Alexis Patterson Replay

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1:29ahead, show off a little. Find shoes that get you, and prices that get your budget. Head to your DSW store or dsw.com today. DSW, let us surprise you. Voices for Justice is a podcast that uses adult language and discusses sensitive and potentially triggering topics including violence, abuse, and murder. This podcast may not be appropriate for younger audiences. All parties are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Some names have been changed or omitted per their request or for safety purposes. Listener discretion is advised. My name is Sarah Turney and this is Voices for Justice.

2:13Today I am discussing the case of Alexis Patterson from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. On the morning of May 3rd, 2002, 7-year-old Alexis Patterson was very excited about going to school. Alexis was already a good student and prided herself on her perfect attendance record. But this day was going to be very special. The night before, she and her mother, Ayanna Patterson, purchased cupcakes for her to bring to her first grade class. But when her mother realized Alexis had not finished her homework, she told her she was no longer allowed to bring the treats to school. Frustrated, Alexis packed up and got ready to make the short walk to Highmount Community School.

2:56The school was just 242 steps from her front door, but her mother or stepfather usually walked with her anyway. That morning, her stepfather, Laurent Bourgeois, walked with her. When they got to the end of their street, they met a crossing guard who walked Alexis to the other side of the street to the school. What happened next, and even parts of what I already told you, is highly debated among Laurent Bourgeois, witnesses at the school, and law enforcement. What we know for sure is that Alexis went missing that day. To complicate matters further, in 2016, 14 years after Alexis went missing, a man came forward claiming his ex-wife was Alexis.

3:42Since then, Ayanna Patterson has believed her daughter is not missing, but alive and well, unable to believe the truth of her identity. But some detectives are certain that the answers about what happened to Alexis will be found closer to home. This is the case of Alexis Patterson. Alexis Patterson was born on April 4, 1995, to her parents Ayanna Patterson and Kenya Campbell. Her parents' relationship didn't last long after she was born. Eventually, Ayanna Patterson met and married a man named Laurent Bourgeois. Alexis lived with her mother and stepfather full-time at their home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

4:27Alexis turned 7 shortly before she went missing. At that time, she was in the first grade at Highmount Community School just down the street from her home. Specifically, just 242 steps from her front door. She was a straight-A student and prided herself on having perfect attendance. Her Head Start teacher has described Alexis as having a beautiful smile, noting that everyone in the class always wanted to sit next to her. She also loved skating and the color purple. On the night of Thursday, May 2, 2002, Alexis and her mother Ayana went to the Jewel Osco supermarket. Alexis asked her mother to buy cupcakes for her to bring to class the next day as it was her turn to bring snacks, and Ayana agreed.

5:15The next morning, on now Friday, May 3, 2002, Ayana discovered that Alexis had not finished her homework from the night before. So, as a consequence, she told her she could no longer bring the cupcakes they purchased for her class to school. Alexis was obviously not happy, but she continued to get ready for the school day. According to Laurent Bourgeois, just before 8am, he walked Alexis the short distance from their front door to the end of the street where they were met by a crossing guard for the school. The crossing guard then guided Alexis across the street to the school. But Alexis never made it to her classroom that day, and the school never called her home to report her unexcused absence.

6:00Alexis was due home at about 2.50 that day. By 2.55 p.m., Ayanna Patterson says she began to worry. By 3 p.m., she was at the school. This is when they informed her that Alexis was marked absent. After a quick trip to Alexis' grandmother's house to see if maybe she went there, Ayanna called the Milwaukee Police Department to report her daughter missing. Now, before we go any further, I want to talk about the many conflicting reports here. Some reports say Laurent Bourgeois watched Alexis enter the school. Others say he saw her walk to the playground outside of the school where the kids always played before the bell rang.

