The teenage sex trafficking victim who murdered her rapist by stabbing him 30 times when she was just 15 will be sentenced TOMORROW: She graduated from high school behind bars while awaiting sentencing
- Pieper Lewis was 15 years old when she stabbed her alleged rapist on June 1, 2020 in Iowa with 30 stabs
- Lewis, now 17, was mired in a sex trafficking scheme when she committed the act in the heat of a moment after being raped again by her abuser
- Zachary Brooks, 37, allegedly raped Lewis multiple times at a Des Moines home
- The victim was arrested for murder in June 2020 and obtained her high school diploma while in juvenile detention behind bars
A teenager implicated in a sex trafficking scheme is due to be sentenced on Wednesday after pleading guilty to killing her alleged rapist by stabbing him 30 times when she was 15.
Pieper Lewis, 17, will appear in court for killing Zachary Brooks, 37, on June 1, 2020 at a home in Des Moines, Iowa on Evergreen Ave. 1516, killed. Brooks allegedly raped Lewis multiple times before killing him.
Lewis killed her rapist after he attacked her. She found the knife on the bedside table and repeatedly stabbed him.
The 17-year-old claimed the murder was not premeditated and that her actions were filled with “anger”.
She was arrested on June 2, 2020 for murder and will appear in Polk County Criminal Court for sentencing Wednesday morning, according to the Des Moines Register.
The victim has been in a jail cell since her arrest and graduated from high school in July. She pleaded guilty in 2021 to manslaughter and aggravated assault and faces decades in prison.
Lewis’ attorney Matthew Sheeley was not immediately available for comment.
Pieper Lewis, 17, will appear in court for the murder of Zachary Brooks, 37, on June 1, 2020 in Iowa. Lewis said she was a victim of sex trafficking
She was arrested on June 2, 2020 for murder after police received a call the night of the incident claiming Brooks’ death was a suicide
Lewis will appear in Polk County Criminal Court on Wednesday
Police were investigating the 17-year-old’s relationships with older men, court documents from the Des Moines Register show.
Iowa law states that the legal age of consent for sex is 16. Those under the age of 13 cannot consent to sex, but those aged 14 and 15 can consent to sex within 48 months of their age.
Lewis was 15 when she was allegedly raped multiple times.
The night Brooks was killed in 2020, someone called authorities to report a suicide. Police later arrived and found the body but said it did not appear that he had killed himself, according to the KCCI.
News of the 15-year-old’s arrest went viral, but her identity was not released at the time.
Police arrived at the Iowa home (above) to find Brooks dead after a 2020 suicide report was reported
Police were investigating Lewis’ relationships with older men. Lewis was 15 when she was allegedly raped, and Iowa law states that the legal age of consent for sex is 16
State law requires those involved in an Iowa murder to pay the victims’ families $150,000. However, Lewis’ lawyers called for the law to be flouted because the 17-year-old was a crime victim.
Human trafficking cases are notoriously the most complex, and Lewis’ case will take some time to properly investigate, Des Moines Police Sgt. Paul Parizek said in November.
“In any criminal investigation, it can take time to gather the evidence needed to support a prosecution and meet criminal complaint filing standards,” Parizek told the Des Moines Register.
Legally, Brooks’ actions would have been a crime as well, since Lewis was a minor and had not consented.