Search continues for Iowa teen who killed rapist

DES MOINES — An 18-year-old sex trafficking victim who killed her rapist could be sent to prison after she walked away from an Iowa women’s shelter where she was serving probation following her conviction for manslaughter.

An arrest warrant was issued for Pieper Lewis, who was seen walking out of the Fresh Start Women’s Center in Des Moines shortly after 6:15 a.m. Friday, according to a report filed with the court by a probation officer and the shelter's residential supervisor. The report said Lewis cut off the GPS monitor she was ordered to wear as part of her sentence and then left the facility.

Iowa Department of Corrections spokesman Nick Crawford said Lewis had not been located as of Monday afternoon.

Des Moines police spokesman Paul Parizek said police were notified by state corrections officials that Lewis had walked away from the shelter, and information was broadcast to officers to watch for her. He said she will be taken into custody if found and turned over to corrections officials.

Polk County Judge David Porter sentenced Lewis in September to probation for five years to be served at the women's shelter. He also gave her a deferred judgment, which meant her conviction would be expunged from her record if she completed the requirements of her probation. Porter warned Lewis at her sentencing hearing that by affording her an opportunity to avoid prison he was giving her a second chance. "You don’t get a third,” he said.

Lewis had faced a 20-year prison sentence after pleading guilty last year to involuntary manslaughter and willful injury in the June 2020 killing of 37-year-old Zachary Brooks, a married father of two. Lewis was 15 when she stabbed Brooks more than 30 times in a Des Moines apartment.

Corrections officials have asked the court to hold a hearing on their request to revoke her probation and deferred judgment and send her to prison.

Lewis has said that she was trafficked against her will to Brooks for sex multiple times and stabbed him in a fit of rage after he forced her to have sex with him again. Police and prosecutors did not dispute that Lewis was sexually assaulted and trafficked. The man she accused of forcing her to have sex with men, including Brooks, has never been charged.

Court documents indicate Lewis was allowed to leave the women's shelter to work at a local pizza restaurant. However, the documents showed, since Oct. 13 seven incidents were noted in which she did not promptly return to the shelter from work, a violation of shelter rules. The filings indicate authorities were keeping a close eye on her movements through the GPS monitor. Other violations also were noted, including an unauthorized meeting with someone she had dated in high school.