0:01

So, what are you thinking for lunch? I

0:03

can't. I'm getting new window treatments.

0:06

So I gotta go home and wait around all afternoon

0:08

for a design consultation just to get a quote.

0:11

It's gonna totally mess up my work day.

0:13

Why don't you just go to Blinds.com? Because

0:15

I need custom products. Blinds.com

0:17

products are made to order and totally

0:19

customizable. And you get upfront pricing

0:22

right on their website to easily get your quote online.

0:24

But I want to see the products in person.

0:27

Blinds.com ships samples to you fast and

0:29

free. They can even verify your measurements and

0:31

handle the installation. Wow,

0:33

how convenient. Tell me more. Blinds.com

0:36

also has a huge selection of stylish shutters,

0:38

shades, curtains, and options for motorization.

0:41

Even for your patio. Plus their 100% satisfaction

0:43

guarantee.

0:45

Well, you've convinced me. Let's go

0:47

eat. I've got time now. Shop

0:50

Blinds.com and save 40% on selected products.

0:53

Get 40% off selected products right

0:55

now at Blinds.com. Rules and

0:57

restrictions may apply.

0:59

Previously on Unsolved.

1:03

Because they did such a horrible thing, are

1:06

they able to like totally forget

1:08

what they did? Are they able to push that out of their

1:10

mind? I think it'd be

1:12

kind of hard to kill someone

1:14

and then convince yourself that you didn't. Unless

1:17

you did it when you were incredibly

1:20

inebriated. From

1:23

USA Today and the Milwaukee

1:26

Journal Sentinel, this is Unsolved

1:29

Season 4. A missing girl.

1:31

A search for truth. I

1:34

am Gina Barton. Chapter 8.

1:37

Be careful what you wish for. When

1:42

I started this project, one of

1:44

my goals was to get a hold of some reliable

1:47

DNA testing and figure out

1:49

once and for all whether or not

1:51

Lisa in Ohio was actually Alexis.

1:55

Well, I did that and

1:57

the results were a disappointment. Another

2:01

goal, which both my reporting

2:03

partner, Ashley and Lutheran and I, have

2:05

been working toward on and off for years,

2:08

was to get access to the Milwaukee

2:11

Police files on Alexis's case.

2:13

We've done that too. But eventually,

2:16

the excitement that the police

2:18

had actually agreed to hand over the

2:20

files started to wear off. There

2:23

are almost 4,000 pages of reports,

2:26

enough to fill two file cabinets. The

2:29

police have been releasing a couple hundred

2:32

or so at a time, and Ashley and

2:34

I have been going through them for months. And

2:37

while some of the police reports backed

2:39

up what I already knew, some

2:42

made me seriously question a

2:45

whole lot of things I thought were

2:47

true. As

2:49

I've shared with you in earlier episodes, the

2:52

police had two leading theories

2:54

about what happened to Alexis. One

2:57

was that her stepfather, LaRon

2:59

Bourgeois, had cheated his drug

3:02

suppliers and they snatched Alexis,

3:05

either for revenge or as collateral.

3:07

The second was

3:09

that her family was somehow involved

3:11

in her disappearance. Alexis's

3:15

biological father, Kenya Campbell,

3:17

and I talked about the rumor that

3:19

LaRon had ripped off

3:21

some drug dealers back in episode 2.

3:23

The

3:26

drug dealer he was affiliated with

3:30

had fronting him some drugs

3:33

and he had

3:35

staged a fake drug

3:38

raid. And what

3:41

he did was he tore

3:43

the house up a little bit, took drawers

3:46

out, dumped them out, stuff like that.

3:49

After that,

3:50

LaRon asked the guy to come over so

3:52

he could see the mess.

3:54

His story was that he had to flush

3:56

the cocaine so the cops wouldn't find

3:58

it. But when LaRon

3:59

couldn't produce a copy of the search warrant,

4:02

the supplier got suspicious.

4:04

He started to think that La Ron had stolen

4:06

the drugs and made up the whole thing

4:09

about the raid to cover that up.

4:13

In the batches of police reports we've

4:15

been getting since February, I found

4:17

a lot more pieces of

4:19

the puzzle. But they

4:21

still don't quite form a full

4:23

picture.

4:26

Part of the reason, I think, is

4:28

that in any police investigation,

4:31

things that aren't true get mixed

4:33

up with the facts. I'm

4:36

not saying everybody lies, although

4:38

some people definitely do. I'm

4:40

talking about rumors and bad

4:42

memories and details left out,

4:45

either by the people speaking with the police or

4:48

by the officers writing them down. According

4:51

to the police reports I've read over the past

4:53

several months, the detectives

4:56

investigating Alexis' case were

4:58

tipped off to several different

5:01

variations of the story about the drug

5:03

ripoff, both by people

5:05

in the neighborhood and by people

5:07

in jail. Like Kenya,

5:10

some

5:11

said the drugs La Ron took were worth $50,000.

