Welcome to Mysteries of the Missing, a podcast and blog about missing person's cases. You can find my podcast, my blog, and my social media pages on my Linktree at: https://linktr.ee/MysteriesoftheMissing.
Keep in mind that I am only reporting the events of what have happened, per my research through various media outlets. I’m not trained in any way in true crime. Instead, I'm a published author who loves to blog. Also, I’m solely a human being that’s trying to do my part to get the message of the story of Alexis Patterson out there so that one day, hopefully, she may be found, and her case may be solved. Join me as I dive into the last day that people saw Alexis and what happened after she was last seen.
Warning: This podcast and blog episode contains child abuse, the case of a missing child, and the use and sales of drugs. Listener discretion is advised.
2002 was a big year in American history: September 11, 2001 had just happened and the world was reeling from all that this situation entailed. Traveling wasn't the same for a long time after 9/11 occurred, and the United States began a battle against terrorism that would eventually result in the invasion of Afghanistan and the death of Osama Bin Ladin in 2011. The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and Spider Man were the top grossing films in the world. CDs were the most-sold music formats, at 89% of the market. Eminem's The Eminem Show, Avril Lavigne's Let it Go, and Elvis' 30 No 1 Hits were the top-selling albums of the year. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was one of the most popular video games, the 2002 Winter Olympics took place in Salt Lake City, Utah, and it was the second hottest year on record (after 1988). 65 space launches took place, including 61 successful and 4 failed trips. In 2002, Hybrid vehicles began to get popular, RNA was first discovered, and blogging became a common practice. Jimmy Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize for peace. I graduated from high school in May 2002, and that same month and year, 7-year-old Alexis Patterson went missing from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Alexis Patterson as a child
On April 4, 1995, Alexis Patterson made her entrance into the world. As a child, she was known to be bubbly and to always be happy.
On the morning of her disappearance, May 3, 2002, Alexis Patterson was excited to take cupcakes to Hi-Mount School. However, she hadn't finished her homework, so her mother, Ayanna Patterson, didn't want her to bring them. This created an argument between the two. What was said, no one knows, but this will be an important piece of information for later.
Alexis' stepbrother said that she got a spanking from her mom that morning for pretending not to know how to put on her socks.
Alexis' stepdad, LaRon Bourgeois, offered to walk her to school with his son, so according to him, the three walked toward the school from their home, which was close by. The stepdad stated that he left Alexis with the fifth grade crossing guard at the corner between the school and their house.
I don't know about you, but I used to walk to and from school all of the time...and I often did it by myself. I can remember walking home in the second or third grade because our house was so close to the school, and to be honest, I was a neglected child. However, I never felt any trepidation, even though there were still kidnappings going on in the 1980's and 90's. I was just a lucky kid, I guess. The scariest thing to me was the dog that I would sometimes encounter when we lived at a certain house in Springfield, Illinois -- he would always be tied up and would bark at me as I approached our duplex. It made me want to avoid going into the house because I was afraid he would bite me. This was back when there were no cell phones, so I couldn't text my mom and say, "Can you come down to get me?" I would have to wait until someone came through the door and I could pass them to get into the building or until I got brave enough to go inside.
Alexis had someone to walk her to school, though. This was someone she obviously trusted, someone who was supposed to take care of her. Her stepdad would be the last person to see her present.
When police interviewed witnesses, some people say they saw Alexis at school that day and some say they didn't, so that's not helpful at all. One sixth grader said she saw Alexis sitting on the steps with her head down, and when asked why she was sad, she said she didn't have the cupcakes. The older girl offered to buy her one from the store but Alexis said she wanted her own, then supposedly, she stood up and walked out of the schoolyard. If that was the case, could Alexis have been taken on the way to the store to get a cupcake?
How can officers lock down her whereabouts if the parent's statements differ? They can't.
Also, several disturbing reports have come up about Ayanna Patterson possibly being abusive toward children. Ayanna supposedly hit a relative's daughter and knocked out her tooth, then when the police were called, Ayanna and others hid the child under a pile of clothes. A family friend stated that they had seen Ayanna hit Alexis across the face and call her "a little bitch." Both Alexis' stepbrother and cousin told police that Ayanna hit Alexis with a black belt.
Ayanna initially lied to police about her level and type of discipline, but four days after Alexis went missing, she admitted that she "probably popped her that day."
