Zizians Cult Murders

What this episode is about

A concise overview: The Zizians are a newly emerged American cult led by Jack Lasota, tied to obstructing a homicide investigation and a pair of murders, with followers allegedly engaging in dramatic arrest theatrics; the story follows the leader’s 2023 arrest, his subsequent two-year disappearance, and ongoing developments as authorities pursue the case.

Key takeaways

• Zizan isn’t an ideology so much as a meme-driven identity, blending tech, veganism, and gender theory into a cult-like brand.
• Their arrest theatrics—fake death mugshots—aren’t clever stunts but attention-seeking signals that normalize noncompliance.
• The leader’s shifting affiliations (rationalists, protests, tugboat plan) reveal a pattern: ideology as a vehicle for personal fringe prestige.
• Media framing—‘tech-savvy death cult’—feeds sensational headlines but obscures coherent goals, muting nuanced critique.
• Coast-guard sailboat gambit shows the strategy: convert media spectacle into living-off-the-grid mythos, regardless of practicality.

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 5:00: The Zizan, Jack Lasoda, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Obstruction of justice
2. 5:00 – 10:00: Jack Lasoda, The Zizan, The Rationalists, San Francisco Bay
3. 10:00 – 15:00: The Zizan, Jenny Lind, Vallejo, California, COVID-19
4. 15:00 – 20:00: The Zizan, Jenny Lind, Samurai Sword Attack
5. 20:00 – 21:59: Jack Lasoda

Notable quotes from "Zizians Cult Murders"

• Hey folks welcome back so I have one for the books for you today we're going to talk about a new cult that's emerged here in America they call themselves The zizan I'm a sucker for these wild cult stories I put together a timeline to get.

  about The Zizan · at 0:01

• Rambly not too succinct I don't know how many good points he was hitting but he was rambling on mostly about technology gender identity and The Human Condition I think his main…

  about gender identity · at 5:33

• This point he and some of his friends I don't know if they would call them followers at that point but they protest an event that the rationalists were putting on by showing up…

  about The Rationalists · at 6:39

• Later they go and they buy a tu a World War II tugbo in Alaska and then sail it from Alaska down to the San Francisco Bay where they plan to live on it this is right smack in…

  about San Francisco Bay · at 7:39

• Co think he felt for him and so he L him and so all of a sudden the zizan are living on Curtis Lynn's land in Vallejo California in box trucks and vans well after a while I…

  about Vallejo, California · at 11:41

• Vance two days before the eviction deadline the zizan attack Curtis Lynn with a samurai sword sticking the sword all the way through his back out the front a whole foot can you…

  about Samurai Sword Attack · at 12:38

• Later December 2022 on New Year's Eve Rita and Richard zajko are shot and killed in their Chester Heights Pennsylvania home and so their daughter is in the zians and there is doorbell.

  about Rita Zajko · at 13:59

• And almost killed him so that case for that assault was coming up and they another member of the zizan went and killed him so Curtis Lind is dead he survived that one crazy attack only a year or two later to be killed they finished the job.

  about Jenny Lind · at 18:27

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Jack Lasoda — Person · Core subject (cult leader) · 8 mentions · first at 0:27
  He is presented as the leader of The Zizan, tied to alleged obstruction in a homicide investigation, a faked death, and later re-arrest after skipping bail.
  Everybody up to speed on this wild story this is a good time to start following this because the leader Jack lasota he was arrested in 2023 for obstructing a homicide…
• Jenny Lind — Person · Key victim / landlord tied to major violence · 4 mentions · first at 10:48
  He allowed members to live on his land in Vallejo, sought eviction, survived a samurai sword attack, and is later described as being killed by a member.
• Rita Zajko — Person · Homicide victim (referenced) · 1 mention · first at 14:04
  Named alongside Rita Zajko as a homicide victim; the case is a key driver of Lasoda's arrest and bail-skipping narrative.

Companies & orgs

• The Zizan — Organization · Core subject (cult/group) · 15 mentions · first at 0:12
  The episode is a timeline of the group's emergence and escalating violence, including a sword attack, alleged family murders, and later shootings.
• The Rationalists — Organization · Referenced community (prior affiliation / conflict) · 3 mentions · first at 6:03
  Jack Lasoda is described as briefly joining and then quitting; later the group protests a Rationalists event, marking an early escalation.

