By Daniel Duric, Newport Dispatch
A friend of Felix Bauckholt, who died in a shootout with U.S. Border Patrol agents in Coventry two weeks ago on January 20, reveals the German national had become increasingly secretive months before the fatal encounter that also claimed the life of Agent David C. Maland.
In an interview with Newport Dispatch, Jessica Taylor described Bauckholt, who identified as “transfeminine” and used the name “Ophelia,” as someone previously focused on theoretical topics like math, artificial intelligence, decision theory, ethics, and veganism.”
“Ophelia was really not violent,” Taylor said.
But something changed in mid-2023, Taylor said. Bauckholt began having “anxious, secretive phone calls” that summer and cut off contact with previous friends by year’s end. Taylor believes this period coincided with Bauckholt’s deepening involvement with the “Zizians,” a fringe group that originated in California but has spread across the country.
The organization’s actual structure remains unclear, Taylor explained. She noted that “Zizian” is not their self-chosen name, but rather a label others created to describe this particular branch that split from the larger Rationalist movement.
According to Taylor, the group embraces “timeless decision theory,” which is a Rationalist philosophy that claims human choices and their consequences can be reduced to mathematical formulas. They also hold unusual beliefs about consciousness, suggesting that people can maintain separate personalities in each hemisphere of their brain by alternately activating different sides.
The ideology heavily emphasizes veganism and animal rights, Taylor said.
Federal prosecutors have drawn connections between the Vermont shooting and other violent incidents, including a homicide in Vallejo, California, also connected to the Zizian group.
Teresa Youngblut, who was with Bauckholt during the Vermont incident and faces federal charges, had recently applied for a marriage license with Maximilian Snyder, who has been charged in the California killing.
Taylor said she had previously warned Bauckholt about the Zizian group’s dangerous tendencies.
The group’s connections to Vermont predate the Coventry shooting. In a separate incident in California in 2022, cargo trucks registered in Vermont were found at the scene of a violent confrontation between members of the group and an elderly landlord. The trucks contained used surgical equipment, laptops, and expensive electronics, according to witness accounts.
The FBI’s investigation continues into why Bauckholt and Youngblut were in Vermont. Five days before the shooting, staff at a Lyndonville hotel reported seeing the pair in tactical gear, but they told investigators they were “in the vicinity to look at purchasing property.”
At the time of the shooting, law enforcement recovered tactical gear, including a ballistic helmet, night-vision goggles, and multiple electronic devices from the scene.
“No one who I know knows what she could have been doing in Vermont,” Taylor said.
2015 photo of Felix Bauckholt shows math promise – A German blogpost from 2015 shows a photo of Bauckholt depicting both his math expertise, and also (possibly) his ‘transfeminine’ identity. The IOI Training blogpost shows a photo of four math competition winners, including Bauckholt (third from left). It says: ‘Julian Dörfler and Felix Bauckholt reached 7th and 10th place in the overall standings and were honored with silver medals.”
Academic work connected to Zis – Both Bauckholt and Michelle Zajko (below), a Derby resident wanted for allegedly supplying the guns that killed Maland, were academic standouts who published academic papers of subject matter related to beliefs and practices associated with the Zis cult. Bauckholt published a paper determining mathematic algorithms for predicting the success of marriages in his final year at Waterloo University in Ontario, and Zajko evaluated data about the effects of sleep deprivation for a Philadelphia Children’s Hospital study in her first year as a graduate student at Temple University.
According to online sources, Zis (like many cults) employs sleep deprivation. As AI enthusiasts, its members also ascribes to an algorithmic path to decision-making.
PA police examined Derby woman’s handgun in connection with parents’ death two years go – Two years before being linked to a Border Patrol agent’s death, Michelle Zajko allowed Pennsylvania investigators to examine her handgun and later had her Webster Road home searched in connection with her parents’ deaths, NBC5 reports.
Pennsylvania State Police found Rita and Richard Zajko dead in their home from gunshot wounds during a January 2, 2023, welfare check at their residence. Ballistic testing showed an M&P model gun could have produced markings found on a recovered bullet, according to the documents.
Three days later, Pennsylvania investigators traveled to Vermont to interview Zajko, who confirmed owning a Smith & Wesson M&P handgun purchased in February 2022.
According to the NBC5 report, a subsequent January 12 search of her Coventry residence recovered three cartridges that could match bullets used in the Pennsylvania killings. Investigators also searched an undeveloped Derby property owned by Zajko.
She is now sought by federal authorities who believe she purchased weapons used in the January 20, 2025, shooting death of Border Patrol Agent David Maland.
According to court records, Zajko bought the guns from a Mount Tabor store in February 2024 before allegedly transferring them to Teresa Youngblut and Felix Bauckholt. Youngblut is in custody facing federal charges in Maland’s death, while Bauckholt was killed in the exchange of gunfire.
Republished with their permission and our gratitude from the Newport Dispatch, first local, online-only news and entertainment source for the city of Newport, and Orleans County.