DA: No leaks occurred in Peters murder case

Jul. 4—CHIPPEWA FALLS — At the June 24 court hearing for the 14-year-old boy accused of killing 10-year-old Lily Peters, defense attorney William Cohen expressed concern that some police reports and other information about his client had been leaked to the media.

Chippewa County District Attorney Wade Newell reviewed the video and argued that Cohen's claims are unfounded.

A 33-minute video posted on Youtubecontained some new information, including some gossip and details about the boy's identity and his family history.

"I have reviewed the youtube link provided by attorney Cohen, and conferred with law enforcement regarding the matter," Newell wrote in a letter to the court last week. "It appears that all of the information contained within the video is publicly available such as media reports, media images/video footage, stock video footage (meaning video footage unrelated to this case), police scanner recordings, social media content, and online court records and documents, such as the criminal complaint."

Cohen said the media attention on the case was harming his client, and he hadn't seen details that were in the Youtube video in any court document, so he wondered where that information came from. Newell said it wasn't from law enforcement.

"I do not believe that there is anything to support attorney Cohen's unsubstantiated allegations, that law enforcement leaked confidential evidence," Newell added. "This is a very serious allegation made by attorney Cohen in open court. I would hope in the future that allegations of this nature would be fully vetted, before being raised in court."

Cohen responded with a letter to the court the next day.

"I stand by my statements of concern made at that time," Cohen wrote. "A review of the transcript will indicate that I was concerned there was a leak. I did not make a statement that there was a definite leak of information. I did make it clear that, if there was a leak, it would be addressed."

Cohen added: "An investigation is being done to verify that there was not a leak."

Cohen said he will continue to make statements in court that feels are appropriate.

"If Mr. Newell wishes to dispute my claims, he has the right do so. However, I will do everything possible and necessary to protect the rights of my client, and to ensure that there is not any type inappropriately activilty going on."

Chippewa County Sheriff Jim Kowalczyk also reviewed the video and reached the same conclusion as Newell that no information had been shared in the video that wasn't publicly available. The video, which has been viewed more than 800,000 times, contained a lot of footage of police officers combing the woods, and footage shot over the scene from a drone, plus a recording of dispatch call.

"I saw nothing in that video that could have come from law enforcement in Chippewa County," Kowalczyk said.

"Most of the information in the video came from the criminal complaint. Upon checking with my personnel, we released nothing in regards to this investigation."

The suspect, identified in court records as C. P.-B., has not been otherwise identified in court, and Judge Ben Lane has ordered media to not take pictures or video of the suspect. No media, locally or nationally, have identified the boy by name, but an England-based website has released the boys full name and pictures of the boy and his family. The same information can be seen in the Youtube video.

The suspect has been charged with first-degree intentional homicide and two counts of sexual assault. He is being held in the Northwest Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Eau Claire on a $1 million cash bond. He will return to court Sept. 1 for a preliminary hearing that is expected to last perhaps four hours.

The juvenile is charged as an adult. At this time, Cohen has not filed any request for it to be moved into a juvenile proceeding.

According to the criminal complaint, when Peters' body was discovered the morning of April 25, she was partially undressed. She was already deceased.

When interviewed, the boy told police he punched Peters in the stomach, struck her on the head three times with a heavy stick, then strangled her until she was deceased. He then had sex with her body. He went home and put his dirty clothes in the laundry. He later returned to the scene, "drug her a few feet," and covered her body with leaves.