According to a thorough investigation of police and court records by Open Vallejo, it has been revealed that a computer engineer, aged 34, who had been residing in Vallejo for a significant period of time, and had apparent connections to individuals involved in murder cases in California and Pennsylvania, staged their own death in 2022.
According to court records and an obituary published in Jack Amadeus LaSota’s hometown newspaper in Alaska, lawyers and family members of LaSota, also known as “Ziz,” appeared to believe that they passed away in August 2022 after accidentally falling from a boat into the San Francisco Bay.
LaSota’s body was never found, but records indicate that they were apprehended by police at the site of a stabbing in Vallejo three months after the reported incident. Court records also reveal that LaSota was arrested in Pennsylvania during a raid linked to an investigation into a double homicide the following year.
LaSota was never charged in connection with the 2022 stabbing in Vallejo. However, court records reveal that Pennsylvania authorities did charge LaSota with obstruction and disorderly conduct. They were released on bail in 2023. Currently, LaSota is not in custody but there are warrants out for their arrest due to their failure to appear in court in both states, as per court records.
According to a search report obtained by Open Vallejo, the U.S. Coast Guard Sector San Francisco received a report on Aug. 19 at around 11 p.m. stating that LaSota had fallen off a boat in the middle of the San Francisco Bay. The Coast Guard, with assistance from three local fire departments, conducted a search that lasted almost 30 hours but was unsuccessful.
The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, LaSota’s hometown newspaper, shared LaSota’s obituary on September 7, 2022.
“Jack Amadeus LaSota left our lives but not our hearts on Aug. 19 after a boating accident,” a post on Legacy.com reads. “Loving adventure, friends and family, music, blueberries, biking, computer games and animals, you are missed.”
According to Hunter Schnabel, a public affairs officer for the U.S. Coast Guard in Alameda, the agency lacks the authority to officially declare a person deceased.
According to him, if someone decides to vanish in such a remote location, the Coast Guard would not initiate an investigation.
‘Alive and well’
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Jerold Friedman, the attorney representing LaSota, became aware of the boating accident while he was involved in a federal civil rights lawsuit against Sonoma County, representing LaSota and three others. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit claimed that they were falsely arrested and mistreated by sheriff’s deputies during a protest in 2019. According to court records, Sonoma County prosecutors charged all four individuals with felony conspiracy, as well as misdemeanor obstruction and false imprisonment, related to the protest.
In January 2023, Friedman filed a motion to withdraw from the civil rights case, stating that he had not been in contact with LaSota in a year. According to Friedman, LaSota’s mother and criminal defense attorney informed him of LaSota’s passing. In the same declaration, Friedman mentioned hearing a “rumor” about Gwen Danielson, another defendant in the Sonoma County case, possibly committing suicide. He also stated that he had not received any communication from her in a year.
During an interview with Open Vallejo, Friedman revealed that a witness had reportedly seen Danielson in late 2022 or early 2023, retrieving her belongings from the Vallejo property where she had been residing with LaSota and other individuals. According to Friedman, this information was relayed to him by a Pennsylvania state trooper.
According to Friedman, he is uncertain about Danielson’s well-being, acknowledging that individuals can act irrationally when confronted with the prospect of a criminal conviction.
“I have no reason to say this is what happened,” Friedman said when asked why his former clients might fake their deaths. “But when I try to piece these things together, that’s kind of the only thing that makes sense — that something scared them.”
In November 2022, police and court records revealed that LaSota, who was previously reported to have died, was actually alive and well. Vallejo officers encountered LaSota at the scene of an attack against their landlord on November 13th, 2022. Following the incident, a Sonoma County prosecutor informed LaSota’s criminal defense attorney about his existence.
According to court records, Alexander Leatham and Suri Dao face charges of attempted murder against Lind and the murder of Emma Borhanian, another tenant who was shot by Lind during the attack. The trial, scheduled for April, was set to rely on Lind as the sole eyewitness. It is important to note that LaSota was not charged in relation to the incident.