5:15

Some said it was $30,000.

5:17

Some said it was $80,000. The

5:20

details of who supposedly kidnapped

5:22

Alexis weren't consistent, either. Some

5:25

said it was a group of Jamaicans.

5:28

Others blamed two gangs that were

5:30

very well known in Milwaukee at the time, the

5:33

ghetto boys and the murder mob. One

5:35

guy even said he had seen Alexis

5:38

chained up in a basement.

5:41

Alexis disappeared on a Friday.

5:44

From the police records, here's

5:46

the timeline of what the cops think

5:48

may have happened. The

5:50

supplier gave La Ron some cocaine on

5:53

Monday,

5:54

which he was supposed to sell

5:56

and then pass along the proceeds.

5:58

On Tuesday

6:00

LaRon staged the fake police raid.

6:03

On Wednesday night, a

6:05

neighbor overheard LaRon arguing

6:07

with a group of armed men.

6:10

I've asked a voice actor friend of mine

6:13

to read the Milwaukee Police Report of

6:15

what the neighbor said.

6:17

In this excerpt,

6:18

and the others you'll hear in this episode,

6:21

I've taken out witnesses' names

6:23

and edited a bit for clarity.

6:26

She stated she could hear these black males

6:28

arguing with LaRon and it became very

6:31

loud and heated. And she could hear this

6:33

black male whose voice she did not know

6:35

previous to this time,

6:37

saying, I'm gonna kill all

6:39

you. This unknown

6:41

black male stated, I'm

6:44

gonna shoot this motherfucker up. The

6:48

different versions of the drug

6:50

ripoff gone bad story

6:53

also named various people as

6:55

LaRon's supplier, the

6:57

man who got the drugs from either the

6:59

Jamaicans or a gang or someone else

7:02

and fronted them to LaRon.

7:04

But one man's name kept coming

7:06

up over and over.

7:09

It's the same guy I told you about in episode

7:11

two,

7:12

who served more than a decade in federal

7:14

prison on serious drug charges.

7:17

I still haven't been able to

7:19

find him. I'm not going

7:21

to use his name since he hasn't been charged

7:23

in Alexis's case. No

7:25

one has.

7:28

This man told a detective that

7:30

LaRon called him a couple

7:32

of hours before Alexis disappeared.

7:35

The man said he stopped at LaRon and I

7:37

on his house briefly around 830

7:39

or 9am.

7:41

Not long after LaRon says

7:43

he handed off Alexis to the school

7:45

crossing guard. The man also

7:48

told the police there were no hard

7:50

feelings between him and LaRon.

7:53

Here's an excerpt from that report.

7:55

La

8:00

Ron Bourgeois lying about being

8:02

raided by the police. He again

8:05

stated that he still does not

8:07

have a beef with La Ron regarding

8:09

this and he would never mess with

8:11

anyone's child due to the fact

8:13

that he has two daughters of his own and

8:16

that his daughters actually used to

8:18

play with Alexis.

8:20

As I read through this seemingly

8:22

endless pile of documents,

8:25

it seemed

8:25

strange to me that this

8:27

man wouldn't be upset about La Ron

8:29

stealing from him.

8:31

Then again, it did make sense that

8:34

if he was, he wouldn't want to tell the police

8:36

his true feelings, considering the circumstances.

8:40

Other people who knew both men told

8:42

the police that, in reality, the

8:45

drug supplier was furious.

8:48

Not only was he pissed that La Ron

8:50

had stolen his drugs, he blamed

8:52

La Ron for the fact that he'd been indicted by

8:54

the feds. Many of them

8:56

claimed they had spoken to the man in

8:59

the county jail

9:00

while he was awaiting trial on the charges

9:02

that ultimately landed him

9:04

in federal prison.

9:05

One inmate said he asked

9:07

if the man would ever snatch a little girl

9:09

and the man replied,

9:12

that's the game.

9:14

Another said he'd heard the man took Alexis

9:17

down south where she was, quote,

9:19

cut

9:20

up. To me, the

9:22

most credible of these informants was

9:24

a guy who spoke to police with his attorney president

9:27

and agreed to take a polygraph to

9:30

prove that what he was saying was true. Here's

9:32

a clip from the police report that describes

9:35

that interview.

9:37

The inmate asked the man if he popped

9:39

or shot the girl, referring to Alexis

9:41

Patterson, and the man responded by

9:44

taking both of his hands and making a

9:46

twisting motion as if he strangled

9:48

or broke someone's neck.

