A 21-year-old woman pleaded not guilty Friday to murder and other charges related to the fatal shooting of a Border Patrol agent in Vermont. If convicted, Teresa Youngblut could be sentenced to death.
On Friday, Youngblut appeared in federal court in Burlington wearing a grey sweatshirt and tan pants with her dark hair tied in two long braids. Chief Judge Christina Reiss read the four new charges aloud to Youngblut, who pleaded not guilty to each one.
Federal public defender Steven Barth, Youngblut’s attorney, told Reiss he wasn’t going to request a detention hearing at this time, so Youngblut will remain in prison.
Youngblut, who’s from Seattle, initially faced lesser charges, including using a deadly weapon against law enforcement. She has been linked to a cult-like group, known as the Zizians. Members of the group have been tied to six killings in three states.
Shortly after the shooting in Vermont, the Trump administration signaled it would seek more serious charges. Attorney General Pam Bondi, in a memo lifting the moratorium on federal executions enacted by former president Joe Biden, cited the incident as one in which prosecutors should seek the death penalty. Then, on Aug. 14, a federal grand jury returned a new indictment that charged Youngblut with murder, assaulting two other agents with a deadly weapon and related firearms offenses.
Acting United States Attorney for the District of Vermont Michael Drescher filed a notice with the court that prosecutors would seek the death penalty.
The shooting occurred during a traffic stop conducted by Border Patrol agents on Jan. 20 — the same day President Donald Trump was inaugurated for his second term.
Agents stopped a 2015 Toyota Prius on Interstate 91 in Coventry to conduct an immigration inspection. The registered owner of the car, Felix Bauckholt, a German national, was in the passenger seat, court records say.
Youngblut stepped out of the car’s driver seat and allegedly fired a handgun at the agents “without warning,” according to court records. Agent David “Chris” Maland was killed in the shootout.
Bauckholt tried to draw a gun and was shot and killed by Border Patrol agents. Youngblut was also shot during the incident, court records say.
A search of the vehicle after the shooting found tactical gear, including night vision goggles, a ballistic helmet, a tactical belt with a holster and ammunition.
Bauckholt and Youngblut had attracted the attention of law enforcement several days before the traffic stop, according to prosecutors. A hotel employee in Lyndonville had contacted police with concerns about the pair after they checked into the hotel dressed in “all-black tactical style clothing with protective equipment.” Youngblut also appeared to be carrying a firearm, court records say.
The pair had been looking to buy property in the Northeast Kingdom, according to VTDigger. One person associated with Zizians used to own a house in Coventry.
Bauckholt and Youngblut have both been linked to the Zizians, a group of mostly young computer scientists whose online writings span radical veganism, gender identity and artificial intelligence, according to reporting by the Associated Press.
Vermont abolished the death penalty for state cases in 1972, but it can still be brought in federal court. The last person sentenced to death in Vermont on federal charges was Donald Fell, who was convicted in 2005 of kidnapping and killing a supermarket worker. But conviction and sentence was thrown out by a judge due to juror misconduct. Fell later pleaded guilty to murder, carjacking and kidnapping and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
