Michelle Zajko, 33, faces murder, burglary, and conspiracy charges in the deaths of Rita and Richard Zajko, who were found shot to death in their Chester Heights, Pennsylvania, home on New Year's Eve 2022. Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse stated that investigators believe Zajko helped plan the killings, though authorities have not yet identified who fired the fatal shots.
"At this time we do not know who her co-conspirators were, but we are very certain that Michelle Zajko was in the home and arranged for the death of her parents," Rouse said.
Prosecutors said the case was built on years of investigative work, including cellphone analysis, ballistic evidence, and footage from a neighbor's doorbell camera. According to investigators, the video captured two individuals arriving at the home shortly before the killings and recorded someone shouting "Mom!" moments before the shootings.
Authorities also recovered shell casings that they say match ammunition linked to Zajko's Vermont property and backyard firing range. "If she wasn't the one who actually pulled the trigger, she was certainly aligned with those who did," Rouse added.
Zajko has denied involvement in the killings, writing in an April 2025 "Open Letter to the World," "I didn't murder my parents."
Prosecutors stated that Zajko had become estranged from her parents in the year leading up to their deaths. Hours before she was killed, Rita Zajko texted her daughter to apologize for the rift between them and to wish her a happy birthday. According to Rouse, "That text went unanswered."
Authorities have long considered Zajko a person of interest in the case. She is also accused of supplying the firearm used in the January 2025 killing of U.S. Border Patrol Agent David Maland, one of several deaths authorities have linked to alleged members of the Zizians.
