February 28, 2025 • 36 mins
On May 3rd, 2002, at just 7 years old, Alexis Patterson embarked on her usual walk to school. By afternoon, she failed to return home. Her image was plastered on flyers and the community launched a desperate search, but no trace of her was ever found. What happened to Alexis? Who took her? And why, after more than two decades, does her disappearance remain an agonizing mystery?
If you have any information on the Alexis Patterson case please contact The Milwaukee police Department at 414-935-7360. To report anonymously, contact Crime Stoppers at 414-224-TIPS or use the P3 Tips app. The Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office is still offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to Alexis Patterson’s return. Any piece of information, no matter how small, could be the key to unlocking this case.I f you know anything, please come forward.
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To suggest a case email me at forgottenechoespodcast@gmail.com
Sources:
Unsolved Podcast
NAMUS
https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=91531&page=1
https://www.fox6now.com/news/milwaukee-alexis-patterson-missing-20-years
https://www.theroot.com/it-s-been-20-years-and-alexis-patterson-is-still-missin-1849016407
https://charleyproject.org/case/alexis-s-patterson
Youtube Interview with Ayanna Patterson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeRJtJWk3Hs&t=2s
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hi everyone, this is your host Raven Siyad and welcome back to Forgotten Echoes, a podcast
(00:05):
where we dive into the mysterious and unexplained cases of black women that often get lost in
time.
Today, we dissect a frightening case that continues to trouble Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
In the close-knit Washington Heights neighborhood, a routine school day turned into a nightmare
when a young girl disappeared without a trace.
(00:26):
That girl was Alexis Patterson.
At just seven years old, Alexis embarked on her usual walk to school.
By afternoon, she failed to return home.
Her image was plastered on flyers, and the community launched a desperate search, but
no trace of her was ever found.
What happened to Alexis, who took her, and why, after more than two decades, does her
(00:52):
disappearance remain an agonizing mystery?
This is Forgotten Echoes, episode 6, The Disappearance of Alexis Patterson.
(01:26):
Sources for today's episode include The Root, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, The Charlie Project,
NamUs, ABC News, Fox Six, and the Unsolved Podcast.
Special shout out to the host Gina Barton.
She did an excellent job breaking down this case.
Now let's get into the episode.
(01:48):
Can you describe the difference in grief between a mother who loses a child to an accident
or to illness, and a mother who has lost a child in the way that you've lost Alexis?
Yes, I can.
A mother that lost her child.
(02:10):
A mother that loses a child.
And she buried her child.
She's at peace, and her child is at peace because she knows what her child is.
The difference is between Alexis, but not knowing.
I don't know where my child is, so that's what hurts the most.
I need peace.
(02:31):
On April 4, 1995, the sweetest baby girl was born.
Her name was Alexis Patterson, but to those who loved her, she was Lexi, or Pie.
And the nickname Pie stuck because of her warm and sweet personality, and for the fact that
her grandmother said she was the color of sweet potato pie when she was born.
(02:52):
She was born to mother Iyana Patterson and father Kenya Carlton Campbell.
Her mother described her as the son in her life, her light, her joy.
Alexis loved school, learning, music, and singing.
Her small voice could be heard echoing through her family's home or her first grade classroom.
(03:15):
She adored classic Disney movies like Aladdin and Lion King, and her favorite songs, A Whole
New World or Anything by Aliyah or Desinty's Child.
And same girl, same.
Little Alexis was described by teachers as being a bit shy, but once she felt comfortable
around you, there was no denying her big personality.
(03:36):
Her mother mentioned in an interview she had a scar under her right eye to prove it and
proceeded to tell the story of a daring little girl unafraid to explore the world.
Or just jump off the table.
But the sentiment remains, Alexis was a sweet, kind, and fearless kid.
She was just seven, seven years old, with her whole life ahead of her.
(04:00):
And then one day, she was gone.
200 steps, that's where this story starts.
That's how far Alexis's home was from Hi-mount Community School, where Alexis was in first
grade.
Just 200 steps, less than one block away.
May 3, 2002, started like any other day.
(04:23):
Iana woke Alexis up and she quickly got dressed for the day.
Her mother mentions the two getting into a small scuff regarding Alexis not completing
her homework from the night before.
And because of that, her mother wouldn't let her bring cupcakes that she had bought
for the class as a fun treat.
Alexis was upset, but continued on with her mourning and left the house with her stepfather,
(04:47):
LaRon Bourgois, who walked her partway to school and handed her over to the crossing
guard, who walked her safely across the street.
Before turning around to walk back home, LaRon quickly glanced to make sure Alexis made it
across the street.
And she did.
But what happened next would quickly become debatable.
(05:08):
Alexis should have walked into class.
She should have been safe, but she never made it that far.
And that was one of the last sightings of her.
The first red flag came that afternoon.
Alexis' mother waited patiently for her daughter to come home around 2.30pm.
And then 2.40pm came and went, and by 3pm, panic set in.
(05:32):
By 4, the reality was undeniable.
Alexis was missing.
Without missing a beat, Ayanna walked the one block to Alexis' school to see if her teachers
knew where she was at.
And what Ayanna heard next was described as one of the worst moments in her life.
Her teacher responded with a confused, huh?
(05:54):
Ayanna wasn't in class today.
Until that moment, they thought she had been in class all day since the school never notified
her mother of her absence.
So just want to add some commentary here and recap the last few minutes because this case
literally goes from 0 to 100 really quick.
(06:15):
And it felt like that when I was researching it too.
So just to clarify, Ayanna and Kenya are Alexis' biological, I mean, those are her parents.
Kenya is her biological father who is not in the home.
And in some reports, Ayanna says he's not in the picture.
In some interviews, he says he very much is in the picture.
(06:40):
But just want to clarify, he's not in the home.
She lives with her mother, her stepfather, LaRon, who she's really close with.
I believe Ayanna and LaRon also have their own daughter who's Alexis' baby sister.
She was six months at the time of all of this happening.
I also want to clarify, I believe I pronounce LaRon's last name as Borgwa when it's actually
(07:04):
Borgwa.
So just want to get that right.
Another thing that I thought was something that's worth mentioning and recapping on
here is the distance from their home to the school.
Because I saw in a lot of reports people came for her mom essentially saying, you know,
(07:25):
how could you let Alexis, who was only seven, walk to and from school by herself, etc.,
etc.
I want to clarify that her home was 200 steps from the school or so, less than one block
away.
From her home, they could see the front of the school.
