: Border Patrol agent from Minnesota fatally shot in Vermont traffic stop, family says Border Patrol agent killed in Vermont worked at the Pentagon during 9/11, family says US Border Patrol Agent David ‘Chris’ Maland laid to rest with military honors at Fort Snelling Troopers searched Vermont home in connection with Delco murders: Court docs How did a German math genius get drawn into a 'cult' accused in coast-to-coast killings? Federal officials link 3rd 'person of interest' to Vermont border patrol agent’s shooting Before the shooting of border patrol officer, visitors took interest in a remote Northeast Kingdom property Prosecutor says woman charged in fatal border agent shooting had ties to people of interest in other homicides Washington state woman denies charges related to fatal shooting of border patrol agent in Vermont Former Vermont resident faces federal firearm charge related to killing of border patrol agent Timeline of the violence surrounding the so-called Zizians Inside the Zizians, a radical California-based vegan cult now linked to 6 violent deaths Who is 'Ziz'? How a mysterious group with roots in the Bay Area is linked to six deaths Suspects in killings of Vallejo witness, Vermont border patrol agent connected by marriage license, extreme ideology Michelle Zajko's 'Open Letter to the World'

2. 

   16 Jul 2026

   Chapter 3: The Playroom

   On New Year's Eve 2022, Rick and Rita Zajko were shot to death in their Chester Heights, Pennsylvania home, in what used to be their daughter's childhood playroom. The only suspect law enforcement could find was the couple's own child, Michelle "Jamie" Zajko, who claimed they hadn't set foot in the state in over a year. This episode traces the investigation from a neighbor's Ring doorbell footage, to a Vermont cabin, to a Philadelphia airport hotel bathroom, where police found a fugitive Ziz LaSota lying motionless on the floor, playing dead. Along the way: a gun purchase blocked by the wrong driver's license, forty thousand dollars stuffed under a car seat, an alias with exactly one letter changed, and a family fortune that might explain all of it - and, oh yes, plenty of beet juice. We also go back further, to how a Harry Potter fan-fiction forum turned into an on-ramp for a woman accused of orchestrating her parents' murder, and what her aunt has to say about the family she left behind. Sources: ‘Rationalist Fleet’: Before killings linked to fringe group, ‘Ziz’ led fateful tugboat voyage to California ‘Mom!’ Shouts were heard on night of unsolved double killing now linked to Bay Area fringe group Who is ‘Ziz’? How a mysterious group with roots in the Bay Area is linked to six deaths Leader of ‘Zizians’ arrested; father of associate fears son ‘under the influence of the cult’ A member of the cultlike Zizians group is charged in the killings of her parents in Pennsylvania A Vermont border agent’s death was the latest violence linked to the cultlike Zizian group Troopers searched Vermont home in connection with Delco murders: Court docs How did a German math genius get drawn into a 'cult' accused in coast-to-coast killings? The Delirious, Violent, Impossible True Story of the Zizians Timeline of the violence surrounding the so-called Zizians Inside the Zizians, a radical California-based vegan cult now linked to 6 violent deaths Fringe vegan activist group appears linked to fatal border patrol shooting in Vermont, other murders Here’s what we know about the connections between a Delaware County double homicide and the killing of a border agent in Vermont Former Vermont resident faces federal firearm charge related to killing of border patrol agent ‘Zizian’ namesake who faked death in 2022 is wanted in two states Soluble Dilemma: How long does it take to dissolve a human body? Alleged Zizian Cult Follower Charged With Murdering Parents Plum of Discord (Michelle's blog) Sinceriously (Ziz's blog)

3. 

