During a Monday press conference, Chippewa Falls Police Chief Matthew Kelm provided updates regarding a 10-year-old Wisconsin girl found dead near her home.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Iliana “Lily” Peters disappeared Sunday after she left to visit her aunt, who lives around four blocks away. The child’s father contacted police at around 9 p.m. Sunday and reported that no one could find her. She was seen by family members that evening but didn’t return back to her home off of 50 block of E. Birch Street in Chippewa Falls.
According to ABC 18, Lily’s bicycle was found Sunday night near her aunt’s house, close to a walking trail between the end of N. Grove St and the Leinenkugel’s brewery parking lot.
During Monday’s press conference, Kelm said that police found Lily’s body in a wooded area near a trail she took to visit her aunt. He declined to say whether Lily ever made it to her aunt’s home or how she was killed, but confirmed that investigators are treating the case as a homicide.
“We’re only a day into the investigation. This is a major incident, and we want to make sure we do it correctly, properly,” he said.
Kemp advised the community “to maintain a state of diligence, as there may be a danger to the public,” since no suspects have yet been apprehended.
“We do not have anyone in custody at this time, and we are continuing to follow up on multiple leads,” the chief added.
The superintendent of the Chippewa Falls Area Unified School District, Jeff Holmes, sent letters out to parents and assured the public that the district “requested greater law enforcement presence at all of our facilities and their neighborhoods, which appears to be forthcoming.”
Anyone with information about the crime is urged to contact a tipline created specifically for the case at 1-800-263-5906.
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