Pieper Lewis, an Iowa teen who killed a man that she claimed raped her and was then sentenced to probation and ordered to pay restitution to the victim’s family, then escaped from a corrections facility, according to Iowa’s Fifth Judicial District Department of Corrections. Lewis allegedly “walked away from the Fresh Start Women’s Center on Friday (October 4) at 6:19 a.m. after cutting off her electronic monitoring tracking device”, the district’s executive director Jerry Evans told CNN. Lewis could face up to 20 years in prison for the probation violation. A warrant has also been issued for Lewis’ arrest.

Lewis was 15 years old when she killed Zachary Brooks, a 37-year-old father of 3, who she claimed raped her. She received a judgment from Polk County District Judge David Porter after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter and willful injury. On September 13, 2022, another judge ruled for Lewis to pay the Brooks family $150,000 in restitution, as Iowa law requires. However, a GoFundMe campaign has helped Lewis, with over $560,000 being raised to cover the restitution and other needs, according to AP News. 

This is not the first time that Lewis disobeyed her probation rules. After she failed to report back to the facility on October 16, officers found Lewis outside the Broadlawns Medical Center. According to the Des Moines Register, Lewis later admitted that she was visiting someone she had contact with in high school. Officers then prohibited her from contacting this person further, according to the violation report. The report also claimed that Lewis was unaccounted for 4 hours and 16 minutes over the course of 3 weeks. Lewis has yet to be caught and it remains to be seen what the judges will do after she is found.