Death is never a pleasant thing – not even the death of your enemies. So how would you react when a small kid that you just saw yesterday, goes missing and within a span of a few hours, and is pronounced dead? This is exactly what happened in Placerville with the disappearance of Roman Lopez.
Roman Lopez, who recently moved to Placerville with his stepmother Lindsy Piper and father Jordan Piper was reported missing on January 11th of 2020. As soon as this news was known in the neighborhood, chaos spread. Everyone united to find the missing 11-year-old child. A few hours, on January 12th, 2020, he was found dead at Pipers’ rented Placerville home on Colma Street, in the basement.
As soon as the dead body of the boy was found, the investigation began. Here we will follow the murder case of young boy Roman Lopez and explore how sometimes there is a lot more going on than it seems.
First Phase: Missing Roman Lopez and “Suspicions”
The case began with the missing report of Roman Lopez- an 11-year-old missing boy from Placerville. As soon as the report was filed, police began their search and rescue mission, along with the local neighbors. It didn’t take long to find the boy, however, his discovery led to a wave of sadness than smiles.
A few hours after the investigation began, Roman Lopez was found dead in the basement of Piper’s rented house in Colma Street. The body was taken for the autopsy to determine the cause of death. While all of this was going on, the cops looked for clues elsewhere. Not long after this, the police confirmed that the death of the boy happened under “Suspicious circumstances”. Police confirmed that at the time of death, there was no visible trauma seen. But they added that the boy seemed to be “Severely malnourished and dehydrated”.
When talking with the media, his stepmother Lindsy piper said in tears “The boy was goofy and kind”. If this seems a bit coldhearted to you, then you are not the only one who thinks that as the neighbors thought it as well.
However contrary to this, a neighbor going by the name of Julie had a much more emotional comment. She said “This used to be a good neighbor and the little boy just moved here, you know, doesn’t make sense” and trailed off as she choked in her own words.
Jan 14, 2020
It had been two days since the body of Roman Lopez was discovered under “suspicious circumstances”. But besides the earlier comments about him being severely dehydrated and malnourished, no other comments had been given. The details regarding the circumstances have been kept in tight control.
When the media questioned Placerville police, one of them commented on the death of Roman Lopez as “One of the toughest cases” he had ever handled. This just pushed the suspicion of the general public even further. It also made them realize that this was not a cut and dry case – there was more than what was seen on the surface. All the while, an autopsy was still being held on the boy.
It is speculated that the cops had already begun to suspect the Stepmother and father for their involvement in the death of Roman Lopez
Second Phase: The Silent waiting and Online Detectives
February 18, 2020
Despite more than a month after the discovery of Roman Lopez, there still has been no report. The neighbors are still tense and are mourning the death of a young child with endless possibilities. It is at this point that online detectives and internet Sleuths started to get involved in this case. The death of a young kid and the silence of the police department triggered thousands of online detectives and they formed 3 Facebook groups to read any published materials, find logical speculations and see if they could find anything to report for the concerned.
Rachel Lopez, the biological mother of Roman Lopez said this with teary eyes and a choked voice “He didn’t deserve this, and I wish I could’ve been there, anyway, I could’ve stopped it”. Her statement and emotions reached tons of people and all of them started to get involved in this “investigation”. Anyone would be devastated to hear about your kid being dead – especially when you were not around.
People felt this hard. There is something about an innocent death and honest emotions that just trigger people to unite together.
One of the online detectives named Jeb’s who connected with Rachel said “I simply searched for ‘Roman Lopez’ and then came up with two different groups and I joined both of them”
February 19, 2020
After what seemed like a long time, police finally said something – but it was barely better than nothing. On this date, Placerville police officially confirmed the involvement of the FBI in this case. At the same time, they also revealed the reason why no reports have been released so far.
Commander Kim Nadia stated – Romans blood was being analyzed by the Sacramento County’s Office and, the report could take anywhere from 4 to 6 weeks to arrive. While this gave relief to some people thinking that the murder would soon be caught, it also arouse suspicions in many.
Usually, the cause of death will be revealed as soon as the autopsy is completed. But so far, there was virtually no report from the cops besides “the body is being analyzed”. The only circumstances where this would happen would be either that the cause of death has not been found or that it has led the feds into a deep rabbit hole of extremely sensitive information.
Since it was unlikely that the cause of death would still not be determined even with the involvement of the FBI, the suspicions grew about the sensitivity of the information.
July 19, 2020
By this time, it had been more than half a year since the young kid Roman Lopez was found dead in a basement. But despite the passing of time, there was still no report or any words. When the media asked the cops, all they replied with were generic “Roman’s blood has been drawn and analyzed by Sacramento County Corners Office.”