That's how close it was.
So it wasn't uncommon for her mother or her stepfather to walk her to school or walk her
(07:51):
to the crosswalk and then let Alexis walk the block home with either a group of friends
or by herself.
So just want to clarify that because I saw a lot of people commenting on Ayanna and her
parenting skills and etc.
Alexis was seven years old.
This is a very close-knit community.
It was a nice neighborhood.
(08:13):
She very much would have been safe walking the 200 steps with other kids or even just
by herself, probably not by herself even just walking alongside other kids leaving the school
at that time.
Very normal.
And lastly, speaking of normal, is it normal that schools do not call parents or at least
(08:34):
the home notifying them that their child never made it to school?
I don't know if I'm mistaking that memory of my parents forgetting to call the school
to say I was sick and then them leaving a voicemail to my mom or my dad or just our home voicemail
that I didn't make it to school that day.
(08:55):
I don't know.
I just thought that was really strange.
But also, it wasn't, maybe they were waiting until the very end of the day to do so.
Maybe the person or the child, if they don't come in for a certain amount of days consecutively,
then they call the parents.
I just thought it was really strange that no one said a word and I haven't mentioned
it yet, but a little later in the episode, I'll mention that Alexis had a pretty good
(09:20):
attendance record, almost perfect.
So the fact that this little girl almost has a perfect attendance record and, you know,
her parents are never notified she never made it to class was just such a red flag to me.
I don't know if that's on the school or not.
I don't know.
Let me know in the comments if this is normal.
I'd love to hear your commentary on that.
(09:42):
Immediately after calling the Milwaukee Police Department, Ayanna and LeRon hit the pavement,
putting up flyers around the areas they felt Alexis would most likely turn up.
And authorities jumped into action pretty quickly as well.
In the immediate aftermath of Alexis's disappearance, authorities launched an extensive search
operation with the community actively participating.
(10:06):
Divers meticulously scoured the lagoon at Washington Park just a few miles from Alexis'
home, while investigators conducted thorough ground searches of the park and its surrounding
areas.
Despite these concentrated efforts, no evidence was uncovered.
The focus extended to areas near Manic Avenue, Vine Street, 16th Street and 60th Street in
(10:30):
Milwaukee's northwest section of the city.
And unfortunately no evidence was discovered at any of the locations.
After 10 days of no updates regarding Alexis, authorities concurred with the theory that
Alexis's disappearance occurred under suspicious circumstances, especially after she was reported
to have seen on the school's playground before and after school by fellow classmates.
(10:56):
Notably, Alexis had no history of running away and maintained a perfect attendance record
prior to this incident.
On May 14, 2002, investigators officially reclassified her case from a missing person
to a criminal investigation.
Despite exhaustive efforts, Alexis Patterson's case eventually turned cold.
(11:21):
This raises obvious questions.
How could a seven-year-old vanish in broad daylight?
How did no one witness anything?
Well, here's one reason.
Just a month after Alexis went missing, over a thousand miles away, 14-year-old Elizabeth
Smart was abducted from her bedroom in Salt Lake City, Utah.
(11:44):
Her disappearance garnered immediate national media attention, with coverage on CNN's Larry
Keen Live, Fox News, as well as on the record with Greta Van Susteren, within hours.
Yes, hours.
In stark contrast, Alexis's story took eight days, yes, days, to reach beyond Milwaukee
(12:08):
in local media stations.
Houses appearing on America's Most Wanted, with subsequent national coverage delayed
by weeks.
And this disparity extended to law enforcement responses as well.
The day after Elizabeth vanished, police involved the FBI and announced a $250,000 reward.
(12:30):
In Milwaukee, the FBI joined Alexis's case three days post-disappearance, and a $10,000
reward was offered 19 days later.
Alexis's family was deeply offended by the obvious incongruity between the cases.
This highlights a broader issue.
Missing Black children often receive less media attention and law enforcement urgency
(12:54):
compared to their white counterparts.
Such disparities can significantly impact the outcome of these cases, underscoring the
need for equitable attention to all missing children, regardless of race or background.
Elizabeth Smart was found alive nine months later.
(13:15):
So we're going to put the pause button on right here because, wow, once again, zero
to a hundred.
So to recap the last few minutes, I want to just start off with talking about how the
community just really did their big one and came together for Alexis.
Specifically, I was researching this part of the case, and I was listening to Unsolved
(13:41):
Podcast with Gina Barton, and she did an excellent job interviewing different investigators
or journalists that were a part of this case at the time, or just people that even lived
in the neighborhood.
And the way they speak about how Washington Heights came together so quickly and efficiently
(14:04):
for Alexis was so wonderful to hear.
I was extremely ignorant to the racial tensions that Milwaukee was going through and still
goes through to this day between white residents and black residents, specifically in the Washington
Heights neighborhood.
(14:25):
So this case was one of those cases that really just brought everybody together.
It didn't matter if you were white, it didn't matter if you were black, it didn't matter
if you knew Alexis or you didn't.
You showed up.
Her teachers, you know, friends of her teachers, her classmates and their families, neighbors,
people on the other side of town, people passing through volunteers, I mean, everyone
(14:47):
showed up.
It was really special to see.
Coming from there into why investigators chose to search the Washington Park so quickly.
Now they were getting calls from an unknown assailant and this doesn't really have anything
to do with the case.
I just think it's really weird and eerie that trigger warning.
(15:10):
Alexis was found deceased at the bottom of the lagoon, or she was found deceased in a
trash bin in the park.
So that's why police jumped to get divers in that lagoon where they essentially didn't
find anything and then they searched the grounds and also don't find anything.
I just think that is so disgusting and crappy.
(15:31):
I don't know if these were genuine tips that were just bad or if somebody was prank calling
investigators trying to waste time.
I don't know what that was about, but that was really, really strange to me.
Now my third point in all of this is Elizabeth Smart.
And I'm not going to spend too much time on it because the overwhelming point is the disparity
(15:55):
between black and white people, in this case specifically black and white kids, and how
quickly they are put on a national news or media station early on in their investigations.
And we saw within a day, I mean immediately almost, Elizabeth is on a CNN show, she's
(16:20):
on Fox News, she's on another nationally accredited show or media show.
And then you've got Alexis and they're waiting a couple days and she's initially only on
one America's most wanted and that's days later.
The first 48 hours are the most important stretch of time in a missing child's disappearance
(16:44):
or an abduction.
I mean because the chances of that child being found after those 48 hours drastically drop.
