A Wisconsin man was found guilty of murdering his girlfriend and hiding her body in the woods.
Matthew Pahl57, was found guilty of first-degree intentional homicide and concealing a corpse in connection with the death of Stephanie Pavlons.
“Justice has been served in the tragic and senseless murder of Stephanie Pavlons,” Waukesha County District Attorney Lesli Boese said in a statement. “The jury’s swift verdict, delivered in just over an hour, reflects the strength and clarity of the evidence presented. We appreciate their work and hope the decision brings some peace and comfort to Stephanie’s loved ones. Our thoughts are with her family as they continue to heal from this unimaginable loss.”
According to TMJ4, the prosecution argued that Pahl murdered Pavlons in 2022 after she decided to end the relationshipstrangling her with the strap of her own bag, although investigators were unable to determine the cause of her death due to the advanced state of decomposition of her body.
“Mr. Pahl was a violent and abusive partner,” prosecutor Kristi Gordon told the jury, according to the publication. “He killed Ms. Pavlons because she was trying to leave him. Something he couldn’t allow.”
The couple had been together for more than 20 years and had a sonaccording to The Waukesha Freeman. A construction worker discovered his remains on September 9, 2022 in a wooded area.
The criminal complaint consulted by People details that surveillance recordings allegedly show Pavlons leaving her apartment on August 23, 2022 at 8:39 a.m. with a black purse with silver metal links and chains, as well as a large pink water bottle.
The recordings also show Pahl leaving the building about a minute later. Video allegedly shows him returning to the apartment just before 11:15 a.m. with a large pink water bottle, believed to be the same one Pavlons had left the building with.
Just over an hour later, investigators claimed to have seen the suspect with a plastic bag containing Pavlons’ black purse.
The investigator noted that the same metal links/chains from the woman’s purse could be seen on the plastic bag when Pahl entered the building.
The authorities indicated that Pavlons did not appear again in the video recordingssince he did not return to the apartment.
Investigators later found Pavlons’ diary in the apartment he shared with Pahl. In a note dated July 8, 2021, Pavlons wrote: “Another depressing day of physical abuse. I think he likes doing it, even though he says he doesn’t ‘hate my life.’” In another note the next day, he wrote: “Instead, they washed my face with high-pressure water and beat me hard, which left a good mark on my chest and a good scar.”
According to the complaint, investigators also found several photos on Pavlons’ cell phone, taken in 2021, in which he is seen with a black and swollen eye, as well as a red mark on his chest.
Pahl allegedly stated to investigators on September 17, 2022 that he had not seen Pavlons in weeks. He stated that “I had nausea and a bad feeling.”
According to the complaint, the defendant then claimed that Pavlons constantly threatened to commit suicide, which affected him greatly.
He was formally charged in connection with her death in September 2023.
The prosecution admitted that it was a circumstantial case: no DNA evidence, no official cause of death and no eyewitnesses. During the trial, they claimed that phone records were key, showing that Pahl had deleted nearly 1,000 messages and that both her and Pavlons’ phones beamed to the location where she was last seen alive.
Prosecutors also stated that Pahl monitored police frequencies and online obituaries, something his defense attorney, Peter Wolff, said he did not consider suspicious.
“If I was worried about someone, I would do the same thing,” Wolff stated in court, according to FOX6.
“He thinks he’s covering his tracks, but he didn’t know we’d know we could go through his phone and find what he deleted. We’re smarter than him,” prosecutor Kristi Gordon said, adding that Pahl thought he was “the smartest of them all.” His sentence will be handed down on Tuesday, November 11.
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