The Misery Machine - The Case of Lily Peters

Starting point is 00:00:00 Chippewa Falls is a small town in northern Wisconsin with a population of about 15,000 people. The quaint downtown sits alongside the Chippewa River and boasts a variety of restaurants, small breweries, and ice cream shops. Residents enjoy walking and biking in the picturesque Irvine Park, paddling the waters of Lake Wisota and apple picking in the fall. With charming neighborhoods in good schools, Chippewa Falls seems like the American dream. But as we know personally, even the most idyllic town can be rocked by tragedy. Ileana Marie Peters was born on November 4, 2011 to parents Alexander Peters and Jennifer

Starting point is 00:00:42 Eyerle. Nicknamed Lily, she grew into a fun-loving girl who enjoyed playing in the snow and riding her bike. She had long brown hair and a wide smile that she shared with everyone. She had a brother, Dylan, and plenty of friends and family to play with in her community. Lily's home life wasn't always easy. Her mother had made the local news in 2019 when she defrauded her own family members. Jennifer had taken out credit cards in her mother's name and ran up nearly $8,000 in charges.

Starting point is 00:01:12 She also lied to her aunt and uncle telling them that she had lined up several jobs for them at the senior living facility where she worked. As part of the job application process, she asked for their banking information and social security numbers. They quit their jobs and moved to chip away. Falls, they discovered that there were no jobs, and Jennifer didn't actually work at a living facility. All told, Jennifer had cost them about $8,000 to $10,000 and lost wages and moving expenses. As a result of these crimes, Jennifer was charged with five felonies, including forgery and identity theft. As part of her probation, Jennifer moved to the town of Balsam Lake, 60 miles away. Lily lived with her father and brother at their home on East Birch Street in Chippewa Falls.

Starting point is 00:01:57 Unfortunately, her father, Alex Peters, also had a criminal history. He had a string of drug and alcohol convictions, including multiple DUIs. Lily also spent time at her aunt's house who lived just a couple blocks away on North Grove Street. Her aunt, Lori Davis, had drug charges of her own as well as a battery charge from an incident with her ex-husband. Lori lived with her boyfriend John Repetto, also rumored to be a fraudster himself. Despite coming from this broken background, Lily was clearly

Starting point is 00:02:27 a bright and energetic child. She was often seen riding her bike around town. Her mother described her in a Facebook post as pure unedited joy. She had an energy field that was huge. You felt her coming. She was almost completely unbothered by outside influence. She was so boldly and authentically herself all of the time. She made no apologies for who she was. For someone so small, she came in a very large package. She was kind and wise. She was kind and wise. wise beyond her years. She watered people. Everywhere she went, she watered people, all people, without discrimination. She loved everyone the same. This way of being so wise beyond her years. At age 10, Lily was a fourth grader at Parkview Elementary. She wotten, I wish poem for the school

Starting point is 00:03:16 that read, I wish to jump so high to touch the stars. I wish there was only spring and summer, no fall, no winter. I wish people were kind to each other. I wish everyone. I wish everybody was respectful. I wish that people would stop littering. I wish there was peace in this world. I wish it was summer all the time. On Sunday, April 24th, 2022, Lily's father, Alex, called the police around 9 p.m. to report his daughter missing. She had last been seen leaving her aunt's house on North Grove Street at around 4 p.m. She was supposed to be headed home but had never arrived. Police quickly began a search for Lily. Around 11 p.m., Lily's father went out to look for her and found her bike on the Duncan Creek Trail. Its walking path, also known as Pigs Run, goes through the

Starting point is 00:04:00 woods between the end of North Grove Street and the parking lot of a local brewery called Lainey's Lodge. K-9 teams from the Chippewa County Sheriff's Department and Lake Halley Police Department were called in to search the area. The Sheriff's Department also used their drone to search the scene. Law enforcement and local firefighters canvassed the neighborhood going door to door. The Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation was contacted, but unfortunately the case did not meet the conditions to issue an Amber alert. At 7 a.m. the next morning, the police department put out a press release asking the public's help in locating Lily. 10-year-old Lily was last seen wearing a purple quarter-zip long-sleeved shirt with black stretch pants and gray shoes. Sadly, at 915

Starting point is 00:04:43 on Monday morning, Lily's body was located by a resident who knew her. She had no clothes on from the waist down, and she was found in a wooded area near the trail where her bike had been discovered the night before. Police quickly determined that her cause of death was a homicide. At the time, they didn't release details about Lily's death, but asked the public to call a tip line if they had any information whatsoever. The town of Chippewa Falls was devastated by Lily's death. Everyone was on edge, as the unknown killer remained at large. Townspeople were scared to let their children out alone. One resident said, as far as we know, it could be anybody in this neighborhood. A neighbor on Grove Street recalled seeing Lily playing the afternoon she disappeared.

