Who Are the Zizians? Radical Trans 'Cult' With Ties to Border Agent Killing

The recent killing of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Vermont is reportedly linked to a purported "death cult" made up of radical, highly-educated, vegan and transgender members known as the "Zizians."

The group is said to revolve around Ziz, who is a transgender woman. Ziz, whose legal name is Jack LaSota, garnered a following online after posting about her ethical and social theories on her blog, Sinceriously.

This was how Felix "Ophelia" Baukholt, the German national involved in the shooting last week, discovered LaSota, Baukholt's friend Jessica Taylor told Newsweek.

"She was interested in things like effective altruism (& criticisms of it), ethics, ethical veganism, mathematics, decision theory...a lot of the same topics as Ziz, and she had similar views on a number of things," Taylor said of Baukholt.