Judge sentences Lily Peters' killer 4 years after 10-year-old found dead in woods
The Wisconsin teenager accused of killing his 10-year-old cousin, Lily Peters, in 2022 pleaded guilty Wednesday to first-degree intentional homicide and was sentenced to life in prison.
Carson Peters-Berger, now 18, was 14 when he killed Lily in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. He will be eligible to seek release to extended supervision after 25 years.
Chippewa County Judge Steven Gibbs accepted the plea and imposed the sentence Aug. 26, according to The Associated Press. Two additional charges — first-degree sexual assault and first-degree sexual assault of a child under 13 resulting in great bodily harm — were dismissed as part of the plea agreement, AP reported.
The plea ends a case that had been headed toward a November trial. Earlier this month, the court scheduled an Aug. 26 hearing to discuss a possible resolution, raising the possibility that the case would conclude without a jury trial.
Lily was reported missing on the evening of April 24, 2022, after she did not return home from her aunt’s house, according to the criminal complaint. Her bicycle was found near a wooded area in Chippewa Falls, and her body was discovered the following morning.
Investigators said Lily had injuries consistent with blunt-force trauma to the head. A forensic autopsy later documented evidence of manual strangulation and sexual assault, according to a Wisconsin Court of Appeals decision.
Police interviewed Peters-Berger on April 26, 2022. According to the criminal complaint, he told investigators that he and Lily had been traveling along a trail before he asked her to go exploring in the woods. Peters-Berger said he punched her in the stomach, struck her in the head with a large stick and strangled her until he believed she was dead.
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The appellate court later noted that Peters-Berger told police he rode a hoverboard while Lily rode her bicycle and that, before they left the house, he already intended to kill and sexually assault her.
The complaint said Peters-Berger then attempted to sexually assault Lily before leaving the area. He later returned after learning she had been reported missing, moved her body several feet and covered it with leaves, according to investigators.
Peters-Berger was originally charged with first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree sexual assault and first-degree sexual assault of a child under 13 resulting in great bodily harm. Because of the homicide charge, the case was handled in adult court from the start.
His attorneys later asked a judge to move the case to juvenile court, arguing that he would not receive adequate mental health treatment in the adult system.
Gibbs denied that request in January 2024 after a three-day hearing on whether the case should remain in adult court. The judge found that Peters-Berger had raised valid concerns about whether he could receive adequate treatment in the criminal justice system and that keeping the case in adult court was not necessary to deter others. Gibbs ultimately ruled, however, that moving the case to juvenile court would not reflect the seriousness of the alleged crimes.
The Wisconsin Court of Appeals upheld Gibbs’ ruling in September 2024, finding that the judge acted within his authority in keeping the case in adult court.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Peters-Berger’s attorneys, Michael Cohen and Alicia Linzmeier, for comment.
Fox News Digital's Michael Sinkewicz and The Associated Press contributed to this report.