The cops said that they were waiting on Pathology and Toxicology reports and that these two reports were needed to conclude this case. This implied two things. First, the death of Roman Lopez was not a simple kidnap or natural death. Second, there was a possibility that he was poisoned to death due to the need for a toxicology report.
Along with this, by this time, it was being clearer to the public that this case was a convoluted one and there were many things that the cops knew but were kept on hold. This was even more obvious to the sleuth of online detectives. The same ones who were still actively working on the death of Roman Lopez.
At this time, one of the Internet detectives, who by this time had become the spokesperson for the biological family of Roman Lopez gave some hints on how the case is going on. She said “I know from the outside looking into it, it looks like not much has been done but they are working hard on this”
This implied that the investigation was still going strong. It also revealed that there was a lot of information being hidden from the public until conclusive proof was found.
Final Phase: Apprehension and Arrest
February 4, 2021
It had been more than a year since the body of Roman Lopez was found. Many people had forgotten about this case and many people had moved on. There was the pandemic after all and many people had to take care of themselves. It didn’t help that the cops and feds related to the case of Roman Lopez were silent.
Even after a year went, by the case remained unsolved. Many suspected that this would be one of those cold cases. It was at this time that the bomb hit the news. Roman Lopez’s father Jordan Piper and Step Mother Lindsy Piper were arrested on this day.
They were taken into custody in Calaveras County. On February 4th, 2021, the Placerville Police Department and El Dorado Country District Attorney’s office announced the arrest of Mr. and Mrs. Piper.
Jordan Piper and Lindsy Piper were charged with Chid abuse and torture. Jordan faced an additional charge of “Failure to provide for a child”. Along with this, the stepmother Lindsy is charged with “poisoning”. These charges revealed that Lindsy has been adding small doses of poison to the food and drinks of Roman Lopez. This was shocking news to a lot of people. But at the same time, quite a few had guessed most of the outcome. But despite the “proof” none of the parents were charged with murder as of yet.
“He didn’t seem that interested or that worried,” said William Rachel, a neighbor recounting the account of Jordan knocking on his door on the day Roman Lopez went missing.
November 4, 2021
With adequate proof from both the toxicology, interviews, and other sources, the couple; Lindsy Piper and Jordan Piper are finally charged with “First-degree murder”.For those who are unaware of what a “first-degree murder” is, as per most laws, it is a murder that has three elements. They are:
- Willfulness
- Deliberation
- Premeditation
This means if someone is killed with intent and is not done in an emotional fit of rage, it counts as first-degree murder. As per the US law “Whoever is guilty of murder in the first degree shall be punished by death or by imprisonment for life”.
As for the degree of punishment for the Piper couples responsible for the death of Roman Lopez, it will depend on the strength of the case against them.
November 7, 2021
By this point in time, the bail amount for Jordann was listed at 1.05 Million US Dollars. While Lindsy’s bail amount at 1.3 Million US dollars. This bail amount ensures that they cannot get bailed due to the massive amounts of cash required.
November 19, 2021
On this day, the Piper couple – Lindsy and Jordan Piper pled for “Not guilty” in court.
While it is unlikely that they will be granted this plea, the report of this decision will be out next month i.e December of 2021.
This part is for those who are unaware of what “Not Guilty Plea” means. It is a formal response of the defendant who in this case, the Piper couples charged with the first-degree murder of Roman Lopez, plead for them being not guilty and for the evidence to be re-examined.
Case Update 2022 | Lindsay Lopez Sentenced for Murder Charge
As per the DA’s (district atytorney’s) office, the plea deal did not include Lindsay’s change. However, Lindsay has not changed her plea for the charges of child abuse, torture and poisoning. The good news about all of this is that the justice seems to prevail as according to DA’s office, Lindsay is set to be sentenced on July 8 for the murder charge.
In the end,
Death was, is, and always will be a grim topic to talk about regardless of the person. While there are indeed jokes about death, it is usually in the form of dark humor. And as someone once said, Dark humor is made to cope with the grim realities of life. Death is something that always hits hard, especially when it’s that of a young kid.
While this is a rather grim case, it is not one only one of its kind. Many children are killed by their family members. Sometimes as a way to take revenge and other times for the prettiest of reasons. While we reviewed this case, we came to realize that more often than not, people sense when things wrong. So this is a good time to take a vow to never stand on the side of injustice. Let’s do whatever we can to prevent an innocent life from being harmed. This is something that we should do as humans anyways.
Let’s take a few minutes of silence and mourn.
Here, we won’t say “hope you found this interesting” for it won’t be appropriate here. Regardless, you can check out the following links for other topics that are not as dark as this.