According to an anonymous source close to Borhanian, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisal, Vallejo police detectives informed the family that Borhanian was unarmed during the attack. The source also mentioned that they lost contact with Borhanian after they relocated to the Bay Area to work at Google. They described Borhanian as an intelligent individual who was passionate about coding.
According to a source close to the situation, it is surprising to learn that she was involved in such a violent act, as she has never displayed any violent tendencies before. The circumstances surrounding her death have left everyone in shock.
On January 17, Lind, 82, tragically lost his life in a broad daylight stabbing outside a property in Vallejo. The prosecution has accused Maximilian Snyder, 22, of committing this horrific act to prevent Lind from testifying as a witness in a trial. This grave offense is considered a capital offense and could potentially carry the death penalty. It is worth noting that Snyder had recently applied for a marriage license in Washington with Teresa Youngblut, 21, who is currently facing federal charges for a deadly shootout with Border Patrol agents in Vermont on January 20.
According to online blog posts and interviews conducted by Open Vallejo, the couple seemed to share sympathies for a fringe branch of Rationalist ideology called Zizianism. This belief system encompasses principles like veganism and the prevention of artificial intelligence from causing harm to humanity.
There is no mention in the court records of any link between LaSota and the 2025 homicide. However, LaSota does have an active bench warrant in Sonoma County in connection with their supposed participation in a protest against the Center for Applied Rationality, a nonprofit based in Berkeley. It is worth noting that LaSota had a falling out with the leaders of this organization.
On January 13, 2023, LaSota found themselves back in court records following their arrest by state troopers in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The arrest took place during the execution of a warrant in connection with a double homicide investigation. Earlier that month, Rita and Richard Zajko were tragically shot dead in their home. As revealed in a transcript of a court hearing obtained by Open Vallejo, authorities suspected Michelle Zajko, the couple’s daughter, of being in possession of the murder weapon.
State troopers conducted a search warrant at a motel where Michelle Zajko was residing the week following her parents’ tragic demise. Although no weapon was discovered in Zajko’s room, motel staff informed the authorities that someone she was acquainted with was occupying a different room. Acting upon this information, the police executed a warrant for the said room, eventually uncovering two individuals, including LaSota, concealing themselves in the bathroom. Upon being apprehended, LaSota remained tight-lipped, keeping their eyes shut and refusing to speak.
Trooper Matthew Smith testified in a later court hearing that he found LaSota lying on the ground, almost unconscious and resembling someone who was dead. Smith mentioned that it took at least four troopers to carry LaSota, who stands over six feet tall, out of the hotel room.
LaSota faced charges of disorderly conduct and obstruction, as stated in the records of Delaware County court. Initially, a judge set the bail at $500,000, but it was later reduced to $10,000, despite objections from the prosecutors. In June 2023, LaSota managed to post bail, with his attorney assuring the judge that LaSota’s mother would ensure his presence in all court proceedings, as mentioned in the transcripts of the bail hearing.
LaSota did not show up for their December 2023 trial, which led the judge to issue a bench warrant for their arrest. Despite multiple attempts, neither LaSota nor their parents provided any comment.
“Good” or “evil”
LaSota, 34, completed their Bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks in 2013. They then went on to pursue a master’s degree in electrical and computer engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign from 2013 to 2014, but did not graduate, as confirmed by university officials.
LaSota’s arrival in the Bay Area remains uncertain, but the Center for Applied Rationality’s co-founder, Anna Salamon, confirms their presence at a 5-day residency workshop hosted by the nonprofit in July 2014. The workshop aimed to cultivate critical thinking abilities and explore the intricacies of human decision-making, which are fundamental elements of the Rationalist movement.
CFAR, founded in 2012, emerged as a subsidiary of the Machine Intelligence Learning Institute, a research organization committed to ensuring safety in the field of artificial intelligence development. The organization’s workshops garnered the attention of bright and idealistic individuals who were eager to contribute to meaningful causes, as shared by Salamon.
According to Salamon, LaSota participated in three CFAR events from 2014 to 2018. Salamon noticed some peculiar behavior and interactions between LaSota and other CFAR attendees, prompting them to express concern. In an attempt to prevent LaSota from being admitted to the Machine Intelligence Learning Institute and CFAR’s summer fellowship in 2018, Salamon appealed to a joint admissions committee. However, Salamon’s objections were ultimately disregarded.