9:50

The inmate then asked him, where's

9:52

the girl, referring to Alexis Patterson,

9:55

and the man again became

9:57

very evasive and only would

9:59

say something about a construction

10:02

site. There's no

10:04

mention in the files of whether the inmate

10:06

passed the polygraph. But would

10:09

someone really kidnap a little

10:11

girl

10:12

and even kill her

10:13

over a drug debt?

10:16

One of Ayanna's uncles was convinced

10:18

it happened.

10:19

Here's a portion of the statement he gave

10:21

police shortly after Alexis

10:24

disappeared in 2002.

10:27

He went on to state that Laurent

10:29

Bourgeois did the same type of drug

10:31

deal ripoff approximately two years ago.

10:34

As a result of that drug deal ripoff,

10:36

the dope dealer held Ayanna and Alexis

10:38

Patterson tied up in a house off

10:41

91st and Silver Spring until the stolen

10:43

property was either returned

10:45

or paid for.

10:46

During that incident two years ago, the

10:49

uncle stated that the dope dealers held

10:51

a gun to Ayanna's head while they held

10:53

her hostage.

10:55

We'll have more after the break.

10:59

So what are you thinking for lunch?

11:01

I can't, I'm getting

11:03

new window treatments. So I gotta go home and wait

11:05

around all afternoon for a design consultation

11:07

just to get a quote. It's gonna totally

11:10

mess up my workday.

11:11

Why don't you just go to blinds.com? Because

11:13

I need custom products.

11:14

Blinds.com products are made to

11:16

order and totally customizable. And

11:19

you get upfront pricing right on their website to easily

11:21

get your quote online.

11:22

But I wanna see the products in person.

11:25

Blinds.com ships samples to you fast

11:27

and free. They can even verify your measurements

11:29

and handle the installation. Wow,

11:31

how convenient. Tell me more.

11:33

Blinds.com also has a huge selection

11:35

of stylus shutters, shades, curtains,

11:38

and options for motorization, even for your

11:40

patio. Plus their 100%

11:42

satisfaction guarantee.

11:43

Well, you've convinced me. Let's go

11:45

eat. I've got time now.

11:47

Shop blinds.com and

11:49

save 40% on selected products. Get 40%

11:52

off selected products right now at blinds.com.

11:55

Rules and restrictions may apply.

11:57

This is the smell of the leftover tuna.

12:00

sandwich you left in your lunchbox over the weekend

12:02

in a wimpy trash bag. Wimpy,

12:04

wimpy, wimpy! Bleh!

12:07

And this is the smell of that same sandwich

12:10

in a hefty ultra-strong trash bag.

12:11

Hefty, hefty, hefty! Ah,

12:15

smell the difference? Hefty Ultra-Strong has

12:17

arm and hammer with continuous odor control, so

12:19

no matter what's inside your trash. Hmm,

12:22

you can stay one step ahead of Stinky. And

12:24

for bigger jobs, try the superior strength of hefty

12:27

large black bags.

12:32

In addition to providing more information

12:34

about the drug dealer theory,

12:36

this huge stack of police reports brought

12:39

to light a lot of contradictions

12:41

between what Ayana told the police

12:43

back in 2002 and what

12:45

she's told me over the past three years.

12:49

One of the most glaring inconsistencies

12:52

has to do with the unidentified

12:54

woman Ayana said had been spotted

12:57

talking with Alexis behind her

12:59

elementary school in the days before

13:01

she went missing. It's a story

13:04

Ayana has repeated several times,

13:06

including at the gatherings she organized

13:09

on the 20th anniversary of Alexis'

13:11

disappearance in the spring of 2022.

13:15

So something just told me, you know, just being

13:17

his mother, I called the school and

13:19

I talked to, you know, Miss Rowland.

13:21

I said, Miss Rowland, I said, have Alexis

13:23

been going to breakfast? Miss Rowland

13:26

was like, no. The

13:28

answer she said was she was in the

13:30

back of the building, talking

13:32

to a lady, an unknown

13:34

lady. And then Miss Rowland

13:37

caught me like a couple of days later,

13:39

like Ayana Alexis was still in the back

13:42

where

13:42

she couldn't be seen, where she was talking

13:45

to a lady and we don't even know who the lady is.

13:48

So just letting you all know, two

13:50

days later, my daughter was gone.

13:55

According to the police reports, Miss

13:57

Rowland spoke with detectives at least

13:59

three... times in the immediate

14:01

aftermath of Alexis's disappearance.

14:04

And there's nothing in any of those statements

14:06

about an unidentified woman behind the

14:08

school. After Iona

14:11

told the current cold case detective, Tim

14:13

Keller, that story, he followed

14:16

up with Ms. Ruland.

