Teresa Youngblut, a 21-year-old woman from the Seattle area, has pleaded not guilty to federal firearm charges related to the deadly shooting of U.S. Border Patrol Agent David Maland in Vermont this January. Youngblut is facing serious charges, including the use of a deadly weapon while assaulting a Border Patrol agent and using a firearm in connection with that assault.
She is accused of firing at agents during a traffic stop in northern Vermont, which led to a shootout that resulted in the deaths of Agent Maland and her companion, German national Felix Bauckholt. At a hearing in Burlington on Friday, Youngblut was ordered to remain in custody, with her next court appearance set for May 8.
According to Pennsylvania state police, the firearm used in the Vermont incident was purchased by a person of interest in the December 31, 2022, murders of Richard and Rita Zajko in Chester Heights, Pennsylvania. Both Youngblut and the gun purchaser had been in regular contact with an individual linked to the Pennsylvania investigation, who is also considered a person of interest in a separate homicide case in California, as detailed by U.S. Attorney Michael Drescher in court documents.
Youngblut attended the prestigious Lakeside School in north Seattle. In November, she applied for a marriage license with Maximilian Snyder, who is facing charges for fatally stabbing a man in northern California. Notably, Snyder is also an alumnus of the Lakeside School.
Court records reveal that Youngblut and Bauckholt had been under surveillance for several days leading up to the January 20 shootout. Prior to the incident, they were renting separate units in the same Chapel Hill, North Carolina neighborhood. The owner of the properties, who requested anonymity due to safety concerns, noted that Bauckholt had been renting one unit via Airbnb since July 2023 before moving to a second unit later that year. Youngblut began renting her unit in November 2024 and paid nearly $10,000 to extend her stay until the end of March.
Source: Seattle Medium
