By Michael Donoghue
Vermont News First
BURLINGTON – The Washington state woman, who is accused of fatally shooting a U.S. Border Patrol Agent in northern Vermont in January, pleaded not guilty in federal court Friday afternoon, September 5 to a new indictment that could net her the death penalty.
Teresa C. Youngblut, 21, of Seattle denied the four charges, including gunning down veteran Border Patrol Agent David “Chris” Maland during a traffic stop in the Northeast Kingdom community of Coventry on Jan. 20.
Chief Federal Judge Christina Reiss read all four felony charges into the court record at the start of the hearing.
“Not guilty,” Youngblut said four times in a firm voice that was slightly muffled by a COVID-style mask that she was wearing. Her three defense lawyers also wore similar masks.
Youngblut, who has been linked to a radical cult group, said little else during the 76-minute hearing.
Interim Chief Federal Defender Steven Barth for Vermont said he would not contest an earlier order requiring Youngblut’s detention pending trial
The defendant, who was wounded a couple times in the shootout, is “still receiving active treatment,” Assistant Federal Defender Julie L. B. Stelzig told the court. Youngblut remains detained at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington.
While the plea portion took about 3 minutes, the rest of the late afternoon hearing was the lawyers and judge discussing legal and procedural issues, including who can have access to medical and mental health records.
As the hearing ended, Barth asked Judge Reiss to strike an earlier imposed November deadline for motions in light of the new, more serious indictment.
Reiss agreed to the request, but did not set a new date. She suggested that lawyers on both sides work on a possible schedule.
The prosecution, which also has three lawyers on the death penalty case, is busy working on its case.
“The government is still actively developing this case,” said Prosecutor Dennis E. Robinson from the Violent Crime and Racketeering Section of the U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Division in Washington, D.C.
The defendant’s parents, Eric and Carla Youngblut of Seattle, were led into the courtroom shortly before the hearing by an investigator with the Federal Public Defender’s Office and sat in the row behind the defense table.
The Seattle Times had reported that Youngblut and her parents became estranged in May 2024. The parents reported to Seattle Police that they believed she was in a controlling relationship and had been directed to move out of the family home.
The couple, who have attended all the court hearings, has reportedly reconnected with their daughter. Her parents declined comment again when approached by Vermont News First as they left the courtroom.
About two dozen people attended the hearing with about two-thirds as journalists. They came from as far as New York Times and ABC (Nightline).
Youngblut is believed to be a member of the Zizians, a group that has been linked to at least six killings across three states, officials have said. They said it is led by Jack LaSota, a transgender woman known as Ziz.
The shooting happened without any warning during the traffic stop, authorities have said.
Youngblut, the driver, got out of the car and opened fire at Maland about 3:15 p.m., police said. The Border Patrol agent was struck by one of two shots in the neck and never got a chance to return fire, officials said.
An unnamed Border Patrol Agent wounded Youngblut during the shootout that also took the life of her associate, Felix Bauckholt, 28, a German National as he attempted to draw his gun, officials said.
Bauckholt, who was dead at the scene, owned the car Youngblut was driving. Authorities have said Bauckholt had overstayed his temporary work visa.
Newport Police Officer James LeClair rushed Maland in a city police cruiser to North Country Hospital in Newport, where he was later pronounced dead about 4 p.m.
Maland, 44, of Newport was engaged to be married to a woman who worked at the international border. He also was a K-9 handler for the Border Patrol serving along both the southern and northern borders.
Vermont News First initially reported the fatal shooting shortly after the 3:15 p.m. shootout.
Authorities have said Youngblut fatally shot Maland during the deadly traffic stop on Interstate 91 in Coventry near the Canadian border. He ordered a 2015 Toyota Prius that was registered in North Carolina to pull over for an immigration stop about nine miles south of the international border.
A court-ordered search of their Prius later 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, two full-face respirators, 48 rounds of .380-caliber jacketed hollow point ammunition, a package of shooting range targets, including some that were used, records show.
Also seized were two-way radios, about a dozen electronic devices and multiple removeable electronic storage devices, various identification documents, utility, lease, travel and lodging information for multiple states and a journal maintained by Youngblut.
After the shooting, Youngblut remained hospitalized at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H. under armed guard for almost a week. She had her initial hearing Jan. 27 before Federal Magistrate Judge Kevin J. Doyle in Burlington and three days later he ordered her jailed without bail pending trial.
Youngblut pleaded not guilty in federal court Feb. 7 to a two-count indictment charging her with gun crimes.
