Background: In this image from video, Michelle Zajko, who is associated with a cultlike group known as Zizians that is linked to several deaths across the U.S., is escorted into court for a pretrial hearing on trespassing, gun and drug charges in Cumberland, Md., Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Scolforo, File). Insets (from top to bottom): Rita Zajko and Richard Zajko (Pennsylvania State Police via AP, File).
A woman is accused of killing her parents at their Pennsylvania home after her mother attempted to "bury the hatchet" between them — before allegedly drafting a list of mistakes made during the killings.
Michelle Zajko, 33, has been charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the deaths of her parents, 69-year-old Rita Zajko and 72-year-old Richard Zajko, the Delaware County District Attorney's Office announced on Wednesday.
The defendant has been jailed since February 2025 in Maryland on gun charges.
In early 2022, Michelle Zajko and her parents became "estranged," Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse said during the Wednesday press conference. Over the course of that year, the defendant reportedly bought multiple guns and "became affiliated" with individuals in Vermont.
On New Year's Eve — which was also Michelle Zajko's birthday — and with 2023 just hours away, her mother "reached out and explained that she was sorry for the rift," Rouse explained. "That text went unanswered."
A few hours later, a car approached the parents' home in Chester Heights, Pennsylvania, a borough in Delaware County about 25 miles southwest of Philadelphia. At least two people got out of the vehicle, and one of them apparently said "Mom" as they stood at the front door.
The video and audio to which Rouse referred came from a neighbor's doorbell camera. According to the Associated Press, another voice could be heard on the footage saying, "Oh my God! Oh, God, God!"
The parents were reportedly shot dead in the family's home in a room full of toys and dolls where Michelle Zajko used to play. Authorities said that while they are not sure who pulled the trigger, they believe that at the very least the defendant was there.
After the shooting, Michelle Zajko reportedly "created a list of things" that they "f—ed up." This included leaving shell casings behind at the scene, "not getting rid of the ammunition that was later recovered from her Vermont home that matched" the shell casings found at the scene, and "not sending fake text messages from the phones they left in Vermont, leaving someone behind to send those text messages."
Rouse said this case has possibly been as "exhaustive" as any he has been a part of in 16 years. Though he said investigators are not sure who the alleged co-conspirators were, Michelle Zajko is associated with a group called the Zizians that is linked to at least six deaths across the U.S.
The group is made up of young computer scientists who are believed to share radical beliefs about veganism, animal rights, gender identity, and artificial intelligence, according to the AP. The news agency said that in April, Michelle Zajko's attorney sent the AP an open letter written by her that said, "I didn't murder my parents."
In addition to facing gun charges in Maryland, the defendant also reportedly faces gun trafficking charges out of Vermont. "So there's going to be a back-and-forth about trying to get her here to Pennsylvania to be arraigned," Rouse said, "but that is going to be subject to conversations that at this point we haven't formally had yet."
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