A teenager who killed her alleged rapist has escaped from a US correctional facility. Pieper Lewis was 15 when she killed alleged rapist Zachary Brooks, having escaped from an abusive trafficking scheme.
She “walked away from the Fresh Start Women’s Center” in Iowa on Friday morning.
The now 18-year-old got rid of her GPS tracking device after 6am, with her “whereabouts unknown", according to Jerry Evans, executive director of Iowa’s Fifth Judicial District Department of Corrections, reports the Mirror.
Lewis pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and wilfully injuring her alleged rapist in June 2020 after escaping from his home. Christopher Brown, 28, allowed her to stay at his home but forced her to have sex with other men for money, after claiming to be her boyfriend.
Mr Brown allegedly dropped her to Mr Brooks' flat and made her drink alcohol and drugs as he raped her. A court also heard she would be forced to have sex with Mr Brooks along with the man she was living with.
Mr Brown allegedly claimed she couldn't live with him rent free and arranged sexual meetings between Ms Lewis and other men, luring them in using a fake dating app profile.
Mr Brown is alleged to have held a knife against her throat and forced her to be visited by Mr Brooks for a second time. During the second visit, she was drugged and woke up to find Mr Brooks raping her.
Ms Lewis then went into his room and stabbed him more than 30 times. She said in her plea: “I suddenly realised that Mr. Brooks had raped me yet again and was overcome with rage. Without thinking, I immediately grabbed the knife from his nightstand and began stabbing him."
Ms Lewis was sentenced to five years of supervised probation by an Iowa judge taking into account the horrendous violence she faced.
She now faces at least 20 years in jail after breaking the terms of her parole. Mr Evans said: “A warrant for her arrest was subsequently issued that remains outstanding.”
There was uproar when Ms Lewis was ordered to pay £131,000 in compensation to Brook's family as a result of homicide laws.
A former teacher set up a GoFundMe page to help pay the bill and she was overwhelmed with donations from the public. More than £480,000 was raised and the money was used to cover her legal bill and other expenses.
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