[Former Lakeside School student]
What we know about WA woman arrested in Vermont Border Patrol shootout
Jan. 24, 2025 at 5:09 pm Updated Jan. 24, 2025 at 5:37 pm
The parents of a 21-year-old Washington woman suspected of starting a shootout that killed a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Vermont this week had called Seattle police in May to report their daughter missing.
Parents of Teresa Youngblut told officers they were fearful she was in a controlling relationship and was being forced to cut off contact with her friends and family, according to a copy of a May 15 report provided by the Seattle Police Department.
Federal investigators have accused Youngblut of firing without warning at Border Patrol agents during a traffic stop on Interstate 91 in Coventry, Vt., shortly after 3 p.m. Monday. At least one of the agents fired back, according to a probable cause affidavit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont.
David “Chris” Maland, a 44-year-old Border Patrol agent, died in the shootout, according to the affidavit. The affidavit did not make clear whether Maland was one of the agents who fired.
Felix Baukholt, a German citizen who appeared to have an expired visa and was a passenger in Youngblut’s car, also tried to draw a gun and died, court documents say. Youngblut, who also was shot, was taken to North County Hospital and then transferred to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire, according to the affidavit.
Fabienne Boisvert-DeFazio, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Vermont, would not provide an update on Youngblut’s condition. But court records show Youngblut is set to make her first court appearance Monday.
Youngblut’s lawyers did not respond to requests for comment. Her parents did not answer calls or messages to phone numbers and emails associated with their names.
Investigators started surveilling Youngblut and Baukholt about a week before the shooting, after a hotel employee in Lyndonville, Vt., told police the pair had checked into the building on Jan. 14 wearing “all-black tactical style clothing” and protective equipment. The employee said Youngblut was carrying a gun, the affidavit states.
Concerns about Youngblut began as early as May, when Youngblut’s parents, who live in Seattle, contacted Seattle police to report her missing. The couple said their daughter had abruptly moved out of their house and cut off contact with them, according to the police report. The couple told police their daughter had packed all of her belongings from her bedroom, including her passport and medical records, into duffel bags and left. She sent her mother an email May 11 saying goodbye, and another email May 15 saying she had moved in with a friend and changed her phone number, and that her parents would no longer be able to contact her, the police report states. The couple told police their daughter’s behavior had changed recently, and that she “had become deceptive” with them, often lying about where she was going or who she was with. She had also broken off friendships, including with people she had known since childhood, which was unlike her, according to the police report.
Both parents told police they were concerned she may be in a controlling relationship and was being forced to behave that way. They told police Youngblut did not have any diagnosed mental health disorders. Police told the parents Youngblut was “well within her rights to go where she wants” since she was an adult, but her parents replied they thought the circumstances behind Youngblut’s recent behavior were “suspicious,” according to the police report. Police determined there wasn’t enough to trigger a missing-person report. No one answered the door Friday at Youngblut’s family home, where all curtains were drawn and fabric was tacked over the windowpanes on the door.
One neighbor said Youngblut’s mother knocked on their door May 14, the day before the parents called police, asking if anyone had seen Teresa.
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