In January, a traffic stop in Vermont turned violent. A Border Patrol agent and a passenger in the car were killed. A wounded suspect was taken into custody. But that was just the beginning.
Holly Ramer, Patrick Whittle, and Mark Scolforo began unraveling a violent web of interconnected crimes tied to a cultlike group linked to six killings across the U.S.
The apparent leader, a figure known online as Ziz, had amassed a small, devoted following—the Zizians.
AP interviews and a review of court records and online writings revealed how a group of young, highly intelligent computer scientists met online, shared extremist beliefs, and became increasingly violent. Their goals remain unclear, but their writings span topics from radical veganism and gender identity to artificial intelligence.
Ramer tracked the group to a landlord who had rented a property to Ziz and two associates involved in the case. AP was alone in reporting those details—before the FBI showed up a week later to search the property. Meanwhile, Whittle scoured obscure online communities to find individuals who had personally known Ziz. Scolforo uncovered police and court records surrounding a double homicide in Pennsylvania.
The team gathered a wealth of visuals, including family handouts of group members, mug shots, staff photos of crime scenes, and video frame grabs from members. These were combined with interactive maps for a comprehensive video and photo presentation that illustrated nearly every aspect of this complex story.
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