Lauren Maloberti never adequately explained how her 5-year-old adopted son, Landon, suffered the severe injuries that led to his death, family members and friends testified Tuesday during the start of her homicide trial in Westmoreland County.
Maloberti, 36, of Delmont is charged with criminal homicide, aggravated assault and child endangerment in connection with Landon’s death in January 2023. Prosecutors allege she physically assaulted the child and failed to seek prompt medical treatment.
“She took a sacred responsibility and chose to be a mother. Then it turned into cruelty,” Assistant District Attorney Cassidy Hatten told jurors. “Landon was isolated, mistreated, terrorized and killed. Not by a stranger but by a person who was supposed to protect him.”
Prosecutors said Maloberti, a married mother of three other children, took custody of Landon in 2017, about two months after he was born to her cousin, when intervention by the county children’s bureau resulted in his removal from his biological parents. Maloberti officially adopted him two years later.
She married her high school sweetheart, Jacob Maloberti, in 2021, but prosecutors said conditions in the home and her relationship with Landon began to deteriorate.
Hatten told jurors Maloberti arrived at a hospital Jan. 30, 2023, with Landon unresponsive and slung over her shoulder.
Medical personnel found dozens of bruises across the child’s body and diagnosed him with catastrophic brain trauma. He died about a week later without regaining consciousness. The county coroner determined Landon died from blunt-force trauma, Hatten said.
Medical experts previously testified that Landon’s injuries amounted to torture.
Prosecutors said Maloberti claimed the injuries were caused by a fall.
Defense attorney Adam Gorzelsky told jurors prosecutors cannot prove what caused the fatal injuries.
“They do not know for certain what happened in that house, and they don’t know what happened to Landon that caused his death. They don’t know because they basically stopped looking,” Gorzelsky said.
Family describes deteriorating relationship
Erika Dilascio, a longtime friend and Maloberti’s sister-in-law, testified she helped care for Landon throughout his life and witnessed the deterioration of the mother-son relationship. She said Maloberti initially was loving and caring but, over time, became impatient and complained that Landon showed little affection and frequently misbehaved.
Dilascio told jurors she questioned Maloberti about the injuries that led to Landon’s death.
“She said after he slipped and fell he lay there for a while, then got up and was fine. I was expecting more,” Dilascio testified. “Just a slip and fall isn’t enough for a child not to wake up.”
A couple of months later, Dilascio said, Maloberti offered another explanation.
“It was not anything that made sense,” Dilascio testified.
Friends, relatives recount concerns
Witnesses, including Landon’s biological grandparents, Maloberti’s stepfather and family friends, testified the child appeared happy.
But in the year before his death, Maloberti repeatedly complained about behavioral issues that resulted in constant punishments and his removal from school.
Jeannette police Chief Derek Manley and his wife, Deanna, testified they hired Maloberti to babysit their then-5-year-old daughter. The Manleys told jurors they did not suspect problems in the Maloberti home before Landon was hospitalized and saw nothing unusual when they dropped off and picked up their daughter after a sleepover Jan. 29.
Tammy Kemerer, Jacob Maloberti’s mother, testified she routinely visited the home and spent time with Landon.
“Lauren said Landon hated her. She felt like a battered spouse, and he would tell her he didn’t love her and she didn’t know why,” Kemerer testified.
Kemerer said that, during visits in late 2022, she found Landon confined to a couch in the corner of the living room.
Landon’s biological grandparents, Kathie Sheffler and Victor Buchinsky, testified they each had separate visits with him for about a year after he began living with Maloberti. Their access to the child ended in 2022. Both testified that Maloberti complained about his behavior and lack of affection.
“He was a typical 3- to 4-year-old. He misbehaved a little,” Buchinsky said.
Maloberti’s stepfather, Sergio Dilascio, testified conditions in the home changed in 2020 when Maloberti and her future husband took in an infant foster child.
“When they brought her in, I thought the house became toxic,” he said. “Landon was jealous. He didn’t like the baby being there and started acting up.”
Prosecutors said Lauren Maloberti and her husband were caring for six children the night Landon was hospitalized: Maloberti’s three biological children, her husband’s son from another marriage, a foster child and the Manleys’ daughter.
Children could testify at trial
Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judge Scott Mears ruled last month that the Malobertis’ children could be called to testify against their parents.
Prosecutors contend that in the weeks and days before Landon was hospitalized, his parents isolated him from family activities, forced him to sleep in a corner of the living room and made him eat meals in a high chair, and — according to testimony from a pretrial hearing — that Maloberti struck him in the head with a frying pan.
Hatten said Lauren Maloberti took no action as the child appeared sluggish, injured and ill.
Jacob Maloberti, 36, who also faces criminal homicide and related charges in connection with Landon’s death, is expected to testify against his wife, prosecutors said.
“He has culpability as a tuned-out husband who didn’t push back when he realized things were wrong,” Hatten said.
More than 60 potential witnesses could testify during the trial, which is expected to last about two weeks. Testimony resumes Wednesday.