According to phone records, an hour after Alexis was supposedly dropped off at school by her stepfather, Ayanna made a phone call to the Family Services Department of St. Michael's Hospital. Ayanna said her new baby was having trouble breathing and was coughing, so she made a call to the baby's doctor that practiced in that hospital, but hung up after being on hold for too long. The hospital has no record of Ayanna speaking with them that day.
A family friend stated that Ayanna told them that she gave Alexis "a real bad whooping the night before."
Could Ayanna have hurt Alexis severely and tried to get ahold of the doctor so that she could get some medical attention?
“Every tip we had came back to that family and it became apparent that something tragically went wrong in that house,” said Steve Spingola, a retired homicide lieutenant who worked the case.
A cadaver dog was brought into the family home by authorities and he alerted on the trunk of LaRon's car and the basement. In response, the detectives on the case sprayed those areas where the dog alerted with luminol, to reveal blood or other substances. It lit up! When police sent off the samples they took from these areas for lab testing, they came back as something other than blood, unfortunately.
Both Ayanna and LaRon agreed to take polygraph tests. LaRon failed his, but polygraphs are not admissible in Wisconsin.
In June 2002, one month after Alexis went missing, LaRon called a friend's mother. The friend listened in on the conversation on another phone and said she overheard LaRon saying, "I whipped Alexis and she never got up."
The FBI analyzed Alexis' case two weeks after she went missing and concluded that she was most likely the victim of an emotion-based homicide at the hands of her mother, possibly stemming from the disagreement about the cupcakes. Another of their theories was that she could have been a victim of a neighbor, but they stated that this was less likely.
Now, I was born in the 1980's, and my parents had no problems with whipping me with a belt or their hands. That was the norm back then, and it wasn't considered child abuse, unless there were bruises or welts. I remember getting plenty of spankings as a child. Today, that is considered abusive discipline, but back then, it wasn't as much of a big deal. I'm not downplaying Ayanna and LaRon's treatment of Alexis, but if they were born in the 1970's or 80's, they were probably used to this type of discipline.
Still, knocking out a child's tooth when hitting them is a little too harsh, in my opinion.
Keep in mind that many of the statements here are hearsay, and they may not all be true.
In regards to the people closest to a missing person or murder victim, we all know that the person responsible for such person is most likely very close to them. It makes sense that Alexis' mother was the perpetrator in her disappearance, especially since the two had fought that same morning she went missing. Also, Alexis and LaRon's statements differed between what they said to the media, friends, and law enforcement.
Note this: LaRon was a low level drug dealer. Twice before Alexis went missing, LaRon was robbed by rivals. Usually, drugs and crime go hand-in-hand. These robberies were not "wam, bam, thank you ma'am," either. They were "hold a gun to your head and demand money" kind of thefts. Could Alexis' disappearance have to do with her stepfather's drug use and selling? Also, was Alexis around when this happened? According to her mother, Ayanna, Alexis was at school, thankfully. However, that still doesn't make for a safe environment. The family did have a house alarm, which was good.
What wasn't good was that an anonymous tipster came forward and told the police that LaRon's circle often resorted to kidnapping to get money and drugs. In fact, in 2001, the stepdad and three other men kidnapped a 17-year-old from La Crosse, Wisconsin and returned him in exchange for $50,000 and 15 grams of heroin. This is sounding more and more like a movie, not like real life, but it is surely real.
One month before her disappearance, LaRon's drug supplier gave him 9 ounces of cocaine, free of charge, which runs about $7,000. LaRon was able to shell out $1,900 for the drugs and he promised to pay the rest when he sold some drugs of his own. Shortly afterward, LaRon called his drug supplier to say the cops had raided his house and he flushed the cocaine down the toilet. Apparently, the plumbing wasn't so great at the house, so the drug supplier said he doubted that the toilet could take all of those drugs. The drug supplier was sure he had been lied to by LaRon, so he responded to his associate by asking if he could shoot him.
Literally two days before Alexis went missing, gunmen confronted LaRon in the family's home. Neighbors witnessed this interaction. One of the men shouted that he was going to "kill all of you," according to a neighbor. Then, the argument was taken outside, where neighbors could see and hear everything more clearly. The men took off, but not before shouting that they were going to get Ayanna and LaRon "where it hurt."
Did Alexis' teachers know what was going on in the home? Was this reported to CPS?
