Kory Grow
Contact Kory Grow on X View all posts by Kory Grow June 24, 2026
Michelle "Jamie" Zajko. Allegany County Sheriff's Office/AP Authorities in Pennsylvania’s Delaware County have charged Michelle “Jamie” Zajko, who is alleged to have ties to a cult-like group called the Zizians, with the murder of her parents, Richard and Rita Zajko, in 2022. CBS News reports that investigators had questioned Michelle, who is 33 and reportedly nonbinary, but did not charge them previously. Now, court documents indicate the authorities changed their minds. Jamie is now in custody in Maryland, where they are awaiting trial on unrelated charges alongside two others: Jack “Ziz” LaSota (the “Ziz” of the Zizians) and Daniel Blank.
Police found the elder Zajkos dead during a wellness check at their Chester Heights, Pennsylvania, home on Jan. 2, 2023. Fox29 reports the Zajkos had gunshot wounds in their heads. Police ruled they’d died on New Year’s Eve — Jamie’s birthday — and the medical examiner ruled the deaths a homicide. In April 2025, Jamie’s lawyer released a handwritten letter from them in which they said they’d been wrongly accused of their parents’ murders.
In the weeks before the killings, police claim Jamie had purchased a gun and burner phones, according to Fox. They also allegedly moved large amounts of cash. Investigators claim they confirmed that Jamie was among the people who entered her parents’ home the night of the killing using digital and ballistic evidence. Fox reports that someone yelled “mom” before the lights went on in their house, and the intruders left after nine minutes.
“These charges did not come quickly or easily. They are the product of years of careful investigative work,” Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse said, according to Fox.
