The leader of a cult-like group connected to six killings in three states, was ordered held without bail Tuesday in Maryland, US, where she faces trespassing and other charges.

Jack LaSota, 34, and two others arrested with her on Sunday appeared via videoconference for bail hearings in Allegany District Court. A judge ordered all three held without bail, describing them as dangerous flight risks.

Allegany County State’s Attorney James Elliott said during the hearing Tuesday that LaSota has faked her own death in the past and “appears to be the leader of an extremist group” called the Zizians that has been linked to multiple deaths.

But LaSota, who is known online as Ziz, asked for pretrial release, saying she was homeless with no means of traveling. Speaking haltingly, she also repeatedly requested a vegan diet, saying she could starve otherwise and was already “in a mild state of delirium” due to lack of food.

Members of the group have been tied to the death of a woman during an attack on a California landlord in November 2022, the landlord’s subsequent slaying in January, and the deaths of a Pennsylvania couple in between. Most recently, the group has been linked to a highway shootout in Vermont that left a U.S. Border Patrol agent and a car passenger dead. (AP, but headline rejigged)