Cops investigating ‘suspicious death’ of 11-year-old boy refuse to tell family how he died

Police investigating the ‘suspicious death’ of an 11-year-old boy in California are refusing to tell his family how he died or where his body was found, according to the boy’s distraught parents.

Roman Anthony Lopez was found dead in Placerville on Saturday hours after police put out a statement asking for the public’s help in locating the boy, who was reported missing from his home in Coloma Street earlier that day.  

Seven days into the investigation, police have released very little information neither publicly nor to the parents about the circumstances surrounding the boy’s death, which the Placerville Police Department earlier confirmed was being treated as ‘suspicious’. 

Roman Anthony Lopez (pictured) was found dead in Placerville on Saturday hours after police put out a statement asking for the public’s help in locating the boy, who was reported missing from his home in Coloma Street earlier that day

Seven days into the investigation, police have released very little information neither publicly nor to the parents about the circumstances surrounding what happened to Roman (pictured), which the Placerville Police Department earlier confirmed was being treated as 'suspicious'

Seven days into the investigation, police have released very little information neither publicly nor to the parents about the circumstances surrounding what happened to Roman (pictured), which the Placerville Police Department earlier confirmed was being treated as ‘suspicious’

Police have said the sensitivity of the case means they cannot release more information.  Roman (pictured) had only moved into the home on Coloma Street from Michigan in December

Police have said the sensitivity of the case means they cannot release more information.  Roman (pictured) had only moved into the home on Coloma Street from Michigan in December

Roman’s father Jordan Piper and stepmother Lindsay Piper said they still do not know how their son died or where his body was found.

Police have also refused to say whether anyone has been arrested in connection with the boy’s death. 

‘We have no idea what happened, where they found him, what the autopsy report said, if that’s even done, any suspects, nothing. We have nothing. I’ve called repeatedly, all day long, everyday,’ Jordan told The Sacramento Bee on Wednesday. 

Police have said the sensitivity of the case means they cannot release more information at this time. 

‘The limited information provided to the public has been essential to this case because of the circumstances,’ a statement released on Thursday said. 

‘There is very sensitive information that if released, could jeopardize the investigation.’

El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sergeant Anthony Prencipe confirmed that Roman’s autopsy was completed Tuesday but they do not have the pathologist’s report and ‘will not be providing any further information in reference to the autopsy’.

‘We do not anticipate that report for another 4-6 weeks,’ he said.  

Any questions regarding the autopsy report should be directed to Placerville Police, he added. 

However, investigators have confirmed there is no threat to public safety and have promised to update the community ‘as the case unfolds’. 

Placerville Police confirmed that six minors who had been living in the same home as Roman were safe and had been taken into protective custody by Child Protective Services.   

The mystery around the circumstances of the boy’s death comes as his birth mother has come forward claiming she only learned of his death on the news. 

Rochelle Lopez, who lives in Wisconsin, said no one called her to tell her her son had died. 

‘I had to find out my son died from a news article. Nobody called me, his dad didn’t call me,’ she told KOVR.   

Roman was reported missing on Saturday by the Pipers, when they said they couldn’t find him in their home.   

Jordan Piper (pictured), the boy's father, criticized the police for taking hours to send an alert to officials about the missing boy

Lindsay Piper (pictured), Roman's stepmother, said she went to fetch him for breakfast at about 9 am that morning to find him gone

Roman’s father Jordan Piper (left) and stepmother Lindsay Piper (right) said they still do not know how their son died or where his body was found. Police have also refused to say whether anyone has been arrested in connection with the boy’s death

Rochelle Lopez, Roman's birth mother, (pictured with her son) has come forward claiming she only learned of his death on the news

Rochelle Lopez, Roman’s birth mother, (pictured with her son) has come forward claiming she only learned of his death on the news

In the interview with The Sacramento Bee, Lindsay said she went to fetch the 11-year-old boy for breakfast at about 9 am that morning to find him gone. 