So I mean, I just don't understand why investigators or just media outlets stumbled on that.
And I feel like I know the reason why, which leads me to my last point and that is this
(17:07):
runaway theory with black kids.
And it's a pattern that I feel just isn't talked about enough.
It's just really interesting how investigators will see a white child and a black child and
they go missing.
And in this particular case, Ayanna in several interviews speaks about how investigators keep
(17:29):
bringing up this small argument she had with Alexis the morning of her disappearance about
her not being able to bring the cupcakes to her class.
And they keep hounding Ayanna and asking her essentially, do you think that Alexis would
run away because of this?
Maybe she would have ran away because of this.
We're going to look into this runaway theory.
(17:51):
And I'm just like, what?
And I will not act like I have researched the Elizabeth Smart case on a deep level.
But she disappeared in the middle of the night.
She was taken out of her home.
I don't know if the runaway theory was explored.
Obviously it wasn't harped on that long because she was put on national media coverage almost
(18:15):
immediately.
It's just really disheartening and disappointing that we're not defending black kids like we
are with other races.
And we're almost jumping to they ran away on their own volition, a seven-year-old.
I repeat, a seven-year-old ran away in broad daylight because she couldn't bring cupcakes
(18:39):
to her class.
Like, who even comes up with this?
That was really frustrating to me and just really irritating.
But all in all, as I said in other episodes, I believe all children should get the same
amount of national media coverage.
I just wish black kids would get it a lot quicker.
And I'm really happy that Elizabeth Smart was found.
(19:02):
And considering the circumstances from what I've read, it seems like she's doing OK and
is living as normal of a life as you can live after going through what she went through.
And I'm really happy about that.
Now jumping back into the case, as in most missing children's cases, police initially
questioned the people closest to Alexis.
(19:25):
And that was Ayanna, her mother, LeRon, and her bio dad, Kenya.
While researching this case, I saw a statistic that gave me a new perspective on police's
choices early on in this investigation.
Even though not everyone was in alignment.
Quote, according to data from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children,
(19:47):
the vast majority of missing children cases involve family members with only a very small
percentage being taken by strangers.
Estimates suggest that around 99 percent of child abductions are perpetrated by family
members or acquaintances, while stranger abductions make up less than 1 percent of these cases.
(20:08):
Quote.
After questioning to further rule them out, the parents both agreed to and were given
polygraph tests.
While polygraph tests are not admissible in court and are not always an accurate source
of judgment or an accurate way to eliminate suspects on their own, they can be helpful
(20:29):
by gathering information, detecting truthfulness and narrowing down suspect list and police
investigations.
And after getting the results back, that's exactly what it did.
Now, Ayanna and Kenya passed with flying colors, and Kenya was incarcerated at the time of
his daughter's disappearance.
However, her stepfather, Loran, even with getting an attorney and delaying his polygraph
(20:55):
test, failed it and became an immediate suspect.
And according to reports I've seen of Milwaukee investigator testimonies, he overwhelmingly
failed his polygraph test and was ruled deceptive on pretty much every single question.
Though he maintained his innocence, suspicions lingered.
(21:18):
And the suspicions weren't too left feel considering he had a criminal history, including a few
drug charges and was connected to a bank robbery.
As the months went by, more unsettling details emerged.
Loran had a current ties to drug dealers and that bank robbery he was involved in had resulted
(21:39):
in the death of a police officer.
His criminal past made investigators weary.
Could Alexis' disappearance have been a message, a warning or some sort of retaliation?
Continuing with the search, the FBI had a cadaver dog search the family's home, but
nothing that would come closer to finding Alexis was found.
(22:03):
Neighbors were interviewed, yet despite all efforts, Alexis had vanished without a trace.
Ayanna and Loran divorced in 2005 and Loran died in 2021 at the age of 52, apparently
of a drug overdose.
Now I'm going to press the stop button right here because, wow, a lot happened in the last
(22:26):
three minutes, my mind is all over the place, but I'm going to start with my thoughts on
the polygraph test.
So I was really happy that Ayanna and Kenya were both cleared or they both passed their
polygraph test because polygraph tests, while they're not admissible in court and they're
not an official piece of evidence, they definitely help investigators narrow down who they want
(22:52):
to focus more of their time on or they want to look at in connection with whatever the
crime is.
And it looked like in a lot of reports, investigators were really honing in on Ayanna.
So I was relieved that she passed her polygraph test.
And I kind of anticipated Kenya would because he was incarcerated at the time.
(23:15):
Now I was not shocked that Loran failed his polygraph test for a few reasons, one being
he was one of the last people to see Alexis and two, his background in the drug game,
the fact that he hasn't had really any violent criminal charges, the bank robbery that resulted
(23:39):
in the shooting of a police officer.
Like, I mean, he has been a part of violent crimes being committed, even if he wasn't
the main person charged.
So while he might have not been responsible, you know, he has it in him in a sense.
So I wasn't surprised there, but I was surprised that he failed so terribly.
(24:06):
That was shocking to me.
But I will say, and I give him kudos, I don't even want to say kudos in the right word,
but I think everyone could take a page out of this book.
And that's getting an attorney.
I don't know why people think, okay, because I'm innocent, I don't need an attorney.
I could take a polygraph test, I can talk to investigators on record with no legal,
(24:32):
you know, counsel.
No, no, no.
I will always be pro attorney, pro lawyer.
It doesn't matter whether you're innocent or not, whether it's a public defender, somebody
you have already, family member, a friend, get the attorney, get the legal counsel because
(24:53):
they actually know the law and you don't.
So that's one thing I will like say that everybody could learn from this case is he
delayed it a little bit because he consulted with a lawyer.
He failed, but he did the right thing getting an attorney, essentially.
How seeing those stats on missing kids, I mean, it was shocker for me.
(25:17):
I definitely knew that missing kids or children that are abducted have a higher chance of
being taken by someone that they know versus a complete stranger.
I just didn't know that the stats were 99% to 1%.
And that made me really rethink this case in general.
(25:38):
And my last point that this kind of segues to is LeRon and Kenya's background.
Now LeRon had the drug dealing background and this raises some type of suspicion that maybe
this was somebody that he rubbed off the wrong way that he cheated because there was some
(26:00):
testimonies and different reports I read that he had cheated some pretty big drug dealers
and this could have been a form of retaliation.
Kenya, her father that was incarcerated at the time of her disappearing, also had drug
charges in his criminal background, as well as some child abuse charges which weren't
(26:22):
related to Alexis, but they're violent.
