Wisconsin : Alexis Patterson

Written By Navigating Advocacy Podcast

Nothing screams innocence like a small child who wants nothing more than to take a special treat to their classmates. A child asking their parents to make that trip to the store and debating heavily on which type of snack to bring came with as much anxiety as grown adults making a life-changing decision. The smile on this kiddo's face as they passed out the items to their friends is a feeling most won't forget for a long while. But in today’s story, seven-year-old Alexis would pick out that treat alongside her mother at the local grocery store, but she would disappear before ever getting the honor of passing it out to her peers. 


This week, we are navigating advocacy in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the disappearance of Alexis Patterson.  Nestled along the western shore of Lake Michigan. Milwaukee, often referred to as the "Cream City" due to the cream-colored bricks on its historic buildings, had a unique charm that set it apart from other Midwestern cities. One could spend days wandering the vibrant streets of Milwaukee, each corner unveiling a new chapter in its story. This is something Whitney and I love to do. Walking the streets of a random city is the best way to learn about the vibe of that particular place. Milwaukee is the place to hear the sounds of live music from the numerous bars and clubs lining Water Street, especially on summer evenings.  Milwaukee is also a city of festivals. Summer brings the lively Summerfest, the world's largest music festival, where the lakefront transforms into a colossal stage, and music fills the air for eleven days straight. Locals and visitors swayed to rock, pop, and folk rhythms while indulging in Milwaukee's famous beer and culinary delights. Of course, this is a different scene in the winter; the city gets covered in snow, and the few times I have been to Milwaukee, it was in the winter, so outdoor activities were slightly limited. 



As far as the crime in Milwaukee goes, in recent times, murder and human trafficking cases are up from 2021, while rape, aggravated assault and robbery are down.  With a crime rate of 60 per thousand residents, Milwaukee is one of America's cities grappling with a high crime rate. Here, the odds of encountering either violent or property crime are remarkably daunting, with a likelihood of one in 17.

Alarming as it may be,  research conducted by NeighborhoodScout stated Milwaukee is among the top 100 most dangerous cities in the United States. 

Let’s go back to 2002; Milwaukee was seeing a decline in homicides. However, 12 youths were accused of beating a handyman to death that year. It was also the year that Alexis Patterson vanished on her way to school. 


Alexis was born on April 4, 1995, to parents Ayanna Patterson and Kenya Campbell. Kenya and Ayanna’s relationship didn't last very long.  Then Ayanna married LaRon Bourgeois, and he became a father figure and stepfather to Alexis. She was a first-grader at  Hi-Mount Community School. 

This school was very close to her home. We were talking in the line of sight when they looked out her window, literally a few hundred steps at most. Here is what went down that morning. Alexis was supposed to take cupcakes to her classmates today. It was a Friday and snack day, and Alexis and her mom went to purchase these sweet treats the night before. However, that morning, Alexis’ mom went to sign her daughter's homework folder just as she did every school day. When she noticed that the nightly homework was not completed, she hollered over to Alexis to ask her about it, and it was true elementary-age kid style she avoided answering at first and then eventually came clean that she didn't finish it. As her punishment, her mother told her that morning she was not allowed to bring in her snack. Of course, this upset this little seven-year-old, but that's what punishments are supposed to do. It holds people accountable. Ayanna stated her daughter was upset, but it wasn't that big of a deal; Alexis had gotten in more trouble a few days earlier for talking to a stranger. After the issue with the treat and homework, things sort of moved on. Usually, Alexis would walk herself to school considering how close it was, but on this day, her step-dad LaRon walked her. He stated he handed her off when they got to the crossing guard, and then he made his way home. However, in recent reports, Teachers at Hi-Mount Community School in Milwaukee said they never saw her or her stepfather near or on school grounds that day.


The parents went about their day like normal, but when 3 pm rolled around and Ayanna was looking out the window waiting for her beautiful daughter to return home, she started to get a sinking feeling in her gut. You see, Alexis was meticulously about coming home every day at a certain time. She would be strolling in each and every day between 2:50 and 2:55, no later, so at 3 p.m. and no Alexis her mom became concerned. Ayanna ran over to the school and asked a teacher if she had seen Alexis, and that is when she learned Alexis never made it to school that day. Ayanna said she lost it right there. She called the police, and the search started.

Alexis was a happy child. You can take one look at the many photos of her on the internet and tell so much about her. She literally smiled with her whole face. She loved music, dancing, and singing. She was shy when you first met her but would soon warm up to people. Alexis went by the nickname Pie with family because everyone said she was sweet at pie. She had a scar on her right eye from a time she thought she could fly off the couch. Unfortunately, she hit a coffee table and learned that lesson. She had a baby sister who was only six months old when she vanished, so she never got the chance to be the big sister she always wanted to be. 

So many volunteers came out to help find this little girl. Fliers were put literally on all signs, bulletin boards, stores, and anywhere with a flat surface, a flier was being put up. Helicopters were in the air, and more than 40 law enforcement officers were going door to door in the neighborhood, looking for anything that might lead them to Alexis. After a week and still no sign of her, 100 volunteers wearing shirts that said “operation LAP,” which meant Locate Alexis Patterson combed through even more areas—still no trace of this first grader. On May 11th, Alexis’ case was on America's Most Wanted, bringing in a few more tips but nothing solid. 

Ayanna and LaRon weren't brought into the station right away, which is unusual when it comes to children going missing. Law enforcement typically looks at the family members first, rules them out, and then moves on to other leads. Unsure why, this time, police did not interview them right away. However, LaRon agrees to take a polygraph test during the lengthy interviews. He apparently completely fails it. However, he tells the media he passed it. 

You might know the name Elizabeth Smart. Well, she was kidnapped just over a month after Alexis, but the county would only hear about the white girl who went missing and barely anything about this 7-year-old who vanished without a trace. 

