Man Convicted of Murdering Longtime Girlfriend Says ‘I Am the Only Victim Here’

When police in Wisconsin zero in on a woman’s longtime boyfriend following the discovery of her decomposed body in the woods, he claims he’s the one true victim in the shocking season 2 premiere of Killer Investigations on A&E.

On September 9, 2022, construction workers in Waukesha County, Wis., stumbled upon the mummified remains of an unidentified female, 400 feet away from a doctor’s office parking lot.

Relying in part on her tattoos, detectives identified the victim as Stephanie Pavlons, a 44-year-old woman previously jailed on drug charges. Her parents confirmed her identity.

Pavlons’ mother said she hadn’t seen her daughter for around three weeks, and that Pavlons’ on-again, off-again boyfriend of 20 years, Matthew Pahl, was likely the last person to have contact with her.

Detectives with the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Office brought Pahl in for questioning on September 17, 2022, in a video taped interrogation session.

Pahl alleged Pavlons was addicted to prescription medication, depressed and suicidal.

According to authorities, he accused her of being “out of control” from the beginning of the year, “threatening suicide all the time” and slashing her wrists, he told detectives.

Pahl claimed Pavlons left behind a suicide note in his truck that said she was “tired of everybody” and ending their relationship.He denied knowing her whereabouts, and without sufficient evidence, detectives had to let him go. In turn, he fled to the Philippines and connected with two women he met on a dating app.

Authorities believed Pahl planned to start a new life overseas. But in a stunning turn of events, he returned to his apartment in the U.S. when his visa expired months later.

Detectives were dealt a blow to the investigation when the medical examiner was unable to determine a cause and manner of death due to the level of decomposition of Pavlons’ remains.

But investigators alleged circumstantial evidence indicated Pavlons was the victim of ongoing domestic violence that subsequently turned deadly at the hands of Pahl.

According to authorities, Pavlons was captured on surveillance footage exiting Pahl’s apartment on August 23, 2022. She was wearing the same clothes she was later found dead in and had with her a distinctive pink water bottle and a black purse.

At the same time, footage showed Pahl leaving the apartment through a different door.

Shortly after, security cameras outside a convenience store captured the couple together in Pahl’s truck.

Later that day, apartment surveillance footage recorded Pahl returning home without Pavlons; however, he was in possession of her pink water bottle and what authorities believed to be her black purse, which they later recovered during a search of his apartment.

Following a yearlong investigation, Pahl was arrested in September 2023 on charges of first-degree intentional homicide and hiding a corpse. He pleaded not guilty.

With no clear cause of death, the defense suggested Pavlons died by suicide or from a medical episode, but prosecutors argued that, “in a fit of rage,” Pahl strangled his girlfriend to death with the strap of her handbag and dumped her body in the woods less than 400 feet away from a medical office where he had an appointment that day.

Prosecutors also relied on Pavlon’s journal entries to gain insight into the couple’s violent relationship. “I am afraid of Matt, but have nowhere to go,” she journaled.

In a separate entry she wrote, “got punched in nose, hit 2 times in head…I will either wind up in a mental home or 6ft under…I feel so hopeless, worthless and most of all HURT.”

Pavlons also documented the abuse in a series of photos captured on her cell phone that seemingly showed her bruised.

In November 2025, a jury only took an hour to convict Pahl on both charges.

During his sentencing hearing, he ripped prosecutors, described them as “psychopaths in suits” and alleged the state was framing him for murder.

“I am the only victim here,” he told the court.

Judge Ralph Ramirez slammed Pahl and described him as a narcissist whose arrogance and ego drove him to murder Pavlons.

“He killed her and he left her to rot in the woods as if she was roadkill,” Ramirez said.

 Pahl was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.