And that's actually the reason why he was incarcerated.
So I don't know, I mean, he definitely think that that stat mixed with her dad and step
dad's background definitely could tie together and could be onto something.
Maybe it was someone that was connected to either one of them that did this out of retaliation,
(26:47):
specifically probably LeRon because he was actively in the drug game at the time of her
disappearance.
I don't know, all of it is really, really strange to me.
While police were focused on the family, LeRon had another idea about what might have happened
to his stepdaughter.
He told ABC News, quote, I feel that maybe she walked off.
(27:11):
She was mad because we didn't let her take her cupcakes to school for snack day because
her homework wasn't done properly.
And that was her punishment.
Maybe she walked off and somebody may have picked her up, quote.
And this isn't out of the blue because there were accounts from some of Alexis's classmates
that they saw Alexis crying on the playground the morning she disappeared.
(27:36):
And Alexis expressed she was upset because she wanted to bring her cupcakes to school.
And paired with the fact that she had never stepped into the school building led to so
many questions that couldn't be answered.
Why was no one alarmed?
Did she possibly try and walk back home to get the cupcakes?
And that wasn't the end of the disturbing details that came out during the investigation.
(28:01):
Days before Alexis disappeared, a witness recalled a red truck lurking near the school
on multiple occasions.
It was out of place and wasn't picking up or dropping off a student.
Then after Alexis vanished, the truck was gone too.
Was it connected?
And if so, why was it never found?
(28:21):
On top of that, a strange woman that no one knew was seen speaking to Alexis on two separate
occasions.
After the first time, teachers warned her about stranger danger and to not speak to
people she didn't know.
But after the second time, one of her teachers told her mom who came down on Alexis a little
(28:42):
hard.
When Ayana asked who the woman was, Alexis really couldn't give her a straight answer.
In the final chilling detail, a year and a half before Alexis vanished, a letter was
sent home to parents warning them of an attempted abduction near the school.
No vehicle description was given, but you can't help but think, was it the same person
(29:07):
in the red car or the ominous lady that was seen speaking to Alexis on multiple occasions?
We have yet to get the answers to these questions.
Now fast forward to 2016 and what looked like a promising lead in the case quickly fizzles
out.
A man from Ohio at some point in time got in contact with the Milwaukee police department
(29:31):
and what he had to say left investigators completely stunned.
He believed his ex-wife was the missing seven-year-old Alexis Patterson, but she was too scared to
come forward herself.
His wife admitted to not knowing much about her childhood, not having photos of herself
(29:51):
as a child, which led her and her husband to dig deeper on the internet.
He finally came across an age-progress photo of Alexis and was sold.
Eager to follow up on this lead, investigators use Ayanna Patterson and Kenya Campbell's
DNA they provided police in 2002 to perform a DNA test.
(30:16):
Using that information, investigators determined that the Ohio woman, believed to be Alexis,
was not actually her.
Ayanna expressed the test were incorrect because the DNA police had was dated and she wanted
to use fresh DNA as she believes the woman may really be her daughter.
Police have not commented on the test results and as of this recording, there are no updates
(30:41):
on the matter.
And since then, there hasn't really been any significant updates in the case.
It sucks that there is no resolution in this case and her family is no closer to getting
any answers, but here are my final questions that I wish we could have answered.
(31:02):
One, did Alexis turn back home and possibly run into the wrong person?
So it's just weird because her stepfather tells ABC News that he feels that she went
back home because they got into this big fight about the cupcakes and she was really upset.
Her mother kind of alludes to it not really being that big of a deal.
(31:26):
Like it was a small fight, but nothing crazy.
So I just wish we had a little bit more clarity on how intense the fight was because if it
was really intense, reading about Alexis' personality, how she was fearless and really
sweet, totally could see her being upset and possibly wanting to walk the one block back
(31:49):
home to go get the cupcakes.
Question number two, was this connected to Loran's past?
We know he had dangerous associations.
Could somebody from his past or in his present at the time of Alexis disappearing be involved
(32:12):
in her case?
I think there's a strong possibility and to be honest, that's a little bit more work
I lean in this case based off of the research that I have found.
I don't know.
Tell me what you guys think in the comments.
That's a big question for me.
Question number three, was it someone in the neighborhood?
(32:35):
Now police spoke to neighbors and didn't really come up with anything.
I think at one point they may have been looking at one or two people, but that quickly fizzled
out.
I mean, this neighborhood is really close to knit.
I just always feel like in these really close knit communities, it's always a neighbor.
If not a family member, it's a neighbor because they've had eyes on Alexis.
(32:58):
They probably know who she is.
She's probably familiar with them.
I wish that we just knew a little bit about how those neighbor interviews went.
Another question that I saw in some reports that a lot of people have speculated at, or
it's almost a theory, is could Alexis had been a possible victim of trafficking?
(33:24):
We don't know.
This red card that popped up near the school on multiple occasions is really weird.
The random lady that was seen speaking to Alexis on multiple occasions is really, really
strange.
That is not normal.
The fact that investigators never identified who this woman was or who the driver of the
(33:48):
red truck was is really eerie.
Those are my final questions when it comes to this case that we just don't have the
answers to.
And that's where the story remains unsolved.
Alexis Patterson was only seven years old when she went missing on May 3, 2002.
(34:10):
She had a family who loved her.
She had a future and she still deserves justice.
She was last seen wearing a hooded red pullover nylon jacket with a gray stripe running down
each sleeve, a light purple blouse or a blue shirt with horizontal stripes, light blue jeans,
(34:31):
blue and white high top Nike sneakers, and a cluster-type diamond sunflower-shaped earrings
with yellow goalpost.
She was also carrying a pink Barbie book backpack.
Her hair was styled in two French braids which were pulled back into a ponytail.
She has black hair and brown eyes.
(34:54):
Alexis had a scar below her right eye and a bump on her left pinky finger.
Alexis' nicknames are Lexi and Pie.
Alexis Patterson's case is still open.
Her mother Ayanna has never stopped searching, never stopped believing that one day, one
day, she will know the truth.
(35:16):
Now here's the call to action.
If you have any information on the Alexis Patterson case, please contact Milwaukee Police Department
at area code 414-935-7360.
To report anonymously, contact Crime Stoppers at area code 414-224-TIPS or use the P3TIPS
(35:41):
app.
The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office is still offering a $10,000 reward for any information
leading to Alexis Patterson's return.