Starting point is 00:05:30 They said, between about one and three, one of her cousins was on a hoverboard. He had his hands behind his back and she was on rollerblades holding on. And they were scooting down the street just laughing. Soon, purple ribbons adorn trees, street signs, and telephone poles around as a tribute to Lily. At Parkview Elementary, a fence was soon adorned with signs, flowers, and stuffed animals. animals, a sad memorial to the little girl. The wooded area where Lily's body was found was taped off as police combed the scene for evidence.

Starting point is 00:06:03 They even searched along a creek side looking for clues. It must have been an eerie sight in an otherwise normal neighborhood. One neighbor said, just knowing that she went down that trail and that was that, the same trail my kids walked down by themselves all the time. It was a safe place up until Sunday. On April 26, police announced they had arrested a suspect in the homicide investigation. They revealed that the suspect was a juvenile who knew the victim prior to her death. According to Chippewa Falls Police Chief Matthew Kelm, the suspect was not a stranger.

Starting point is 00:06:39 The suspect was known to the victim. We do not believe there was any danger to the community at this time. Police had been seen earlier that day executing a search warrant at a home on North Grove Street. It carried multiple boxes of evidence out of the house, which we now know was the home of Lily's aunt. Meanwhile, the town continued to grieve for Lily. Residents wore purple, tied up purple balloons, and displayed banners demanding justice for Lily. Memorials also popped up on the street where Lily lived and on a bridge near where her body was found. On April 27th, it was revealed that a 14-year-old boy was the suspect.

Starting point is 00:07:17 The state of Wisconsin requested a $1 million bond. In a hearing that day, the defendant appeared in court via video, wore a dark-colored shirt, and was accompanied by his mother. He was described as an eighth grader and a lifelong resident of Chippewa Falls where he lived with his mother. The defendant was charged with three counts, first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree essay, and first-degree essay of a minor under the age of 13, resulting in great bodily harm. The $1 million bond was granted, as well as in order to prevent the defendant from having

Starting point is 00:07:50 any contact with children. The full autopsy report for Lily has not been made public, but on April 28th, authorities released the cause of her death. Lily had been killed by strangulation and blunt force trauma. There was also biological evidence consistent with SA and a bite mark on her backside. Because the suspect was a minor, his identity was not officially made public.

Starting point is 00:08:16 In the criminal complaint, he was simply referred to by his initials CPB. He was being held at the Northwest Regional Juvenile Detention Center in O'Clair awaiting his next court appearance. According to the criminal complaint, on April 26, police had interviewed the 14-year-old suspect. During this interview, the suspect admitted to killing Lily. He told investigators that Lily had gone to her aunt's house to retrieve her bike. He then left the house with her. Told investigators, and when they left the house, it was already his intention to essay and kill Lily. In his own words, he told them that he wanted to break her. When the suspect and Lily

Starting point is 00:08:57 left her aunt's house, he asked her to take a walk and explore a trail. She was on her bike and he was on his hoverboard. Once in the woods, he suggested they go off the trail. And they did, he punched her in the stomach and knocked her to the ground. He strangled her and clubbed her three times with a large stick. As she lay on her back, he straddled her torso and then strangled her until she was dead. Once he believed that she was dead, he then proceeded to essay her lifeless body. At this point, the suspect became scared and fled the area. He went home, took a shower, and put his dirty clothes in the laundry. Later, when he heard about the search for Lily, he went back to the scene. He pulled Lily's body a few feet further into the woods and covered

Starting point is 00:09:45 her with leaves. Since the search warrant for Lily's aunt's house hasn't been released, we don't know for certain what led investigators to the location. However, sources speculate it may have been due to a Reddit post. A user called Home Slice Nation 4 commented on a Reddit thread about Lily's death. They said, what's scary is I was playing Pokemon Go in the park that day walking along that very same trail. My stomach churns when I think that I saw that girl in a pink purple hoodie on her bike with another kid on my way out. I have a suspicion that it could be another kid that did it. Another Reddit user took a screenshot of the comment and sent it to the police.