6:40One member of law enforcement, who you will hear from later in this episode, says he doesn't think Alexis ever made it to school that day at all. So, I don't really know what the truth is. There were no cameras outside of the school to confirm anything. However, multiple children on the playground did report seeing Alexis outside of the school that morning. Some even say they saw her after school on the playground between 3 and 5 p.m. No one reported seeing her in her classroom or inside of the school at all. Students at the school also reported seeing a late model red GMC SUV with tinted windows hanging around the school that morning.

7:21Others say they saw a dark blue SUV speeding away from the school. But as far as I could find, these vehicles were never a large focus in the investigation. So unfortunately, exactly what happened that day is kind of fuzzy. But the Milwaukee PD responded quickly. The search for Alexis would become one of the largest in the city's history. Law enforcement, the community, and friends and family of Alexis showed up in droves to look for her. Unfortunately, Alexis went missing almost one year to the day before Wisconsin adopted the Amber Alert system. So there was no alert for Alexis. Within a day, the Milwaukee PD established a mobile command post near her home.

8:0730 patrol officers, 23 detectives, and multiple supervisors worked day and night from this post. There were helicopters, huge search teams, and eventually multiple dive teams searching nearby bodies of water, including the Washington Park Pond just a few blocks from the school, and the Milwaukee River. They searched boarded-up homes, alleyways, they followed tips leading them to abandoned buildings, They interviewed and re-interviewed her family and classmates. Her parents were interrogated for over 10 hours and given polygraph tests. This was a huge news story in Milwaukee. Many people criticized the schools for not calling to report Alexis absent.

8:52However, Superintendent Spence Corte defended their policy of calling caregivers by the end of the second missed day, saying that there were enough absences in the schools each day that they simply could not call caregivers when there was one unexcused absence. In the end, the district simply said it was an unfortunate incident, but they felt no reason to change their policy. Three days after Alexis went missing, Milwaukee Chief of Police said that he believed Alexis ran away due to the argument she had with her mother that morning, but he reiterated that they were taking her disappearance very seriously.

9:30Iona Patterson fought back against this, saying Alexis would never leave on her own, adding that she had no way of feeding or sheltering herself for the three days that she had now been missing. On May 7th, four days after Alexis went missing, Milwaukee Police Captain Paul Stummer of the Criminal Investigation Bureau was asked by local media if they had any suspects, to which he responded, quote, a suspect would mean we have a crime. Right now we have a missing persons investigation, end quote. However, less than a week later, by May 13th, Alexis's case was upgraded from a missing person to a criminal investigation by the Milwaukee PD, and it seemed clear that they and the media were focusing on Laron Bourgeois.

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14:1210 days after 7-year-old Alexis Patterson went missing, her case was upgraded from a missing person investigation to a criminal investigation, and the focus was narrowing in on her mother, Ayanna Patterson, and her stepfather, Laurent Bourgeois. Of course, in any missing persons investigation, you have to start with those closest to the missing person and work your way out as you eliminate people. According to Laurent Bourgeois, he was at home all day when Alexis went missing, presumably with Ayanna Patterson doing nothing particularly interesting. Soon reports that Laurent failed certain parts of his polygraph test emerged.

14:51He fought back against these allegations, telling reporters near his home, quote, if I would not have passed the test, then I wouldn't be standing here, end quote. Now, you might be wondering about Alexis's biological father, Kenya Campbell. Well, on the day Alexis went missing, he was in jail on charges of driving on a suspended license, so he was ruled out rather quickly. But I do think it's worth mentioning that in 2013, he was sentenced to 18 years in prison for abusing his 8-month-old daughter so badly she nearly died. Ultimately, detectives have been unable to connect him to Alexis' disappearance in any way.

15:31So, as far as I could find, he has never been considered a person of interest, and has seemingly been cleared by the Milwaukee PD. As for Leron, well, that's a different story. Authorities have never really shied away from their suspicions about him. He does have a criminal history. Most notably, in 1994, Leron was the getaway driver in a burglary that resulted in Glendale police officer Ronald Hedbenny being shot and killed, but he was granted immunity for his testimony. The Milwaukee Police Department hasn't released much about why they think Leron might have been involved in Alexis' disappearance, but I have to imagine this incident plays a role.