Any piece of information, no matter how small, could be the key to unlocking this case.
If you know anything, anything, please come forward.
(36:05):
Thank you for tuning in to Episode 6 of Forgotten Echoes.
Please do me a favor and show your support by following the podcast and liking, subscribing,
and sharing this episode.
If you feel so inclined to do so, give this episode a 5 star rating.
I'd really appreciate it.
I'm Raven Siyad and I'll see you next week with another case that needs to be remembered.
(36:30):
Stay vigilant, stay aware, and keep the echoes of the Forgotten Alive.
I'll see you soon.
Hi everyone, this is your host Raven Siyad and welcome back to Forgotten Echoes, a podcast
(00:05):
where we dive into the mysterious and unexplained cases of black women that often get lost in
time.
Today, we dissect a frightening case that continues to trouble Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
In the close-knit Washington Heights neighborhood, a routine school day turned into a nightmare
when a young girl disappeared without a trace.
(00:26):
That girl was Alexis Patterson.
At just seven years old, Alexis embarked on her usual walk to school.
By afternoon, she failed to return home.
Her image was plastered on flyers, and the community launched a desperate search, but
no trace of her was ever found.
What happened to Alexis, who took her, and why, after more than two decades, does her
(00:52):
disappearance remain an agonizing mystery?
This is Forgotten Echoes, episode 6, The Disappearance of Alexis Patterson.
(01:26):
Sources for today's episode include The Root, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, The Charlie Project,
NamUs, ABC News, Fox Six, and the Unsolved Podcast.
Special shout out to the host Gina Barton.
She did an excellent job breaking down this case.
Now let's get into the episode.
(01:48):
Can you describe the difference in grief between a mother who loses a child to an accident
or to illness, and a mother who has lost a child in the way that you've lost Alexis?
Yes, I can.
A mother that lost her child.
(02:10):
A mother that loses a child.
And she buried her child.
She's at peace, and her child is at peace because she knows what her child is.
The difference is between Alexis, but not knowing.
I don't know where my child is, so that's what hurts the most.
I need peace.
(02:31):
On April 4, 1995, the sweetest baby girl was born.
Her name was Alexis Patterson, but to those who loved her, she was Lexi, or Pie.
And the nickname Pie stuck because of her warm and sweet personality, and for the fact that
her grandmother said she was the color of sweet potato pie when she was born.
(02:52):
She was born to mother Iyana Patterson and father Kenya Carlton Campbell.
Her mother described her as the son in her life, her light, her joy.
Alexis loved school, learning, music, and singing.
Her small voice could be heard echoing through her family's home or her first grade classroom.
(03:15):
She adored classic Disney movies like Aladdin and Lion King, and her favorite songs, A Whole
New World or Anything by Aliyah or Desinty's Child.
And same girl, same.
Little Alexis was described by teachers as being a bit shy, but once she felt comfortable
around you, there was no denying her big personality.
(03:36):
Her mother mentioned in an interview she had a scar under her right eye to prove it and
proceeded to tell the story of a daring little girl unafraid to explore the world.
Or just jump off the table.
But the sentiment remains, Alexis was a sweet, kind, and fearless kid.
She was just seven, seven years old, with her whole life ahead of her.
(04:00):
And then one day, she was gone.
200 steps, that's where this story starts.
That's how far Alexis's home was from Hi-mount Community School, where Alexis was in first
grade.
Just 200 steps, less than one block away.
May 3, 2002, started like any other day.
(04:23):
Iana woke Alexis up and she quickly got dressed for the day.
Her mother mentions the two getting into a small scuff regarding Alexis not completing
her homework from the night before.
And because of that, her mother wouldn't let her bring cupcakes that she had bought
for the class as a fun treat.
Alexis was upset, but continued on with her mourning and left the house with her stepfather,
(04:47):
LaRon Bourgois, who walked her partway to school and handed her over to the crossing
guard, who walked her safely across the street.
Before turning around to walk back home, LaRon quickly glanced to make sure Alexis made it
across the street.
And she did.
But what happened next would quickly become debatable.
(05:08):
Alexis should have walked into class.
She should have been safe, but she never made it that far.
And that was one of the last sightings of her.
The first red flag came that afternoon.
Alexis' mother waited patiently for her daughter to come home around 2.30pm.
And then 2.40pm came and went, and by 3pm, panic set in.
(05:32):
By 4, the reality was undeniable.
Alexis was missing.
Without missing a beat, Ayanna walked the one block to Alexis' school to see if her teachers
knew where she was at.
And what Ayanna heard next was described as one of the worst moments in her life.
Her teacher responded with a confused, huh?
(05:54):
Ayanna wasn't in class today.
Until that moment, they thought she had been in class all day since the school never notified
her mother of her absence.
So just want to add some commentary here and recap the last few minutes because this case
literally goes from 0 to 100 really quick.
(06:15):
And it felt like that when I was researching it too.
So just to clarify, Ayanna and Kenya are Alexis' biological, I mean, those are her parents.
Kenya is her biological father who is not in the home.
And in some reports, Ayanna says he's not in the picture.
In some interviews, he says he very much is in the picture.
(06:40):
But just want to clarify, he's not in the home.
She lives with her mother, her stepfather, LaRon, who she's really close with.
I believe Ayanna and LaRon also have their own daughter who's Alexis' baby sister.
She was six months at the time of all of this happening.
I also want to clarify, I believe I pronounce LaRon's last name as Borgwa when it's actually
(07:04):
Borgwa.
So just want to get that right.
Another thing that I thought was something that's worth mentioning and recapping on
here is the distance from their home to the school.
Because I saw in a lot of reports people came for her mom essentially saying, you know,
(07:25):
how could you let Alexis, who was only seven, walk to and from school by herself, etc.,
etc.
I want to clarify that her home was 200 steps from the school or so, less than one block
away.
From her home, they could see the front of the school.
That's how close it was.
So it wasn't uncommon for her mother or her stepfather to walk her to school or walk her
(07:51):
to the crosswalk and then let Alexis walk the block home with either a group of friends
or by herself.
So just want to clarify that because I saw a lot of people commenting on Ayanna and her
parenting skills and etc.
Alexis was seven years old.
This is a very close-knit community.
It was a nice neighborhood.
(08:13):
She very much would have been safe walking the 200 steps with other kids or even just
by herself, probably not by herself even just walking alongside other kids leaving the school
at that time.
Very normal.