Concepts & topics

• Obstruction of justice — Concept · Legal concept (charge framing) · 1 mention · first at 0:30
  The host frames Lasoda's 2023 arrest as obstruction related to a homicide investigation, central to why he was detained and later skipped bail.
  This is a good time to start following this because the leader Jack lasota he was arrested in 2023 for obstructing a homicide investigation where a member of the cult's parents…
• COVID-19 — Concept · Contextual backdrop · 3 mentions · first at 7:52
  Used to explain timing and circumstances: living arrangements, sympathy from the landlord, and the tugboat episode occurring during the pandemic period.
  Thought hey I'm doing you a favor letting you live during covid but hey CO's wrapping up the world's coming back to life so if you guys are going to stay here on my land and be…
• gender identity — Concept · Ideological topic (blog themes) · 2 mentions · first at 1:46
  Cited as a recurring topic in Lasoda's early blog posts and part of the media characterization of the group.
• Artificial Intelligence — Concept · Ideological topic (group alignment) · 1 mention · first at 6:15
  Mentioned as a major issue for The Rationalists and a reason Lasoda was interested in joining them, linking the cult story to tech ideology.
  Think the rationalists main fight right now is they're against artificial intelligence and the leader of the zizan was into that so he joins the rationalists but then quickly…
• The Human Condition — Concept · Philosophical topic (blog themes) · 1 mention · first at 5:42
  Mentioned as part of the thematic content of Lasoda's writing, framing the group's ideology as quasi-philosophical.
  Rambly not too succinct I don't know how many good points he was hitting but he was rambling on mostly about technology gender identity and The Human Condition I think his main…

Places & events

• Samurai Sword Attack — Event · Major violent incident · 2 mentions · first at 12:42
  A pivotal escalation: The Zizan members allegedly attacked Curtis Lind with a sword shortly before an eviction deadline, leading to deaths and severe injury.
• Vallejo, California — Place · Key setting (land dispute and violence) · 2 mentions · first at 10:51
  Where Curtis Lind's property is located and where The Zizan members lived in vehicles, leading to eviction proceedings and the sword attack.
• Chester Heights, Pennsylvania — Place · Crime scene location (parents killed) · 1 mention · first at 14:09
  Identified as the location where Rita Zajko and Richard Zajko were shot and killed, anchoring the homicide investigation thread.
  2022 on New Year's Eve Rita and Richard zajko are shot and killed in their Chester Heights Pennsylvania home and so their daughter is in the zians and there is doorbell footage of that night New Year's Eve you.
• San Francisco Bay — Place · Key setting (tugboat sinking / faked death) · 2 mentions · first at 7:46
  The tugboat is reported sinking here; Lasoda is said to have 'gone down with it' and later is suspected of faking his death.
• World War II — Event · Historical reference (object provenance) · 2 mentions · first at 7:39
  Used to describe the age/type of the tugboat the group bought, which becomes central to the alleged faked-death episode.
  Major event in this story is a year or so later they go and they buy a tu a World War II tugbo in Alaska and then sail it from Alaska down to the San Francisco Bay where they plan to live on it this is right smack in the middle of Co and I.
• Alaska — Place · Origin location (tugboat purchase) · 1 mention · first at 7:42
  Where the group allegedly bought the WWII-era tugboat before sailing it to the San Francisco Bay.
  Is a year or so later they go and they buy a tu a World War II tugbo in Alaska and then sail it from Alaska down to the San Francisco Bay where they plan to live on it this is…
• New York City, New York — Place · Comedic aside setting · 1 mention · first at 3:16
  Referenced in an unrelated story about a Brooklyn synagogue tunneling incident used for humor and a Ninja Turtles comparison.
  I got to show you this clip so exactly a year ago a wild story here in New York City there's some famous Flagship synagogue in Brooklyn and a year ago police raided it because…

Media & podcasts

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles — Media · Humorous cultural reference · 2 mentions · first at 2:27
  Used as an analogy for sensational headlines and as a comedic aside about a NYC tunneling incident.
  Fact they're Allin one is something you know what a headline like that always reminds me of I was a big fan of teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when I was a kid and now that I'm…

