A 15-year old Wisconsin boy, who has been charged with murder in connection with the death and sexual assault of his 10-year-old cousin, will be tried as an adult in court.
During the month of April 2022, Lily Peters lost her life after being strangled and sexually assaulted, after she was reported missing.
Her male cousin, who was 14-years old at the time, would soon confess to the crimes he committed against Lily.
The suspect, who has not been publicly named because of his age, was charged with first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree sexual assault and first-degree sexual assault of a child under age 13 with resulting great bodily harm.
Lawyers for the suspect had tried to move his case to a juvenile court, but a judge ruled this week that it should remain in adult court.
On April 24th of 2022, Peters was reported missing by her father after she failed to return home from a visit to her aunt’s house. Her body was found the next day in the woods.
Not long after Lily’s body was found, the teen boy confessed to detectives that he had convinced Lily to veer off the trail. This is when he took action and proceeded to punch her in the stomach, knocking her off her bike onto the ground.
While Lily was on the ground, he hit her on the head several times with a large stick, then started to strangle her until he believed she was deceased.
The complaint filed to the court describes the horrific details of Lily’s sexual assault that followed, which the suspect then became scared after defiling her body and fled back home to take a shower.
After he heard that Lily was reported missing by her father, the teen returned to the body and dragged her a few feet before covering her body with leaves.
Describing the horrific details of Lily’s assault and killing, Newell asked Judge Benjamin Lane to set the suspect’s bond at $1 million cash.
The suspect’s public defender, Kirby Harless, argued the bond was excessive and asked the amount to be lowered to $100,000.
“We do not believe the suspect is a flight risk,” Harless said. “He is 14, and an 8th grader. He cannot drive, he is not in a position to raise much money, frankly, at all on his own.”
The judge sided with the prosecution, saying, “This is a serious charge, and because of serious charges there are serious consequences. This was a serious threat to the community, and so the court is concerned this could be a further threat if the individual was no longer in custody.”
The judge also ordered that the suspect refrain from contact with other juveniles, except for supervised visits with his siblings.
