A dead Border Patrol Agent in Vermont. An LSD-taking vegan carrying a pistol linked to two Pennsylvania homicides. An elderly California witness ambushed and fatally stabbed. AI researchers living in box trucks, armed with knives and a samurai sword.
It sounds like something from a dystopian science fiction novel. But police, court records and witnesses are beginning to link a series of six seemingly unconnected deaths across the country.
Two people – who may or may not be married to each other – have been detained in connection with two deaths separated by 3,000 miles. And the gun used in one of those incidents has been linked to the 2022 homicides of two people in Pennsylvania.
“It’s a tragedy for everyone,” said longtime Vermont prosecutor and retired legislator Vincent Illuzzi, 71. “Folks up here are shocked at knowing that people publicly identified with these activities in Pennsylvania and California were either living here or looking for property up here.”
Behind bars are Seattle-area natives Teresa Youngblut, 21, detained in Vermont, and Maximilian Snyder, 22, detained in California. Records show the two got a marriage license in Washington state last year, but it’s unclear whether they went through with the marriage.
Snyder faces murder charges in California for the Jan. 17 death of an elderly landlord who was due to testify that he was attacked with a samurai sword in 2022 by squatters he was trying to kick off his San Francisco-area property, according to court records.
Youngblut has been charged in connection with the Jan. 21 shooting death of Border Patrol agent David “Chris” Maland in Vermont near the Canadian border, according to court records. Youngblut has been charged with one count of using a deadly weapon while assaulting a U.S. Border Patrol agent and one count of using and discharging a firearm during that assault, but has not been charged with actually killing Maland.
A German national traveling with Youngblut, Ophelia Bauckholt, was killed in the shootout with federal agents. Bauckholt was transfeminine, and federal authorities have been using their male birth name in court documents. Federal officials in a court filing also acknowledged Bauckholt used the name Ophelia.
The deaths of Maland and Bauckholt during the Border Patrol traffic stop shocked residents of the rural New England state where only 24 homicides happened last year. Illuzzi, who is the Essex County State’s Attorney, coincidentally drove by the traffic stop as it began. And although he has no formal role in the investigation, he is a veteran prosecutor and lawmaker with deep connections to regional law enforcement in Vermont.
