Alexis Leaves For School

Like any day, on Friday May 3, 2002 7-year-old Alexis Patterson woke up to go to school.

Once dressed, Alexis joined her mother, Ayana Patterson, and her stepfather, LaRon Bourgeois in the kitchen where her mother was preparing a school lunch. Alexis got into an argument with her mother when she refused to put cupcakes in Alexis' lunch: she had not finished her homework the night before.

Later that day, authorities at Hi-Mount Boulevard School contacted Ayana and LaRon about Alexis not showing up for classes. They immediately contacted the Milwaukee Police Department.

The police questioned Alexis' parents and found out about the child's argument with her mother. Her stepfather told them he had walked Alexis to school only a block away, dropped her off and left.

The Search Heats Up

The search for Alexis intensified as volunteers and law enforcement authorities combed the city and searched warehouses and lakes.

Everyone who knew Alexis or her family, including neighbors, teachers, classmates and people in surrounding neighborhoods, was questioned. Several students claimed to have seen Alexis on the playground before school started. But after further investigation, police ruled out the students' reports. There still was no sign of Alexis.

In January 2005 cops saw a glimmer of hope. After an AMW airing, a prisoner in Louisiana told officials Alexis' body could be found in a vacant Baton Rouge house. Milwaukee detective rushed to the scene. But after several days of searching, police came up empty handed. The tip was false, and the investigation was back at square one.

Cops: Despite Problems, Family Not Involved

According to police Alexis' stepfather, LaRon Bourgeois, had a criminal background and served time in jail for drugs and driving a getaway car in a bank robbery, during which a policeman was murdered. LaRon voluntarily took and passed a polygraph test.   

On April 15, 2003, LaRon was charged with battery and disorderly conduct over allegations of beating Alexis's mother. In the criminal complaint, Patterson claimed Bourgeois had been selling drugs and "pimping several other women," and "has not comforted her during the very difficult time of the disappearance of her daughter."  Charges were eventually dismissed.

It has been more than three years since Alexis disappeared and investigators are still searching. Alexis was last seen wearing a red hooded jacket with gray stripes, a purple shirt, blue jeans and white Nike tennis shoes. She has a scar under her right eye and a bump on the little finger of her left hand.