An 18-year-old from the Midwest accused of a harrowing crime, dating back to when he was just 14, might escape the ordeal of a courtroom trial.
Allegations against Carson Peters-Berger include a brutal assault on his young cousin, 10-year-old Lily Peters. The accusations paint a grim picture of violence—he reportedly punched her, knocked her down, struck her with a stick, and strangled her until she died before committing rape on a Chippewa Falls hiking trail in April 2022.
The charges are severe: first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree sexual assault, and first-degree sexual assault of a child under 13.
Prosecutors contend that Peters-Berger harbored premeditated intentions to ‘rape and kill the victim’ as soon as they left home for the trail. Initially, his case was set for an adult court trial, raising the stakes to a possible life imprisonment sentence.
However, recent developments have shifted the narrative. The office of the Chippewa County District Attorney announced a resolution hearing for Peters-Berger, slated for the morning of August 26. This hearing could potentially circumvent the need for a trial.
A resolution hearing allows opposing parties in a case to negotiate an agreement and potentially settle a case before trial.
Chippewa County District Attorney Wade Newell told WEAU that the late August hearing means Peters-Berger’s trial, which had previously been scheduled to begin in November, will not move forward.
However, the teenager’s defense attorney, Michael Cohen, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the hearing will ‘address issues in the case that will determine whether there will be a trial.’
Lily Peters, 10, was strangled to death and raped in Wisconsin in 2022. Her then-14-year-old cousin, Carson Peters-Berger, was charged with the horrific crime
Peters-Berger, recently pictured in detention, is now 18 years old. He may avoid going to trial after it was announced that he has a resolution hearing scheduled for August 26
Peters Berger is pictured when he was 14. He is charged with first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree sexual assault and first-degree sexual assault of a child under 13
It is unclear whether Peters-Berger will enter a plea during the resolution hearing or what matters will be discussed, as Chippewa County Judge Steven Gibbs sealed online court records.
The teenager has been in custody on a $1 million cash bond since he was arrested in 2022.
In 2024, Peters-Berger’s attorneys attempted to have him tried in juvenile court, arguing that a life sentence would only be ‘punishment for the sake of punishment, which is not what the law permits for juveniles.’
The attorneys further argued that the teen would receive more mental health treatment for various diagnosed disorders if he were to be incarcerated in a juvenile facility.
In such a scenario, Peters-Berger would have been imprisoned for just 10 years and would have walked free at the age of 25.
Judge Steven Gibbs shot down the first attempt, stating: ‘The court disagrees that a possible 10-year confinement in the juvenile system, registering as a sex offender and that the defendant would be vulnerable to the adult system would be punishment enough for the defendant.’
The teenager’s attorneys appealed the judge’s ruling, but that attempt was denied in appellate court as well.
Peters-Berger allegedly admitted to police that he strangled his 10-year-old cousin to death before raping her, leaving her abused corpse on the trail and returning home.
Lily was reported missing by her father after she failed to return home from her aunt’s house. Her partially naked corpse was found by a volunteer search party the next morning
Peters-Berger allegedly returned to Lily’s body after discovering she had been reported missing, dragged her a few feet from the hiking trail and covered her with leaves
The young girl was reported missing by her father around 9pm after she failed to return home from her aunt’s residence.
After hearing Lily was reported missing, Peters-Berger allegedly returned to her body, dragged her a few feet off the trail and covered her with leaves.
A volunteer search party discovered the girl’s body partially naked the next morning.
Peters-Berger is the son of convicted pedophile Adam Berger, who spent three years in jail after being caught with a stash of pornographic images of prepubescent girls on his phone.
According to charging documents, 10 pornographic photos showing very young girls in sexual positions were found on his phone. All of the revolting pictures focused on the children’s genitalia, according to court papers.
He also had drug paraphernalia including four crack pipes in his home.
When his son was charged, Berger was living in a halfway house in Eau Claire after being released from Oshkosh Correctional Institution in April 2021. He remained on supervised probation and is on the sex offender registry.
He and his lawyers opposed extended probation at the time because he would not have had unsupervised visits with his son, who he described in a letter as being ‘the best of me.’
Peters-Berger is the son of convicted pedophile Adam Berger, who spent three years in jail after being caught with a stash of child porn. The father and son are pictured together
Bergers, pictured in his mugshot, was also caught with drug paraphernalia including four crack pipes. He called his son ‘the best part of me’ before the teen was accused of murder and rape
In 2017, before Berger was convicted of child porn offenses but after he had been arrested and charged, he had run his car into Peters-Berger’s mother, Lauri Davis.
Although not allowed solo contact with his son, who was then aged eight, the charging papers say they were in the vehicle together.
Davis said Berger drove the car at her, leaving her injured when she rolled off the hood and ended up on the ground.
When Berger was sent to jail, all physical contact with his son ceased, but in a jailhouse letter, Berger said he emailed the boy daily, spoke to him regularly while he was with his grandmother and mailed him a crochet blanket he had made in prison.
He said he dreamed of a future with his son, adding that he wanted unsupervised contact with his son because ‘he is not a victim of my offense.’ He added: ‘My son is the best part of me.’
If Peters-Berger’s resolution hearing does not prevent his case from going to trial, the proceedings will occur in a different county than where the crime occurred.
The teenager’s attorneys successfully argued in April 2025 that the highly publicized nature of his case may make it difficult to find impartial jurors in Chippewa County.