Daniel Blank posted $15,000 bail and was released from a Maryland jail Friday, according to court documents. Blank is a member of a group known as the Zizians that law enforcement has linked to six deaths across California, Pennsylvania and Vermont. His release comes with conditions that he must live alone and submit to GPS tracking.
The Zizians
The Zizians, called this name by outsiders, are young, highly intelligent computer scientists who appear to share radical beliefs about veganism, animal rights, gender identity and artificial intelligence. Law enforcement began investigating the group after a landowner found them living in box trucks on a snow-covered dirt road in February 2025.
Connected to Multiple Deaths
Police in Maryland have connected Jack LaSota, Michelle Zajko and Blank to homicide investigations spanning three states. The deaths linked to the group since 2022 include one Zizians member killed during an attack on a California landlord, the landlord’s subsequent killing, the shooting deaths of Zajko’s parents in Pennsylvania, a U.S. border agent killed in Vermont and another group member also killed in Vermont. Seven members of the Zizians group are jailed in three states, all awaiting trial.
Charges and Trial Status
Blank faces charges of possession of LSD, possession with intent to deliver LSD, multiple gun violations, trespassing and hindering a police officer. Zajko faces the same charges plus resisting arrest. Zajko and LaSota remain in custody without bail; Blank is free on bail pending trial in Cumberland, Maryland.
Jury selection in Cumberland was scheduled to begin recently but was delayed until June after Zajko fired her attorney, briefly represented herself and then hired new counsel. A Maryland state trooper wrote after the arrests in February 2025 that all suspects “are to be questioned regarding other crimes that have occurred across the country and have ties with the Zizians Cult,” according to court documents.