The 14-year-old from Wisconsin who is accused of luring, killing, and then sexually assaulting 10-year-old Liliana “Lily” Peters in April waived his right to a preliminary hearing Thursday before his attorney announced he is looking to have the case transferred to juvenile court.
The juvenile suspect is being identified only with his initials, CTB-P. and was initially charged as an adult. He has pleaded not guilty.
Defense attorney Michael Cohen said he would be filing a reverse waiver Thursday requesting that the court sent the 14-year-old’s murder case to juvenile court.
Lily was on the way home from her aunt’s house when she disappeared in late April. She was on her bicycle, headed for her father’s house nearby.
CTB-P told police he enticed her into the woods, then punched her in the stomach and beat her with a stick or club before strangling her, according to prosecutors. Then he allegedly sexually assaulted her deceased body.
Afterward, he went home, changed his clothes, and then returned to hide her body under some leaves.
Search teams found the little girl’s bike in the woods, and the next day investigators found her remains nearby.
“The suspect was not a stranger,” Chippewa Falls Police Chief Matthew Kelm said during a news briefing after CTB-P’s arrest. “The suspect was known to the victim. We do not believe there is any danger to the community at this time.”
The juvenile suspect has been charged as an adult with intentional homicide and was being held on $1 million bond.
“Protection of [the] community also is necessary in this case given his statements regarding his intentions and his statements regarding that when he did get off the trail, 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,” Chippewa County District Attorney Wade Newell told the judge at an April 27 bond hearing.
The suspect was being held in a juvenile detention facility and appeared in court remotely.
CTP-B faces charges of first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree sexual assault and first-degree sexual assault with a child under age 13 resulting in great bodily harm. He could face life in prison if convicted on the top charge.
In Wisconsin, homicide defendants above the age of 10 years old can be tried in adult court.
CTB-P’s next hearing is scheduled for Sept. 29.
