Overview
- Judge Steven Gibbs accepted Carson Peters-Berger’s guilty plea on Wednesday, August 26, 2026, and sentenced him to life in prison with eligibility for extended supervision after 25 years.
- As part of the plea deal the court dismissed two sexual-assault counts but read them into the record, and the judge credited Peters-Berger with four years already served and ordered $30,197.20 in restitution.
- Court records and the criminal complaint say investigators and an autopsy found that Lily Peters was beaten, strangled, and sexually assaulted after leaving her aunt’s house on April 24, 2022.
- Defense lawyers had sought to move the case into juvenile court, but Judge Gibbs ruled in January 2024 that it stay in adult court and the Wisconsin Court of Appeals affirmed that decision.
- Lily’s death prompted local memorials and helped spur the 2024 Prince Act to broaden AMBER Alert criteria, a change supporters say aims to improve responses to child disappearances.