Full transcript with timestamps

0:04 hey folks welcome back so I have one for the books for you today we're going to talk about a new cult that's emerged here in America they call themselves The zizan I'm a sucker for these wild cult stories I put together a timeline to get everybody up to speed on this wild story this is a good time to start following this because the leader Jack lasota he was arrested in 2023 for obstructing a homicide investigation where a member of the cult's parents were shot and killed so they start investigating those two homicides arrest the leader for obstructing he gets a $500,000 bail and then the judge lowers it to $110,000 he post bail and disappeared and for two years Nobody seen him until last week he was arrested so I'm going to get everybody up to speak and then we'll follow how this wild one is going to end before we get in the timeline though one funny thing that they do when they get arrested is

1:08 they pretend to be dead here's the leader Jack lasoda having to be propped up in one of his mug shots pretending to be dead and then here's another one this woman doing the same thing although she looks more like she's letting out a huge fart but anywh who hey good job that should delay things for about 4 seconds all right every body here's the strategy if we get arrested just pretend to be dead does it work not really no joke you can't make this up the zizan are being described in the media as a techsavvy radical vegan transgender death cult that sounds like a be movie from the 80s or maybe it hits Broadway a techsavvy radical vegan transgender death the musical hey hey and the winner for the Tony award goes to I've done this long enough to know when there's that many interest perking details in a headline it's going to be one for the books you would click on a story with any any one of those but the

2:20 fact they're Allin one is something you know what a headline like that always reminds me of I was a big fan of teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when I was a kid and now that I'm growing up I always think that's a wild idea you would have to be on crank to come up with that idea but I think that's the strategy that they use like maybe the guy that came up with it had an idea written down all right I could do a show about teenagers or I could do a show about ninjas or I could do a show about mutants or I could do a show about turtles and then he was like hm what if I just combined the whole thing in one yes and it made 10 bazillion dollars oh speaking of Ninja Turtles okay this is unrelated to the zizan what we're talking about today but I got to show you this clip so exactly a year ago a wild story here in New York City there's some famous Flagship synagogue in Brooklyn and a year ago police raided it because they found some

3:28 members that went to the ogue were tunneling under the synagogue and under surrounding buildings very illegal and dangerous you could collapse a neighboring building and when the cops raid it chaos broke out the check this clip out of the police going into

3:57 raid yo yo yo yo yo yo all right so then once the story breaks a bunch of media and people go down to see what the hell's going on someone has their phone out and ends up capturing a Jewish man crawling out of the sewer and then scampering off into the night check this out

4:35 is that not the most Ninja Turtle thing you've seen in a long time and then I was laughing thinking about it that actually has legitimate spin-off potential imagine Teenage Mutant Ninja hidic Jew Turtles Teenage Mutant Ninja hidic you Turtles Heroes in a little hat it's turtle power huh huh pretty good right all right so let's talk about the zizan we're going to start in 2016 and work our way up to present about a week ago so Jack lasoda remember this is him pretending to be dead in 2016 started blogging under the nickname ziz that's where zizan uh comes from and the blog posts have been described as a little bit rambly not too succinct I don't know how many good points he was hitting but he was rambling on mostly about technology gender identity and The Human Condition I think his main theme or his main theory is that the brain is two hemispheres and they're in conflict with each other a lot of times different

5:55 genders he thinks and he thinks that they want to kill each other okay and then so he's doing that for a couple years in 2018 he briefly joins the rationalists who I looked it up I think the rationalists main um fight right now is they're against artificial intelligence and the leader of the zizan was into that so he joins the rationalists but then quickly quits because apparently the rationalists rejected his theory of the two brain hemispheres that are in conflict and want to kill each other and then so the next year 2019 Jack lasota remember he's quit the rationalist at this point he and some of his friends I don't know if they would call them followers at that point but they protest an event that the rationalists were putting on by showing up in big old trucks and blocking the entrance blocking the exit they're all wearing guy Fox masks and black robes and a journalist showed up to that to cover

7:02 the rationalist event and then ended up covering the protest that the zians I don't think they were calling themselves that yet but that the zians were doing and um Jack lasoda got arrested but he got some street cred he got he made some headlines and that I think started the hole where it became more of a cult so they protest the rationalist event the next major event in this story is a year or so later they go and they buy a tu a World War II tugbo in Alaska and then sail it from Alaska down to the San Francisco Bay where they plan to live on it this is right smack in the middle of Co and I saw pictures of the tugboat it looks very old and very crappy and it would need a lot of work before you could actually live on it or it would be worth much and in August of 2022 the US Coast Guard responded to a report that a tugboat from World War II was sinking in the San Francisco Bay and Jack lasoda the leader of the zizan went

