Teen accused of killing Wisconsin girl had a chaotic start in life

CHIPPEWA FALLS, Wis. — He grew up in a run-down house in a working-class neighborhood behind the Leinenkugel's brewery in this western Wisconsin city.

His father was convicted of possessing child pornography. The parents had a long court battle over the boy after their breakup, and the mother has since had relationships with men whose criminal records include theft, assault and drug use.

Neighbors say the boy appeared to be a normal 14-year-old who played video games and did well in school.

Yet, he now sits in a Wisconsin jail with bail set at $1 million. Authorities say that on April 24, a Sunday, the teen left with 10-year-old Iliana "Lily" Peters for a walk on a wooded trail. There, they say, he punched and strangled her "to the point of death" before raping her. Her body was found the next morning.

The eighth-grade boy is charged with three felonies: first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree sexual assault of a child under 13 resulting in great bodily harm and first-degree sexual assault. The first two charges carry a maximum penalty of life in prison, while the third could result in a prison term of up to 60 years.

The Star Tribune is not identifying the boy, because he is charged as a juvenile, nor is it naming the adults in his life, because that would reveal his identity.

But people in Chippewa Falls know who he is, and as the town grieves Lily's death, it also wonders what could possess a teenager to commit the heinous acts the authorities have alleged.

Court records of dysfunction

The boy's family members declined to be interviewed for this article, as did school officials. Neighbors who were willing to talk offered few details on his family life.

But court records tell the tale of a long struggle over the child, the product of a short-lived relationship between his mother and father that ended before the boy turned 2.

His mother sued for child support, setting off a legal fight that continued off and on for nearly five years with arguments over support payments and visitation rights. The parents went to mediation but could not agree to terms.

Finally, a judge granted 50-50 physical custody, with the boy spending three days in turn with each parent. But things didn't always go smoothly, according to court records.

"She tells me I can't see [the boy]," the father wrote in a court affidavit. The mother often took the boy away from the father during his assigned visitation times, he wrote, "and says there is nothing I can do about it."

The son occasionally attended martial arts events with the father, who holds a black belt in karate, and the two also went camping with friends and took in monster truck shows.

Things took a dramatic turn in 2016 when the father was charged with 10 counts of possessing child pornography. A police investigation found that he'd downloaded dozens of images of nude or partially nude prepubescent girls from encrypted file-sharing sites, his own image superimposed onto one of them.

After the charges were filed, the mother sued for custody.

"I do not feel it is in his best interest (to be with his father)," she wrote in a legal filing.

While the charges were pending, the boy's paternal grandmother took over the father's custodial duties, keeping the boy for three weekends a month at her home in La Crosse, Wis.

Family friend: 'He never looks happy'

In April 2018, the father was sentenced to three years in the Oshkosh Correctional Institution on one count of possession of child pornography. Nine other charges were dropped in a plea agreement with prosecutors.

Even prison didn't end the battle over the boy. While incarcerated, the father petitioned to allow the son to visit him in prison. The mother opposed it, and eventually a judge rejected the request.

But letters and testimony paint a picture of the son's relationship with his parents.

According to his paternal grandmother, the boy often expressed a wish to visit his father in prison. The boy sent birthday cards, Father's Day cards, and "fun cards that he has made," she said in an affidavit.

"[The boy] has not been very happy with his father gone," she wrote, adding that the father's incarceration "is a tragic situation for his son."

A family friend, writing in support of the visits, questioned the boy's relationship with his mother.

"From what I've observed, [he] doesn't get a lot of attention at his mom's," she wrote. "We have seen him out and about with his mom, and he never looks happy." She also mentioned that the father, from prison, had taught the son how to shave.

Father: Son is 'the best part of me'

The father, who worked as a phlebotomist and a martial arts instructor before his imprisonment, admitted taking speed, Adderall and cocaine. But that didn't make him an unfit parent, he repeatedly argued.

Even the judge who sentenced him on the pornography charge acknowledged the father's commitment to parenthood.

"It's obvious to me that [the boy] is an important part of [the father's] life," the judge said, according to a transcript of the sentencing.

While the father was in prison — he was released in April 2021 — the two e-mailed every day and had monthly phone calls.

"We talk about school, friends, movies and video games," the father wrote in an affidavit. "I make him laugh almost as much as he makes me laugh."

The dad said he regularly sent his son arts and crafts items he'd made in prison, including a large blanket he crocheted for the son's bed.

In a final plea for more time with his son, the father wrote:

"My son is the best part of me."

Staff writer Matt McKinney contributed to this report.