A shooting that left a Vermont border patrol agent dead may be connected to several other murders spanning from Pennsylvania to California.
Swanton Sector Border Patrol agent David Maland, 44, was killed when the occupants of a car started firing at him when he stopped them about 20 miles from the US-Canada border on January 20.
The suspected shooters have been identified as Teresa Youngblut, 21, of Washington and Felix Bauckholt – a German national who was shot dead at the scene.
Youngblut was injured during the shootout and taken to the hospital. Maland was also taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The motives behind the incident remain unclear.
But prosecutors believe the Vermont shooting was not an isolated crime – tying Youngblut to a double homicide in Pennsylvania and a fatal stabbing in California.
In November 2024, Youngblut filed an application to marry Maximilian Snyder, a 22-year-old data scientist, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
On Friday, Snyder was arrested and charged with murdering a Vallejo, California landlord named Curtis Lind, 82, on January 17. He appeared in court on Tuesday.
A criminal complaint filed in Solano County claims that Lind was stabbed and killed ‘for the purpose of preventing his testimony in a criminal proceeding,’ KTVU reported.
Lind had previously survived being attacked with a sword during an argument with his tenants in 2022.
The landlord shot dead one of his attackers, 31-year-old Emma Borhanian. The other two suspected assailants, Suri Dao, 21, and Alexander Jeffrey Leatham, 27, were arrested.
The pair was charged attempted murder and aggravated mayhem for attacking Lind with a sword. They were also charged with murder for Borhanian’s death, according to KTVU.
Dao and Leatham are set to appear in court on February 19 – and Lind was supposed to testify against them.
In 2019, Borhanian and Leatham were arrested after participating in an outlandish protest in Westminster Woods, a camping retreat in Occidental, California, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office said they allegedly blocked themselves in the wooded area to protest artificial intelligence and a Berkeley nonprofit organization that was hosting an event there.
In 2021, Borhanian, Leatham and the two others who protested with them – Gwen Danielson and Jack Lasota – sued the retreat and Sonoma County deputies.
They claimed they were tortured and belittled for being transgender, but the case was dismissed because the group stopped showing up to court.
Youngblut may also be associated with the suspected killers of Richard Zajko, 71, and his wife Rita, 69, who were found dead in their Delaware County, Pennsylvania home in January 2023.
In court on Monday, prosecutors revealed that a person who may be involved in the Zajkos’ murders allegedly bought the guns Youngblut and Bauckholt used in the Vermont border patrol shooting.
Additionally, Youngblut was in consistent contacted with another unnamed ‘person of interest’ who was detained in Pennsylvania in connection to the double homicide, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Youngblut has been charged with one count of using a deadly weapon while assaulting a United States Border Patrol agent, and one count of using and discharging a firearm during and in relation to that assault, according to the US Attorney’s Office.
Seattle law enforcement revealed that Youngblut’s parents told police she was missing days before she allegedly killed Maland, NBC5 reported.
Her parents said they had not heard from her in days and were growing concerned. Youngblut reportedly moved out to go live with a friend and changed her phone number.
They disclosed that their daughter had become estranged, pulling away from friends and lying about who she was with and her whereabouts.
But since Youngblut is an adult, police determined there was no reason to formally report her missing.
When Youngblut and Bauckholt were stopped in a Prius by border agents, Bauckholt reportedly had an expired visa.
The pair had been on police’s radars after a Vermont hotel employee noticed them checking-in wearing all black clothing. Youngblut allegedly had an exposed gun.
They told police they were in Vermont looking for property to buy and checked out on January 19, according to prosecutors.
Before the shooting, they were last seen at a Walmart. Bauckholt bought aluminum foil and went to the car to wrap items in it.
After the attack, officers reportedly found two pistols, two phones wrapped in tin foil, a ballistic helmet, night vision goggles, a tactical belt, two full-face respirators, bullets, hand-held radios, a dozen electronic devices and travel documents, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
They also allegedly spotted Youngblut’s journal, which contained ‘cypher text’ and statements referring to drug use – including ‘coming up on acid’ and ‘this LSD trip seems pretty mellow.’