US News
Teenager sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to 2022 killing of his 10-year-old cousin
Carson Peters-Berger, who was 14 at the time of Lily Peters' death, was sentenced in a Wisconsin court under a plea agreement.
The short version
- Carson Peters-Berger, now 18, pleaded guilty to first-degree intentional homicide in the April 2022 killing of his 10-year-old cousin Lily Peters.
- A Wisconsin judge accepted the plea deal and sentenced Peters-Berger to life in prison.
- As part of the agreement, two counts of first-degree sexual assault against the victim were dismissed.
Key facts
- Carson Peters-Berger pleaded guilty to first-degree intentional homicide and was sentenced to life in prison by Chippewa County Judge Steven Gibbs.[ABC News · Associated Press]
- The victim, 10-year-old Lily Peters, went missing on April 24, 2022, while biking home from her aunt's house in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, and her body was discovered the following day.[ABC News · Associated Press]
- According to the criminal complaint, Peters-Berger, who was 14 years old at the time, convinced the victim to leave a trail and go into the woods with him.[ABC News · Associated Press]
- An autopsy concluded that the victim had been beaten, strangled, and sexually assaulted.[ABC News · Associated Press]
- Under the plea agreement, charges of first-degree sexual assault causing great bodily harm and first-degree child sexual assault were dropped.[ABC News · Associated Press]
- Defense attorneys previously tried to move the case to juvenile court, arguing that Peters-Berger needed mental health treatment not available in the adult system, but the request was denied by the trial judge and upheld on appeal.[ABC News · Associated Press]