Starting point is 00:10:27 A detective called this user back shortly later to thank them for the tip. The authorities had received over 200 tips regarding Lily's death and have stated that those tips were instrumental in arresting Lily's killer. The 14-year-old was arrested the same day that the original Reddit comment was made. Therefore, it seems very likely that this was the tip that led them to the arrest. After the boy's arrest, police chief Matt Kelm was visibly emotional as he announced Lily's death. He said, while nothing will bring Lily Peters back or change what happened, we're very grateful to deliver this news to the family and the community.

Starting point is 00:11:04 As you can imagine, our first responders are tremendously impacted by anything that impacts one of our children. It is very difficult for them and the investigators. Although the police declined to reveal the identity of Lily's killer, it didn't take long for the public to put the pieces together. The arrested suspect was a 14-year-old boy, and his initials were CPB. Well, Lily's aunt Lori Davis had a 14-year-old son named Carson Peters Berger. By April 28th, only a few days after her death, news articles reported the shocking news. Lily Peters was killed by her own cousin. Carson Peters Berger, born in 2008, was the son of Lori Davis and a previous boyfriend named Adam Berger.

Starting point is 00:11:50 The two split up when Carson was two years old, and the relationship had been bitter ever since. Lori sued Adam for child support, and Adam was not allowed to have solo contact with Carson. In 2017, 8-year-old Carson was in the car with his father when Adam lurked in an alley behind Lori's home. Lori followed the suspicious car, which pulled into a random driveway and Carson got out. Adam then reversed the car toward Lori and then hit her with the vehicle. She rolled over the hood and ended up on the ground. Lori didn't report this incident to the police until 2018 when Adam was charged with an even bigger crime.

Starting point is 00:12:27 CSA material depicting very young girls were found on Adam's phone. Lude comments and sometimes Adam's own face were superimposed on these images. Adam also had drug paraphernalia, including four cracker. Pikes in his home. Adam Berger spent three years in prison. It was then released from Oshkosh Correctional Institution in April of 2021. He was required to have supervised probation and was not allowed unsupervised contact with his son, Carson. While Adam was in prison, he requested unsupervised visitations with his son, who was 12 at this time. In the letter he wrote for his request for visitation, he called Carson the best of me. The request was denied. When Adam was sent to jail,

Starting point is 00:13:12 shattered Carson, according to his grandmother, Mary. She said, Carson has not been very happy with his father being gone. We see him out and about with his mom and he never looks happy. He doesn't smile. He's always quiet and just looks at the ground and doesn't talk. Since the case documents are still sealed, we don't know yet what led to Carson deciding to kill his cousin Lily. All we know is that he did. He betrayed her trust in order to lure her into the woods that fateful April day, and that trust cost Lily her life. In the days after, the town of Chippewa Falls continued to reel with each new revelation about the case. Greg Hoffman, mayor of Chippewa Falls, said, I'm getting emails and phone calls from people in different states asking, what can we do

Starting point is 00:13:59 in sending their prayers. Friday, April 29th was declared justice for Lily Day. The local Ace hardware store distributed free purple light bulbs for neighbors to put in their porch lights. According to store owner, Joel Jacobson, we contacted our warehouse and source more than 400 bulbs, which were passed out in less than 20 minutes. We just received 600 more bulbs and there's a line at our door to get them. You drive around town at night, the homes are all lit up. Carl Smisky, the owner of the Chippewa store, started selling buttons, stickers, yard signs, and Lily-themed apparel. All proceeds of these sales went to Lily's family

Starting point is 00:14:37 to help pay for her memorial service and counseling for the family. The owner, a father of three himself, described his reaction to learning the news of Lily's death. Complete shock. I started bawling because my daughters. I called them immediately and I asked one of them, have I given you enough hugs? It just hits hard because you feel helpless.