14:17

According to Keller's report,

14:19

Ms. Ruland said she had never

14:22

seen Alexis talking to a lady and

14:24

had never called Iona about Alexis

14:27

missing breakfast. But while

14:29

that raised red flags for Keller,

14:31

it didn't seem to change Ms. Ruland's

14:34

opinion of Iona, whom she

14:36

said she'd always liked. Keller

14:38

also asked Ms. Ruland if she recalled

14:41

a letter to parents that talked

14:43

about the attempted abduction of a different

14:45

student.

14:47

She said she didn't remember, but

14:49

it very well could have happened. Iona

14:51

talked about that in episode three. Two

14:55

weeks before Alexis's disappearance,

14:57

Highmount Elementary School

14:59

sent a letter home to the parents.

15:02

Every parent at the school letting

15:05

us know that there was a man

15:07

trying to abduct a child at

15:09

the school. And for us

15:11

to watch our children and to make sure

15:13

that our children were safe. They

15:15

said it was a red truck had been

15:17

outside Alexis's school.

15:19

After Alexis was gone,

15:22

after my daughter disappeared, the truck wasn't

15:24

out there anymore. They never seen this

15:26

truck ever again.

15:29

The police files contained a

15:31

copy of a letter that the principal sent

15:33

home about an attempted abduction

15:36

near the school. But

15:38

the letter was dated September 21st, 2000. That's

15:41

a year and a half before Alexis

15:43

vanished. Not two weeks.

15:46

Here's Ashley reading what the

15:49

letter actually said.

15:51

Dear parents and guardians of Highmount

15:53

students, I want to inform you about

15:55

an incident that occurred this morning. A stranger

15:57

approached one of our students while on

15:59

his...

15:59

way to school. Fortunately, the

16:02

student knew what steps to take to ensure

16:04

his safety and he was not hurt.

16:06

The police have been involved and are seeking

16:09

the individual. He is a white male

16:11

in his late teens, about five foot

16:14

nine with a medium build,

16:16

short, light brown curly hair and

16:18

green eyes.

16:19

The letter didn't say anything

16:22

about a vehicle, let alone

16:24

a red truck. In fact,

16:27

there's nothing in the police files from 2002

16:30

about a red truck at all.

16:34

I also read some police reports that

16:36

seemed relevant to IANA's insistence

16:39

that Lisa,

16:40

the woman in Ohio, was really

16:43

Alexis.

16:44

First, there were a couple of reports

16:46

documenting the fact

16:48

that the Milwaukee police took a DNA

16:51

sample from IANA

16:52

shortly after Alexis vanished.

16:55

That goes against what IANA told the Milwaukee

16:58

Journal Sentinel back in 2016

17:01

after the police announced that the results

17:03

of the DNA analysis proved

17:05

that Lisa in Ohio wasn't

17:08

Alexis. IANA said

17:10

she didn't believe it. Well,

17:12

first of all, who gave you the

17:14

DNA 14 years ago? You never

17:16

received the DNA from me. What

17:18

DNA did you use from a toothbrush? Na

17:21

na na na na. Give me the real

17:23

DNA. Use my DNA.

17:27

Pull my DNA to Lisa's

17:29

DNA and take

17:31

it from there.

17:33

The police reports also mentioned

17:35

the birthmark,

17:37

the one that convinced Lisa's ex-husband

17:40

Josh that Lisa and

17:42

Alexis were one in the same.

17:45

My ex-wife has a birthmark

17:47

on her right buttocks.

17:49

In 2016

17:52

and in her conversations with me,

17:54

IANA said Alexis had a birthmark

17:57

in that very same place.

17:59

According to a police report, when LaRon

18:02

and Iana gave officers a description

18:05

of Alexis in 2002,

18:07

they said the birthmark was in

18:09

the middle of her back.

18:14

The police reports go a long

18:17

way toward explaining why

18:19

the detectives were so hung up on

18:21

the argument Iana and Alexis

18:24

had about cupcakes, which

18:26

Iana talked about in episode 3.

18:29

She told me it was a minor disagreement.

18:33

Thursday is when, which was May

18:37

2nd, is when we went to Jewel

18:39

Osco on 36th and North Avenue

18:41

to get the cupcakes because I thought her

18:43

cupcake day, her

18:45

snack day was on Friday, but it was the next

18:48

Friday. She picked her

18:50

cupcakes out, okay? We

18:52

went home. The next morning

18:55

when it was time for me to sign her homework,

18:57

she hadn't done it. So before

19:00

she walked out the door, I asked her, I

19:02

said, big girl, let me see your work.

19:05

So when she showed it to me, I said,

19:07

no, you not take the old cupcakes to school because

19:09

I can't sign it.

