Child abuse, poisoning charges for parents of Roman Lopez, 11-year-old found dead in 2020
The parents of a Placerville boy who died under suspicious circumstances more than a year ago have been arrested and are facing shocking child abuse and poisoning charges, but will not face murder charges, authorities said Thursday.
Jordan and Lindsay Piper, the father and stepmother of 11-year-old Roman Lopez, were arrested early Thursday in Calaveras County and were booked into the El Dorado County Jail in Placerville.
Jordan Piper, 35, was being held on $1.05 million bail for each count he faces; Lindsay Piper, 38, was being held on $1.3 million for each count she is charged with.
Placerville police on Thursday revealed that “investigators located Roman deceased inside a storage bin in the basement” of the Pipers’ home after an extensive search the day he was reported missing.
“Although an autopsy revealed no obvious trauma, Roman was found to be severely malnourished and dehydrated at the time of his death,” the department said in a statement.
“This is a horrific crime that rocked the community,” Placerville police Chief Joseph Wren said Thursday morning. “The death of a child affects us all.
“Now it’s time for the perpetrators to face justice.”
Both defendants are facing felony charges of child abuse likely to cause great bodily injury or death and causing cruel and extreme pain for revenge, extortion or sadistic purpose.
Jordan Piper is charged with an additional count of willfully failing to provide food, clothing, shelter and medical attention to the boy.
Lindsay Piper is charged with a separate count of willfully having “mingled a poison and harmful substance with food, drink, medicine, and pharmaceutical product and placed a poison and harmful substance in a spring, well, reservoir and public water supply” knowing it could cause injury.
Officials declined to provide further details about the case during a news conference Thursday morning, with El Dorado District Attorney Vern Pierson saying the investigation is continuing and that authorities do not want to jeopardize the prosecution.
“Given the circumstances we are not going to be able to answer all your questions today,” Pierson said, adding that authorities “will never actually know the answers to certain parts of it.”
The police chief said both defendants were arrested where they were living — identified in Calaveras County sheriff’s jail logs as a motel on Highway 4 in Arnold. They were arrested without incident and made no statements, Wren added.
The chief also declined to discuss the nature of the charge involving poison.
“I can tell you we have evidence that proves each of the crimes beyond a reasonable doubt that they were arrested for,” Wren said.
A source familiar with the case said “there is no question he was abused” while living with the Pipers, but that no murder charges were filed.
“He had a terrible life for the period of time that he was there,” the source said, adding that the boy’s actual cause of death may never be determined.
The Pipers were caring for seven other children in the home on Coloma Street at the time of Roman’s death. Wren said that one of the children turned 18; three of the children, who were not related to the Piper family, were returned to their biological family; and three remaining children were placed with Child Protective Services.
Police said Roman’s body was found hours after he was reported missing from his home Jan. 11, 2020. Until Thursday, authorities had provided no details about Roman’s death or the investigation. On Thursday, they reiterated the sensitive and ongoing nature of the case.
The Pipers in an interview with The Bee days after Roman’s death said they awoke to find the boy gone on a Saturday morning, “frantically” searched for him but could not find him.
About 15 hours later and after a search party involving police and dozens of Jordan Piper’s coworkers, the couple said, police informed them that their son had been found deceased.
“We have no idea what happened, where they found him, what the autopsy report said, if that’s even done, any suspects, nothing,” Jordan Piper said at the time. “We have nothing.”
This story was originally published February 4, 2021 at 9:48 AM.
