A 16-year-old Georgia girl has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of her mother, an act she committed after abandoning a plan to carry out a school shooting.
Lilyana Rose Wagner pleaded guilty to murder and aggravated assault in the November 2024 death of her mother, Rachel Wagner, 51. The slaying came to light after the younger Wagner, then 14, crashed her mother's vehicle. Responding officers, alerted by concerns for Rachel Wagner who had missed work and was unreachable by phone, discovered her deceased from a gunshot wound to the back of her head at their home.
Investigators determined that Lilyana Wagner had developed an obsession with school shootings and mass casualty events, cultivating an online persona focused on planning such incidents. In a handwritten confession, she detailed her decision to kill her mother instead of proceeding with the school shooting. "This whole thing was a last-minute choice," she wrote. "I was going to commit a school shooting at my old middle school but chose this instead. Although I didn’t commit a school shooting, the whole event was inspired by these people."
Wagner listed the names of six different school shooters from memory in her confession. Authorities reported that in the months leading up to the killing, she communicated via apps with anonymous individuals who encouraged her to plan and commit murder.
Evidence showed that Rachel Wagner had purchased the firearm used in the crime at a pawn shop approximately one month prior to the incident and allowed her daughter to store the weapon and ammunition in her bedroom.
Tifton District Attorney Patrick Warren, in a statement, urged parents to monitor their children's online activity. "I urge you to never underestimate the influence that exists behind your child’s screen," Warren stated. "In the courtroom, I see the consequences after the messages and the online encouragement from strangers have already turned into real-world crimes."
Wagner will be eligible for parole after serving 30 years of her sentence.