Pennsylvania authorities charge woman in 2022 parents' deaths

A Pennsylvania prosecutor announced murder, burglary and conspiracy charges Wednesday against a woman accused in the 2022 deaths of her parents. Michelle Zajko, who has been jailed in Maryland since February 2025, is accused of acting with others in the killings, the prosecutor said at a news conference.

Online court records did not immediately show whether she had counsel in the Pennsylvania case.

Background on the case The couple was shot in their Chester Heights home on New Year's Eve 2022. " and another exclaiming "Oh my God! " Zajko has denied involvement and suggested in an April 2025 court filing that her father may have killed her mother before taking his own life.

Authorities had previously identified her as a person of interest.

Connection to other cases The deaths are among six linked by investigators to members of the Zizians group, described by police as sharing beliefs on veganism, animal rights, gender identity and artificial intelligence. Zajko is also charged with supplying the firearm used in the January 2025 shooting death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Vermont.

She was arrested weeks later in Maryland along with two others. A judge has ordered a competency evaluation in one of the federal cases tied to the group.