Finally, on May 13th, the case was reclassified as a criminal investigation. That is ten days after a seven-year-old vanished. Believe it or not, police had classified this as a runaway originally until most leads and tips that were coming in were pointing directly to the family. 


According to USA Today, “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.” This family and law enforcement had a dark past, to say the least. You see, LaRon was involved in a bank robbery. Before marrying Ayanna, he was the getaway driver during this robbery in 1994. In this crime, a police officer was killed. Authorities didn't have much evidence against LaRon and the guy who actually committed the robbery and murder, so they gave LaRon a deal for full immunity if he would turn on his partner, and shockingly, he did. LaRon was set free with no punishment whatsoever, as the other guy was convicted of these crimes. Many people believe he got away with the bank robbery and accessory to the murder of a cop. To say people were angry was an understatement. Sometimes, a hard choice is the only choice there is to make.  

LaRon had also been in and out of jail for selling drugs and unpaid child support. Now, Alexis’ biological father, who really wasn't a part of her life, was also in and out of prison for various drug charges, that is until a few years after Alexis went missing and Kanya, the bio father, was arrested and convicted of beating his 8-month-old daughter almost to death. I believe he is still in prison for crimes related to that. He has a rock-solid alibi when it comes to Kenya’s whereabouts during the time Alexis went missing because he was in jail. As you can see, this family has a dark past and could have many enemies.

There were reports from Ayanna that a letter came home from Alexis’ school a few weeks before she went missing, and this letter stated a boy in the area was almost abducted, and parents should be on high alert. It ended up coming out that this actually happened a year and a half before Alexis vanished and the description of the person or vehicle was never released. I am sure with all the commotion and craziness surrounding that first few weeks, Ayanna mistakenly thought it was more recent than when it actually was. 


Another strange thing that was happening at the school was reported to the police by Some of Alexis's classmates. They saw a suspicious red truck parked near the school for most of the week before her disappearance. However, supposably, he never dropped anyone off or picked anyone up. What is crazier is that the truck and the driver suddenly stopped showing up at the school after Alexis vanished. The driver and the vehicle have never been identified. There is so much to this case. The podcast Unsolved has a super deep dive into pretty much every theory, also, they received almost the entire case files. To say it is huge is an understatement. Over the following few years, LaRon’s violence against Ayanna escalated, and he was arrested on multiple occasions, one for beating her and threatening her with a knife because she wouldn't tell him who paged her. A prisoner would tell authorities that Alexis is buried in Louisiana. Police investigate that but came up empty and then what looked like a solid lead initially was the fact that Alexis’ name came up on the NAMUS44, and if you don't know what that is, that is the list of people Israel keys looked up on his computer. So, at one point, a serial killer was a possible theory. Josh Hallmark of True Crime Bullshit tells the podcast Unsolved his beliefs on why he does not think Keys is Alexis’ killer. 



Let’s talk about theories in the case. Most of them revolve around LaRon being a drug dealer, and I can see how this would fuel the narrative. There were reports that he stole a large amount of drugs from his supplier, which obviously made some people mad. So, in retaliation, this person kidnapped Alexis. There were reports that Ayanna and Alexis were held at gunpoint once because of some drug deal gone wrong. Many reports that drugs were sold literally out of the home, and a supplier showed up at the house that morning for some reason. 



At the end of an article written in 2023 by the Milwaukee Journal, Sentinel stated, “Several snitches who had been incarcerated with Bourgeois’ drug supplier claimed the supplier had admitted or implied that he had kidnapped or killed her.”

Or could this have been some type of accident that the family tried to cover up? Apparently, the morning of or the day before, someone from Alexis' home called the hospital and said they needed help when the call was transferred to the correct department, someone hung up the phone. Police have never been able to figure out who made that call and why. 


Now if Alexis’ disappearance wasn’t crazy enough, in 2016, a man came forward stating he believed his ex-wife was Alexis, and let me tell you how he came to believe this. So apparently, This woman named Lisa, and he were getting a divorce, and he went to good old Google to find some dirt on Lisa to help him gain custody of their child. This Lisa lady's life seemed unreal to this guy because she didn't have any pictures from when she was little, said she moved around a lot, and he found a bunch of identification cards that had her picture but various other names. She never talked about her past much, so I guess he did some digging to figure out who she really was to try to use that to get custody of their child. So he’s looking through the internet, and he finds the age progression picture of Alexis, and he swears that's his ex-wife Lisa, and even the picture of her as a child looks just like their daughter. This woman apparently also had a scar under her eye just like Alexis did and a bump on her finger that Alexis also had, and then a third characteristic that police have not released to the public. I could only imagine how this family felt, I bet they thought this could actually be her. DNA testing was performed, and it came out that Lisa was not Alexis Patterson. I do want to mention that this woman always stated she was not Alexis. It was the ex-husband that pointed out the similarities.  

LaRon died of a possible overdose in 2021. And Alexis Patterson is still missing. 


Alexis S. Patterson was last seen wearing a red hooded jacket with a gray stripe on the sleeves, a purple shirt, light-colored blue jeans, and white Nike tennis shoes. She wore her hair in two braids pulled back into one ponytail and was carrying a pink “Barbie” book bag.


Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts or circumstances of disappearance for Alexis Patterson may contact the Milwaukee Sheriff’s Office at (414) 278-4788. A $10,000 reward is being offered for information leading to Patterson’s recovery. The public may also contact the Black and Missing Foundation’s confidential tip line.

Navigating Advocacy Podcast

Whitney and Melissa, hosts of Navigating Advocacy, blend their true crime interests with a mission to spark justice through storytelling, inspiring action, and building a community of advocates.

https://www.navigatingadvocacy.com
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