Prosecutors Said He Strangled His Girlfriend With Her Purse Strap Before Hiding Body in Woods. Now He's Been Found Guilty By Christine Pelisek

A Wisconsin man was found guilty on Tuesday, Nov. 4 of killing his girlfriend and hiding her body in the woods.

Matthew Pahl, 57, was convicted of first-degree intentional homicide and hiding a corpse in connection with the death of Stephanie Pavlons.

“Justice has been served in the tragic and senseless murder of Stephanie Pavlons,” Waukesha County District Attorney Lesli Boese said in a statement to PEOPLE. “The jury’s swift verdict, reached in just over an hour, reflects the strength and clarity of the evidence presented. We are grateful for their service and hope the decision brings a measure of peace and closure to Stephanie’s loved ones. Our thoughts remain with her family as they continue to heal from this unimaginable loss.”

According to TMJ4, prosecutors argued that Pahl killed Pavlons in 2022 after she decided to break up with him. They alleged he strangled his long-time girlfriend with her own purse strap, per the outlet, though investigators were unable to determine how she died due to the severely decomposed state of her body.

“Mr. Pahl was a violent and abusive partner,” prosecutor Kristi Gordon told the jury, per the outlet. “He killed Ms. Pavlons because she was trying to leave him. Something he couldn’t let happen.”

The couple had been together for more than 20 years and shared a child, according to The Waukesha Freeman.

A construction worker discovered her remains on Sept. 9, 2022 in a wooded area.

Surveillance footage allegedly showed Pavlons walking out of her apartment on Aug 23, 2022 at 8:39 a.m. carrying a black purse with silver colored metal links and chains and a large pink water bottle, per a criminal complaint obtained by PEOPLE.

Footage also showed Pahl exiting the building about one minute later. Video allegedly showed him returning to the apartment just before 11:15 a.m. carrying a large pink water bottle “believed to be the same water bottle [Pavlons] previously left the building with.”

Just over an hour later, investigators said Pahl was seen “carrying a plastic shopping bag containing [Pavlons’] black purse.”

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The investigator “observed that the same metal links/chains from [her] purse can be seen in the plastic shopping bag as [Pahl] enters” the building.

Authorities said Pavlons was never seen on video footage again as she did not return to the apartment.  

According to the complaint, investigators later found Pavlons’ daily planner in the apartment she shared with Pahl. In one entry on July 8, 2021, Pavlons wrote, “another depressing & physically abusing day. I think he likes to do it even though he says he doesn’t ‘Hate my Life.’” In another entry the next day she wrote, “Go home power washed instead & got hit hard which left a nice mark on my chest, got a nice scar along w/ it.”

Investigators also found multiple photos on Pavlons’ cell phone “from the year 2021 of [Pavlons] with a bruised and swollen eye as well as a red mark on her breast,” per the complaint.  

Pahl allegedly told investigators on Sept. 17, 2022, that he hadn’t seen Pavlons in weeks. He alleged he “was feeling sick to his stomach and he had a bad feeling.”

“The defendant then claimed that [Pavlons] was threatening suicide all of the time and that really got to him,” per the complaint.

He was formally charged in connection with her death in September 2023.

According to FOX6, prosecutors admitted this was a circumstantial case — with no DNA evidence, no official cause of death and no eyewitnesses. They said during trial that cellphone records were key, as the records showed that Pahl deleted close to a thousand messages and that his and Pavlons’ cellphones both pinged to a spot where she was last seen alive.

Prosecutors also said Pahl monitored police scanners and online obituaries, per the outlet, which his defense attorney, Peter Wolff, said he didn’t “find suspicious.”

“If I was worried about someone, I’d do the same thing,” Wolff said in court, according to FOX6.

“He thinks he’s covering his trail — but he didn’t know that we would know we could look through her phone, find things he deleted — we’re smarter than him,” said prosecutor Kristi Gordon, per the outlet, adding that Pahl thought he was “the smartest man in the room.”

His sentencing has been scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 11.