Matthias Gafni

2 weeks ago | ctinsider.com | Matthias Gafni |Cynthia Dizikes |Sophia Bollag |Susie Neilson

One day before the Trump administration deployed U.S. Marines to confront protesters in Los Angeles, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem asked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to direct the military to detain or arrest "lawbreakers," a move one expert called "a grave escalation." A letter sent Sunday from Noem to Hegseth, obtained by the Chronicle, requested that the Pentagon give "Direction to DoD forces to either detain, just as they would at any federal facility guarded by military,...

3 weeks ago | sfchronicle.com | Megan Cassidy |Matthias Gafni |Michael Barba

The former home of murder victims Richard and Rita Zajko in Chester Heights, Pa., photographed in 2025. Matt Rourke/Associated PressThe fallout from the “Zizians” saga has been extensive. Seven young people with links to the cultlike band of devout vegans and math whizzes — centered around former Bay Area resident Ziz LaSota — are now jailed in California, Maryland and Vermont.

1 month ago | sfchronicle.com | Matthias Gafni |Julie Johnson

A newly released video that captures the ignition of the Palisades Fire on Jan. 7 provides further evidence the disastrous Los Angeles County blaze was possibly the rekindling of a fire from days earlier, according to four wildfire investigation experts who reviewed the footage.

1 month ago | sfchronicle.com | Michael Barba |Megan Cassidy |Matthias Gafni

Note: This story contains descriptions of self-harm and mental illness that may be upsetting to readers. For the 24-hour National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, call or text 988. While seeking life’s greater purpose on a tropical island off Morocco, amid marathon meditation sessions and experiments with self-optimization, Maia Pasek discovered a new source of enlightenment halfway across the globe. It was “Ziz,” the Bay Area blogger now linked to six violent deaths from Vallejo to Vermont.

2 months ago | sfchronicle.com | Matthias Gafni

Patrick McMillan, 81, is pushed in his wheelchair outside the courthouse in Fairfield. McMillan testified ahead of the murder trial in the killing of a Vallejo landlord he called his best friend. Sarah McGrew/SF ChronicleA key witness in the murder trial of two Zizian associates testified in graphic detail Tuesday about the 2022 attack on his best friend, Vallejo landlord Curtis Lind, but acknowledged that multiple strokes and heart attacks have ravaged his memory.