Suspect in Lily Peters Murder Is a 14-Year-Old

Police say the suspect's 'intention was to rape and kill the victim from the get-go'
By Mike L. Ford,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 28, 2022 1:00 AM CDT

More details are emerging about the juvenile suspect who was arrested Tuesday in Chippewa Falls, Wis., in the murder of Iliana "Lily" Peters. Chief among them, that he is 14, and that he has been charged in adult court with first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree sexual assault, and first-degree sexual assault of a child, reports CBS News. The defendant, who remains unidentified, is being held on a $1 million cash bond in a juvenile detention center. Chippewa County DA Wade Newell said the boy told investigators he punched the girl in the stomach and beat her with a stick before "strangling her to the point of death" and then sexually assaulting her, per NBC News.

The local Post-Crescent quotes Newell as admitting that the state is "asking a very high cash bond for a defendant 14 years of age"; the boy's attorneys had requested a $100,000 cash bond. But he added that the suspect essentially admitted to law enforcement that "his intention was to rape and kill the victim from the get-go when he left the house with the victim going down the trail." Chippewa Falls Police Chief Matthew Kelm previously said the suspect was known to the victim. Lily went missing after leaving her aunt's home on Sunday and heading for her home a quarter-mile away; her body was found on Monday morning. Newell and Kelm both emphasized that they believe there is no further danger to the community. (More juvenile crime stories.)

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