The case against a teenager accused of raping and killing 10-year-old Lily Peters in 2022 may resolve without a trial.
The Chippewa County District Attorney’s Office said Thursday, Aug. 6, that the criminal case against 18-year-old Carson Peters-Berger, who was 14 when prosecutors say he assaulted and killed Lily, has a resolution scheduled for 9 a.m. Aug. 26.
Michael Cohen, Peters-Berger’s defense attorney, said in an email that the proceeding will “address issues in the case that will determine whether there will be a trial.”
Both Cohen and the district attorney’s office operations manager told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel they couldn’t specify if that court proceeding will involve Peters-Berger entering a plea.
Records in the highly publicized case were sealed from public view by a judge earlier this year.
Lily was reported missing the night of April 24, 2022, after she didn’t return home from a visit to her aunt’s house in the 400 block of North Grove Street in Chippewa Falls.
That night, Lily’s bicycle was found in the woods less than a mile from her aunt’s house. Her body was found the next morning. There was evidence she had been sexually assaulted, strangled and beaten, according to records.
Peters-Berger, Lily’s cousin, told police that he went into the woods with Lily, with her on a bicycle and him on a hoverboard, and invited her to go exploring off the trail. He admitted to then beating, strangling and sexually assaulting her, court records said.
Attorneys for Peters-Berger have attempted to move the case into juvenile court, arguing the teen would have more mental health treatment for multiple diagnosed disorders through that route, according to records. However, those attempts have been denied at both the circuit court and appellate court levels.
In April 2025, his attorneys filed a motion to get the trial moved to a different county, citing concerns about getting an impartial jury due to the massive publicity of Lily’s death. Cohen said the judge agreed, ruling that a jury would be selected from outside Chippewa County if the case proceeds to trial.
Contact Kelli Arseneau at (920) 213-3721 or karseneau@gannett.com. Follow her on X at @ArseneauKelli.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Lily Peters homicide case may be resolved without trial
Reporting by Kelli Arseneau, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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By Kelli Arseneau, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
