Lauren and Jacob Maloberti gave jurors sharply different accounts of the child’s final hours.
GREENSBURG, Pa. — Lauren Maloberti’s trial ended with a third-degree murder conviction after jurors heard her accuse her husband of causing their adopted son’s fatal injuries and heard him deny hurting the 5-year-old boy.
The verdict on May 14 settled the charges against Lauren Maloberti but left open the separate criminal case against Jacob Maloberti. Both adults were charged after Landon Maloberti was brought unconscious to a hospital in January 2023 and died about a week later. The jury convicted Lauren Maloberti of third-degree murder, two counts of aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of children and conspiracy. It acquitted her of first-degree murder.
The trial’s final days centered on two competing stories from inside the same Delmont home. Jacob Maloberti testified for the prosecution and said he had not harmed Landon. He told jurors he initially believed the boy’s collapse came from a medical condition. “The person I thought I was married to, I lost complete trust in,” he said. He also testified that only after the arrests did he begin to think Landon had been deliberately injured.
Lauren Maloberti took the stand after her husband and gave jurors the opposite account. She said Jacob was controlling and abusive, and she testified that she believed he beat Landon behind a locked bathroom door on the morning the child was taken to the hospital. She said she heard Landon screaming and later saw a significant mark on his face. Her testimony placed the fatal act on Jacob, while her lawyer argued investigators had stopped looking for other explanations once they focused on her.
Prosecutors told jurors the blame-shifting did not overcome the medical evidence or the testimony about Landon’s treatment in the home. They said the boy suffered a catastrophic brain injury and more than 100 injuries before his death. Experts testified that the wounds were in different stages of healing. A pediatric child abuse expert described the abuse as torture and medical neglect. Prosecutors said Lauren Maloberti injured Landon and delayed treatment until his condition could not be reversed.
Text messages gave prosecutors a record from months before the hospital visit. Detectives read a July 2022 message in which Lauren Maloberti allegedly told Jacob she had just beaten Landon. In another exchange the next month, she wrote that Landon better behave and later said he was going to get it. Prosecutors argued that the messages supported the testimony of children and relatives who described Landon as a frequent target of discipline. The defense said the messages did not prove she caused the fatal brain injury.
Witnesses described Landon as increasingly isolated. Children in the house told investigators he was slapped, sprayed with water, forced to drink from a toilet, watched by a camera and disciplined more than others. Prosecutors said he was also made to look for food after bedtime and kept away from school, neighbors and family members. Relatives testified that Lauren Maloberti treated her other children with warmth while speaking about Landon as difficult and unaffectionate.
Erika Dilascio, a sister-in-law and longtime friend of Lauren Maloberti, said the relationship between mother and son changed over time. She testified that Maloberti once appeared caring toward Landon but later complained about his behavior. Dilascio also said the explanation given after Landon’s hospitalization did not match the seriousness of his condition. Tammy Kemerer, Jacob Maloberti’s mother, testified that during visits in late 2022, Landon was often confined to a couch in the living room. She said Maloberti was loving toward the other children, but not Landon.
The legal question for jurors was not whether Landon had been abused, but how to weigh intent, responsibility and proof. Prosecutors charged first-degree murder, but jurors did not convict on that count. Third-degree murder under Pennsylvania law does not require the same finding of specific intent to kill. Defense attorney Adam Gorzelsky said after the verdict that the first-degree charge did not fit and that he had argued the evidence pointed closer to involuntary manslaughter. Prosecutors said the verdict still held Maloberti accountable for the child’s death.
District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli said the case required careful work by detectives, prosecutors and medical witnesses. She said Landon deserved justice and thanked the jury for its attention. Prosecutors presented more than 45 witnesses over roughly two weeks, including pediatric abuse experts, forensic pathologists and medical professionals. Their testimony traced the case from the hospital arrival to the child’s death, then back through months of alleged abuse.
Lauren Maloberti faces up to 80 years in prison and will be sentenced later. Jacob Maloberti remains charged with criminal homicide, aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of children and conspiracy. His attorney has said he is seeking a possible plea agreement to lesser charges, and his case remains pending in Westmoreland County court.
For now, the jury’s decision leaves one conviction and one unresolved prosecution. Lauren Maloberti is awaiting sentencing, while Jacob Maloberti’s case will determine how the court addresses the second adult charged in Landon’s death.
Author note: Last updated May 25, 2026.