The Tragic Murder of a Wisconsin Girl Inspires New Missing Child Alert

When the news originally broke last Monday (April 25) that 10-year-old Lily Peters of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin was missing, two big questions came to my mind right away...

1. What happened to this little girl?
2. Why haven't the police issued an Amber Alert for Lily Peters yet?

Fast forward one week later and we now know that Lily Peters was tragically murdered by a 14-year-old boy and that the reason an Amber Alert was never issued following her disappearance was that the case "didn't meet the criteria".  Basically, in the beginning, police did not have descriptive information for a vehicle or a suspect associated with Lily's disappearance, and that type of info is needed for an Amber Alert.

Wisconsin Residents Start Petition for New 'Lily Alert'

Sadly, in this case, the issuance of an Amber Alert might not have changed Lily's fate, but it could have saved Lily's family from many hours of terrifying worry, and that is why the Chippewa Falls community is stepping up to demand more.

A petition calling for a new 'Lily Alert' has been created at change.org, and as I write this, it already has well over 80,000 signatures. So, what makes the 'Lily Alert' different from an 'Amber Alert'? Here's what the petition says;

The community is devastated and rallied to start a search group for the missing child. We can do better as a community and must be more proactive. We need an alert with less regulations around it so we can respond quicker to missing children.

The way I read this, a 'Lily Alert' would be a localized, immediate alert that doesn't require specific suspect information to get issued, just a call to action for the community to begin searching.

As a parent with young children, I am 100% all-in for this petition and will be signing it immediately. Anything that can help locate missing children faster is something that needs to happen. Read more about the 'Lily Alert' petition, here.