WISCONSIN — The Chippewa Falls community is pushing for a “Lily Alert” after the tragic death of 10-year-old Lily Peters.

Law enforcement in Chippewa Falls said the missing 10-year-old girl’s body was found near a walking trail Monday morning after she was reported missing Sunday night. She was last seen at her aunt’s house, which was blocks away from where she was found. 

No AMBER Alert was issued for Peters.

For an AMBER Alert to go out, the following criteria must be met, per system’s website:

• There is reasonable belief by law enforcement that an abduction has occurred
• The law enforcement agency believes that the child is in imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death
• There is enough descriptive information about the victim and the abduction for law enforcement to issue an AMBER Alert to assist in the recovery of the child
• The abduction is of a child aged 17 years or younger
• The child’s name and other critical data elements, including the Child Abduction flag, have been entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) system

The Chippewa Falls community started a petition to create a “Lily Alert” in the state of Wisconsin. The alert could be issued with less restrictions, in hope to prevent future tragedies in the state.

“Any parent would agree that when a child is missing even for a short amount of time and they need help then help should be sent,” the petition’s organizer, Eric Henry, said. “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.”

In addition to AMBER alerts, Wisconsin has Silver Alerts and Green Alerts. Silver Alerts are issued when an “adult with Alzheimer’s, dementia or other permanent cognitive impairment is missing.” Green Alerts are issued for “missing veterans who have a service-related health condition.” AMBER Alerts are the only child-related alerts the state has.

Other states have child-related alerts in addition to the AMBER Alert. Florida has a Missing Child Alert and Tennessee has Active Missing Child/Endangered Child Alerts. These alerts have relaxed regulations in comparison to AMBER Alerts, in hopes to help bring kids home quickly and safely.

At the time of publishing, more than 62,000 people have signed the petition.

A GoFundMe has been started for Peters’ family and can be accessed, here.