16:16Later in the episode, you will hear directly from a member of law enforcement about why he believes all roads lead to Leron, and he's not very nice about it. You will also hear from Leron about what happened and how he feels about these accusations. Despite the focus on Leron, he and Ayanna still appealed to the media for help. On May 14th, reporter Crocker Stevenson from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel visited the family home. Leron expressed his frustration with the constant media presence at their home, and the allegations that he may have been involved, but stated he continued to speak with the press in order to help Alexis' case.

16:59That day, Stevenson sat down with Ayanna and Laurent as they dictated a letter to whomever took Alexis. It reads, quote, To whom it may concern, to whomever it is that has our child, or to anybody who knows where she is, please look into your heart and feel how your mother and father would feel if something like this happened to you. We know you have a mother and father who loves you like we love our child. Just think about how she feels not being able to come home to her mother and father, where she belongs. We have visions of our daughter being dead, nightmares. We know she wants to be home with her brothers and sisters and her family.

17:42We don't care who you are, what problems you may have had that would make you do something like this. We just want our baby home. If you could find it in your heart to drop her off at the nearest safe place, or just let her go out the door. Somebody will recognize her. It feels like we have a hole in our hearts. Our lives will not be complete without our baby. Nobody can take care of her like we can. If you have our daughter, just let us know she is safe and alive and happy. God forgives and we forgive. Give us back our child, please. End quote. Outside of suspicions that Laurent Bourgeois might be involved, there was another notable person of interest the police looked into.

18:29A few weeks after Alexis went missing, workers from America's Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee discovered a very disturbing note glued to the front door as they went to open the museum that day. It featured Alexis and basically asked why white people should care about her. It also said if black people think white people care, quote, you are dreadfully mistaken, end quote. I want to note here that Alexis's family also reported receiving anonymous, sexually explicit, and racist phone calls after putting their number on a flyer for Alexis. These calls began as early as the day after she went missing, and they went on for some time.

19:14It's just an extra, unneeded layer of hate not only for Alexis' loved ones, but Alexis herself. I can't imagine if she was being held somewhere, possibly with access to the news, how she would feel about reading about these calls and flyers. We know that captors will sometimes show the people they've kidnapped media coverage of their case. I can imagine an evil person would use this type of media coverage to discourage Alexis from believing anyone cared about her just because she was black. Of course, I'm just speculating at this point, so let's get back to the facts. Luckily, the man who created these horrible flyers was caught the next day.

19:57This man was 22-year-old Brian T. Werner. Milwaukee Police Chief Arthur Jones stated that Werner was, quote, well-known among his associates for his hatred of African Americans, end quote. Werner also has one tattoo that reads white power on the inside of his lip, and another tattoo on his arm that reads hate. It was actually these tattoos that led police to Werner. Jones stated, quote, we received phone calls that told us, for instance, that we should look at tattoo parlors and other information, end quote. He says it eventually led them to Brian Werner's cell phone number. Werner turned himself into police at 4.45am the morning after the first flyer was found.

20:44When he was taken into custody, police found the flyers and a Nazi flag in his vehicle. Although law enforcement recommended a charge of disorderly conduct and pushed for the DA to add a hate crimes enhancer, the charges were ultimately dropped. The DA commented that although the flyers were obnoxious and offensive, his right to create and distribute them is protected by the First Amendment or the right to free speech. Of course, with Werner being so malicious towards Alexis, they explored the possibility that he was responsible for her disappearance, but no connection was ever made. Searches for Alexis continued as tips came in, and the Milwaukee PD served subpoenas to four local news stations for their coverage of Alexis' case, possibly to review statements made by those in the area.

