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WHO ARE THE ZIZIANS?

View the original story published March 18, 2025, in The Seattle Times.

How did two graduates of a prestigious Seattle high school — Teresa Youngblut and Maximilian Snyder — become entangled in a string of killings across the country? To begin to answer these questions, we have to rewind a few years to the origin of the “Zizians” — a fringe offshoot of the rationalist thought movement led by Jack “Ziz” LaSota. In the illustrated timeline, I attempt to bring some clarity to the complex chain of events that led up to Youngblut and Snyder’s arrests.

I decided to illustrate these digital portraits to create a consistent look throughout the story. I like to use varying line widths similar to a crowquill pen. Youngblut’s Instagram photo had pink hair—I used that as inspiration for the color palette.

Illustration of Jack "Ziz" LaSota (Fiona Martin / The Seattle Times)
Illustration of Teresa Youngblut (Fiona Martin / The Seattle Times)
Illustration of Maximilian Synder (Fiona Martin / The Seattle Times)
Illustration of Michelle Zajko (Fiona Martin / The Seattle Times)

LaSota’s followers appear to be mostly advanced computer programmers and mathematicians who espouse extreme veganism and warn against the dangers of artificial intelligence. Associates of LaSota have been linked to six deaths across the country, including the alleged murder of an 82-year-old man in California, a double homicide in Pennsylvania, and a shootout in Vermont that killed a Border Patrol agent. Two people apparently connected to LaSota were also killed during those encounters.

🎨 🗺️ ✍ Illustrations, maps and writing by Fiona Martin, 🎥 video by Lauren Frohne, editing by Zachariah Bryan. Seattle Times staff reporters David Gutman and Sofia Schwarzwalder contributed to this story.

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