May 3, 2002. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Seven-year old Alexis Patterson is walked to school by her stepfather, who claims that he last sees her crossing the street and heading in the direction of the school playground. Even though numerous students report seeing Alexis crying on the playground that day, she never attends any of her classes and is eventually reported missing. Over the years, investigators explore a number of potential leads and direct some suspicion towards Alexis’ family, but there are no conclusive answers about what happened to her. Was Alexis Patterson the victim of a stranger abduction or do the real answers lie closer to home? On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore an unsolved missing children’s case which recently passed its 20-year anniversary. Special thanks to listener Michelle Matthews for narrating the opening of this episode.

If you have any information about this case, please contact the Milwaukee Police Department at (414) 935-7360 or Milwaukee Crime Stoppers at (414) 224-TIPS (8477).

Join us on Saturday, May 28 at 8:00pm ET for an online streaming marathon where we will be watching classic segments from “Unsolved Mysteries”. You can enter our screening room by clicking on this link.

Thanks Ana Luisa. Get 10% off at shop.analuisa.com/cold by using the promo code “cold”.

Additional Reading:

https://charleyproject.org/case/alexis-s-patterson

https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/2022/05/03/elizabeth-smart-alexis-patterson-missing-children-racial-bias/7384510001/

https://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/disappearance-of-alexis-patterson-journal-sentinel-archives-385123251.html

https://www.wisn.com/article/milwaukee-alexis-patterson-missing-20-years-since-disappearance/39894820

https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/2021/01/20/laron-bourgeois-stepfather-alexis-patterson-has-died/4225015001/

https://fox8.com/news/man-believes-woman-missing-since-2002-is-living-in-ohio-police-take-dna-samples/

https://newsone.com/3479238/dna-test-to-determine-if-woman-is-alexis-patterson/

https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=91531&page=1

http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/08/14/connie.missing.media/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/a-tale-of-two-kidnappings/

“The Trail Went Cold” is on Patreon! Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content.

“The Trail Went Cold” is going to be appearing on podcast row at “Crimecon UK” at the Leonardo Royal Hotel &  Spa in London on June 11-12, 2022. To get a 10 % discount on the purchase of tickets to the event, please use our specialized promo  code, “COLD22”, by visiting https://www.crimecon.co.uk.

“The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing at the True Crime Podcast Festival, taking place at the Westin Park Central Hotel in Dallas, Texas on August 27-28, 2022. To purchase tickets, please visit https://truecrimepodcastfestival.com/

“The Trail Went Cold” is now doing a weekly livestream show on  GetVokl every Thursday from 7:00-8:00 PM ET as part of their “True  Crime Thursday” line-up. For more information, please visit their website.

The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.

All music is composed by Vince Nitro.