CHESTER HEIGHTS — Michelle Zajko has been charged with murder, burglary, and conspiracy in connection with the December 31, 2022, deaths of her parents, Richard and Rita Zajko, in Chester Heights, Pennsylvania. Richard Zajko, 71, and Rita Zajko, 68, were shot to death inside their home on Highland Drive that day.

Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse stated that authorities do not believe Michelle Zajko acted alone in the killings. Rouse said Michelle Zajko was among those who killed her parents "to the extent that if she wasn't the one who actually pulled the trigger, she was certainly aligned with those who did."

Michelle Zajko was living in Vermont at the time of her parents' deaths. Police questioned her in Vermont shortly after the homicides. Officers briefly took her into custody at a Pennsylvania hotel a few weeks later but released her without charges. Jack LaSota was charged with obstructing the homicide investigation and disorderly conduct after staying at the same hotel as Michelle Zajko. According to Rouse, Michelle Zajko became affiliated with Jack LaSota during 2022, and she and another person purchased firearms that year.

Rouse also stated that Michelle Zajko had been estranged from her parents in the year leading up to their deaths. He said Rita Zajko sent her daughter a text message hours before the killings to apologize for the rift between them, and that the text went unanswered.

Police reported that a neighbor's doorbell camera captured video of a car pulling up to the Zajko home on December 31, 2022. Rouse said audio from the doorbell camera clearly shows someone yelling "Mom" at the front door. "The lights go on in the home and Richard and Rita Zajko are executed," Rouse added.

Michelle Zajko has been jailed in Maryland on other charges since February 2025. In an April 2025 open letter, she wrote, "I didn't murder my parents." Michelle Zajko, the only child of Richard and Rita Zajko, suggested in court filings that her father might have killed her mother and then himself.