Matthew Pahl Convicted in the Death of Stephanie Pavlons
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On August 23, 2022, 44-year-old mother-of-one, Stephanie Pavlons, went missing after leaving her apartment in Waukesha County, Wisconsin.
Surveillance footage from a nearby convenience store showed her shortly after leaving the residence with her handbag and a pink water bottle in hand.
She lived in the apartment with her partner, Matthew Pahl.
The pair had been in an on-and-off relationship for over two decades, and had a child together. Those close to Stephanie described her relationship with Matthew Pahl as unhealthy and turbulent.
She kept a day-to-day journal in which she often wrote about their relationship, and in the summer of 2021 wrote: “another depressing & physically abusive day. I think he likes to do it,” indicating there was domestic violence in the home.
In another entry she described the injuries she suffered, including a mark on her chest and a scar. Media outlets report that there were also images that showed the victim with a black and swollen eye.
Pictures in her cell phone gallery matched up with the journal entries.
Stephanie sometimes worked for Pahl’s house-flipping business and did not have employment elsewhere.
She would often be dropped off by Pahl to visit her family but did not have a vehicle of her own.
According to her family, she did not have any friends she would see, so was limited in her interactions with others.
She kept in touch with her family daily, so when she stopped responding to their messages and calls on August 23, 2022, her mother became worried.
Weeks passed before anyone realized Stephanie was missing, and Pahl did not report her disappearance.
On September 9, 2022, construction workers north of Golf Road stumbled upon the decomposed body of a woman in a wooded area in the Town of Delafield, Waukesha County, Wisconsin — around three miles from Stephanie’s last known whereabouts.
The body, which was in an accelerated state of decomposition after being left exposed to the elements for three weeks, was formally identified as Stephanie Pavlons, although the nature and cause of death could not be determined.
Her family were contacted and told detectives that she had been in an abusive relationship, which was later confirmed by the journal entries she had kept, as well as the digital evidence on her devices.
Investigation led detectives to surveillance footage, which showed Stephanie leaving, and later, Pahl returning to the vicinity carrying Stephanie’s bag and pink water bottle.
Pahl was ultimately arrested on September 17, 2022, and charged as a suspect in the death.
According to reports, when questioned, he said he had not been in contact with Stephanie for weeks, and said she often threatened to take her own life. He also became defensive over being in possession of the victim's pink water bottle and purse, insisting that they did not prove he was involved with "what happened to her."
He said that on that day he went to a physiotherapy appointment and claimed the victim had gone with him in his truck, but wasn’t there when he left, which is why he returned with her personal items.
CBS 58 Milwaukee reported surveillance footage from a Kwik Trip showed Pavlons climbing into Pahl's truck at approximately 8:50 a.m. Their cell phones both pinged at Orthopedic Associates Wisconsin, where Pahl had a physiotherapy appointment that day; he showed up at the doctor’s office around 9:15 a.m., entering at 9:34 a.m.
A search of Pahl's devices showed that he had been in communication with women in the Philippines via Skype.
In conversation, he talked about wanting to move to Asia and said he was concerned about something—although he did not specify what.
The conversations with the women were reportedly romantic in nature.
He had also been searching online for Stephanie Pavlons’ obituary just days after she went missing, and had also been using a police scanner.
The trial, which lasted six days, resulted in Pahl being found guilty of first-degree intentional homicide and hiding a corpse.
Although there was no forensic evidence in the case against Pahl, the circumstantial evidence proved sufficient for the jury.
Prosecutors alleged that the victim planned to leave the suspect and accused Pahl of strangling her to death with her own handbag strap before transporting her body to the wooded area where it was later found.
The defense argued that the victim was suicidal and took her own life, citing the autopsy report that stated the cause and nature of death was unspecified due to the decomposed condition of the body.
57-year-old Matthew Pahl was found guilty on November 4, 2025. He will be sentenced this week.