PLACERVILLE, CALIFORNIA: Over a year after a boy was found dead in a storage bin of his home’s basement, his parents have been arrested and slapped with charges. Roman Anthony Lopez’s remains were discovered on January 11, 2020, from his Placerville home in the 2800 block of Coloma Street. In connection to his murder, his parents – Jordan Piper and Lindsay Piper – were detained on February 3 and have been pressed with child abuse and torture charges, The Daily Mail reported. The pair have been taken into custody for allegedly torturing, poisoning and starving the 11-year-old.
On Thursday, February 4, during a press conference Placerville Police Chief Joseph Wren said, “Although an autopsy revealed no obvious signs of trauma, Roman was found to be severely malnourished and dehydrated at the time of his death.” Along with the child abuse and torture charges, the 36-year-old father also is facing an additional count of willfully failing to provide food and water to the boy while the 38-year-old stepmother has been slapped with a separate count of poisoning, Wren confirmed.
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As per California law, poisoning is defined as mixing “any poison or harmful substance with any food, drink, medicine, or pharmaceutical product”, or intentionally putting “any poison or harmful substance in any spring, well, reservoir, or public water supply, where the person knows or should have known that the same would be taken by any human being to his or her injury.” The police chief did not provide further information on the case or what kind of abuse Lopez suffered. “I can tell you we have evidence that proves each of the crimes beyond a reasonable doubt that they were arrested for,” he added.
Reports stated that the accused couple have been held at El Dorado County jail in Placerville. Jordan and Lindsay were detained after more than a year of investigation into the death of the child, which saw the involvement of a number of social services and other government agencies who according to Wren had contacted the Pipers, who changed their locations often. When Lopez died, the alleged criminal duo was taking care of seven children. The oldest three kids were of Jordan while the other three were of someone else. The biological kids of the man have been placed with Child Protective Services, while the rest are with their real family.
It has been said that Lopez’s body was found hours after he was reported missing from his home. At the time, no information about the cause of death or the remains were provided. As per reports, the probe in the death mostly relied on the analysis of forensic evidence, getting search warrants to seize electronic devices, reviewing data, and working with medical professionals and experts in the field of child abuse. In addition, investigators also talked to several agencies, in another state, including child protective services, medical providers, law enforcement agencies and courts. “This is a horrific crime that rocked the community. The death of a child affects us all,” Wren stated.
The victim’s custody was reportedly given to his father after his biological mother Rochelle Lopez, lost custody of him. At the time, she was suffering PTSD and substance abuse following her time in the US army in Iraq. The three other kids who were taken care by Pipers were of Kira Sutkay, who said that Lindsay used to home-school the children and she was also responsible for taking them to doctor’s appointments while living in Michigan. However, later, Jordan allegedly moved her and the kids to California without informing her. While court records claimed another story. According to the official document, Sutkay signed over attorney-at-law rights of her three kids to Lindsay in July 2019. Also, a court hearing happened in September that year, which authorized the children’s movement.