Iowa teenager who was jailed for killing her rapist escapes from custody

An 18-year-old Iowa, USA, sex trafficking victim, Pieper Lewis, who was sent to a women’s centre to serve a probation sentence for allegedly killing a man who raped her, has escaped from the center, the Iowa prison authorities said on Monday.

During the trial in September, Lewis had pleaded guilty to killing a man she said raped her and was placed at the Fresh Start Women’s Center in Des Moines before allegedly escaping from the center on Friday.

According to a probation violation report, Lewis was seen “walking out of the building at the Women’s Center shortly after 6:15 am Friday, and at some point that day, her GPS monitor was cut off.”

A warrant has been issued for Lewis’ arrest and the probation report asked for her deferred judgment to be revoked and have her original sentence imposed, where she could face up to 20 years in prison.

Read also:Female Afghan judges on the run, after Taliban freed male rapists, murderers they convicted

Prosecutors had called the probation sentence she was given merciful for a teen who endured horrible abuse, although some questioned the $150,000 restitution she was ordered to pay to the family of the man she killed.

A GoFundMe campaign had raised over $560,000 to cover the restitution and pay for her other needs.

Lewis had pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and willful injury in the June 2020 killing of 37-year-old Zachary Brooks, a married father of two, when she was 15. She had stabbed Brooks more than 30 times in a Des Moines apartment after he raped her.

In her testimony, Lewis said that she was trafficked against her will to Brooks for sex multiple times and stabbed him in a fit of rage.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now