Juvenile suspect arrested in Wisconsin girl's killing

CHIPPEWA FALLS, Wis. — Police made an arrest Tuesday in the killing of Iliana "Lily" Peters, a 10-year-old girl who was found dead Monday morning after visiting her aunt's home.

"Earlier this evening, we arrested a juvenile suspect in this case," Chippewa Falls Police Chief Matt Kelm said at an evening news conference. "The suspect was not a stranger. The suspect was known to the victim.

"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."

Asked whether he expected to make any more arrests in the case, Kelm said, "I'm confident that there's no further danger to the community at this time."

Kelm refused to give any additional information on the suspect, including age, gender or whether the person was a relative of the girl. He said the suspect was arrested in the city.

Earlier in the day, police executed a search warrant at 422 N. Grove St., the home of Lily's aunt and the last place the girl was seen before she disappeared Sunday. Kelm said the search warrant was for "information tied to the killing."

Police from local, county, state and federal agencies have been working 24 hours a day since the girl was reported missing, Kelm said, thanking the many law enforcement agencies and neighboring police departments that have been assisting.

The cause of Lily's death has not been released pending the conclusion of an autopsy. Kelm said the Chippewa County District Attorney's Office will decide what charges to file.

Fear and anguish in the community

Earlier Tuesday, residents spoke emotionally about the trauma in their community.

Chelsea Torgerson kept her daughter home from school Tuesday.

"Just for my own peace of mind, I wanted to keep her home," Torgerson said. "I know these things happen in the world every day, but this is just so close."

Torgerson's daughter, 8-year-old Ava Johnson, attends Parkview Elementary School — the same school where Lily was a student.

"It's every parent's worst nightmare," Torgerson said.

"It makes us all ill," said Louise Lea, who lives in the nearby rural community of Jim Falls. When she heard the news, Lea said, "First I felt terror for the little girl and then terror for the parents. And then terror for her classmates and the neighborhood and the whole community.

"It just makes chills go up and down your spine."

Residents dressed in purple to honor Lily, and purple balloons and "Justice for Lily" banners filled the town Tuesday. At her school and on a downtown bridge, people left drawings, flowers, candles and stuffed animals.

Outside the school, a stuffed pink teddy bear bore the words "Lily Forever" in a childish scrawl.

Becky Powers picked up her first-grade daughter, Lilly, at Parkview Elementary as school staff lined the sidewalks outside the school. She said the school hasn't told students anything about the killing.

"They left it to the parents," she said. Powers explained to her daughter that the other Lily "was passed away," she said.

Several members of the extended Peters family, contacted Tuesday, declined to speak about the case.

The case has hit the community especially hard, as residents still remember the horrific deaths of three Girl Scouts and a Scout leader from a Chippewa Falls troop killed in 2018 by a man high on computer keyboard cleaner who ran them down while they were picking up trash from a highway ditch.

Many residents referred back to that tragedy in discussing the latest one.

"It's so sad that so many young kids are dying at the hands of someone evil," said Karen Saltness.

Charline Myers said she feels "sad and angry. I feel sorry for the little girl's family, the school and all her classmates. With all that's gone on in the last few years, these kids don't need this."

Purple ribbons on the lampposts

Chippewa Falls residents described their hometown as a friendly place where many people don't lock their doors. The death of a child in an apparent homicide, they said, has exposed the children of Chippewa Falls to a dark side of life that they shouldn't have to know so soon.

"Kids are questioning everything," said Chris Wensel, who works at the Chippewa Candy Shop downtown. "And that's what's so sad. They're living in a town that they thought was safe."

When Lily's photo showed up on social media after she went missing Sunday night, it was a shock, Wensel said.

"I thought, 'I recognize her,' " she said. She realized Lily as one of the many local kids who ride their bikes to buy candy at the shop.

On Tuesday afternoon, volunteers spread out through downtown, tying purple ribbons to lampposts. Judi Gunderman, a retired elementary school counselor, sobbed as she described the heartbreak in the community.

"I always describe this as a Norman Rockwell town," she said. "It's just devastating — all the children who are wondering if they'll be safe."

Ava Johnson, whose mother kept her home from school, left a handmade drawing at the makeshift shrine on the bridge near the crime scene. Written on purple paper, it was an entire page of hearts, dozens of them.

"I'm scared," Ava said, seemingly speaking for the entire town. "I'm old enough to understand most of it, but not every single thing."