Maland’s professional career was filled with protecting and serving others. He spent 9 years in the U.S. Air Force and 15 years in federal service. While working in Washington, D.C., Maland provided security for the State Department and the Pentagon during the 9/11 attacks.
President Donald J. Trump, who was sworn in to his second term just hours before the fatal shooting in Vermont, had campaigned on getting tough on crime and supported restoring the death penalty.
After the shooting, authorities contemplated the death penalty for several months and Youngblut’s defense team was allowed to make a pitch asking prosecutors to consider sparing her life, if convicted.
It didn’t work.
Acting U.S. Attorney Michael P. Drescher, citing the details of the senseless killing of a law enforcement officer, eventually filed a 3-page “notice of intent to seek the death penalty.” It came on Aug. 14, a few hours after obtaining the latest indictment.
The indictment also marked the first time a charging document in the court case identified Youngblut as the shooter. Earlier speculation indicated it was Youngblut because she had pulled her gun and fired twice, records show.
The new indictment adds two new felony charges and modifies an earlier count to claim assaults on two other Border Patrol agents during the incident.
One new felony count charges Youngblut “with malice aforethought, unlawfully killed” Maland by shooting him while he was engaged in the performance of his official duties.
The second new charge maintains Youngblut carried a firearm during a crime of violence – the murder alleged in count one of the new indictment. She used a Glock model 23 .40-caliber pistol, the indictment said.
One of the previous charges has been amended to say that Youngblut actually shot at two Border Patrol Agents that were with Maland. The new indictment identified them only by the initials “J.M.” and “D.W.” for safety reasons.
The earlier indictment had charged Youngblut had used a deadly weapon to assault, impede and interfere Maland. The new conduct charged in the indictment focuses on the two colleagues and not Maland.
Drescher maintains Youngblut intentionally killed Maland and that she intentionally inflicted serious bodily injury that resulted in Maland’s death.
“Teresa Youngblut intentionally participated in an act, contemplating that the life of a person would be taken or intending that lethal force would be used …” Drescher wrote.
It was a few days before the deadly traffic stop that law enforcement learned Youngblut and her companion were at a NEK hotel wearing tactical gear and appeared to be armed with guns.
The same day as the shooting, officers had observed the pair at a Walmart parking lot in Newport, where the German citizen was seen wrapping unknown objects in aluminum foil, records show. Investigators had monitored the couple from about 11:30 a.m. until 2:35 p.m. at Walmart on the day of the shooting.
One of the initial sightings of the couple in Vermont came when Youngblut and Bauckholt registered at a Lyndonville hotel on Jan. 14. A hotel worker expressed concerns about their all-black tactical clothing with protective equipment and that Youngblut was toting a gun in an exposed holster. Authorities were alerted.
Investigators with Vermont State Police and Homeland Security Investigations attempted to initiate a conversation with Youngblut and Bauckholt, but they declined to have an extended chat, the FBI said.
The couple checked out of the motel later on Jan. 14. Investigators subsequently spotted them in similar tactical dress in downtown Newport with Youngblut still carrying a firearm on Sunday Jan. 19, court records show. They were tracked, along with a third person, to the Newport City Inn and Suites on East Main Street.
Another woman from Orleans County also has been officially charged with the illegal purchase of the two firearms used by her two friends in the deadly shootout in Coventry.
Michelle J. Zajko, 32, was named in a one-count criminal complaint filed Feb. 18 in U.S. District Court in Burlington by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
She is charged with making false statements while buying four handguns on Feb. 13 and 14, 2024 at The Last Frontier, a federally licensed gun dealer on U.S. 7 in Mount Tabor, south of Rutland.
Zajko is in custody in Maryland on unrelated charges. She is a person of interest in the double homicide deaths of her parents on New Year’s Eve 2022, the ATF said.
Drescher has said his office plans to work hard on behalf of men and women in law enforcement, and for the lasting memory of Border Patrol Agent Maland to ensure justice is served in the case.
Drescher wrote to the court and Youngblut that the government believes the circumstances of the case justify a death penalty if she is found guilty for discharging a firearm during a crime of violence resulting in a death.
He added that Youngblut committed the offense against Maland, “a Federal public servant who was a law enforcement officer while he was engaged in the performance of his official duties, because of the performance of his official duties, and because of his status as a public servant.”
Drescher said among the aggravating factors are Youngblut’s actions that “caused injury, harm and loss” to Maland as well as to his family and friends.
Drescher became the acting U.S. Attorney in Vermont also on Jan. 20, a few hours before the shooting.
The nation’s new Attorney General Pam Bondi had said on Feb. 5 that the fatal shooting of the Border Patrol Agent in Vermont was a perfect example of when the country should resume using the death penalty.