The season premiere of A&E’s Killer Investigations airs Thursday (Law&Crime).
Left to rot in the woods “as if she was roadkill,” a Wisconsin mother’s disappearance baffled loved ones until a bright pink water bottle exposed her boyfriend as a cold-blooded killer.
On Sept. 9, 2022, police in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, responded to a call from construction workers who discovered human remains in the woods, about 400 feet from an orthopedic hospital.
The victim was identified as 44-year-old Stephanie Pavlons. Her mother, Georgiann Pavlons, recalls, “I was just in total shock.”
Pavlons’ distraught parents hadn’t spoken to their daughter in several weeks but told police Matthew Pahl, her boyfriend and the father of her daughter, was likely the last person to have seen her.
Detectives brought in Pahl for questioning.
In an intense three-hour videotaped interrogation featured in the episode, Pahl told detectives that Pavlons was depressed and suicidal. “She texted me saying that I feel so helpless, my family’s- nobody in my family gives a s— about me,” Pahl said. But when asked when he last saw Pavlons, Pahl claimed it was weeks earlier.
Surveillance footage and cellphone data provided key clues for the investigation. Detectives recovered surveillance footage showing Pavlons leaving Pahl’s apartment building with her pink water bottle and black purse and Pahl picking her up moments later. Video at a gas station captured the last known images of Pavlons alive, and cellphone data placed the couple together in his truck.
Pahl then drove to the orthopedic hospital for an appointment.
But detectives learned Pahl had been flirting with women he met online in the Philippines. More damning, surveillance footage showed him returning home with Pavlons’ pink water bottle and black purse, but without her.
Confronted with the video, he dismissed the items: “That purse and water bottle ain’t s—.”
After a yearlong investigation, Pahl was arrested in September 2023 and charged with first-degree intentional homicide and hiding a corpse. He pleaded not guilty.
At trial, prosecutor Sue Opper acknowledged Pavlons’ mental health struggles but argued her journals revealed the source of her despair: “The abuse that had been inflicted upon her by the defendant Matthew Pahl.”
Defense attorney Peter Wolff argued that no one could determine the cause or manner of Pavlons’ death. But after only an hour of deliberation, the jury found Pahl guilty of first-degree intentional homicide and hiding a corpse.
At sentencing, Pahl referred to prosecutors Sue Opper and Kristi Gordon as “psychopaths in suits” and declared, “I am the only victim here.” He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
“He killed her and he left her to rot in the woods as if she was roadkill,” Judge Ralph M. Ramirez said.
The premiere episode of Killer Investigations, “The Lady in the Woods,” airs tonight at 10/9c on A&E.
About the series
Killer Investigations, written by Emmy and Peabody Award-winning journalist Brian Ross, examines major homicide cases through law enforcement interviews, forensic evidence, and trial testimony. Executive Producers for Law&Crime Productions are Brian Ross & Rhonda Schwartz. Executive Producers for A&E are Brad Abramson, Michael Gelman and Elaine Frontain-Bryant.
The post Killer Investigations: The pink water bottle that exposed a killer’s web of lies first appeared on Law & Crime.