On the day Alexis went missing, the drug supplier came by Alexis' house. He spoke with police and told them that he went inside to talk to LaRon. What was said between the two was not made known, but another man told detectives that LaRon had told him, "They took my baby." In fact, five people told police that the drug supplier took Alexis because LaRon stole from him. They stated that LaRon owed the drug supplier and his kingpin somewhere in the ballpark of $80,000. This isn't chump change.
A prison inmate claims that the supplier told him that they drove up to LaRon and Alexis on the morning of her disappearance and grabbed her, while LaRon took off running. They supposedly told LaRon later that he had five days to pay up.
Yet another informant said that he spoke with the drug supplier about Alexis and was told that the drug supplier strangled her and she may be buried in a construction site. The addition to the story was that Alexis was wrapped in large, black garbage bags and buried near Vincent High School in Milwaukee, past some bushes and down a hill near a creek.
Could this be what happened to Alexis? Was she taken as payment for LaRon's drug debt, and was she killed at the hands of LaRon's drug supplier or one of his workers, trafficked, or the like?
Many times, an inmate will tell a false story just to try to get less time on their prison sentence. Their stories cannot always be validated. Still, it takes one to know one, and while not all people in prison are truly guilty, some are, and I believe that some of their stories may have some credibility.
Sadly, LaRon passed away from a drug overdose in 2021, taking the information he may have about Alexis' disappearance with him.
A third theory is that a person in a red truck may have abducted Alexis. The red truck was seen parked in the school's parking lot shortly before Alexis went missing, it was unknown to school staff, and it disappeared after she went missing. No one ever saw the red truck again. It is unknown if this is connected to Alexis' case and police haven't commented on their investigation pertaining to this vehicle.
Which do you believe is the truth? Or do you have another theory?
Fourteen years after Alexis went missing, a man from Ohio claimed that his wife, Lisa Miller, could be the missing girl. His wife apparently has no memories of her life before the age of 10. That's odd, and I wonder if she's telling the truth. Her basis for this is because there are no photos of her before this age. After searching on the internet, the pair stumbled on Alexis Patterson's case. The woman bore a similar appearance to Alexis and she had two identifying marks that Alexis had: a linear scar beneath her right eye and an unusual bump on her left pinkie finger. There was a third identifier that hasn't been released to the public that the woman shared with Alexis. The woman took a DNA test and so did Ayanna, Alexis' mother. Unfortunately, the police say that the woman's DNA doesn't match Alexis' or Ayanna's. Strange, as the three identifying marks match, but that can happen, I guess.
Ayanna Patterson still believes this woman is her daughter, despite DNA evidence. She believes someone tampered with the woman's DNA sample. Why would someone do that, though? What would a police officer from Ohio and a Fed Ex employee from Milwaukee get from messing with someone's DNA? Could they have been paid off by the drug supplier? I doubt it.
So there are four theories of what happened to Alexis here:
Alexis died at the hands of her mother, Ayanna, and her stepfather, LaRon, covered it up.
LaRon's drug supplier and his associates took Alexis as payment until LaRon could pay up for his drug debt. During that time, she was most likely killed, either on accident or on purpose.
An unknown person with a red truck may have abducted Alexis.
Alexis is Lisa Miller from Ohio.
What do you think happened to Alexis Patterson?
If anything, I believe that the parents should have been held accountable for their drug use and selling and treatment of Alexis when she was alive.
At the time of her disappearance, Alexis was 7 years old. She was 3'8" and weighed 42 pounds. Her hair was black and her eyes were brown. She was wearing a red-hooded jacket with gray stripes, a purple shirt, blue jeans, and white Nike tennis shoes. She has a scar under her right eye and a bump on her left pinky finger. Today, Alexis would be 27 years old.
Anyone with information about Alexis Patterson is asked to contact Milwaukee Police at 414-935-7360. To remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at 414-224-TIPS or use the P3 Tops app. You may also contact me at mysteriesofthemissing2023@gmail.com. The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office is offering a $10,000 reward for information that leads to finding Alexis.
Alexis, if you're out there, I hope you have found peace. If you are no longer with us, I hope and pray that you can be found and your perpetrator will be brought to justice. Your story breaks my heart and I'm so sorry that someone didn't protect you at home. You deserved a full life, and you were not given it, regardless if you are still on this earth or not. I hope you get the justice and peace you deserve, sweet child.
This has been another episode of Mysteries of the Missing. Until next time, stay safe.
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