Delmont man expected to blame wife for son's torture slaying

A Delmont man charged along with his wife for the alleged torture and murder of their adopted son wants a separate trial, his lawyer said during a court hearing on Monday.

Defense attorney Ken Noga told a county judge that evidence suggests that Lauren Maloberti was the person who beat and killed 5-year-old Landon Maloberti in early 2024.

“Things have changed in the last several months and it’s becoming relatively clear we are going to have adverse defenses,” Noga said. “We have talked to witnesses who said Mrs. Maloberti attacked Landon three to four days before (he was hospitalized). They tend to prove she killed Landon.”

Prosecutors charged both Jacob Maloberti, 35, and his wife, Lauren Maloberti, 36, with criminal homicide and first degree murder in connection with the child’s death.

Police alleged that for months the child, adopted in 2019, was physically abused and suffered multiple injuries. Records include allegations that he was struck in the head with a frying pan before he was found unresponsive and hospitalized prior his death in February 2023.

Police contend the boy’s injuries were inflicted by his parents in what witnesses described as a long-term series of physical and emotional abuses and medical neglect, which officials have since characterized as torture.

At a hearing last month, doctors testified in addition to dozens of bruises and other physical injuries, the child was deprived of nutrition, forced to drink from a toilet, forage for food in the family kitchen after bedtime, humiliated by his parents and isolated from other family members, neighbors and school.

Westmoreland County Judge Scott Mears ruled in June that prosecutors at trial can present evidence that the Maloberti’s son was tortured before his death.

Both Malobertis have denied the allegations of murder, conspiracy and other related offenses.

Neither Lauren Maloberti nor her lawyer, Adam Gorzelsky, attended Monday’s court hearing. Gorzelsky could not be reached to respond to Noga’s courtroom comments.

Lauren and Jacob Maloberti are both being held at the county jail without bond. They are slated to appear before Mears for a joint hearing on Sept. 2.