8:23 down with it and is dead a big investigation went on they searched for the body all over no body was found and a obituary came out for Jack lasoda I love a fake obituary the best one I've ever read is still nicolis alarians where he says fear not and run towards the Bliss of the Sun but the fake one that came out for Jack lasoda is pretty funny too it's very very short and one of the things that's listed is he liked blueberries I was thinking you got to have a pretty dud personality that he likes blueberries makes the cut for the obituary it's like who doesn't like blueberries that's all you could come up with picture the people maybe it was his parents maybe he and his friends wrote it I don't know who wrote the fake obituary but think about them trying to write it it's like all right we got to write this obituary for Lota so let's just brainstorm list is good qualities go um well he he loved

9:47 blueberries all right all right that's something we we'll write that down loved blueberries okay what else all right so that was August of 2022 they sink the tugboat Lota fakes his own death and I was also thinking about I wonder if that was the plan the whole time let's buy this crappy boat sail it down Pretend We're going to live on it sink it and then that'll be a good way for our leader to fake his own death or if they actually thought this is going to work and we could live on it and then when it sank they used the opportunity you know what that's pretty wild that the giant Tugboat just sank maybe this is what we the big thing we were looking for so we can have you know we can disappear our leader lasoda who knows but around that time remember it was during covid their boat sinks in Valle they meet a guy named Curtis Lind an older gentleman he owned some land in Vallejo California this is where it starts to remind me of

10:55 the Manson family story but they meet Curtis Lind this older guy um in the San Francisco Harbor well they're doing the all the boats stuff they learned that he has a chunk of land in Vallejo California and they asked him can we park our box trucks and vans that's where they live throughout this whole timeline their big box truck and van fans I happen to be the leader or the nation's leading expert in abandoned van so I feel like I do have some expertise with this but they asked Curtis Lynn hey can we park our box trucks and our vans on your property and live for a while Curtis Lynn was nice enough to just say yes he said during Co think he felt for him and so he L him and so all of a sudden the zizan are living on Curtis Lynn's land in Vallejo California in box trucks and vans well after a while I don't know if it's a year or just a couple months Curtis Lynn I would assume they wear out their welcome they

12:01 look a little smelly living in box trucks and vans it's not easy to keep the hygiene up so I would guess they wore out their welcome coupled with I think Curtis Lynn thought hey I'm doing you a favor letting you live during covid but hey CO's wrapping up the world's coming back to life so if you guys are going to stay here on my land and be smelly you're going to have to start paying me some rent so in November 2022 Curtis Lynn goes to court a seeking eviction of the zians living on his land in box truck in vance two days before the eviction deadline the zizan attack Curtis Lynn with a samurai sword sticking the sword all the way through his back out the front a whole foot can you imagine he they beat him half to death cut out one of his eyes he had a gun on him pulls it out shoots and kills one of the zizan members shoots another one and wounds it ends up I don't know if he still got the

13:10 sword sticking out at this point he ends up making it to his neighbor's camper banging on the side there's blood all down his neighbor's camper from when he's help they're killing me I'm dying they're killing me his neighbor comes out I think with a gun too gets the zizan members of way there's one laying dead Curtis Lind missing an eye all chopped and sliced up black and blue from head to toe and there's a picture of him in the hospital with the eye patch on Stitches everywhere looks like he got hit by a truck and survives and so that is pretty wild okay so that was November 2022 now in December so a couple months later December 2022 on New Year's Eve Rita and Richard zajko are shot and killed in their Chester Heights Pennsylvania home and so their daughter is in the the the zians and there is doorbell footage of that night New Year's Eve you think it's going to be a party night a night to start over a night to kiss your

14:29 loved ones maybe have a toast go to bed wake up new year new goals let's go and the doorbell footage it captures I don't know either the ring or the knock and then you hear mom and then you hear oh my God oh God God and so it seems like the do their daughter came and murdered her parents allegedly on New Year's Eve and the house that they lived in was absolutely humongous mansion big old Brick House giant yard and so just myself speculating maybe maybe the zizan needed money because there it was getting harder and harder to find little plots of land to park the box trucks on and they're living in hotels and maybe just me spec ating maybe she thought all right we'll kill the parents by the size of the house I would guess the inheritance is pretty good and she's thinking all right we kill my parents I'll get all of their their inher my inheritance and then we can use that to fund the zizan

