Pennsylvania Woman Charged in Parents’ 2022 New Year’s Eve Killing After Three-Year Probe

Pennsylvania authorities have charged 33-year-old Michelle Zajko with helping plan the killing of her parents, Rita and Richard Zajko, who were found shot dead in their home on New Year’s Eve 2022, her 30th birthday. The case remained unsolved for more than three years before investigators said they now believe she was part of the plot. The bodies were discovered in a playroom filled with old dolls and toys from her childhood, an especially unsettling scene that long puzzled detectives.

Delaware County Prosecutor Tanner Rouse said the case was built on ballistics testing, cellphone data, and video from a neighbor’s security camera. That footage allegedly shows two people getting out of a car near the home shortly before the killings, followed by cries of “Mom!” and then screams. The murder weapon was never recovered, but prosecutors say shell casings from the scene matched ammunition found at Zajko’s home in Vermont and ammunition used at a private backyard shooting range she operated. Investigators also found a written list of mistakes that could expose criminals, including leaving shell casings at a shooting scene.

Rouse said, “We still do not know who her accomplices were, but we are certain Michelle was at the house and coordinated the murder of her parents.” He added, “Even if she was not the one who pulled the trigger, she was a participant in the act.” Zajko denies all accusations. She has been held in a Maryland jail since February 2025 in other cases, and in one filing suggested her father may have killed her mother and then died by suicide. In a public letter last year, she wrote, “I did not murder my parents.”

The case is also tied to the Zizians, a loosely connected group of highly educated, computer-science-minded vegans that authorities say embraces extreme ideas involving veganism, animal rights, gender identity, and artificial intelligence. Since 2022, the group has been linked to six deaths, including a California landlord, one group member, the Zajko parents, and a Vermont shootout that killed U.S. Border Patrol Agent David Maland and another group member. Zajko is also accused of supplying the gun used in Maland’s killing in January 2025. Weeks later, she was arrested in Maryland with Daniel Blank and Jack “Ziz” LaSota, whom authorities describe as the group’s leader. All three have pleaded not guilty, and LaSota says no such organized group exists. Family members welcomed the indictment after years of waiting, with Roseanne Zajko saying they endured “endless days of darkness and despair” while seeking justice.