21:37After five weeks, the mobile command unit for Alexis moved to the 3rd District station, about a block away from Alexis' home. Officials stated that by this time, Alexis' case file was already thousands of pages long, filled with interviews, following up on tips, and failed leads. To raise awareness for Alexis, the Milwaukee PD released a 15-second surveillance video of Alexis and her mother Ayanna at the Jewel Osco grocery store on the night before she went missing. This is when they went to buy the cupcakes for her class. Officials told local news outlets that they hoped by showing Alexis on video versus just her picture, someone might recognize her.

22:20Though, based on some statements they make later in the case, I have a feeling they also wanted people to see Ayana as well. Alexis's case did get a fair amount of attention when she first went missing. She was in the local paper, on America's Most Wanted, CNN, and more. But then, on June 5th, about a month after Alexis went missing, a 14-year-old girl from Utah named Elizabeth Smart was abducted from her home. Her case dominated headlines across the country. Now, I feel like I have to stop and say all cases deserve the attention Elizabeth Smarts received. Each and every one of them. Black, white, poor, rich, educated, not educated, 7 years old, 77 years old, I don't care.

23:09Missing people deserve the best investigation possible, and when appropriate, the most media coverage possible until they are found. Elizabeth received the coverage that all missing persons cases should receive. The Milwaukee Journal did a nexus search of all major newspapers about two weeks after Elizabeth went missing, so about six weeks after Alexis went missing. There were 67 stories about Alexis, and over 400 about Elizabeth. In my research, I found countless articles comparing the cases. Some people say Alexis didn't get the same attention because she was black and from a lower-income family than Elizabeth Smart.

23:51Others say it was the circumstances of Elizabeth's abduction that were just more fascinating to people. Many say it was a combination of a lot of factors. Either way, this was extremely disheartening to Alexis' family. I can't speak for other families, but I know I compare my sister's case to other cases in terms of the media attention it received. I can't help but think about what could have happened if my sister received basically any media attention when she first went missing. It's an impossible and mostly depressing game to play in your mind, but again, I can't help but wonder. And I have to imagine Alexis' loved ones have played the same game in their minds a million times just like I have.

24:38Local news outlets reported that Ayana went into a deep depression after Alexis was gone. She could barely eat or sleep and she almost never left the house. In one article, they say she listened to a song by Yolanda Adams on repeat that said, quote, There is no pain Jesus can't feel. No hurt he cannot heal.

25:09Friends would end up staying with Ayana to help her care for her infant child born just six months before Alexis went missing. By November, Alexis' family moved from the home Alexis once lived in, and they stopped talking to reporters. It was around this same time that they began losing support from some of the community as well. A volunteer group established to help Look for Alexis disbanded not long after a rummage sale to raise funds for their efforts only attracted four people. Founder Keith Martin told the Milwaukee Journal, quote, We won't have money to pay our telephone bills next week, but anything else out there the community can support.

25:51I guess the attitude out there is, it didn't happen to me, so I'm going to leave it alone. It's just sad. End quote. Now I need to take a moment to recognize Keith Martin for the absolute rock star and hero that he is. He'd never met Alexis in his life. When he heard about her going missing, he brought together the community to search for her. He worked third shift as a security guard at Master Lock and spent the rest of his time gathering donations, including bicycle locks from his employers for the bike team he put together to look for Alexis. He got t-shirts printed and work gloves from Walmart.

26:32He also bought all of the volunteers' flashlights. This man cared so much and went above and beyond to help Alexis. So I just wanted to give him a little shout out and explain how hard this group worked to raise awareness and look for Alexis. I have to imagine running out of funding and disbanding was pretty heartbreaking for them. Alexis' family also lost the support of a private investigator hired to help find her. P.I. John Robbins-Wells donated money to help start that volunteer group and helped Martin oversee a hotline they'd established. But after Alexis' family moved and changed their phone number, they pretty much cut off all communication with Wells.