And lastly, speaking of normal, is it normal that schools do not call parents or at least
(08:34):
the home notifying them that their child never made it to school?
I don't know if I'm mistaking that memory of my parents forgetting to call the school
to say I was sick and then them leaving a voicemail to my mom or my dad or just our home voicemail
that I didn't make it to school that day.
(08:55):
I don't know.
I just thought that was really strange.
But also, it wasn't, maybe they were waiting until the very end of the day to do so.
Maybe the person or the child, if they don't come in for a certain amount of days consecutively,
then they call the parents.
I just thought it was really strange that no one said a word and I haven't mentioned
it yet, but a little later in the episode, I'll mention that Alexis had a pretty good
(09:20):
attendance record, almost perfect.
So the fact that this little girl almost has a perfect attendance record and, you know,
her parents are never notified she never made it to class was just such a red flag to me.
I don't know if that's on the school or not.
I don't know.
Let me know in the comments if this is normal.
I'd love to hear your commentary on that.
(09:42):
Immediately after calling the Milwaukee Police Department, Ayanna and LeRon hit the pavement,
putting up flyers around the areas they felt Alexis would most likely turn up.
And authorities jumped into action pretty quickly as well.
In the immediate aftermath of Alexis's disappearance, authorities launched an extensive search
operation with the community actively participating.
(10:06):
Divers meticulously scoured the lagoon at Washington Park just a few miles from Alexis'
home, while investigators conducted thorough ground searches of the park and its surrounding
areas.
Despite these concentrated efforts, no evidence was uncovered.
The focus extended to areas near Manic Avenue, Vine Street, 16th Street and 60th Street in
(10:30):
Milwaukee's northwest section of the city.
And unfortunately no evidence was discovered at any of the locations.
After 10 days of no updates regarding Alexis, authorities concurred with the theory that
Alexis's disappearance occurred under suspicious circumstances, especially after she was reported
to have seen on the school's playground before and after school by fellow classmates.
(10:56):
Notably, Alexis had no history of running away and maintained a perfect attendance record
prior to this incident.
On May 14, 2002, investigators officially reclassified her case from a missing person
to a criminal investigation.
Despite exhaustive efforts, Alexis Patterson's case eventually turned cold.
(11:21):
This raises obvious questions.
How could a seven-year-old vanish in broad daylight?
How did no one witness anything?
Well, here's one reason.
Just a month after Alexis went missing, over a thousand miles away, 14-year-old Elizabeth
Smart was abducted from her bedroom in Salt Lake City, Utah.
(11:44):
Her disappearance garnered immediate national media attention, with coverage on CNN's Larry
Keen Live, Fox News, as well as on the record with Greta Van Susteren, within hours.
Yes, hours.
In stark contrast, Alexis's story took eight days, yes, days, to reach beyond Milwaukee
(12:08):
in local media stations.
Houses appearing on America's Most Wanted, with subsequent national coverage delayed
by weeks.
And this disparity extended to law enforcement responses as well.
The day after Elizabeth vanished, police involved the FBI and announced a $250,000 reward.
(12:30):
In Milwaukee, the FBI joined Alexis's case three days post-disappearance, and a $10,000
reward was offered 19 days later.
Alexis's family was deeply offended by the obvious incongruity between the cases.
This highlights a broader issue.
Missing Black children often receive less media attention and law enforcement urgency
(12:54):
compared to their white counterparts.
Such disparities can significantly impact the outcome of these cases, underscoring the
need for equitable attention to all missing children, regardless of race or background.
Elizabeth Smart was found alive nine months later.
(13:15):
So we're going to put the pause button on right here because, wow, once again, zero
to a hundred.
So to recap the last few minutes, I want to just start off with talking about how the
community just really did their big one and came together for Alexis.
Specifically, I was researching this part of the case, and I was listening to Unsolved
(13:41):
Podcast with Gina Barton, and she did an excellent job interviewing different investigators
or journalists that were a part of this case at the time, or just people that even lived
in the neighborhood.
And the way they speak about how Washington Heights came together so quickly and efficiently
(14:04):
for Alexis was so wonderful to hear.
I was extremely ignorant to the racial tensions that Milwaukee was going through and still
goes through to this day between white residents and black residents, specifically in the Washington
Heights neighborhood.
(14:25):
So this case was one of those cases that really just brought everybody together.
It didn't matter if you were white, it didn't matter if you were black, it didn't matter
if you knew Alexis or you didn't.
You showed up.
Her teachers, you know, friends of her teachers, her classmates and their families, neighbors,
people on the other side of town, people passing through volunteers, I mean, everyone
(14:47):
showed up.
It was really special to see.
Coming from there into why investigators chose to search the Washington Park so quickly.
Now they were getting calls from an unknown assailant and this doesn't really have anything
to do with the case.
I just think it's really weird and eerie that trigger warning.
(15:10):
Alexis was found deceased at the bottom of the lagoon, or she was found deceased in a
trash bin in the park.
So that's why police jumped to get divers in that lagoon where they essentially didn't
find anything and then they searched the grounds and also don't find anything.
I just think that is so disgusting and crappy.
(15:31):
I don't know if these were genuine tips that were just bad or if somebody was prank calling
investigators trying to waste time.
I don't know what that was about, but that was really, really strange to me.
Now my third point in all of this is Elizabeth Smart.
And I'm not going to spend too much time on it because the overwhelming point is the disparity
(15:55):
between black and white people, in this case specifically black and white kids, and how
quickly they are put on a national news or media station early on in their investigations.
And we saw within a day, I mean immediately almost, Elizabeth is on a CNN show, she's
(16:20):
on Fox News, she's on another nationally accredited show or media show.
And then you've got Alexis and they're waiting a couple days and she's initially only on
one America's most wanted and that's days later.
The first 48 hours are the most important stretch of time in a missing child's disappearance
(16:44):
or an abduction.
I mean because the chances of that child being found after those 48 hours drastically drop.
So I mean, I just don't understand why investigators or just media outlets stumbled on that.
And I feel like I know the reason why, which leads me to my last point and that is this
(17:07):
runaway theory with black kids.
And it's a pattern that I feel just isn't talked about enough.
It's just really interesting how investigators will see a white child and a black child and
they go missing.
And in this particular case, Ayanna in several interviews speaks about how investigators keep
(17:29):
bringing up this small argument she had with Alexis the morning of her disappearance about
her not being able to bring the cupcakes to her class.
And they keep hounding Ayanna and asking her essentially, do you think that Alexis would
run away because of this?
