Key facts
- Name: Alexis S. Patterson
- Age at disappearance: 7
- Last seen: May 3, 2002
- Location: Near Hi-Mount Community School, Washington Heights neighborhood, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- Height / build: Child, 7 years old; last seen on her way to first grade
- Status: Still missing — reclassified as a criminal investigation May 14, 2002; foul play suspected
- Reward: $10,000 at the time of her disappearance
- Investigating agency: Milwaukee Police Department, (414) 935-7401
The window
“I’m looking out the window because I normally… watch my baby come home every day, so I ran across the street to the school.”
That is Ayana Patterson, remembering May 3, 2002, in an interview years later. Her seven-year-old daughter Alexis hadn’t come home from Hi-Mount Community School, half a block from their house in Milwaukee’s Washington Heights neighborhood. A walk of a few minutes. Ayana ran across the street and asked where Alexis was.
She was told Alexis hadn’t come to school that day.
That was the first anyone knew she was gone. Her stepfather, LaRon Bourgeois, had walked her toward school that morning. She never made it into her first-grade classroom. She was marked absent. Hours passed before her parents understood that “absent” meant something was terribly wrong. When police came to take the report, they told Ayana her daughter had probably run away. Ayana told them her daughter would never run away — that somebody must have kidnapped her.
National media didn’t pick up the story for six weeks. A month after Alexis vanished, a 14-year-old white girl named Elizabeth Smart disappeared in Salt Lake City, and her case hit national news within 24 hours. USA Today later laid the two cases side by side: a $250,000 reward was offered in the Smart case; the reward for Alexis was $10,000. Nine months after Elizabeth Smart went missing, she was found alive. More than 24 years after Alexis Patterson went missing, she is still gone.
The red truck and the warning call
Two details from the days before May 3 have haunted the case ever since.
Two weeks before Alexis disappeared, the school called Ayana with a warning: a suspicious man had tried to take Alexis. Then, classmates told police that for most of the week before she vanished, a red truck had been parked near the school. It never dropped anyone off. It never picked anyone up. After Alexis disappeared, the truck was never seen again. It has never been identified, and nobody knows whether it had anything to do with her.
By May 14 — eleven days after she vanished — investigators announced that Alexis had disappeared under suspicious circumstances and reclassified the case from a missing child to a criminal investigation. In September 2002, they said they suspected foul play.
The early investigation focused hard on the household. Alexis’s father, Kenya Campbell, was imprisoned in Milwaukee when she disappeared; he was released shortly afterward and cooperated. Her stepfather, LaRon Bourgeois, had a criminal history. He failed a polygraph after Alexis vanished. In 2003, a year after Alexis disappeared, he was charged after a domestic dispute with Ayana, who had been trying to leave him; he was ordered to stay away from her. Ayana described him as abusive and threatening. The charges were later dropped. Investigators said at the time they did not believe either man’s past was connected to Alexis’s case. Ayana and LaRon divorced in 2005. LaRon died in 2021 at 52, apparently of a drug overdose.
Years later, a man in Ohio claimed his ex-wife could be Alexis — a woman whose age and history raised questions. A DNA test was done. It came back negative.
The lawsuit
In February 2026, nearly 24 years after her daughter vanished, Ayana Patterson moved to sue the Milwaukee Police Department. In a notice of claim first reported by WISN 12, she outlined plans to seek $10 million in damages, accusing investigators of mishandling key parts of the 2002 case — including questions around DNA testing — and of focusing too heavily on her and her family instead of pursuing other leads. The filing also alleges reputational harm and emotional distress from the early scrutiny of her household.
Police have consistently maintained the case is active and that investigators continue to review information as it comes in.
For Patterson, the lawsuit is about accountability — and about attention. Nearly a quarter century later, what happened to Alexis Patterson remains one of Milwaukee’s most painful unanswered questions, and her mother is still looking out the window.
Theories: what might have happened
Abduction by a stranger. The red truck, the warning call about a suspicious man two weeks earlier — these are the classic markers of a planned stranger abduction, and the reclassification to a criminal investigation within eleven days shows police took that possibility seriously from the start. What undercuts it: no suspect was ever identified, no witness saw Alexis get into a vehicle, and the truck was never found.
