By Michael Donoghue, Vermont News First
The Washington State woman that authorities say was part of a wild shootout in Orleans County last week that left two people dead, including a veteran U.S. Border Patrol Agent, is due in federal court in Burlington on Monday afternoon.
Teresa Youngblut, 21, who was wounded during the shootout on Jan. 20 on Interstate 91 in Coventry, was discharged from Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H. on Friday afternoon.
Federal authorities later lodged her at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington about 6:45 p.m. Friday.
The Seattle Times is reporting that Youngblut’s parents attempted to report her as a missing person last May and that she appeared to be in a controlling relationship. The police report indicated her parents believed Youngblut was being forced to cut off contact with her family and friends due to the personal relationship she had entered, the Times noted.
The newspaper also reported her parents were told nothing could be done by police because Youngblut, at age 20, was considered an adult.
Also over the weekend, the FBI issued a news release saying there was nothing new to report, but offered some corrections and clarifications on earlier information.
The correct name of Youngblut’s companion in the car is Felix Bauckholt, the FBI said Saturday afternoon.
That was the initial spelling used by Vermont News First and most other media outlets in early news stories, but changed when the FBI affidavit unsealed in court on Friday for the criminal complaint had a different spelling of his last name.
The FBI offered no explanation for the wrong spelling.
“FBI investigations are meticulous and methodical,” the FBI said. The probe is continuing the bureau said.
Felix Bauckholt was a passenger in the car that was registered to him. He was shot dead at the scene when he attempted to pull out his handgun as the shootout began.
Seven spent 9-mm casings believed fired by one or more of the Border Patrol Agents were found on the ground and collected as evidence by the Vermont State Police Crime Scene Search Team.
A Glock .40-caliber pistol, believed to belong to one of the shooting suspects, two spent casings and two .40-caliber magazines were seized on the ground near Youngblut, records show.
A .380 caliber pistol also believed to be owned by the suspects was confiscated near Bauckholt’s body, they note.
It was unclear how the two suspects obtained the firearms, including if they were purchased in Vermont.
Border Patrol Agent David “Chris” Maland, 44, of Newport, who made the initial traffic stop, was wounded in the neck and taken to North Country Hospital in Newport where he was pronounced dead about 4 p.m.
No formal interviews were conducted with the two surviving Border Patrol Agents “due to interagency constraints following an agent-involved use of deadly force,” the FBI said in court papers.
The FBI also has not provided an explanation as to why the results of the autopsies for Maland and Bauckholt have not been disclosed. The death certificates are normally available within a day or two of a death.
The FBI also said it would not provide any new details about Bauckholt, a German national, including his age.
The FBI also declined to comment on reports that a third person – a man – had been with Youngblut and Bauckholt in the days leading up to the shooting while they under periodic surveillance by U.S. Homeland Security.
The investigation into the double homicide “remains very active, and the legal process continues,” a FBI spokeswoman said.
The FBI has not asked the public for any tips about Youngblut and Bauckholt and said pictures of the suspects would not be released.
Meanwhile Maland’s body was taken during a large police escort from Burlington to Albany, N.Y. on Friday and flown home to Minnesota for his funeral. The fallen hero was greeted by another large police presence at the airport in Minneapolis and taken to a funeral home in a nearby town.
Maland, who was a K-9 handler with his partner Cora, had spent about 15 years of federal service, including more than 10 years with the Border Patrol Agent. He also had served for 9 years with the U.S. Air Force and was assigned to security at the Pentagon when it was attacked on 9/11. He was engaged to be married.
Youngblut is being held without bail pending her initial court hearing before Magistrate Judge Kevin J. Doyle at 3:30 p.m. Monday.
Initial hearings in federal court are solely to advise the defendant about the new criminal charges and to possibly set release conditions. Doyle is expected to hear arguments on whether Youngblut should be released or detained pending trial.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Lasher, who specializes in crimes in the Northeast Kingdom and with immigration cases, is the lead prosecutor on the case. Assistant Federal Defender Steven Barth, a senior lawyer in the office, has been assigned to Youngblut.
No plea is requested in federal court until an indictment is filed by a grand jury. A federal grand jury as early as this week could seek the same two charges that were filed in the complaint to get Youngblut taken into custody, or could add more severe counts.