Salamon expressed in an email to Open Vallejo that when LaSota participated in the last program in summer 2018, it brought about a sense of fear unlike any other she had experienced before.
Salamon found herself intrigued by the concepts discussed by LaSota both in the workshops and in private conversations. One particular idea that caught her attention was the notion of “hemispheric sleep.” According to LaSota, this theory suggests that humans have the ability to divide their consciousness between the two sides of their brain, enabling one side to sleep while the other remains awake. Furthermore, LaSota proposed that these two hemispheres of the brain could possess qualities of “good,” “evil,” or even both simultaneously.
Salamon expressed her concern regarding LaSota’s association with Danielson, another participant of the CFAR workshop who eventually resided with LaSota on Lind’s Vallejo property. Salamon mentioned that they both acknowledged LaSota as “double good” while labeling Danielson as “single good.” This distinction implied a lack of complete trust in Danielson and the need for close monitoring.
In the blog posts attributed to LaSota, he likens the concept of being “single good” to having a parasitic monster residing within one’s mind, which must be eradicated at any cost.
Salamon and other CFAR staff grew increasingly concerned about LaSota’s behavior, particularly her preoccupation with discussing apocalyptic events. As a result, Salamon made the decision to stop inviting LaSota to CFAR events.
During the 2019 alumni reunion event, LaSota stirred up controversy by sending a mass email to CFAR and MIRI members, accusing them of betraying the Rationalist movement. In the email, LaSota also included multiple links to their personal blog, further fueling the tension.
In an email obtained by Open Vallejo, LaSota urged individuals to redirect their hopes towards the intangible elements that originally gave rise to the institutions that are now failing us, if they wish to avoid succumbing to the devastating impact of this global pandemic.
Later that day, the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team apprehended Lasota, Danielson, Alexander Leatham, and Emma Borhanian. The four individuals were accused of obstructing the exits of the event at the Westminister Camp and Conference Center in Sonoma County using several vehicles. They were allegedly dressed in black robes and Guy Fawkes masks.
According to Friedman, the lawyer who represented the four protesters in a civil rights lawsuit, they chose him as their attorney partly because he shared their vegan lifestyle. He characterized them as “four dedicated individuals who are deeply invested in the well-being of the world, particularly when it comes to veganism and the welfare of non-human animals.”
“I’ve always seen them as individuals who are deeply committed to making the world a better place, so I’m puzzled about how we’ve ended up where we are now,” Friedman commented, highlighting the fact that veganism is based on principles of non-violence and pacifism. “Back then, my perception of them was entirely positive.”
According to court records, Leatham made a court appearance wearing a hazmat suit and gas mask while facing criminal charges from the Sonoma County protest. In a complaint to Judge Tim P. Kam in July 2023 regarding the murder case against her in Solano County, she expressed her dissatisfaction with prosecutors labeling her political and religious beliefs as “delusions,” as stated in court records.
In an email response, Leatham expressed his perplexity at the suggestion that his beliefs were delusions. He questioned whether his belief in reincarnation, his condemnation of supporting death camps and consuming the corpses of their victims, or his political and religious beliefs were being labeled as delusions. Leatham defended his beliefs, stating that he consciously chose to believe in things that he deemed to be morally right and beneficial.
Salamon mentioned that Leatham and Danielson had previously attended CFAR events. In fact, Danielson even attended two of the same events as LaSota.
According to Salamon, Felix Bauckholt, who was killed in the recent shootout with U.S. Border Patrol agents in which Youngblut is charged, also attended a CFAR event in 2019.
Salamon informed Open Vallejo that she had requested Bauckholt not to be invited back for similar reasons as LaSota. According to Salamon, LaSota and Bauckholt did not attend any events simultaneously, and it remains uncertain if they had ever met face to face.
Salamon expressed surprise at the existence of offshoots within the Rationalist community, but never anticipated that some of these offshoots would turn out to be death cults.