Convicted Child Abuser, Sex Offender Charged With Suffocating Son To Death


A rural Illinois woman faces murder charges in the death of her infant son.

Elizabeth Roen, 27, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder after a follow-up probe into the May 15 death of 5-month-old Tripp C. Luebke.

Jo Daviess County State’s Attorney John Hay told reporters the charges include two theories of murder. The first is that Roen allegedly suffocated the child knowing there was a strong probability of great bodily harm; and the second theory, that there was a strong probability of death. If she is convicted, the two charges would merge into a single count at sentencing.

Roen’s arrest was announced Thursday, September 21, by the Northwest Illinois Critical Incident Response Team. Several police agencies, including the FBI, were involved in the investigation. Roen was taken into custody Wednesday, September 20, by members of the Elizabeth Police Department.

Police say that on May 15, officers and EMTs were dispatched to a home in the village of Elizabeth, about 150 miles west of Chicago, for a report of an unresponsive child. The boy was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Galena, Illinois, and later airlifted to Rockford Memorial Hospital, where he died at around 5:45 p.m.

Roen told police that she put her son down to sleep and left the room. When she returned, he wasn’t breathing.

Published reports indicate that in 2009, Roen was convicted of child abuse in Wisconsin and is a registered sex offender. In the 2009 case, Roen’s daughter suffered severe burns after being left in a bathtub filled with scalding-hot water. The child also had injuries on her face. Roen stated that she left the child unattended in the bathroom while she changed bedding in another room. She was sentenced to 60 days in the county jail and three years of probation.

According to Wisconsin court records, Roen was convicted of incest, a Class F felony, in 2010, and sentenced to three months in jail and five months probation. She is currently listed on the Wisconsin Department of Corrections Sex Offender Registry.

In Illinois, first-degree murder is Class M felony, punishable by 20-60 years in prison. An offender may be sentenced to life if aggravating factors are present.

[Featured Image by the Wisconsin Department of Justice Sex Offender Registry]

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