Member of cultlike Zizians group charged with murder of her parents

A member of the cultlike group known as Zizians, who has denied killing her parents in Pennsylvania in 2022, has been charged with murder, a prosecutor said Wednesday. Michelle Zajko, who has been jailed in Maryland on other charges since February 2025, has been charged with murder, burglary and conspiracy charges in the deaths of Rita and Richard Zajko, Delaware county district attorney Tanner Rouse said at a news conference. The prosecutor said she did not act alone. Online court records didn’t immediately indicate whether Zajko had an attorney in the Pennsylvania case as of Wednesday. An attorney representing her in Maryland did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment, and the Delaware county public defender’s office declined to comment. The couple was shot to death in their home on New Year’s Eve after police say a neighbor’s doorbell camera captured video of a car pulling up to their home in Chester Heights, a voice shouting “Mom!” and another voice exclaiming, “Oh my God! Oh, God, God!” Michelle Zajko has denied any involvement, and in court filings suggested her father might have killed her mother and then himself. …