--- alias: - Maximilian Bentley Snyder category: Extremism & Violent Networks created: 2026-06-19 location: Vallejo, California summary: Maximilian Snyder is a former University of Oxford student connected to the Zizian group who was charged with the January 2025 capital murder of Vallejo landlord Curtis Lind, allegedly to prevent Lind from testifying against other members of the group. tags: - Person - Zizians - Violence - DeathPenalty - Vallejo updated: 2026-06-19 --- Maximilian Bentley Snyder is a young man connected to the [Zizian](/organizations/the-zizians/) group who was charged with the January 17, 2025 murder of [Curtis Lind](/people/curtis-lind/), an 82-year-old Vallejo landlord, in a killing that Solano County prosecutors allege was carried out to stop Lind from testifying against other members of the group. Snyder studied philosophy and computer science at the University of Oxford from 2020 to 2024.[^1][^2] ### The Lind Killing and Prosecution Lind had survived a 2022 sword attack by Zizian-affiliated tenants and was scheduled to testify in April 2025 against Suri Dao and Alexander Leatham, the two charged in that attack. On January 17, 2025, Lind was stabbed to death on his Lemon Street property; prosecutors charged Snyder with murder and alleged the killing was meant to prevent his testimony. Snyder pleaded not guilty to capital murder in March 2025 and was held without bail at the Solano County Jail in Fairfield, with prosecutors indicating he could face the death penalty under California law.[^1][^3] The complaint charged a special circumstance, alleging that "the victim, C.L., was a witness to a crime" who "was intentionally killed for the purpose of preventing his testimony in a criminal proceeding," the statutory basis for a capital case. Snyder was arrested on January 24, 2025 by Redding Police Department officers and transported to the Solano County Jail. He hummed and sang to himself during his arraignment, behavior reporters noted from the courtroom, and his case moved slowly through 2025 as he returned to court in June to set a date for a preliminary hearing.[^1][^3][^4] ### The Youngblut Marriage License Snyder had applied for a marriage license with [Teresa Youngblut](/people/teresa-youngblut/), the member charged in the January 20, 2025 killing of Border Patrol agent David Maland in Vermont. The application was made in Washington in November 2024, and Snyder and Youngblut had both attended Lakeside School, a private high school in Seattle. The marriage-license record was one of the first documented links investigators drew between the California and Vermont killings.[^4][^5] Federal prosecutors in Vermont said Youngblut had been in contact with Snyder, placing the two killings, Lind's on January 17 and Maland's on January 20, within a single network operating across the country in the same week. The Oxford background set Snyder among the highly educated recruits who populated the group; he had studied philosophy and computer science there from 2020 to 2024 before the Vallejo killing put him in custody. By early 2026 he was one of at least seven people associated with the group fighting charges across three states.[^5][^6] [^1]: "22-year-old University of Oxford grad charged with murder of elderly landlord," *The Tab,* March 7, 2025. https://thetab.com/2025/03/07/22-year-old-university-of-oxford-grad-charged-with-murder-of-elderly-landlord [^2]: "How a California math genius spiraled into Zizian ideology and violence," *Open Vallejo,* March 12, 2025. https://openvallejo.org/2025/03/12/how-a-california-math-genius-spiraled-into-zizian-ideology-and-violence/ [^3]: "Defendant linked to 'Zizians' pleads not guilty to capital murder," *Open Vallejo,* March 26, 2025. https://openvallejo.org/2025/03/26/defendant-linked-to-zizians-pleads-not-guilty-to-capital-murder/ [^4]: "Suspects in killings of Vermont border patrol agent and California man connected by marriage license, extreme ideology," *VTDigger,* January 27, 2025. https://vtdigger.org/2025/01/27/suspects-in-killings-of-vermont-border-patrol-agent-and-california-man-connected-by-marriage-license-extreme-ideology/ [^5]: "A timeline of cultlike 'Zizian' group tied to killing of a Border Patrol agent in Vermont," Associated Press via PBS NewsHour, 2025; on the November 2024 marriage-license application and the Youngblut contact. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/a-timeline-of-cultlike-zizian-group-tied-to-killing-of-a-border-patrol-agent-in-vermont [^6]: "A year after border agent's killing, 7 Zizians fight charges in 3 states," WHYY, 2026. https://whyy.org/articles/border-agent-killing-zizian-criminal-charges-california-pennsylvania-vermont/