‘We woke up for work like normal. Kids started waking up. Breakfast started getting made. I went upstairs to get Roman and he was not in his bed,’ she said. 

Lindsay said Roman liked to hide in cubby-holes and secluded places around the family home. 

Two hours after finding the boy missing, the boy’s stepmother said she and his father drove to the Placerville Police Department, about three minutes from their house but found the station was closed.

Next, she said they went to the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office who told the family they’d be on the lookout for the boy. 

The Pipers have criticized the police for taking hours to send an alert to officials about the missing boy. 

It is not clear why they did not call 911 to report the boy missing or why they waited two hours to go to the police station. 

Multiple law enforcement agencies participated in an extensive search of the community 44 miles east of Sacramento on Saturday.

More than 40 of Jordan Piper’s co-workers joined the search and missing fliers were printed and handed out in the area. 

Police scanner traffic from the night of the search indicates police went to El Dorado High School, close to the Pipers’ home on Coloma Street.

Police then confirmed they had found Roman’s body that night.  

Roman (pictured) liked to hide in cubby-holes and secluded places around the family home, his stepmother said

Kira Sutkay, mother of three of the other children living in the Coloma Street home with Roman (pictured), said she was worried for her children's safety

Roman (pictured) liked to hide in cubby-holes and secluded places around the family home, his stepmother said 

Authorities taped off the boy's home (pictured) on Coloma Street on Sunday after his body was found. The six minors living at the address are in protected custody

Authorities taped off the boy’s home (pictured) on Coloma Street on Sunday after his body was found. The six minors living at the address are in protected custody 

The Pipers were taken to the Placerville Police Department to give statements and forfeited their wallets and IDs to investigators. 

Roman’s family home was made the focus of crime scene investigators on Sunday.

The family had moved into the home from Michigan in December.

Two vehicles parked outside the property – a white Chevy truck with Indiana plates and a silver truck with Michigan plates – were marked with multiple yellow evidence flags. 

Neighbors said they saw investigators collect evidence from the apparent crime scene on Sunday.  

‘It’s so sad,’ Jordyn Gilmore, who lives next door to the family, told KRCA. 

‘Who would’ve thought your next-door neighbor. Things happen and it’s just crazy.’ 

‘They have little kids, too. Completely normal. They play out in the front yard. There was nothing weird going on.’

Another neighbor, who only provided his first name, Ed, told KRCA he had helped investigators search the father’s property, which is right next to his, for the missing boy. The officers then returned a few hours later to search the father’s property again.     

The local community is demanding answers, with a Facebook group dedicated to the boy’s ‘suspicious death’ reaching 1,742 members and voicing speculation that the boy could have been the victim of abuse. 

Kira Sutkay, mother of three of the other children living in the Coloma Street home, told KTXL that she was worried for her children’s safety. 

‘There’s just no way a child just dies, you know, unexpectedly,’ she said. 

‘The boy was healthy. My three children, they always played with him.’ 

‘That’s why I feel my children are in danger,’ she added.  

Sutkay claims she had agreed to Lindsay home-schooling her three children and taking them to doctor’s appointments while living in Michigan, but learnt that Piper had moved her and the children out of the state without her knowledge.  

However, court records reveal Sutkay signed over attorney-at-law rights of her three children to Lindsay in July, and that a court hearing in September granted permission to move them to California. 

Flowers, candles and condolences have been placed outside the boy’s home. 

Police have asked anyone with information about the case to contact Det Luke Gadow at (530) 642-5210, ext 116.  

Investigators were seen collecting evidence from the apparent crime scene on Sunday

Investigators were seen collecting evidence from the apparent crime scene on Sunday

Two vehicles parked outside the home - a white Chevy truck with Indiana plates and a silver Chevy truck with Michigan plates - were marked with multiple yellow evidence flags

Two vehicles parked outside the home – a white Chevy truck with Indiana plates and a silver Chevy truck with Michigan plates – were marked with multiple yellow evidence flags

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