FOND DU LAC COUNTY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – A Ripon High School student is now charged with making a terror threat for allegedly writing a “hit list” and leaving it in a school bathroom earlier this month.
18-year old Lillian Cavell was scheduled to appear in Fond du Lac County Court Tuesday morning.
According to the complaint, a student found a list with the names of 17 students and one teacher on December 4th. The top of the list said, “Gonna (expletive) kill them.”
The high school and middle school were placed on “soft lockdown” as the incident was investigated. Those whose names were listed were brought into a room and shown copies of the list, but nobody recognized the handwriting. They were then released to their parents. Police used surveillance video from the school to identify 22 students who had entered the bathroom that day. Cavell reportedly acted suspiciously during the group briefing and was the only student who entered the bathroom whose name was on the list. Several homework writing samples from Cavell were compared to the note, and investigators found multiple similarities. A notebook from a classroom garbage can also matched the paper tear to the note. The complaint says Cavell was the only student to leave that classroom and go to the bathroom during the time the hit list was placed.
Cavell denied writing the note in an interview with police. “I didn’t write it and I’m sticking to that.” Cavell also talked extensively about how she would have no reason to do it because things were going well and she is friends with the people on the list.
Cavell also faces a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge.
