A mysterious and violent “death cult” seems to be responsible for a string of killings across the United States. The online fringe group is called the Zizians, named after a pseudonym taken on by their de facto leader.
So far two murders have been directly linked to the group, with links to another four, according to a highly detailed and lengthy feature on the group recently published by the San Francisco Chronicle.
Maximilian Snyder, 22, murdered an 82-year-old landlord in Vallejo California named Curtis Lind. In Vermont, during a routine traffic stop, a border patrol agent named David Maland was killed by 21-year-old Teresa Youngblut. Both are in custody. While the cases are seemingly separate, having taken place on opposite ends of the US, investigators believe they may be linked.
Every cult has a bizarre, borderline impenetrable philosophy fueling it, and the Zizians are no different. In the broadest terms, the philosophy seems to center around some kind of fusion between science, technology, and humanity, yet the specifics get confusing from there.
A common thread between members is that they’re all well-educated computer geniuses and are so far all devout vegans who split off from a Bay Area subculture called rationalism that seems to believe that artificial intelligence can destroy humanity. It seems like a faction straight out of Cyberpunk 2077.
The leader’s real name is Jack LaSota but goes by the alias “Ziz.” LaSota was thought to be dead after falling into the San Francisco Bay in 2022, only to then resurface in Vallejo, California. LaSota seems to be the major link between the deaths, though that is still being investigated by authorities across the country.
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