Background: Matthew Pahl appears in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, court on Nov. 4, 2025 (Law&Crime/YouTube). Inset: Stephanie Pavlons (Law&Crime/YouTube).
Years after facing accusations of murdering his girlfriend and concealing her remains in a wooded area, a 57-year-old man has finally faced the verdict of his trial.
The verdict was not in his favor.
On Tuesday, Matthew Pahl listened without emotion as a judge in Waukesha County declared him guilty of first-degree intentional homicide and concealment of a corpse in the case involving his girlfriend, 44-year-old Stephanie Pavlons. The trial spanned six days.
The incident dates back to September 9, 2022, when construction workers stumbled upon a body near Golf Road in Delafield and promptly alerted authorities. The remains were described as being in an “advanced state of decomposition,” as detailed in a criminal complaint acquired by Law&Crime.
Upon identifying the body as that of Pavlons, law enforcement reached out to her family. Her parents reported that they hadn’t heard from their daughter in almost three weeks. Pavlons had been in a tumultuous, two-decade-long relationship with Pahl.
Pavlons’ mother suspected her daughter was a victim of domestic abuse, alleging that Pahl had physically harmed her. Investigators discovered potential evidence of this abuse within entries in a daily planner belonging to Pavlons.
“[A]nother depressing & physically abusing day. I think he likes to do it,” read an entry from July 2021. “HATe my life.”
An entry from the next day read, “got hit hard which left a nice mark on my chest,” as well as “got a nice scar along w/ it.” Pictures from that same year showed the victim “with a bruised and swollen eye” and a red mark on her chest.
Pavlons was last seen on Aug. 23, 2022, at a convenience store after leaving their shared apartment in the morning with a pink water bottle and black purse. Pahl left shortly after.
Surveillance footage captured the since-convicted defendant returning to the apartment hours later with the same pink water bottle, and a little while later, carrying a plastic shopping bag containing Pavlons’ black purse. Authorities noted that Pahl did not report her missing between her disappearance on Aug. 23, 2022, and her discovery on Sept. 17, 2022.
Despite compiling evidence, due to the decomposition of her body, authorities could not determine a cause of death for Pavlons. However, they did determine that she died on Aug. 23.
Pahl was ultimately taken into custody on Sept. 17, 2022, where he told law enforcement he hadn’t seen Pavlons in weeks and he “had a bad feeling.” He claimed that she was “threatening suicide all of the time and that really got to him,” according to the complaint.
At one point in his interview, Pahl reportedly said, “I have nothing to do with what happened to her…so that purse, that purse, and water bottle ain’t s—…ok it’s not going to prove anything. It’s not going to prove or disprove anything.”
Pahl’s computer history also proved curious to detectives. He “began searching for an obituary” for the victim on Aug. 26, three days after her death and 15 days before her body was found. He also had extensive communication with two women in the Philippines, expressing his desire to move there and stating how he was “really worried” about something.
Pahl was charged with killing Pavlons, and plans for the trial moved ahead. Once it began, prosecutors admitted it was a circumstantial case; however, they crafted an account and provided enough evidence that jurors found to be incriminating.
Pavlons told Pahl her intentions to leave him around the time he had a doctor’s appointment on that fateful Aug. 23, according to prosecutors’ account of events. He then strangled her with her purse strap and dumped her body in the woods.
“He thinks he’s covering his trail – but he didn’t know that we would know we could look through her phone, find things he deleted – we’re smarter than him,” Waukesha County Assistant District Attorney Kristi Gordon said, per local Fox affiliate WITI. “He thinks he’s the smartest man in the room.”
Pahl’s defense team claimed his behavior was normal — that he was worried about his girlfriend and that was why he was searching for an obituary. They also suggested Pavlons was suicidal and pointed out how neither her mother nor the couple’s shared daughter reported her missing.
Prosecutors’ account ultimately proved more convincing. Pahl is set to be sentenced on Nov. 11; he faces life in prison.