Maybe she would have ran away because of this.
We're going to look into this runaway theory.
(17:51):
And I'm just like, what?
And I will not act like I have researched the Elizabeth Smart case on a deep level.
But she disappeared in the middle of the night.
She was taken out of her home.
I don't know if the runaway theory was explored.
Obviously it wasn't harped on that long because she was put on national media coverage almost
(18:15):
immediately.
It's just really disheartening and disappointing that we're not defending black kids like we
are with other races.
And we're almost jumping to they ran away on their own volition, a seven-year-old.
I repeat, a seven-year-old ran away in broad daylight because she couldn't bring cupcakes
(18:39):
to her class.
Like, who even comes up with this?
That was really frustrating to me and just really irritating.
But all in all, as I said in other episodes, I believe all children should get the same
amount of national media coverage.
I just wish black kids would get it a lot quicker.
And I'm really happy that Elizabeth Smart was found.
(19:02):
And considering the circumstances from what I've read, it seems like she's doing OK and
is living as normal of a life as you can live after going through what she went through.
And I'm really happy about that.
Now jumping back into the case, as in most missing children's cases, police initially
questioned the people closest to Alexis.
(19:25):
And that was Ayanna, her mother, LeRon, and her bio dad, Kenya.
While researching this case, I saw a statistic that gave me a new perspective on police's
choices early on in this investigation.
Even though not everyone was in alignment.
Quote, according to data from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children,
(19:47):
the vast majority of missing children cases involve family members with only a very small
percentage being taken by strangers.
Estimates suggest that around 99 percent of child abductions are perpetrated by family
members or acquaintances, while stranger abductions make up less than 1 percent of these cases.
(20:08):
Quote.
After questioning to further rule them out, the parents both agreed to and were given
polygraph tests.
While polygraph tests are not admissible in court and are not always an accurate source
of judgment or an accurate way to eliminate suspects on their own, they can be helpful
(20:29):
by gathering information, detecting truthfulness and narrowing down suspect list and police
investigations.
And after getting the results back, that's exactly what it did.
Now, Ayanna and Kenya passed with flying colors, and Kenya was incarcerated at the time of
his daughter's disappearance.
However, her stepfather, Loran, even with getting an attorney and delaying his polygraph
(20:55):
test, failed it and became an immediate suspect.
And according to reports I've seen of Milwaukee investigator testimonies, he overwhelmingly
failed his polygraph test and was ruled deceptive on pretty much every single question.
Though he maintained his innocence, suspicions lingered.
(21:18):
And the suspicions weren't too left feel considering he had a criminal history, including a few
drug charges and was connected to a bank robbery.
As the months went by, more unsettling details emerged.
Loran had a current ties to drug dealers and that bank robbery he was involved in had resulted
(21:39):
in the death of a police officer.
His criminal past made investigators weary.
Could Alexis' disappearance have been a message, a warning or some sort of retaliation?
Continuing with the search, the FBI had a cadaver dog search the family's home, but
nothing that would come closer to finding Alexis was found.
(22:03):
Neighbors were interviewed, yet despite all efforts, Alexis had vanished without a trace.
Ayanna and Loran divorced in 2005 and Loran died in 2021 at the age of 52, apparently
of a drug overdose.
Now I'm going to press the stop button right here because, wow, a lot happened in the last
(22:26):
three minutes, my mind is all over the place, but I'm going to start with my thoughts on
the polygraph test.
So I was really happy that Ayanna and Kenya were both cleared or they both passed their
polygraph test because polygraph tests, while they're not admissible in court and they're
not an official piece of evidence, they definitely help investigators narrow down who they want
(22:52):
to focus more of their time on or they want to look at in connection with whatever the
crime is.
And it looked like in a lot of reports, investigators were really honing in on Ayanna.
So I was relieved that she passed her polygraph test.
And I kind of anticipated Kenya would because he was incarcerated at the time.
(23:15):
Now I was not shocked that Loran failed his polygraph test for a few reasons, one being
he was one of the last people to see Alexis and two, his background in the drug game,
the fact that he hasn't had really any violent criminal charges, the bank robbery that resulted
(23:39):
in the shooting of a police officer.
Like, I mean, he has been a part of violent crimes being committed, even if he wasn't
the main person charged.
So while he might have not been responsible, you know, he has it in him in a sense.
So I wasn't surprised there, but I was surprised that he failed so terribly.
(24:06):
That was shocking to me.
But I will say, and I give him kudos, I don't even want to say kudos in the right word,
but I think everyone could take a page out of this book.
And that's getting an attorney.
I don't know why people think, okay, because I'm innocent, I don't need an attorney.
I could take a polygraph test, I can talk to investigators on record with no legal,
(24:32):
you know, counsel.
No, no, no.
I will always be pro attorney, pro lawyer.
It doesn't matter whether you're innocent or not, whether it's a public defender, somebody
you have already, family member, a friend, get the attorney, get the legal counsel because
(24:53):
they actually know the law and you don't.
So that's one thing I will like say that everybody could learn from this case is he
delayed it a little bit because he consulted with a lawyer.
He failed, but he did the right thing getting an attorney, essentially.
How seeing those stats on missing kids, I mean, it was shocker for me.
(25:17):
I definitely knew that missing kids or children that are abducted have a higher chance of
being taken by someone that they know versus a complete stranger.
I just didn't know that the stats were 99% to 1%.
And that made me really rethink this case in general.
(25:38):
And my last point that this kind of segues to is LeRon and Kenya's background.
Now LeRon had the drug dealing background and this raises some type of suspicion that maybe
this was somebody that he rubbed off the wrong way that he cheated because there was some
(26:00):
testimonies and different reports I read that he had cheated some pretty big drug dealers
and this could have been a form of retaliation.
Kenya, her father that was incarcerated at the time of her disappearing, also had drug
charges in his criminal background, as well as some child abuse charges which weren't
(26:22):
related to Alexis, but they're violent.
And that's actually the reason why he was incarcerated.
So I don't know, I mean, he definitely think that that stat mixed with her dad and step
dad's background definitely could tie together and could be onto something.
Maybe it was someone that was connected to either one of them that did this out of retaliation,
(26:47):
specifically probably LeRon because he was actively in the drug game at the time of her
disappearance.
I don't know, all of it is really, really strange to me.
While police were focused on the family, LeRon had another idea about what might have happened
to his stepdaughter.
He told ABC News, quote, I feel that maybe she walked off.
