Lindsay Piper has been sentenced to life with the possibility of parole in 15 years for the killing of 11-year-old Roman Lopez in Placerville, California.
The stepmother of Lopez was sentenced on Friday in El Dorado County court.
Lindsay had changed her plea to no contest to second-degree murder in May, according to the El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office.
Roman’s father, Jordan Piper and Lindsay Piper were arrested in February 2021 on charges that initially included child abuse, poisoning and torture. Murder charges were filed against the pair the following October.
At the time of Roman’s death, the child was living in a home with the Pipers and seven other children whose ages ranged from 1 to 17 years old. The family had recently moved to Placerville and had only been in the house for a little over two months before Roman’s death.
Roman was reported missing in January 2020. He was found dead hours later in a storage bin in the basement of the family’s home, and police said at the time that his death was suspicious and authorities were investigating. Both pleaded not guilty.
Authorities said that although an autopsy conducted revealed no obvious trauma, Roman was found to be “severely malnourished and dehydrated at the time of his death.”
Last month, authorities announced that Jordan was also under investigation for child pornography.
While federal agents were investigating the death of Roman Lopez, more than 400 nude photos of an underage girl were discovered on Jordan’s phone, documents show. It also appears that he sent inappropriate text messages to the girl.
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