Search for woman connected to death of Vermont Border Patrol agent intensifies: sources

Authorities are currently in pursuit of a 32-year-old woman believed to have purchased the firearms used in the recent killing of a Vermont Border Patrol agent, as per a report.

Various law enforcement agencies across multiple states are actively seeking Michelle J. Zajko, who has been labeled as “armed and dangerous,” according to information from Albany’s Times Union which referenced police documentation.

On January 20, U.S. Border Patrol Agent David “Chris” Maland was fatally shot in the vicinity of the Canada-Vermont border. Teresa Youngblut, 21, was apprehended four days following the incident.

“The United States Attorney’s Office District of Vermont has charged Youngblut with assault on a federal law enforcement officer,” the FBI’s office in Albany said at the time. “Our hearts remain with our partners at U.S. Border Patrol Swanton Sector as they mourn this tremendous loss.” 

Zajko is also considered a “person of interest” in a double murder in Pennsylvania and another murder in California, prosecutors revealed, without naming her. 

A Border Patrol Agent moves a robotic device next to a Border Patrol vehicle on southbound Route 91 near Newport, Vt., where a U.S. Border Patrol agent was shot dead Jan. 20, 2025. (David McGlynn for Fox News Digital)

Maland, a Minnesota native and U.S. Air Force veteran, worked as a Border Patrol agent at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Newport Station. He spent nine years in the military and 15 working for the federal government. 

He was also a K-9 handler and previously served as a Border Patrol agent in Texas near the southern border, Maland’s family told The Associated Press. 

“On January 20, 2025, at approximately 3:00 pm, an on-duty, uniformed United States Border Patrol (USBP) Agent initiated a stop of a blue 2015 Toyota Prius Hatchback with [a] North Carolina license plate … to conduct an immigration inspection as it was driving southbound on Interstate 91 in Coventry, Vermont,” an FBI criminal complaint obtained by Fox News states.

“The registered owner of the vehicle, Felix Baukholt, a citizen of Germany, appeared to have an expired visa in a Department of Homeland Security database. Youngblut was driving the Prius, and Baukholt was the lone passenger in the Prius.  

Teresa Youngblut, charged by the FBI in the shooting death of U.S. Border Patrol Agent David Maland, in the office at the Newport City Inn Jan. 14, 2025, in Newport, Vt., in a still frame photograph from video released by the inn, which confirmed her identity. (Associated Press)

“Between approximately 3:00 pm and 3:15 pm, agents reported gunshots at the scene,” the affidavit added. “Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Cameron Thompson was notified of the incident and responded to the scene of the stop, arriving at approximately 3:35 pm. 

“He spoke with two of the Border Patrol Agents involved in the incident. They described that both Baukholt and Youngblut possessed firearms and that Youngblut drew and fired a handgun toward at least one of the uniformed Border Patrol Agents without warning when outside the driver’s side of the Prius.” 

Fox News Digital has reached out to the FBI’s Albany office. 

Fox News’ Greg Norman contributed to this report.