The FBI sued a criminal complaint to charge Youngblut with two felony counts: The intentional use of a deadly weapon while forcibly assaulting a federal law enforcement while in the performance of his official duties. The second felony charge is for discharging a firearm during an assault with deadly weapon, records show.
Nobody has been charged with the actual fatal shooting of the federal agent.
Vermont News First initially reported the double homicide on Monday shortly after the 3:15 p.m. shootout on Interstate 91 in Coventry about 9 miles south of the U.S.-Canada border.
There has been conflicting information about the immigration status of Bauckholt. Authorities said initially he was an illegal immigrant. Later they said he was in the country with an expired temporary work Visa. There also were news reports that he had subsequently sought another Visa to be a student.
The two suspects were in a blue 2015 Toyota Prius hatchback with North Carolina registration plates when pulled over by Maland. By the time the shooting began two other Border Patrol vehicles were at the scene.
A court-ordered search of the car uncovered various pieces of tactical gear, including a ballistic helmet, night-vision-goggle monocular, a tactical belt with holster and a magazine loaded with cartridges, the FBI said.
Investigators also found two full-face respirators, 48 rounds of .380-caliber jacketed hollow point ammunition and a package of shooting range targets, including some that were used.
Also seized were two-way radios, about a dozen electronic devices and multiple removable electronic storage devices, various identification documents, utility, lease, travel and lodging information for multiple states and a journal maintained by Youngblut, records show.
The Seattle Times reported Youngblut’s parents said they were concerned because their daughter had moved out abruptly and cut off contact with them in May. The daughter, then age 20, had stuffed her belongings from her bedroom, along with her passport and medical records into duffel bags, the newspaper reported.
Youngblut emailed her mother on May 11 saying goodbye, and in another email four days later indicating that she had moved in with a friend, changed her phone number and that her parents would not be able to reach her, according to the police report.
The parents indicated their daughter had no mental health issues, had changed her behavior at the time, and had broken off relationships with childhood friends, according to the police report in the Times.
The Times also reported the parents said their daughter “had become deceptive” with them by often lying about where she was going and who she was with. The police said they believed they did not have enough to trigger an adult missing persons investigation.
About six months later, Youngblut, still age 20, filed a marriage license application in King County with a 22-year-old man, according to the Seattle Times. The Nov. 5, 2024 application listed both as living in a condo in Kirkland, but there was no record in the county that the license was executed, the newspaper said.
Vermont News First (VNF) had reported the two shooting suspects had been under surveillance since about Tuesday Jan. 14 by Homeland Security Agents. It included monitoring the couple at the Walmart in Newport from about 11:30 until 2:35 p.m. on Monday Jan. 20 — the day of the double homicide.
A hotel clerk in Lyndonville had reported to authorities on Jan. 14 a man and woman had checked in dressed in all-black tactical style clothing with protective equipment, the FBI said.
Youngblut was seen carrying an apparent firearm in an exposed carry holster. Vermont State Police and Homeland Security Investigations attempted to have a conversation with Youngblut and Bauckholt, but they declined to have an extended chat and only said they were in the area to look at buying property, the FBI said.
The couple also checked out of the motel the same day.
Investigators later spotted them in similar tactical dress on Sunday Jan. 19 walking in downtown Newport with Youngblut still carrying a firearm, FBI Agent Leah Bogdanowicz wrote in the criminal complaint.
The following day Maland was driving an unmarked white pickup truck with a cab when he used his red and blue flashing lights to have the car pull over. Youngblut was driving and Bauckholt, who was the registered owner of the car, was the lone passenger.
Both were armed with firearms.
By the time the shooting began three Border Patrol vehicles with emergency lights activated were at the scene.
One agent reported that Youngblut was near the driver’s door when she drew without warning and fired a handgun toward at least one uniformed Border Patrol Agent, court records show.
At least one Border Patrol agent reported Bauckholt attempted to draw a firearm, but an agent fired at the two suspects, records show.
Bauckholt died at the scene.
Youngblut, whose Washington driver’s license was found at the scene, was taken to the Newport hospital and later airlifted to Dartmouth Hitchcock.
The Vermont State Police Bomb Squad, along with bomb techs from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives used remote technology — including a robot — to inspect and render the Prius safe, court records note.