Someone in the household was involved. LaRon Bourgeois failed a polygraph, had a criminal history, and was described by Ayana as abusive. This theory has circulated for years. What must be said plainly: he was never charged in connection with Alexis’s disappearance, investigators said they did not believe his past was connected to the case, and he died in 2021 without ever being named as a suspect. The presumption of innocence applies to the living and the dead alike — suspicion, a failed polygraph, and a troubled marriage are not evidence of murder.
She is alive somewhere. Every few years, a possible sighting or lookalike surfaces — most recently the Ohio woman whose DNA didn’t match. The family has never stopped hoping. What undercuts it: no credible sighting in 24 years, no contact, no paper trail, and a seven-year-old does not stay hidden without help.
The honest accounting: a seven-year-old walked half a block to school and vanished between home and the classroom door. The truck, the warning call, the failed polygraph, the lawsuit — none of it has produced an answer. Alexis Patterson’s case file remains open in Milwaukee, and her mother is still waiting.
Have information?
Contact the Milwaukee Police Department at (414) 935-7401, or the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Department at (414) 278-4788. In an emergency, dial 911.
Timeline
- May 3, 2002 — Alexis Patterson, 7, leaves for Hi-Mount Community School in Milwaukee and never arrives; marked absent. Her mother learns hours later.
- ~April 19, 2002 — Two weeks earlier, the school warns Ayana Patterson that a suspicious man tried to take Alexis.
- Week of April 29, 2002 — Classmates report a red truck parked near the school all week; it vanishes after Alexis does.
- May 14, 2002 — Case reclassified from missing child to criminal investigation; suspicious circumstances.
- June 2002 — Elizabeth Smart disappears in Utah; national media contrasts the coverage and rewards.
- September 2002 — Investigators announce foul play is suspected.
- 2003 — LaRon Bourgeois charged in an unrelated domestic dispute; charges later dropped.
- 2005 — Ayana and LaRon divorce.
- 2021 — LaRon Bourgeois dies at 52, apparently of a drug overdose.
- 2025 — Ohio woman rumored to be Alexis takes a DNA test; negative.
- February 2026 — Ayana Patterson files notice of a $10 million claim against the Milwaukee Police Department.
- Today — Still missing.
FAQ
Is Alexis Patterson still missing?
Yes. As of October 2026, Alexis Patterson has been missing for more than 24 years. The case remains open with the Milwaukee Police Department as a criminal investigation.
Was Alexis Patterson ever found?
No. Despite extensive searches, national coverage, and years of tips — including a DNA-tested lead in Ohio — Alexis has never been found.
How old would Alexis Patterson be today?
Alexis was 7 when she disappeared on May 3, 2002 — she would be about 31 years old today.
What happened to Alexis Patterson’s stepfather?
LaRon Bourgeois, who walked Alexis toward school the morning she vanished, failed a polygraph and was scrutinized early in the investigation but was never charged in connection with her disappearance. He and Ayana divorced in 2005, and he died in 2021 at age 52, apparently of a drug overdose.
Why is Alexis Patterson’s case compared to Elizabeth Smart’s?
Alexis disappeared a month before Elizabeth Smart in 2002. Smart’s case drew national coverage within 24 hours and a $250,000 reward; Alexis’s story didn’t reach national media for six weeks, and her reward was $10,000. Smart was found alive nine months later; Alexis remains missing. The contrast became a widely cited example of disparities in missing-children coverage.
Why is Alexis Patterson’s mother suing the police?
In February 2026, Ayana Patterson filed a notice of claim seeking $10 million, alleging the Milwaukee Police Department mishandled key parts of the 2002 investigation — including DNA testing questions — and focused too heavily on her family instead of other leads. Police maintain the case is active.
Sources
- Official / law enforcement: Milwaukee Police Department (414) 935-7401; National Center for Missing & Exploited Children; FBI missing-person flyer.
- News: WISN 12; Milwaukee Courier, “Mother of Alexis Patterson plans to sue MPD” (Feb 23, 2026); USA Today (coverage-disparity reporting); Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
- Reference: The Charley Project, “Alexis S. Patterson”; City Towner case summary.
- Media: America’s Most Wanted; Find Our Missing; True Crime Exposed podcast.
Found an error? Tell us via the About page and we will fix it promptly and note the change here. Last verified October 2026.
Name note (October 2026): This file standardizes Alexis’s mother’s name as “Ayana Patterson” (the spelling used in her February 2026 legal filing against the Milwaukee Police Department, first reported by WISN 12). Some older sources, including USA Today, spell it “Ayanna.”