Starting point is 00:14:57 Lily's story made national news. While most people reached out to her family and community with love and compassion, some went too far. A man from St. Paul, Minnesota named Herbert A. Baladish called the Chippewa County Dispatch Center on May 2nd. He made threats to come and harm the family of Carson Petersburg, feeling that they shared responsibility for Lily's death. He stated that he had done his research, was in the area,

Starting point is 00:15:23 was coming for restitution, and was going to murder the whole family. A police officer had to go to the family's home to evacuate them to an unknown location. A man was charged with a family. felony for making terrorist threats and two misdemeanors for unlawful use of a phone and disorderly conduct. He was then later determined that he had an alcohol problem and the terrorism charge was dropped. Carson's charge of first-degree homicide automatically placed his case in adult court despite his age. However, there have been efforts by his defense attorneys to change that. In June of 2022, Carson's grandmother wrote a letter to the court asking for his case to be moved to the juvenile court.

Starting point is 00:16:00 She begged the court to show mercy and to send Carson to a juvenile correctional facility so he could get mental health help. As of the date of this recording, the decision of whether or not Carson will be tried as an adult is yet to be determined. In September of 2022, he requested a new judge for his case and was granted that request. His case is now being presided by Justice Stephen Gibbs. There have been few developments since this. A motion hearing was held in July 23 to determine what evidence could be presented. presented at the next court date. At hearing, Justice Gibbs agreed that autopsy photos and videos could not be shown.

Starting point is 00:16:38 He also approved a motion to prevent the prosecution from talking about Lily Peter's character or her personal history. Well, the prosecution may not be able to discuss Lily's character, but we can. Yes, Carson did come from a broken home. He witnessed violence at a very young age and potentially many other things, but Lily also came from a difficult background, and the differences between the two could not be more pronounced. Lily turned out to be a girl who wished for endless summer and for people to be kind to one another. Carson turned out to be a killer. He strangled his younger cousin in cold blood, which is a very

Starting point is 00:17:15 personal way to kill someone. It's reasonable to think he looked her directly in the face while he did it. He then proceeded to commit necrophilia on his own cousin. Despite being blood-related, these two are very much not the same. Lily Peters' funeral and burial details were not made public. However, memorials for the young girl continued to grow. A group of local moms in Chippewa Falls raised money to buy five memorial benches. These benches are purple and feature flower-shaped cutouts in the words, remembering Lily Peters.

Starting point is 00:17:50 These benches have been placed around the town and spots special to Lily. One was placed at the church she attended, and another was placed at her favorite ice cream shop. On November 4th, 2022, an event was held on what would have been Lily's 11th birthday. The event called Lily's Wish was an honor of Lily's desire for other people to be kind to one another. The gathering featured free food and cake as well as a gift drive. Attendees were encouraged to donate a gift that would go to children or teens in the community. To quote the event flyer, by helping children in need, we can follow Lily's Wish,

Starting point is 00:18:26 and pass on the love she had for the world and others. Lily's legacy may go on to help other missing children. When Lily disappeared, an Amber Alert was not issued for her because her case did not meet the criteria. In Wisconsin, in order to issue an Amber Alert for a missing child, three criteria must be met. The child must be 17 years of age or younger. The child must be in danger of serious bodily injury or death. The initiating agency must have enough descriptive information. about the child, the suspect, and or the suspect's vehicle to believe that an immediate broadcast

Starting point is 00:19:01 will help locate the child. Since Lily's death, a petition has been started to create a new Lily Alert. This notification could go out statewide or locally and would have less strict criteria than an Amber Alert. A meeting of legislatures and law enforcement met in June of 2022 to discuss how this could work, but as of yet, nothing has been decided. The petition has over for a hundred and ninety five thousand signatures. Lily's death was relatively recent, so the story is still unfolding. The following months or years will see Carson's trial and we'll find out if he will be tried as an adult. Will he face life in prison for his horrendous crime? Or will he be tried in juvenile court and receive a lighter punishment? While we wait to see if there will be

Starting point is 00:19:47 justice for Lily, we encourage listeners to follow Lily's wish, to be kind to one another. other.

The Misery Machine - The Case of Lily Peters

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