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A Wisconsin court sentenced Carson Peters-Berger, now 18, to life in prison on Aug. 26 after he entered a guilty plea to first-degree intentional homicide in the death of his 10-year-old cousin, Lily Peters. Peters-Berger will become eligible to petition for release to extended supervision after serving 25 years of his sentence. Judge Steven Gibbs of Chippewa County accepted the plea and imposed the sentence.
Peters-Berger was 14 years old when he killed Lily in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin in 2022. 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. The guilty plea resolved the case before it was scheduled to proceed to trial in November.
Lily went missing on the evening of April 24, 2022, after failing to return home from her aunt’s residence. Her bicycle was discovered near a wooded area, and her body was found the next morning bearing signs of blunt-force trauma to the head, manual strangulation, and sexual assault. Peters-Berger admitted during police questioning on April 26, 2022, that he struck Lily with a large stick, punched her in the stomach, and strangled her in the woods.
Peters-Berger’s defense team had requested the case be moved to juvenile court, citing concerns about mental health treatment availability in the adult system. Judge Gibbs rejected that motion in January 2024, determining that keeping the case in adult court was necessary to reflect the severity of the alleged crimes. The Wisconsin Court of Appeals upheld the judge’s decision in September 2024.
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