The case of Alexis Patterson was just getting the kind of publicity it needed when the nation’s attention was diverted to the abduction of Elizabeth Smart. While the power of media can help solve cases, it can also destroy others. What happened to beautiful little Alexis Patterson on the morning of 05/03/2002?
She was a bright-eyed 1st grader walking to the Hi-Mount Public School four houses down the street from her home. It was May 3, 2002, and the child would be out of school for the summer break soon.
Unfortunately, she wouldn’t be enjoying the upcoming summer activities. Fellow students reported seeing her in the playground before school, but she never made it to class and hasn’t been seen since. Seventeen years have passed, and sweet Alexis still hasn’t returned. Who snatched her? Where is she now? Did she actually make it to school that day?
Alexis Patterson was walked to school by her stepdad, LaRon Bourgeois and was seen by other kids in the playground. Everyone assumed she would be in class. She had a perfect attendance record, but it would be broken on this fateful day in May. When she didn’t return home from school, her family reported her missing.
Within 24-hours of the call, the Milwaukee P.D. set up a mobile command unit in a nearby park. It would stay there for the next five weeks, while the entire community searched for the girl. A month later Elizabeth Smart was found alive, and I’m sure the news gave Ayanna Patterson hope that her daughter would be found as well. While the news found many other missing girls, her daughter’s name was never among them.
Three months later the authorities received a tip that she might be in the Milwaukee River near Estabrook Park. They had already checked the area but rechecked the place just in case. She wasn’t found. Many new leads poured into the case files, but not one of them lead to anything.
In 2009, the case was sent to Milwaukee’s Cold Case Unit. Everyone hoped this would heat up the case and bring in some new information, but it remained cold. Fast forward a grueling 14 years and the authorities had been all over the country chasing leads in this case. One lead seemed promising in 2016.
A man from Ohio called in claiming he thought his ex-wife was the missing child. She couldn’t remember anything before the age of ten, she had no photos of her childhood, she couldn’t remember how she ended up in Ohio, and she had several of the characteristics of Alexis Patterson. As usual, the police keep a few details private to help determine the truth in these cases. When this woman had a physical characteristic that wasn’t publicly known, the police made a trip to Ohio to get a DNA sample.
While everyone in the Wisconsin community waited and hoped, the DNA test came back negative. It was not Alexis Patterson. The mother put on a brave face for the cameras and said she would never give up, but it was apparent she was struggling with the new information. She had so desperately hoped that this woman was her child, and now that hope was gone.
Every year the community leaders show their support for this family by re-tracing the route Alexis took to school that day in 2002. The solemn assembly walks the four blocks down a shady sidewalk to the school. There they place a wreath in honor of the missing child. No one in this community has forgotten the bright-eyed baby girl.
If you Google Alexis Patterson, you will find yearly updates on her story, but they all say the same thing. There haven’t been any new developments in this case in the last three years; at least none that the police are sharing publicly. I did find one YouTube video of Sheriff David Clark. He has been working this case from the beginning, and he made a startling confession. He doesn’t believe Alexis ever made it to school and that her mother’s now ex-husband knows what happened to the little girl. Of course, LaRon vehemently denied this from his jail cell. Yes, you read that right, LaRon Bourgeois was jailed for dealing drugs and weapons charges both before and again after the disappearance of Alexis Patterson.
In 2009, The Milwaukee News reported that LaRon Bourgeois had failed his polygraph test. The police weren’t releasing the questions that he failed. This makes me think he failed some questions about an unrelated topic. If he had failed the questions about Alexis, I’m sure he would have been arrested. Maybe? Who knows. The sheriff still thinks he knows more than he’s saying, but they obviously don’t have enough evidence for an arrest. Meanwhile, this poor mother is trying to continue living despite not knowing the truth.
Alexis’ biological father, Kenya Campbell was no Prince Charming either. He was reportedly in jail at the time of her disappearance. Records show he was released on the 6th, but later scrutiny showed he might have been released two days beforehand. If this is true, then maybe he could have taken the little girl. The only problem with this is where did he put her and where has she been for all of these years?
We hear about children being abducted by family members in the news all the time. If this were the case, she would have turned up.
In December 2013 Campbell was arrested for brutally beating his new 8- month-old baby daughter. If you have any information on this case, please contact the Milwaukee Police Department at (414) 278-4788.
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Thank you for the heads up. I will get the photo thumbnail fixed.
Since this is a local missing child, I heard & saw a lot of media coverage, interviews, theory’s, & since a family member might have been involved & is now deceased, the chances of finding her is slim.
LKW