Judge to unseal criminal complaint in murder case of 10-year-old Lily Peters
The 14-year-old boy accused of killing 10-year-old Lily Peters in Chippewa Falls appeared in court Thursday, with Judge Ben Lane agreeing to unseal the criminal complaint that will allow more details about the late-April killing to be released to the public.
The boy's name will not be made available. As of now he has only been identified by his initials "C.P-B." Michael Cohen, the public defender representing the boy, was against making the criminal complaint public.
“I don’t want this case to be tried in the media,” Cohen said, appearing on video with the boy from the Northwest Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Eau Claire. “I don’t want this information in the public arena before I get a chance to address it. I don’t know that there's a need for the media to have this information right this minute."
Cohen added: "I have little to no information about this case and I certainly don’t want to be finding out about it first from some media outlet in England or California or Texas."
Lane agreed to unseal the criminal complaint but keep the search warrants sealed. All names of juveniles, witnesses, addresses and dates of birth will be redacted from the unseal criminal complaint.
The document likely will not be available until later Friday or Monday.
The 14-year-old boy has been charged with first-degree intentional homicide and two counts of sexual assault.
In a court hearing two days after Peters was found dead, prosecuting attorney Wade Newell said the boy intended to rape and kill Peterson. He "punched the victim in the stomach, knocked her to the ground, essentially strangled her, hit her with a stick before strangling her to the point of death before he then sexually assaulted her."
Peters was found dead the morning of Monday, April 25 in a wooded area near a walking path and the Leinenkugel's brewery parking lot in Chippewa Falls, which is near the the street where Peters had visited her aunt the day before.
Her father contacted police at about 9 p.m. Sunday, April 24 when Peters didn't return home. The area was searched and police located Peters' bicycle in a wooded area, not far from where her body was found the next morning.
Police executed a search warrant at 422 North Grove Street on April 25, followed by the arrest of the 14-year-old suspect. The police chief didn't say whose house was searched, but previous information confirmed that Peters' aunt's house is located on the 400 block of North Grove Street.
The boy is being held on $1 million bond.
