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Pieper Lewis, from Iowa, pled guilty to killing her alleged rapist in June 2021. Yesterday it was reported that she’d escaped from a residential corrections facility, where she was serving five years of court-ordered probation.

Lewis was last seen on camera leaving the facility just after 6 a.m. Friday morning. Shortly after that time she apparently removed the ankle monitor, the device designed to keep tabs on her location.

Lewis was just 15 years old when she fatally stabbed Zachary Brooks, a man she claims was involved in a sex-trafficking ring. Lewis says that Brooks was abusive, and at one point admitted to having sex with her five separate times while she was unconscious.

According to Jerry Evans, the executive director of the facility, “At this time, her whereabouts are unknown.”

In addition to probation served at the behavioral health facility, Lewis was also ordered to pay $150,000 in restitution to Brooks’ family.

Many wonder whether justice was served in this situation. Lewis was just a child when this crime occurred. She was living by herself at a young age, moving from place to place, looking for a way to survive.

According to KellyMarie Meek of the Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault, “I know that many of the ways that trauma survivors deal with their trauma is not understood very well by folks that haven’t experienced trauma, which can sometimes lead to behaviors that get folks in trouble.”

Information from CNN was used for this report. To read CNN’s entire story, [click here].

Pieper Lewis, Iowa Teen Who Killed Her Rapist, Escapes Custody  was originally published on wzakcleveland.com