19:11

Of course she was upset. So

19:13

my ex-husband, LaRon, he

19:16

tried to sneak her to cupcakes.

19:18

I said, no, she's not getting the cupcakes.

19:21

When you put the family's argument over the cupcakes

19:24

together with several other clues, it

19:26

seems much more significant. The

19:30

first clue is that mysterious phone

19:32

call to the hospital the morning

19:34

Alexis disappeared. Steve

19:37

Spengola,

19:38

one of the Milwaukee Police supervisors

19:40

who worked on the case,

19:42

told us about it in episode two.

19:44

There was a phone call placed from

19:46

the Patterson residence to

19:49

the old St. Michael's Hospital where

19:51

somebody asked for help. It was transferred

19:54

and then at that end, the phone

19:56

went dead from inside the residence

19:59

of LaRon. And Iona, somebody hung

20:01

up the phone. According

20:03

to the reports the Milwaukee police gave us

20:06

earlier this year,

20:07

Spingola remembered this wrong.

20:10

He said the call was made from

20:12

inside the Patterson's house,

20:14

but the report says it came from Iona's

20:17

cell phone. He also told

20:19

us the call was made at 6 AM,

20:22

but it was really around 930 AM.

20:25

A little over an hour after LaRon

20:27

said he had left Alexis with the

20:29

crossing guard.

20:31

The second clue was an explanation

20:34

of how Alexis may have ended up

20:36

back home

20:37

at the time that call was made.

20:40

Ashley told me about it on the day

20:42

we started going through that first batch

20:44

of police reports, as I

20:46

tried unsuccessfully to keep

20:49

my dog quiet.

20:50

Here's a report from an adult who

20:53

says that she walked her, she

20:56

walked her little cousin to Highmount. She

20:59

saw Alexis by herself on

21:01

the steps of the school. She sees Alexis

21:03

that morning sitting on the steps, her head's

21:05

down, she's upset. Alexis

21:08

told her she's upset because her mom wouldn't let her bring

21:10

the cupcakes to school. And

21:12

she said that

21:14

this woman offered, I'll

21:16

get you a cupcake later from the store. Alexis

21:18

said no, she stood up and said no, I want to go get my

21:20

own. And then she started to walk off the playground.

21:23

According to the woman, Alexis

21:26

walked back toward her house,

21:28

which as you'll recall,

21:30

was less than two blocks from the school.

21:34

The third clue brings us back to

21:36

the cadaver dog,

21:37

which Steve Spingola also told us

21:40

about in episode two. We're

21:42

sitting at a picnic table in the backyard, gave

21:44

the dog some water. The dog

21:46

as the wind blew from the west jumped up

21:48

and went over and hit on the trunk of La

21:51

Ron's car.

21:52

Immediately hit on the trunk of La Ron's car.

21:54

Spingola also told me the

21:57

dog hit on the basement of

21:59

La Ron and

21:59

According

22:02

to the reports,

22:03

the police tested those areas with luminol,

22:06

a chemical that reacts with invisible

22:08

traces of blood. The

22:11

results of the luminol test blew

22:13

my mind. It lit

22:16

up everywhere the dog hid. So

22:18

the police got a search warrant to see

22:20

if they could find any blood.

22:22

You know, in defense of La Ron and

22:24

Iona, there was no blood, there was no blood

22:27

spatter, there was nothing in that house.

22:30

There's an explanation for that.

22:32

Luminol also reacts with other substances,

22:35

including bleach.

22:37

But if that's what caused it to glow,

22:40

there's no way of knowing what

22:42

the bleach was used for. Sure,

22:44

it could have been used to clean

22:46

up blood, but that's far

22:48

from the only possible explanation.

22:52

Also in episode two,

22:54

an expert who trains police dogs

22:56

told me, a dog is

22:59

only as good as its handler.

23:01

Back then,

23:02

I didn't know the name of the dog handler in Alexis's

23:05

case,

23:06

but I found it when I got the police report.

23:08

Timothy McClung, then the police

23:11

chief in Perkins Township, Ohio.

23:13

I went back to Google

23:16

to try to find some information about McClung

23:18

and his dogs.

23:20

One local news story called his dogs acclaimed,

23:23

but didn't go into detail about their

23:25

training. The news coverage did

23:27

go into detail about numerous

23:29

criminal charges against McClung.

23:32

That doesn't say much for McClung's

23:35

credibility,

23:36

although it's worth pointing out that he

23:38

wasn't convicted of anything until 2010,

23:42

eight years after Alexis vanished.

23:45

And so, after reading a couple

23:48

thousand pages of police reports, compiled

23:51

in the first few years after Alexis

23:53

disappeared, the cupcake theory, and

23:56

the reason why the police had never taken

23:58

Iana off the suspect list,

23:59

finally came into

24:02

clear focus.

