⚖️ A 10-Year-Old Girl, A Bicycle, And A Dark Secret: Lily Peters’ Murder Case Takes A Stunning Turn As Her Cousin Admits Guilt In Court
Lily Peters, known to everyone as “My light,” disappeared on the evening of April 24, 2022, after she failed to return home from her aunt’s house. Her father reported her missing around 9pm that night. Police quickly found her bicycle discarded along a wooded path less than a mile from the aunt’s home. The next morning, volunteers searching the area near Leinenkugel’s Brewery and a walking trail along Duncan Creek discovered her body. An autopsy revealed she had been sexually assaulted, strangled, and beaten with blunt force trauma. The Chippewa County coroner ruled the death a homicide. The entire town was stunned. A little girl who should have been safe at home was taken in the woods.
Carson Peters-Berger was arrested just two days later on April 26, 2022. He was the cousin of Lily Peters, but he was the monster who ended her life. According to the criminal complaint filed by police, Carson told investigators he had asked Lily to go exploring off the trail while they were out on their bikes – her on a bicycle, him on a hoverboard. Once they were away from the main path, he allegedly punched her in the stomach, knocked her to the ground, hit her on the head three times with a large stick, and strangled her until she was dead. Then, he sexually assaulted her. In his own words, he admitted he had planned the entire attack from the beginning – to rape and kill her. The community was horrified. A 14-year-old cousin, someone she knew, had committed this brutal crime.
For years the case moved through the court system. Attorneys for Carson argued to treat him as a juvenile, pointing to his multiple diagnosed mental health disorders and seeking more treatment options in that system. Those attempts were denied at both the circuit court and appellate court levels. In 2024 the Wisconsin Appeals Court upheld the decision to try him as an adult. His identity was later unsealed after being withheld while he was considered a juvenile. A jury trial was scheduled to begin in November 2025, with jury selection in October and a 10-day trial set to kick off on November 2. The defence even filed a motion to change venue to a different county, citing concerns about an impartial jury due to the massive publicity surrounding Lily’s death.
But on August 6, 2026, the Chippewa County District Attorney’s Office announced something that stunned the community: the case would not go to trial. A resolution hearing was scheduled for 9am on August 26, 2026, in Chippewa County Court. The case would conclude without a jury ever hearing the full evidence. Two days later, on August 26 itself, Carson Peters-Berger pleaded guilty to first-degree intentional homicide. As part of the plea deal, two sexual assault charges – first-degree sexual assault causing great bodily harm and first-degree child sexual assault involving a child under 13 – were dismissed, but they were read into the record for sentencing purposes. The hearing brought a quiet end to more than four years of pain, court battles, and legal proceedings.
Chippewa County District Attorney Wade Newell explained the two main reasons the case was resolved before trial. First, the plea agreement meant Carson would be convicted, which is never guaranteed with a jury. Second, they wanted to avoid subjecting Lily’s family to additional trauma. “It was a very brutal situation and having to listen to how someone’s family member was brutally killed is very traumatic and is something that should be avoided whenever possible,” Newell said after the sentencing. The family did not have to relive every detail of the attack in front of a jury. Instead, the focus shifted to Lily’s memory, her life, and the light she brought to everyone who knew her.
On the day of sentencing, Judge Steven Gibbs accepted the guilty plea and sentenced Carson Peters-Berger to life in prison with the possibility of parole on extended supervision after 25 years. Carson has already served about four years and four months since his arrest at age 14. The judge took into account his age at the time of the crime and gave him a chance for a second chance after serving his time, but the sentence is clear: Carson will spend the rest of his life behind bars. The restitution ordered exceeds $30,000, which the family will use for their healing. Carson did not give a statement at the sentencing hearing, and his attorney, Michael Cohen, had nothing further to add.
Friends and family shared memories of Lily that day, turning the focus away from the killer and onto the girl who was taken too soon. “My light,” they called her. She was the daughter of a devoted father who never stopped searching for her. She was a little girl who loved life, who should have been riding her bike home safely, who deserved every chance to grow up and shine. The community gathered to remember her as the symbol of light that was extinguished by darkness.
This case began with a 10-year-old girl riding home from her aunt’s house, laughing and excited for bedtime. It ended with a 14-year-old cousin who invited her off the trail, beat her, strangled her, sexually assaulted her, and then left her body in the woods. Carson Peters-Berger admitted the plan was there from the start. He was charged as an adult after years of fighting to keep the case in juvenile court. He faced life in prison if convicted by a jury. Instead, he chose the path of a guilty plea, sparing Lily’s family more pain but sealing his fate.
The resolution hearing on August 26, 2026, brought the long journey to a close. No trial meant no more media frenzy, no more dragging the family through courtroom details of a brutal murder. The focus was on Lily – on her smile, her light, the life cut short. The family’s lawyer emphasised the measure of relief they felt after finally knowing what happened, but also the immense tasks ahead of learning to live without their beloved daughter and sister.
Carson Peters-Berger, now 18, will spend the rest of his days in prison. He will have served time since he was 14. He will be eligible for parole after 25 years, but the judge’s words and the community’s grief make it clear this is not the end of his punishment. The sexual assault charges dismissed in the plea were horrific, but the homicide conviction alone carries a life sentence. The woods of Chippewa Falls will never be the same. A little girl’s bicycle lies discarded there, a reminder of what happened on that trail.
This is the story of Lily Peters, the 10-year-old girl whose light was taken away in the woods of Wisconsin. It is the story of her cousin Carson Peters-Berger, the 14-year-old who planned the attack, carried it out, and then became a teenager facing adult charges. It is the story of a family shattered by grief, fighting for justice for over four years, and finally finding a measure of peace through a guilty plea. It is the story of a community that remembers Lily as light in the darkness and a killer who will spend the rest of his life behind bars.
The resolution on August 26, 2026, was not just the end of legal proceedings. It was the end of a nightmare that began when a little girl failed to come home from her aunt’s house. It was the end of the search for her body. It was the end of the long court battles and the sealing of records. It was the end of the possibility of a jury trial that might have been traumatic for her loved ones. Instead, the case closed with a guilty plea, a life sentence, and a clear message: Carson Peters-Berger will never be free.
Lily Peters was more than a statistic in a crime report. She was a daughter, a niece, a friend, and a light that brightened every life she touched. Her father never gave up searching. Her family fought for years to see justice. The community rallied around memorials, shared stories, and the simple hope that her light would never be forgotten. Now, with the case concluded, those memories live on in the hearts of everyone who knew her.
Carson Peters-Berger’s story is one of a young man who chose violence over kindness. He was 14 when he took a 10-year-old girl off the trail and ended her life. He is now 18 and facing the consequences. The guilty plea and life sentence with parole after 25 years are the final words in a case that started with a bicycle and ended with a life sentence.
The woods where her body was found will remain a place of remembrance. The walking trail near Duncan Creek will carry the memory of a girl who was supposed to ride home safely. The entire Chippewa Falls community will continue to honour Lily Peters – her smile, her light, the life cut short by a cousin who should have protected her.
This is the story of a resolution that spared Lily’s family more pain while still delivering justice. It is the story of a guilty plea that brought closure after four years of court proceedings. It is the story of a life sentence that ensures Carson Peters-Berger will spend the rest of his days paying for the murder of a 10-year-old girl.
Lily Peters was taken too soon. Carson Peters-Berger will spend the rest of his life behind bars. The case that began on that April evening in 2022 has finally ended. But the memory of Lily Peters, her light, her family, and the community that loved her will burn brightly for generations to come. The woods may hold her body, but her light will live on in the hearts of everyone who knew her and in the lessons this tragedy has taught all of us.