SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — In San Mateo County the alleged leader of the “Zizians” is legally dead. Court records show Jack “Ziz” Amadeus LaSota was declared deceased by a judge more than two years ago after she allegedly fell from a boat overboard into the San Francisco Bay.

LaSota was still alive, however, when state police officers found and arrested her Sunday in Allegany County, Maryland.

Inmate records show LaSota, 33, was booked into jail on suspicion of trespassing, possessing a gun, and obstructing an investigation. LaSota was arrested alongside another member of the Zizians, 32-year-old Michelle Zajko.

Zajko’s parents were slain in Pennsylvania, and more members of the Zizians have been tied to six killings in California, Vermont, and Pennsylvania.

One of the killings unfolded in Vallejo, California, where 82-year-old Curtis Lind was stabbed to death outside his home last month. Maximilian Bentley Snyder, a 22-year-old data scientist and Zizian ideology follower, is charged with Lind’s murder.

LaSota’s group attracted intelligent computer scientists, most of them in their 20s and 30s, who met online, shared anarchist beliefs, and became increasingly violent. The group’s online writings cover topics ranging from veganism to gender identity to artificial intelligence.

LaSota is described as a “male” in Allegany County Jail inmate records. According to her blog, LaSota identifies as a transgender woman.

Officials have offered few details of the cross-country investigation. Daniel McGarrigle, a defense attorney representing “Ziz,” declined to comment when asked whether she is connected to any of the deaths.

LaSota may have faked her own death, court records show. She vanished into ocean waters halfway between Alameda and South San Francisco on August 19, 2022, according to two people who were onboard LaSota’s boat. Her body was never found during a two-day, 167 square-nautical-mile search by the U.S. Coast Guard.

LaSota’s sister, and her friend, Emma Borhanian, wrote detailed accounts about what allegedly happened. The sister said their boat, named The Black Cygnet, launched from a harbor in San Francisco Bay and navigated past Treasure Island. At one point, LaSota “leaned over the engine” and fell in the water, the sister wrote in court documents.

“Emma looked for a life preserver and I called the Coast Guard moments after it happened. We tried to turn the boat around but did not see Jack anywhere. The Coast Guard search effort failed to find Jack,” the sister wrote.

LaSota’s body was never found, Coast Guard officials said it wasn’t possible to survive in the bay’s frigid waters beyond 24 hours, and none of her friends nor family ever heard from LaSota after the accident, the sister wrote. Borhanian wrote a similar story in court documents, declaring that “Ziz” was “lost at sea.”

An obituary published for LaSota stated that she loved “adventure” as well as “music, blueberries, biking, computer games, and animals.”

Another boat previously owned by LaSota, named The Caleb, can still be found partially sunk in Pillar Point Harbor. LaSota and her group lived on the 94-foot-long boat near Half Moon Bay until the boat was abandoned in early 2022, court records show.

Some of The Caleb’s crew reportedly ditched the boat and moved onto Curtis Lind’s property in Vallejo. Lind was stabbed to death on January 17, 2025. His suspected killer, Snyder, is being held in the Solano County Jail with no bail. Snyder is scheduled to appear in court on February 21.

LaSota’s whereabouts were unknown until police found her on Sunday. She is scheduled to appear in an Allegany County courtroom for an arraignment Tuesday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.