24:04

It goes like this. The

24:06

morning Alexis disappeared, she

24:09

and her parents argued about whether

24:11

she could bring the cupcakes to school. When

24:13

LaRon handed off Alexis to the crossing

24:16

guard,

24:17

she was still upset.

24:19

Instead of going into the school, Alexis

24:22

sat on the steps for a while and then

24:24

walked

24:24

home to get the cupcakes. Either

24:27

LaRon or Iana, or

24:29

both of them, physically disciplined

24:32

Alexis for coming back and she

24:34

was fatally injured.

24:36

As she lay bleeding in the basement,

24:39

someone called the hospital but hung

24:41

up when they realized she was dead.

24:43

Then either LaRon or

24:46

Iana,

24:47

or both of them, perhaps with help

24:49

from LaRon's drug supplier friend, put

24:51

the little girl's body into LaRon's car,

24:54

drove away,

24:55

and dumped her somewhere. Then they

24:58

used bleach to clean up the basement

25:00

and the car.

25:02

Once I had all that straight in my head,

25:05

one thing still didn't make

25:07

sense. It was daytime

25:10

and the house where LaRon and Iana lived

25:13

didn't have an attached garage.

25:16

So how would they have gotten

25:18

a body into the car without

25:20

anyone noticing?

25:22

Then I came across the report of

25:24

a detective's interview with one

25:26

of Iana's neighbors, which occurred

25:29

in January 2003, about eight

25:31

months after Alexis disappeared.

25:35

The woman told the police she had loaned

25:37

Iana a pink and purple duffel bag

25:39

and a suitcase a few weeks before

25:42

Alexis went Iana

25:44

later returned to the suitcase,

25:46

but not the duffel bag.

25:49

Alexis'

26:00

belongings in it.

26:02

The neighbor does wish to get her bag

26:04

back, but she states it appears that

26:06

she's been getting the runaround from Ayana.

26:09

She believes that Ayana, for whatever

26:11

reason, no longer seems to have this

26:14

duffel bag and seems to give her a different

26:16

reason each time she attempts to

26:18

ask about it.

26:20

The bag, the woman said,

26:23

was large enough

26:24

to hold a body.

26:27

More

26:28

after the break.

26:34

All of my reporting, up until

26:37

I started reading the police files, had

26:39

led me to believe that if the cupcake

26:42

theory was true, LaRon

26:44

must have been the one who killed Alexis,

26:47

probably by accident and probably

26:49

without Ayana knowing. I

26:52

was utterly convinced that there

26:54

was no way the

26:57

woman I've gotten to know over the past

26:59

few years had harmed her child

27:02

or knew what happened to her. Then

27:06

I read a police report from August 2002,

27:10

three months after Alexis disappeared.

27:13

A Milwaukee police detective dropped

27:15

by to see LaRon and Ayana

27:18

at a hair salon and convenience store

27:20

they had

27:21

opened called Alexis

27:24

More Than Just Breeds. This

27:27

detective then spoke with Ayana, who

27:29

at this time became very upset and accused

27:31

the Milwaukee Police Department of not

27:34

trying to find her daughter and said

27:36

that she was sick and tired of what was going on.

27:38

This detective then explained

27:40

to Ayana that we were still actively

27:43

following up on all leads. Ayana

27:46

then got up in a violent manner and with

27:48

her fists clenched began knocking

27:50

over candy throughout the store and then threw

27:52

a fan into the wall.

27:55

From the report,

27:56

it seems as if Ayana suddenly lost

27:58

her temper for no reason. reason.

28:01

I'm guessing the detective may

28:03

have said something that made her angry and

28:06

chose not to include it in his report.

28:09

Ayanna also stated during this violent

28:11

outburst that when people make her mad or

28:14

cry, they will get hurt.

28:16

The records also recounted another

28:19

allegation, which both

28:22

Ashley and I found pretty shocking.

28:25

Ashley found the details about that as

28:27

we read through the very first batch of reports

28:30

we received. One

28:32

of Ayanna's relatives told the police

28:34

the story.

28:36

She says that Ayanna has an anger problem

28:38

and that it was a little over a year ago that she

28:41

recalls Ayanna knocking a little girl's

28:43

tooth out.

28:44

And when the police were called, Ayanna and

28:46

the others involved hid the girl, named

28:49

Cherie, under a pile of clothing.

28:53

I don't know if the police ever confronted

28:55

Ayanna about such an incident,

28:58

or if it even happened. It is not

29:00

mentioned in any of the other records we

29:02

received. However, I can

29:05

say for sure that the allegations

29:07

did not result in Ayanna being convicted

29:09

of any crime.

