A Wisconsin teenager charged in the 2022 killing of his 10-year-old cousin, Lily Peters, pleaded guilty Wednesday to first-degree intentional homicide and received a life prison sentence.
Carson Peters-Berger, who is now 18, was 14 at the time Lily was killed in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. Under the sentence, he may petition for release to extended supervision after serving 25 years.
Chippewa County Judge Steven Gibbs accepted Peters-Berger’s plea and handed down the sentence on Aug. 26, The Associated Press reported. As part of the plea deal, prosecutors dismissed two other counts: first-degree sexual assault and first-degree sexual assault of a child under 13 causing great bodily harm, according to AP.
The guilty plea brings an end to a closely watched Chippewa Falls homicide case that had been set for trial in November. Earlier in the month, the court placed an Aug. 26 hearing on the calendar to consider a possible resolution, signaling the case could wrap up without being presented to a jury.
Lily Peters was 10 when she was killed in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, in April 2022. (Chippewa Falls Police Department)
Lily was reported missing on the night of April 24, 2022, after she failed to come home from her aunt’s residence, according to the criminal complaint. Authorities later found her bicycle near a wooded area in Chippewa Falls, and her body was located the next morning.
Investigators said Lily suffered injuries consistent with blunt-force trauma to the head. A forensic autopsy also found evidence of manual strangulation and sexual assault, according to a Wisconsin Court of Appeals ruling.
Peters-Berger was questioned by police on April 26, 2022. The criminal complaint says he told investigators that he and Lily had been on a trail when he suggested they explore the woods, where he then attacked her, striking her and strangling her until he believed she was dead.
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.
Lily Peters, 10, was found dead near a wooded area in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, in April 2022 after being reported missing by her father. (Chippewa Falls Police Department)
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.
A memorial for Lily Peters is displayed on April 25, 2022, in Chippewa Falls, Wis. (Jeff Wheeler/Star Tribune via AP, File)
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.
News Outlet has reached out to Peters-Berger’s attorneys, Michael Cohen and Alicia Linzmeier, for comment.
