Grand jury indicts woman accused in Vermont Border Patrol shooting that killed agent
A Vermont grand jury has indicted a woman accused of sparking a gunfight with Border Patrol agents last month, causing the death of an agent and the German woman she was traveling with.
The indictment handed down Thursday charges Teresa Youngblut with using a deadly weapon "knowingly and forcibly" during the fatal Jan. 20 incident near the Canadian border that killed agent David "Chris" Maland. Also killed in the shootout was Ophelia Bauckholt, a German national who Border Patrol agents mistakenly thought was in the country illegally.
Bauckholt was transfeminine, and federal authorities have been using Bauckholt's male birth name in court documents. Federal officials in a court filing also acknowledged that Bauckholt used the name Ophelia.
Investigators have not yet said who they believe fired the shots that killed Maland and Bauckholt, who was carrying a gun but did not fire. Youngblut has been detained since the shooting. She is due in court Friday morning to answer the charges.
Authorities say Youngblut and Bauckholt got their guns from a Vermont woman who is a "person of interest" in the murder of an elderly Pennsylvania couple in late 2022. That woman remains on the run, according to court documents.
Additionally, authorities are investigating Youngblut's connection to a homicide in California. Investigators in that death have charged Max Snyder, 22, with killing a man who was witness to a 2022 attack in Vallejo, Calif. Snyder and Youngblut got a marriage license in Seattle last year but it's unclear whether they went through with it.
The FBI has acknowledged the connections but has not yet publicly disclosed what investigators know.
“As stated in open court and in court filings, Teresa Youngblut is believed to have associations with other individuals suspected of violent acts in multiple states, to include Pennsylvania and California," Sarah Ruane, a spokeswoman for the FBI's Albany, New York, office said in a statement. "The FBI is coordinating information sharing on any case related details with our partners from various law enforcement agencies to effectively follow every lead and aggressively investigate these connections."
According to court records, the Jan. 20 confrontation between Youngblut and Border Patrol agents was the violent conclusion to a weeklong surveillance effort by federal officials over reports that Youngblut and Bauckholt had been acting suspiciously as they traveled around rural northern Vermont.
They attracted law enforcement attention because Youngblut and Bauckholt were reported wearing tactical-style gear and openly carrying firearms, which is legal in Vermont but unusual. The two declined to speak with officers, and agents began following them, according to an affidavit. Investigators also wrongly thought Bauckholt's visa to remain in the United States had expired.
According to court records and FBI affidavits, sometime in the minutes after Border Patrol agents stopped the Toyota Prius that Youngblut was driving, Youngblut opened fire with a handgun, firing at least two shots. Bauckholt, who drew a handgun, was shot before firing. Bauckholt died at the scene, and Maland, the Border Patrol agent, died at a nearby hospital.