29:12

Finally, a

29:13

police interview with Alexis'

29:15

stepbrother,

29:16

who was five when she disappeared,

29:19

indicated that Ayanna had taken

29:21

out her anger on Alexis, the

29:23

day she went missing. He

29:26

states Alexis got a whooping that morning

29:28

because she acted as if she didn't know

29:30

how to put her socks on.

29:32

She was whooped by Ayanna.

29:34

He states that when Ayanna whooped her, she hit

29:37

Alexis on the arm and Alexis cried.

29:40

Two FBI agents who reviewed

29:42

the case in the early days

29:44

came to a conclusion that seems to have

29:46

carried through the entire investigation.

29:49

Here's an excerpt from their report,

29:51

read by a narrator from our newsroom.

29:55

one

30:00

or both parents, and then her body

30:02

was placed in the basement of the residence

30:05

before being disposed of. Less

30:07

likely, but still possible, was

30:09

an abduction homicide by a neighbor,

30:12

identity unknown, in the immediate area.

30:15

The timeline was so very tight in this case

30:17

that it is unlikely someone outside

30:20

of the family had time and opportunity

30:22

to abduct and kill the victim. The

30:25

chance of a total stranger coming into

30:27

the area of the school that morning and

30:29

abducting the victim is unlikely

30:31

from both a realistic and a statistical

30:34

standpoint. The victim and her

30:36

mother had some sort of confrontation

30:39

which seemed to be over dominance and

30:41

control. The mother described the

30:43

look in the victim's eyes as fire

30:46

and several other adjectives. There

30:48

was definitely a lot of stress between the

30:50

two at the time of the victim's disappearance.

30:54

Taking these records helped me understand

30:57

why the police had never let go

30:59

of their suspicions about Iona.

31:03

As I've said before, I'm

31:05

aware that racism affects policing,

31:07

not just in Milwaukee,

31:09

but across America. I

31:11

know that sometimes

31:12

witnesses lie to police

31:14

and that police also sometimes

31:16

lie in their reports.

31:18

I also completely understand

31:20

how Iona could have lost her temper

31:23

with the police detective in her store.

31:25

By then,

31:26

Alexis had been missing for three months

31:29

and it must have been becoming clear to

31:31

Iona that she and LaRon

31:34

were among the primary suspects.

31:37

I'm also aware that police officers sometimes

31:39

suffer from tunnel vision.

31:41

It's one of the most dangerous things that

31:44

can happen in an investigation.

31:46

Detectives get focused on a theory and

31:49

downplay any evidence

31:51

that contradicts it.

31:52

As a result,

31:54

they miss the full picture.

31:56

In working on this story,

31:58

I've realized that

31:59

Maybe reporters can fall victim to

32:02

tunnel vision too.

32:04

Because

32:05

even though there definitely seems to

32:07

be some evidence pointing

32:09

in Iana's direction, I still

32:12

don't think she had anything to do with

32:14

her daughter's disappearance. While

32:16

it's possible I'm not seeing things clearly,

32:19

I firmly believe the weight of the

32:21

evidence landed on the other side,

32:24

that she didn't do it.

32:25

Scores of people said they'd seen

32:28

Alexis in the days and hours

32:30

after she went missing. One

32:32

of them might have been right.

32:34

LaRon was evasive

32:36

with both the police and

32:39

with Crocker-Stevenson, the

32:41

journal Sentinel reporter who spoke

32:43

with him shortly after Alexis

32:45

disappeared.

32:46

Even Iana says

32:48

she doesn't know for sure if LaRon

32:51

was involved.

32:52

More than a dozen people

32:54

gave the police information to back

32:57

up the drug deal gone wrong theory.

32:59

And it's the one the prosecutor, Mark

33:01

Williams,

33:02

thought was most likely.

33:21

I also still don't think a

33:23

guilty person would behave

33:25

the way Iana has.

33:27

In the first two years after Alexis

33:29

disappeared, Iana reached

33:31

out to the detective a lot

33:33

to give him tips, to ask for updates,

33:36

and even to tell him she was having panic attacks

33:39

and considering harming herself. More

33:42

recently, Iana told the cold

33:44

case detective, Tim Keller, the

33:47

same thing she told me, that she had

33:49

physically disciplined Alexis a few

33:51

days before she disappeared, not

33:54

the morning she was last seen. And

33:56

Iana was certain Lisa

33:58

in Ohio was actually

33:59

Alexis

34:01

and no one could convince her otherwise.

