Updated
Updated · Fox News · Aug 26
Georgia Teen Gets Life, 30 Years Before Parole, for Killing Mother After Dropping School Shooting Plan
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Aug 26

Georgia Teen Gets Life, 30 Years Before Parole, for Killing Mother After Dropping School Shooting Plan

3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Aug 26

Summary

  • Lilyana Rose Wagner, 16, was sentenced to life in prison and must serve 30 years before parole after pleading guilty to murdering her mother, Rachel Wagner, 51, in November 2024.
  • Prosecutors said Wagner had become obsessed with school shooters and mass-casualty attacks, and wrote in a handwritten confession that she had planned to attack her old middle school but "chose this instead."
  • The killing came to light after Wagner, then 14, crashed her mother's car; officers checking the home found Rachel Wagner dead from a gunshot wound to the back of her head.
  • Investigators said Wagner had communicated for months with anonymous people on apps who encouraged murder, while her mother had bought the gun at a pawn shop a month earlier and allowed the teen to keep it in her bedroom.
  • District Attorney Patrick Warren used the case to warn parents to monitor children's online influences, saying digital encouragement from strangers can turn into real-world violence.

Insights

What digital warning signs were missed before a Georgia teen abandoned her school shooting plot to murder her own mother?
Why would a mother buy a firearm for a 14-year-old secretly plotting a mass casualty attack on encrypted apps?
How are predatory online networks turning isolated teenagers into violent clout-chasers right under their parents' noses?