   3 Jul 2026

   Chapter 2: The Landlord

   In Chapter 2, we follow the Zizians from a rusted-out tugboat to an even stranger address: an 82-year-old landlord's trailer yard in Vallejo, California. Curtis Lind was a retired crane operator with a soft spot for outcasts. He didn't seem to mind that most of his new tenants were transgender women. But once COVID hit and the rent stopped coming, in Lind's eyes, they weren't tenants anymore - they were squatters. When California's eviction moratorium finally lifted and Lind moved to reclaim his property, the arrangement collapsed into something out of a horror movie: a pre-dawn ambush, a samurai sword, and a landlord who lost an eye but somehow lived to tell about it. We untangle two irreconcilable versions of that November morning, trace Ziz LaSota's audacious reappearance under a new alias, and follow two Zizians into a legal system unprepared for gender-identity disputes, faked seizures, and jailhouse escape attempts. Then, more than two years later, Curtis Lind is targeted again - this time by a stranger with no apparent ties to the group, in an attack investigators say was designed to silence him for good. Curtis Lind survived the first attack. He didn't survive the second. This episode asks who's willing to do the dirty work for the Zizians, and why. Sources: Danielson v. Sonoma County ‘Rationalist Fleet’: Before killings linked to fringe group, ‘Ziz’ led fateful tugboat voyage to California Who is ‘Ziz’? How a mysterious group with roots in the Bay Area is linked to six deaths A person linked to the cultlike ‘Zizians’ stands accused of murder. Their identity remains a mystery Witnesses describe shocking stabbing of Bay Area landlord now linked to five other deaths ‘Death upon death’: Defendant in killing tied to cult-like ‘Zizian’ group dictates 1,500-word letter over jail phone Associate of cultlike ‘Zizians’ hums song as he enters plea in Vallejo slaying ‘He was bleeding like a stuck pig’: Key witness testifies in Zizian murder case The Delirious, Violent, Impossible True Story of the Zizians Washington students named National Merit Scholarship semifinalists; Seattle’s Lakeside once again tops list Vegan computer savants with Bay Area ties linked to deaths across U.S., authorities say Zizian cult defector believed to have died in 2022 has been in hiding, fearing maniac vegan group’s revenge Man killed in Vallejo was main witness in upcoming murder trial Suspects in killings of Vallejo witness, Vermont border patrol agent connected by marriage license, extreme ideology Defendant linked to ‘Zizians’ pleads not guilty to capital murder Suspect In Vallejo Murder Distances Himself From 'Zizian' Cult, Suggests He Is Primarily Motivated By Veganism Ex-Vallejo tenant testifies in detail about sword stabbing incident The Zizians’ murder trial is as turbulent as you’d expect

4. 

   24 Jun 2026

   Chapter 1: Origin Story

   In the premiere episode of this limited series, host Andrew Westlund follows the digital breadcrumbs back to the very beginning of the "Zizians", a fringe network of militant vegan computer whizzes. We trace the early life of their de facto leader, Jack "Ziz" LaSota, from a gifted but troubled childhood in Alaska to her disillusionment with the Bay Area tech scene. After walking away from conventional startups, Ziz embedded herself within elite artificial intelligence safety circles, where she and a brilliant collaborator envisioned a radical new path to save humanity from technological extinction. Step onboard the Caleb, a rust-streaked, 94-foot World War II-era Navy tugboat. We investigate how a 1,500-mile voyage from Alaska to San Francisco became a closed-loop psychological experiment. Isolated at sea without a working bathroom, the fledgling "Rat Fleet" began rewiring their brains with esoteric hemispheric sleep tech, drawing a dangerous binary line between the enlightened "doublegoods" and a corrupt outside world. From illegal harborside box trucks to a masked, tactical blockade at a Sonoma County academic retreat, Episode 1 uncovers the exact moment an intellectual movement began to curdle into something far more militant. Sources: ‘Rationalist Fleet’: Before killings linked to fringe group, ‘Ziz’ led fateful tugboat voyage to California Before killings linked to cultlike ‘Zizians,’ a string of psychiatric crises befell AI doomsdayers Who is ‘Ziz’? How a mysterious group with roots in the Bay Area is linked to six deaths The Delirious, Violent, Impossible True Story of the Zizians Inside the Zizians, a radical California-based vegan cult now linked to 6 violent deaths Blog Post From `Ziz`: Rationalist Fleet Zizians: What we know about the 'cult' linked to six deaths The Zizians by Apollo Mojave Protest Sign/Flier Everything To Save It - Case Study: CFAR 6 Deaths, 3 States and the Radical Breakaway ‘Rationalists’ at the Center of the Nightmare

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

21 ratings

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Guest appearances

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