Adoptive mother charged with murder of 5-year-old son Landon Maloberti

The adoptive mother of a 5-year-old Pennsylvania boy who died in February and her husband were both arrested and charged with the boy’s murder last week after doctors said he showed signs of horrific abuse and torture.

Lauren and Jacob Maloberti, of Delmont, were slapped with criminal homicide for the Feb. 7 death of little Landon Maloberti on Thursday, the Westmoreland County District Attorney announced.

“Landon had blunt force trauma to his head and neck, blunt force trauma to his torso, and blunt force trauma to his extremities,” Westmoreland County District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli said at a press conference announcing the charges.

The couple brought the bruise-covered child to the hospital on Jan. 30 after he lost consciousness. The boy died about a week later, according to Ziccarelli’s office.

Little Landon suffered “severe child abuse” that left him unable to stand, eat or drink at the hands of his adoptive family. The parents then launched a now-defunct GoFundMe campaign that raised more than $5,000 for the child’s funeral costs, investigators said.

A doctor at UPMC Children’s Hospital said the 5-year-old suffered three brain bleeds and his brain was “obliterated,” according to a criminal complaint obtained by WPXI-TV.

Lauren and her husband, a 33-year-old corrections officer at Fayette State Correctional Center, waited a full day to take the boy to the hospital and told medical professionals that he was just “wobbly from COVID a month prior,” the complaint stated.

Doctors said that the child had bruises new and old and evidence of trauma from “multiple episodes of physical abuse.”

“His injuries caused substantial pain at the time they were inflicted, with impairment of function including inability to stand, inability to eat or drink and loss of consciousness,” the complaint stated.

Landon loved playing with his toy monster trucks, singing country music at the top of his lungs and eating pickles, according to his obituary.

But Lauren, 34, displayed a disgusting hatred of the boy, according to interviews and text messages noted in the court document.

His five siblings reportedly told police that she would spank him with her hand and a wooden spoon or spray him with a spray bottle while he would cry and she would grow “more angry,” the local news station reported.

The other children said their mother would only hit Landon because “he does not learn his lesson” and the woman’s former coworkers said she “hated” her son and called him “hard to love,” according to the complaint.

Texts between the couple from April 2022 until the boy’s death “were full of disdain” for the child, investigators said. Lauren once texted that “she was going to kill him,” CBS-Pittsburgh reported.

Delmont Police Chief TJ Klobucar said he “never faced an incident like this” in his 25 years in the department.

In addition to criminal homicide, the boy’s mother was charged with murder of the first degree, endangering the welfare of children, two counts of aggravated assault of a child and criminal conspiracy. Her husband was charged with the same crimes except for first-degree murder.

Both were denied bail and are being held in Westmoreland County Prison. They are due back in court on Aug. 8.

“Tragically, Landon suffered abuse and trauma over the span of his short life,” Ziccarelli said. “We intend to prosecute this case with the dignity and honor Landon deserves.”