Fourth-grader Lily Peters frequently rode her bike up and down a trail in her quiet Chippewa Valley, WI community. On Sunday, the 10-year-old girl was riding her bike home on the bike trail from her aunt’s home when she went missing.
Lily’s dad, Alex Peters contacted the police when she hadn’t returned home by 9 PM after spending the afternoon with her Aunt Laurie Davis and her aunt’s 50 yr-old boyfriend, John Repetto.
Daily Mail reports – Cops launched a desperate search for her and found her bicycle on a hiking trail behind her aunt’s house. Her body was found on Monday in a wooded area just off a footpath and less than half a mile from the home she shared with her parents and her brother Dylan.
Lily’s 14-yr-old cousin, who was arrested in connection with her murder and sexual assault, appeared in a Zoom call with his attorney from a juvenile detention center.
Dressed in a black sweater, he sat silently as the court heard how ‘he [the boy] told police his intention was to break and kill the victim from the get-go as he left the house and walked down the street with her.’
DA Wade Newell asked for bond to be set at $1 million as he described how the boy ‘punched the victim in the stomach, knocked her to the ground and strangled her to the point of death and then sexually assaulted her.’
Despite defense objections, Judge Benjamin Lane agreed to set bond at $1 million and banned him from any contact with minors.
A security guard watching the area said she instantly recognized Lily when she was declared missing – telling DailyMail.com she often saw her cycling along that path.
She added: ‘This is a small town so everyone knows everyone. I never spoke to Lily but I saw her cycling all the time.’
On the street where the 10-year-old lived, every tree has been decorated with purple ribbons while some supportive signs were also seen on Davis’s street.
The house that she shared with her killer son has been taped off and is currently guarded by police.
After the boy’s arrest on Tuesday, Chippewa Falls Police Chief Matt Kelm said: While nothing will bring Lily Peters back or change what happened, we are very grateful to deliver this news to the family and the community,’ Kelm said of the arrest.
A GoFundMe has been set up for the family which has already raised more than $20,000.
It was set up by a friend who said they were raising money for the family.
