Lauren Maloberti was found guilty of third-degree murder after a nearly two-week trial in Westmoreland County.

GREENSBURG, Pa. — A Westmoreland County jury convicted Lauren Maloberti of third-degree murder Thursday in the death of her 5-year-old adopted son, ending a trial built around medical testimony, family accounts and disputed claims inside a Delmont home.

The verdict moved the case from allegations to sentencing after prosecutors said Landon Maloberti was abused, isolated and denied prompt medical care before he died in 2023. Jurors also found Maloberti guilty of two counts of aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of children and conspiracy. She was found not guilty of first-degree murder, a charge that would have carried a mandatory life sentence.

The case began Jan. 30, 2023, when Landon was brought unconscious to AHN Hempfield in the Greensburg area. He was later transferred to UPMC Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh and died about a week later. Prosecutors said the boy had a catastrophic brain injury and more than 100 injuries in different stages of healing. Assistant District Attorney Cassidy Hatten told jurors at the start of trial that Landon was “isolated, mistreated, terrorized and killed,” not by a stranger, but by a person expected to protect him.

Medical testimony became the center of the prosecution case. Prosecutors said pediatric abuse experts, forensic pathologists and other medical professionals described blunt force injuries to Landon’s head, neck, torso and limbs. A child abuse expert classified the abuse as torture and medical neglect, according to statements from the district attorney’s office. Prosecutors said Maloberti delayed seeking care until the boy’s condition became fatal. The defense argued that prosecutors could not prove exactly what happened in the home or who caused the fatal injury.

Jurors heard that Landon had been treated differently from other children in the household. Family members testified that Maloberti once appeared loving toward him but later became angry and impatient. Erika Dilascio, a sister-in-law and longtime friend, said Maloberti complained that Landon misbehaved and did not show affection. Tammy Kemerer, Jacob Maloberti’s mother, said Landon was often kept on a couch in a corner of the living room during visits in late 2022. Kemerer told jurors that Maloberti was loving toward the other children, but not toward Landon.

Other evidence described what prosecutors called a pattern of humiliation and control. Children in the home told investigators that Landon was slapped, sprayed with water, ignored, forced to drink from a toilet and monitored by a camera. Prosecutors said he was made to search for food after bedtime and was isolated from relatives, neighbors and school. Those claims were presented with text messages between Lauren and Jacob Maloberti. In one July 2022 message read in court, Lauren Maloberti allegedly wrote that she had just gotten done beating Landon.

The trial also turned on dueling accounts from the two adults charged in the boy’s death. Jacob Maloberti, who faces his own homicide case, testified for the prosecution and said he did not harm Landon. He told jurors he first believed the boy’s collapse was tied to a medical problem. “The person I thought I was married to, I lost complete trust in,” Jacob Maloberti said during testimony. He said he began to question what happened only after he and his wife were arrested.

Lauren Maloberti testified in her own defense and placed blame on her husband. She told jurors she believed Jacob beat Landon behind a locked bathroom door on the morning the child was taken to the hospital. She said she heard Landon scream and saw a significant mark on his face. Her defense portrayed Jacob Maloberti as controlling and abusive, and argued that investigators settled too quickly on her as the main suspect. Prosecutors said her account did not match the wider body of medical and witness evidence presented over nine days.

After about three hours of deliberation, jurors rejected the first-degree murder charge but convicted Maloberti on the remaining counts. Defense attorney Adam Gorzelsky said after the verdict that he had hoped for a lesser finding, such as involuntary manslaughter, and said the first-degree murder charge never fit the case. District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli said the investigation was sensitive and complex. “Landon deserved justice and I believe we accomplished that today,” Ziccarelli said.

Maloberti faces up to 80 years in prison. A sentencing date had not been announced as of Monday. Jacob Maloberti remains charged with criminal homicide, aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of children and conspiracy. His case is proceeding separately, and his attorney has said he is seeking a potential plea agreement to lesser charges.

The conviction closes one part of the case, but not the full court process. Lauren Maloberti awaits sentencing in Westmoreland County, while Jacob Maloberti’s pending case keeps the focus on what happened inside the Delmont home before Landon’s death.

Author note: Last updated May 25, 2026.