34:03

Then there's the way Iana

34:05

has interacted with me. In

34:07

the very early days of this project, she

34:10

had tried to help me get access to the police

34:12

reports. Why would she do that

34:15

if she knew there was information in them that

34:17

would make me think she killed her daughter? By

34:20

the time I had finished reading the files, I

34:23

was dreading speaking with Iana. Not

34:26

only would I have to break the news that

34:28

Lisa's DNA didn't match Alexis,

34:31

I'd have to tell her all the horrible

34:33

things the police had said about her.

34:36

And I'd have to tell her that,

34:38

for a moment,

34:40

I had doubted her.

34:45

The

34:45

hardest part of making a show about

34:48

cold cases

34:49

is that there's often no ending.

34:53

This show is called Unsolved, and

34:55

all the cases I've investigated

34:57

for it

34:58

still are. I thought

35:00

this season could be different. When

35:03

I started, I thought there was a chance,

35:06

admittedly a small chance,

35:09

that the

35:09

police or someone else had faked

35:11

the DNA results and that Lisa

35:13

in Ohio really was Alexis.

35:17

Once I figured out for myself that the

35:19

DNA didn't match, I was sure

35:22

this story would end one of two

35:24

ways. I

35:25

would break the news gently enough to persuade

35:28

Iana to give a DNA sample and

35:30

work with a genetic genealogist to

35:32

see if Alexis was out there somewhere.

35:35

The other possibility was that Iana would

35:37

kick me out of her house, probably

35:39

with a lot of accusations about how

35:42

I must be in on the police conspiracy.

35:46

Neither of those things happened.

35:50

About a month before we dropped our first episode,

35:53

I texted Iana to

35:54

let her know we were in the home stretch.

35:57

I asked if we could meet the following day.

35:59

so I could fill her in on what would be included

36:02

in the show.

36:04

I also needed to get her responses to

36:06

the things I'd read in the police reports.

36:09

But

36:09

Aiyana didn't text me back for almost

36:11

a week. When she finally did,

36:14

she said she was grateful that I had put

36:16

so much time into her daughter's story.

36:19

But, she said, she didn't

36:21

want to talk to me anymore. This

36:25

left me with a dilemma. The

36:27

number one rule in investigative

36:29

reporting is that you never want

36:31

the people you're reporting on to be surprised

36:34

when they see, or in this case hear,

36:37

the final story. So, when

36:39

Aiyana stopped responding to my voicemails

36:41

and texts,

36:42

Ashley and I knocked on her door.

36:47

She didn't answer. All

36:49

right, let's go. She's completely ghosting me.

36:52

She's not coming to the door. It's

36:55

okay. It's okay.

36:58

When people avoid reporters, our

37:00

last-ditch effort is often

37:02

a certified letter that lays

37:04

out our findings, asking them one

37:06

final time to get in touch.

37:09

We call it a no-surprises memo.

37:11

Because people have to sign for certified

37:14

mail,

37:14

we know they've received it.

37:16

It seemed like a very impersonal way

37:19

to communicate with Aiyana, with whom

37:21

I thought I had built a

37:23

deep and trusting relationship over the years.

37:26

But at that point, I didn't have any other

37:28

choice.

37:41

Still, no reply.

37:45

And so, I

37:46

was left with this.

37:49

Aiyana,

37:51

if you're listening, I want you to

37:53

know, I'm sorry things didn't turn out the way you had hoped. I

37:55

hate that it ended this way, too.

37:59

I want you to know

38:02

my motive was always, always

38:06

to uncover the truth.

38:08

In the process

38:08

of working together on this project,

38:11

I hoped you would find healing and

38:14

strength and maybe even your missing

38:16

daughter. I

38:17

never wanted to make things worse for you.

38:20

And I want nothing more than

38:22

for Alexis,

38:24

someday, to come home.

38:40

Unsolved is written and produced

38:42

by me, Gina Barton. Ashley

38:44

Lutheran of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

38:47

assisted with reporting this season. Our

38:50

sound engineer is Bill Schultz. Editors

38:53

are Amy Pyle and Greg Borowski.

38:56

Our theme music was composed by

38:58

Evan Johnson. Special

39:00

thanks to voice actor Tom

39:03

Cruise for his help with this episode.

39:06

For more on Alexis' case or

39:08

to sign up for our newsletter, visit

39:11

usatoday.com slash

39:14

unsolved. My team's investigation

39:17

into disparities in missing children's

39:19

cases, including the story

39:21

comparing Alexis' case to Elizabeth

39:24

Smart's, can be found at

39:26

missing.usatoday.com. Anyone

39:30

with information about Alexis Patterson

39:33

is asked to contact the Milwaukee Police

39:35

at 414-935-7360. To

39:41

remain anonymous, contact Crime

39:43

Stoppers at

39:44

414-224-TIPS or use the P3 Tips app.