15:47 going forward but anyway they talk to the daughter of the zachos that were murdered on New Year's Eve and um at her home Vermont and then but they don't arrest her and then a couple weeks later they take her and the leader Jack Loda into custody they went to some Hotel they were staying at and took them both into custody they got him they charged him with obstruction for the homicide investigation for the parents and I'm not actually sure what they charged the daughter Zago with but they got them both in custody and that's when the judge puts Lodo's bail at 500,000 and then for whatever reason a short time later brings it down to 10,000 he post and then disappears and for years like I said nobody knew where he was no one knew if he was still alive there was speculation that he actually maybe did kill himself he's already faked killed himself once with the boating accident and so now he's on the Run people are

16:59 furious with the judge it's like all of this stuff that's been happening we got a samurai sword attack and then this woman this woman in the group's parents are dead with Mom oh God oh God and and you bring the bail down to $10,000 well now he's gone so great job judge all right so then in every cult story and I've watched about every documentary Audi book everything you can find on all the famous Colts over the past 100 years there's always a point in the story where the wheels really start coming off and I would say that moment for the zizan is in January 2025 and all right let's see here okay so two members the first thing that happens in January 2012 this all happened in last month so two of them check into this hotel but the Hotel staff immediately call the police because they're all dressed in black tactical gear they have guns and we're just giving off strange Vibes so they call the cops

18:10 and the cops come check him out the second thing is remember Curtis Lind the landlord the old nice guy that let them stay on his property and then when he tried to evict them they stuck a samurai sword through his body cut out his eye and almost killed him so that case for that assault was coming up and they another member of the zizan went and killed him so Curtis Lind is dead he he survived that one crazy attack only a year or two later to be killed they finished the job and then so the the zizan member that killed him was arrested for that and now is facing the murder charge for that then still in the same month last month a border patrol agent in Vermont pulls over a couple zizan and it turns into a wild shootout one of the zizan members shoots and kills the poor border patrol agent that had no idea what he was walking into when he pulled over the car the border patrol agent in the wild shootout is

19:23 able to shoot and kill one of the zizan members and wound another one okay so that was all last month and then the big thing why is a really good time to start following this one is last week a guy in I think also in Vermont was it um but anyway a guy with a chunk of land here out east somewhere called the police and said which it was a good move think of the older nice landlord in Vallejo what happened to him but he called the police and said yeah these young people showed up with box trucks and vans and asked if they could stay on my land for a month and they just gave me really bad vibes and I want you guys to come check it out and so they came the police came arrested Jack lasoda and another one without incident and so officially now after faking his own death couple years ago with the tugboat thing being arrested for obstruction for a homicide 2 years ago and then skipping bail and

20:38 disappearing for two years Jack lasoda is officially in custody he's being held without bond but here's where it gets really interesting none of the charges I for Lota I think are going to be serious enough to really hold him for that long he's got the obstructing for the homicide investigation and maybe trespassing or something for this most recent with that guy's land but I don't I don't think they're going to be able unless they somehow put the investigation for the whole thing together quickly there's a good chance lasoda is going to be out and this the whole thing is going to keep going which I don't know if I've ever followed one of these cult stories where it's so unclear how is this thing going to end and like I said I think the wheels started really coming off bad January 2025 and that's when in these cult stories things really start to you know the Kool-Aid is drank or God knows what

21:47 is going to happen so let's follow it together I'm going to cut it off there I love you all why Sten why sh

Questions about this episode

What is "Zizians Cult Murders" about?

A concise overview: The Zizians are a newly emerged American cult led by Jack Lasota, tied to obstructing a homicide investigation and a pair of murders, with followers allegedly engaging in dramatic arrest theatrics; the story follows the leader’s 2023 arrest, his subsequent two-year disappearance, and ongoing developments as authorities pursue the case.

What is mentioned in this TRUE CRIME Loser episode?

18 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including The Zizan, Jack Lasoda, Jenny Lind, Samurai Sword Attack, Vallejo, California, The Rationalists. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Zizians Cult Murders"?

The episode runs 22 min; the transcript is about 3,170 words in 20 timestamped sections.

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