The Misery Machine - The Case of Landon Maloberti

Starting point is 00:00:00 Landon, Mason, John Malabherty was born on April 26, 2017, was adopted by Lauren and Jacob Malabherty of Delmont, Pennsylvania. He loved to play with monster trucks and cars, sing country music at the top of his lungs, and eat pickles. He had many siblings, including Caden Dylan, Annabella Dylan, Lillianna Dylan, Joey Malabherty, and Sophia Schmader. Although this information has not been made public, it would be reasonable to assume that some of Landon's siblings could have also been adopted due to the differences in last names. Either way, they appeared to be one big happy family residing together in a home on the 200 block of East Pittsburgh Street. That was until tragedy struck. On January 30, 23, Landon, now five years old, was taken to Allegheny Health Network Hemphield

Starting point is 00:00:50 Neighborhood Hospital in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. The little boy was unconscious, and according to his parents, 34-year-old Lauren and 33-year-old Jacob, the little boy was walking. from a virus he had contracted a month earlier. According to hospital staff, the couple showed no sense of urgency when they arrived at the facility despite their son's frail condition. However, they were pretty quick

Starting point is 00:01:12 when it came time to put up a GoFundMe page a few days later. On February 1st, they sought financial support after, and I quote, Our precious baby boy went unresponsive. The outcome is not looking good. We need to prepare for the most unimaginable outcome. our baby boy's funeral. I don't have much else to say as my heart is breaking in a million pieces right now, end quote.

Starting point is 00:01:38 Due to the severity of his condition, the little boy was later transported to University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Children's Hospital for more specialized care. However, according to the doctors, Landon's body was telling a completely different story than what Lauren and Jacob had reported. When asked about how Landon had sustained these injuries, which were in no way connected to long-haul virus symptoms, Lauren and Jacob gave several

Starting point is 00:02:05 inconsistent accounts. These included accidental falls, and as they put it, throwing himself around because of his behavioral issues. In fact, Lauren told the medical staff that Landon had fallen on January 29th. The next day, she noticed Landon was vomiting and not feeling well, and so she took him to the hospital. The little boy had multiple bruises on his body, could not breathe on his own, and had rotational head trauma consistent with severe CA. After a thorough examination, doctors discovered that Landon had suffered three separate bleeds in his brain. According to Dr. Michelle Clayton, Landon's brain was obliterated. She went on to state that Landon's presentation was diagnostic of torture

Starting point is 00:02:48 and said Lauren's various reasons for her son's injuries did not make any sense based on the medical evidence. Unfortunately, Landon's succumbed. to his injuries and was pronounced dead just over a week later on the evening of February 7th. His family raised over $5,000 for his funeral before the GoFundMe was taken down. It's unclear what happened to those donations. According to his obituary, all funeral arrangements were kept private. Due to the suspicious nature of his injuries that did not match up with his adoptive parents' account of events, Landon's body was transferred to the care of the Allegheny County Medical

Starting point is 00:03:25 examiner's office for autopsy. It didn't take them long to determine that Landon hadn't passed away from some sort of virus that had destroyed his brain. Landon's death was a homicide. According to doctors at UMPC, Landon had multiple episodes of physical abuse in combination with at least two types of emotional maltreatment. His injuries caused him 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. According to the pathologist from Westmoreland County, Landon had blunt-forced trauma to his head, neck, torso, and extremities. He also had prolonged and intensive medical interventions prior to his death and multiple bruises in different stages of healing. If you're wondering how medical professionals could tell Landon suffered emotional maltreatment after he was already dead,

Starting point is 00:04:17 this could be due to irregularities in his thymus gland. The thymus gland sits in the chest between the lungs. It makes white blood cells which are part of the immune system and they help fight infection. The thymus gland is quite big in babies and children. It reaches its biggest weight about one ounce during puberty. After puberty it begins to shrink and in older adults it's rather small. However, stress due to CA and neglect can significantly reduce the size of the child's thymus. In fact, one autopsy of an 8-year-old child who was tortured by his family for several years

