A homeless teenager who fatally stabbed her rapist has escaped from a prison facility, according to the Iowa Department of Corrections.
Pieper Lewis was only 15 when she fatally stabbed Zachary Brooks in 2020. The now 18-year-old sex trafficking victim pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in September.
She was sentenced to five years of closely supervised probation and was ordered to pay Brooks’ family $150,000 in restitution.
Lewis was serving her probation sentence at the Fresh Start Women’s Center in Des Moines, Iowa. She reportedly walked away from the facility after cutting off her GPS ankle monitor just after 6 a.m. Friday.
A warrant was issued for her arrest and her probation will likely be revoked.
KCCI reports Lewis could face up to 20 years in prison if her probation is revoked.
A GoFundMe account that raised over $560,000 to help cover her restitution has been frozen.
Prosecutors said the probation she received in September was “merciful” because of the horrific abuse she endured.
According to the Des Moines Register, Polk County Judge David Porter, who sentenced Lewis to probation, told her that the lenient sentence “was the second chance you asked for. You don’t get a third.”
