Michael Omoruan
A young woman named Pieper Lewis killed a man after he raped her. She was charged and convicted but later escaped the correctional facility she was sentenced to and now faces misdemeanor escape charges.
Who is Pieper Lewis? + What Happened to Her?
Pieper Lewis garnered nationwide media attention after killing the man who allegedly sexually assaulted her back in May 2020.
“Without thinking,” the Des Moines native said in her plea agreement on the moments leading up to her killing her attacker. “I immediately grabbed the knife from his nightstand and began stabbing him.”
Initially, she was sentenced to jail for 20 years. Still, Judge Porter offered the 18-year-old a deferred judgment of five years at the Fresh Start Women’s Center correctional facility in Des Moines, Iowa, after she pled guilty.
She was also ordered to pay $150,000 to the family of the man she killed, 37-year-old Zachary Brooks. Lewis’s former math teacher, Leland Schipper, launched a GoFundMe page that has raised over $560,000 in donations.
However, since her four-day escape, Lewis is expected to see the judge for misdemeanor escape charges in January 2023 and presently remains in custody at the Polk County Jail.
Pieper’s Shortlived Escape
Close to two months into her sentence, Pieper Lewis fled the Women’s Center around 6:19 am on Friday, Nov. 4, according to Jerry Evans, the executive director of the Fifth Judicial District Department of Corrections. In an email to CNN, Evans detailed she escaped after cutting off her monitoring tracking device.
A probation violation report obtained by the Des Moines Register said someone opened a door at Fresh Start, which set off an alarm that morning. It was at this time Lewis took her chance to escape.
On Tuesday, Nov. 6, around 2:20 p.m., Lewis was found and booked into the Polk County Jail; She was charged that Wednesday.
Cyntoia Brown Freed After 15-Year Sentence
In related news, Tennessee woman Cyntoia Brown was released after serving 15 years in prison for killing a man who allegedly used her as a sex slave. Brown’s case garnered attention while serving her sentence as celebrities including, comedian DL Hughley, Illinois Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton, and Rihanna shared their support.
