Woman Charged With First-Degree Murder in 2022 Deaths of Parents, Case Remains Pending

Michelle Zajko, 33, has been charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the 2022 deaths of her parents, Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse announced Wednesday. She also faces charges of criminal homicide and conspiracy to commit criminal homicide. The killings occurred on New Year’s Eve 2022 in Pennsylvania, where Zajko is the couple’s only child.

Rouse said Rita Zajko sent her daughter a text message on New Year’s Eve apologizing for a rift and seeking to mend their relationship. The message went unanswered. Hours later, visual evidence showed a car approaching the home and at least two people, including Zajko, exiting the vehicle.

Audio captured a voice saying “Mom” outside before the pair entered. Zajko had been estranged from her parents before the murders, investigators said. Ballistics evidence from the scene matched shell casings found in the backyard of her Vermont home.

The firearm used has not been recovered, though it was purchased about a year earlier and practice rounds were fired at the Vermont property. Text messages recovered from Zajko’s phone listed items she believed could have been handled differently during the killings and noted errors such as leaving shell casings behind.

She and an alleged co-conspirator arranged for someone else to send texts from phones they had left behind.

“We are finally at the point where we can say beyond any doubt that Michelle Zajko was at least in part responsible for the death of her parents,” Rouse said. ” Zajko appeared in court in Cumberland, Maryland, on January 16, 2026, for a pretrial hearing on trespassing, gun and drug charges. She is associated with a cult-like group known as the Zizians.