Starting point is 00:04:49 found the boy's thymus weighed about 10 grams. It should be noted that a normal 8-year-old boy should have a thymus gland weighing about 100 grams. Although Landon's full autopsy report had not been released, this could be a possible reason as to how they were able to determine that he suffered from emotional maltreatment post-mortem. Many months went by,

Starting point is 00:05:10 but eventually, Lorne and Jacob Malabherty were arrested on July 27, 2023. Jacob was charged with one count each of criminal homicide, criminal conspiracy and endangering the welfare of children, along with two counts of aggravated CA. Lauren also faced the same charges as her husband, with the added count of first-degree homicide. Allegedly, the couple sought medical care for Landon only a day after he suffered the injuries that later killed him. They could have called 911, but they didn't.

Starting point is 00:05:41 Had they done so, Landon might have survived. Prior to the couple's arrest, the Delmont Police Department interviewed multiple potential witnesses, including Landon's siblings. According to the children, Landon was the only one their mom spanked because, according to them, he does not learn his lesson. The siblings allegedly told police their mother would spank Landon with her open hand, a wooden spoon, or use a spray bottle. One of the children said that their mother would get even more angry with Landon while she spanked him and would send the other children upstairs. Allegedly, they could hear Landon's cries during this time. Police also interviewed Lauren's former co-workers who claimed the mother hated Landon and said that he was

Starting point is 00:06:23 hard to love. According to Landon's maternal grandmother, Kathy Joe Sheffler, she hadn't noticed that anything was wrong with Landon until about April of 2022. Now, around that time, Lauren stopped allowing her to see her grandson claiming that he was bad. The grandmother said that Lauren didn't respond when she asked to see Landon over the holidays. She also told police that Lauren complained that Lanzan would tell Kathy Joe that he loved her, but wouldn't say the same thing to her. Gee, I wonder why. In addition, the couples sealed their own fate, like many couples accused of such crimes often do. A forensic investigation of Lauren and Jacob's cell phones revealed text messages where the couple

Starting point is 00:07:02 repeatedly expressed their disdain towards Landon. According to Delmont Police Chief, T.J. Klobuchar, quote, In the 25 years I had been working for the Delmont Police Department, we have never faced an incident like this. All of the officers with Delmont Police worked many long hours on this case with the district attorney's office. I want to thank the community of Delmont for their support and patience while this case was investigated. Finally, I want to thank District Attorney Nicole Zechorelli and her team for their support and resources that made this arrest possible, end quote. On July 28, 23, District Attorney Nicole Zechorelli held a press conference to confirm the couple's

Starting point is 00:07:42 charges. Last evening, Lauren and Jacob Maliburty of Delmont were arrested in relation to his death. Landon died on February 7th of 2023, and we have been actively investigating this case ever since every day. One UPMC physician you'll see in the complaint noted Landon, he had multiple episodes of physical abuse in combination with at least two types of emotional maltreatment. 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. Landon had blunt force trauma to his head and neck, blunt force trauma to his torso, blunt forced trauma to his extremities. Landon also had prolonged and intensive medical interventions

Starting point is 00:08:35 prior to his death and multiple bruises in different stages of healing. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner ruled Landon death a homicide. Tragically, Landon, in the course of his short five-year life, suffered trauma and abuse. We are here today pursuing justice for him to give him the dignity and honor that he deserves. And we are going to continue to do that. Lauren and Jacob Malabarity are currently being held without bail at the Westmoreland County Prison. They have been scheduled to appear in court on August 8th, 2023. As this case is still developing, we'll keep an eye out for updates as they become available. As of the date of this recording, it's unclear what's become of Landon's

Starting point is 00:09:16 siblings. Let's just hope they're in the care of someone that loves them and will take good care of them. It should be noted that prior to his arrest, Jacob was a corrections officer at the Fayette State Correctional Center. I'm sure the other inmates are going to give him quite the warm welcome.

The Misery Machine - The Case of Landon Maloberti

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