(27:11):
She was mad because we didn't let her take her cupcakes to school for snack day because
her homework wasn't done properly.
And that was her punishment.
Maybe she walked off and somebody may have picked her up, quote.
And this isn't out of the blue because there were accounts from some of Alexis's classmates
that they saw Alexis crying on the playground the morning she disappeared.
(27:36):
And Alexis expressed she was upset because she wanted to bring her cupcakes to school.
And paired with the fact that she had never stepped into the school building led to so
many questions that couldn't be answered.
Why was no one alarmed?
Did she possibly try and walk back home to get the cupcakes?
And that wasn't the end of the disturbing details that came out during the investigation.
(28:01):
Days before Alexis disappeared, a witness recalled a red truck lurking near the school
on multiple occasions.
It was out of place and wasn't picking up or dropping off a student.
Then after Alexis vanished, the truck was gone too.
Was it connected?
And if so, why was it never found?
(28:21):
On top of that, a strange woman that no one knew was seen speaking to Alexis on two separate
occasions.
After the first time, teachers warned her about stranger danger and to not speak to
people she didn't know.
But after the second time, one of her teachers told her mom who came down on Alexis a little
(28:42):
hard.
When Ayana asked who the woman was, Alexis really couldn't give her a straight answer.
In the final chilling detail, a year and a half before Alexis vanished, a letter was
sent home to parents warning them of an attempted abduction near the school.
No vehicle description was given, but you can't help but think, was it the same person
(29:07):
in the red car or the ominous lady that was seen speaking to Alexis on multiple occasions?
We have yet to get the answers to these questions.
Now fast forward to 2016 and what looked like a promising lead in the case quickly fizzles
out.
A man from Ohio at some point in time got in contact with the Milwaukee police department
(29:31):
and what he had to say left investigators completely stunned.
He believed his ex-wife was the missing seven-year-old Alexis Patterson, but she was too scared to
come forward herself.
His wife admitted to not knowing much about her childhood, not having photos of herself
(29:51):
as a child, which led her and her husband to dig deeper on the internet.
He finally came across an age-progress photo of Alexis and was sold.
Eager to follow up on this lead, investigators use Ayanna Patterson and Kenya Campbell's
DNA they provided police in 2002 to perform a DNA test.
(30:16):
Using that information, investigators determined that the Ohio woman, believed to be Alexis,
was not actually her.
Ayanna expressed the test were incorrect because the DNA police had was dated and she wanted
to use fresh DNA as she believes the woman may really be her daughter.
Police have not commented on the test results and as of this recording, there are no updates
(30:41):
on the matter.
And since then, there hasn't really been any significant updates in the case.
It sucks that there is no resolution in this case and her family is no closer to getting
any answers, but here are my final questions that I wish we could have answered.
(31:02):
One, did Alexis turn back home and possibly run into the wrong person?
So it's just weird because her stepfather tells ABC News that he feels that she went
back home because they got into this big fight about the cupcakes and she was really upset.
Her mother kind of alludes to it not really being that big of a deal.
(31:26):
Like it was a small fight, but nothing crazy.
So I just wish we had a little bit more clarity on how intense the fight was because if it
was really intense, reading about Alexis' personality, how she was fearless and really
sweet, totally could see her being upset and possibly wanting to walk the one block back
(31:49):
home to go get the cupcakes.
Question number two, was this connected to Loran's past?
We know he had dangerous associations.
Could somebody from his past or in his present at the time of Alexis disappearing be involved
(32:12):
in her case?
I think there's a strong possibility and to be honest, that's a little bit more work
I lean in this case based off of the research that I have found.
I don't know.
Tell me what you guys think in the comments.
That's a big question for me.
Question number three, was it someone in the neighborhood?
(32:35):
Now police spoke to neighbors and didn't really come up with anything.
I think at one point they may have been looking at one or two people, but that quickly fizzled
out.
I mean, this neighborhood is really close to knit.
I just always feel like in these really close knit communities, it's always a neighbor.
If not a family member, it's a neighbor because they've had eyes on Alexis.
(32:58):
They probably know who she is.
She's probably familiar with them.
I wish that we just knew a little bit about how those neighbor interviews went.
Another question that I saw in some reports that a lot of people have speculated at, or
it's almost a theory, is could Alexis had been a possible victim of trafficking?
(33:24):
We don't know.
This red card that popped up near the school on multiple occasions is really weird.
The random lady that was seen speaking to Alexis on multiple occasions is really, really
strange.
That is not normal.
The fact that investigators never identified who this woman was or who the driver of the
(33:48):
red truck was is really eerie.
Those are my final questions when it comes to this case that we just don't have the
answers to.
And that's where the story remains unsolved.
Alexis Patterson was only seven years old when she went missing on May 3, 2002.
(34:10):
She had a family who loved her.
She had a future and she still deserves justice.
She was last seen wearing a hooded red pullover nylon jacket with a gray stripe running down
each sleeve, a light purple blouse or a blue shirt with horizontal stripes, light blue jeans,
(34:31):
blue and white high top Nike sneakers, and a cluster-type diamond sunflower-shaped earrings
with yellow goalpost.
She was also carrying a pink Barbie book backpack.
Her hair was styled in two French braids which were pulled back into a ponytail.
She has black hair and brown eyes.
(34:54):
Alexis had a scar below her right eye and a bump on her left pinky finger.
Alexis' nicknames are Lexi and Pie.
Alexis Patterson's case is still open.
Her mother Ayanna has never stopped searching, never stopped believing that one day, one
day, she will know the truth.
(35:16):
Now here's the call to action.
If you have any information on the Alexis Patterson case, please contact Milwaukee Police Department
at area code 414-935-7360.
To report anonymously, contact Crime Stoppers at area code 414-224-TIPS or use the P3TIPS
(35:41):
app.
The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office is still offering a $10,000 reward for any information
leading to Alexis Patterson's return.
Any piece of information, no matter how small, could be the key to unlocking this case.
If you know anything, anything, please come forward.
(36:05):
Thank you for tuning in to Episode 6 of Forgotten Echoes.
Please do me a favor and show your support by following the podcast and liking, subscribing,
and sharing this episode.
If you feel so inclined to do so, give this episode a 5 star rating.
I'd really appreciate it.
I'm Raven Siyad and I'll see you next week with another case that needs to be remembered.
(36:30):
Stay vigilant, stay aware, and keep the echoes of the Forgotten Alive.
I'll see you soon.
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