Left to right: Lauren E. Maloberti (Westmoreland County District Attorney's Office), Landon Maloberti (Westmoreland County District Attorney's Office/WPXI), Jacob N. Maloberti (Westmoreland County District Attorney's Office).
A Pennsylvania mother's claims that she did not kill her adopted 5-year-old son and that it was in fact her husband who abused the boy were rejected by a jury.
Lauren Maloberti, 36, was found guilty of third-degree murder in the death of Landon Maloberti, as well as two counts of aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of children, and conspiracy, the Westmoreland County District Attorney's Office announced on Thursday. She was not found guilty of first-degree murder.
The woman's husband, 46-year-old Jacob Maloberti, is being tried separately and is "awaiting court proceedings," the agency noted. Court records reviewed by Law&Crime show he has a disposition hearing scheduled for May 22.
He is charged with criminal homicide, two counts of aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of children, and conspiracy.
During the final days of Lauren Maloberti's trial, she and her husband sought to cast blame on each other for their son's death.
An unconscious Landon was brought by his parents to a medical center in the Pittsburgh area on Jan 30, 2023, and he died about a week later. He had a "catastrophic" brain injury and had suffered more than 100 injuries to his body, authorities said. His cause of death was ruled to be blunt-force trauma.
The parents were arrested as part of the investigation. Jacob Maloberti has contended that he believed Landon was experiencing a medical condition on that January 2023 day and that his wife killed their son without his knowledge.
"The person I thought I was married to, I lost complete trust in," Jacob Maloberti testified on Monday, according to Pittsburgh ABC affiliate WTAE. "I can't wrap my head around that for a year, what I was told happened to our son didn't happen."
However, text messages read during her trial suggested indications of abuse were present at least months earlier.
As Law&Crime previously reported, Lauren Maloberti had allegedly texted her husband in July 2022, "I just got done beating your son."
After her husband gave his version of events, Lauren Maloberti testified in her own defense. She claimed her husband raped and emotionally controlled her and that he was the one who abused Landon before his death, per courtroom reporting from The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
She stated she believed Jacob Maloberti beat their child behind a locked bathroom door on the morning of their hospital visit and then stopped her from getting him medical help even as it became apparent that he needed it.
"Jacob was getting frustrated. He grabbed him by the upper forearm. Landon was crying," she said, per the local newspaper. "I heard Landon screaming … He had a pretty significant mark on his face."
She reportedly rejected a question that she "failed" her son, stating that "I did what I could when I knew something was wrong."
But the jury ultimately found her argument that she was innocent ineffective — coming back after three hours of deliberation on Thursday to declare she was guilty of murder in the third degree. She faces up to 80 years in prison, though her attorney said they will appeal the verdict.
Attention now turns to Jacob Maloberti and his defense.
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