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Waukesha woman's body found, man charged
A Waukesha woman's body was found decomposed by construction workers in September 2022, and prosecutors say she was killed.
WAUKESHA COUNTY, Wis. - A Waukesha woman's body was found decomposed by construction workers in September 2022, and prosecutors say she was killed.
The man charged is the father of her child, and a criminal complaint says they were in an on-and-off relationship for 20 years.
Prosecutors aren't saying how she died, but they have a trove of other evidence to accuse her boyfriend who is accused of never reporting her missing.
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The body was found on Sept. 9, 2022. All the Waukesha County Sheriff's Department would say publicly was that this was a death investigation. The criminal complaint filed Monday, Sept. 18 says a lot more.
After an autopsy identified the victim as a 44-year-old woman, her parents told detectives she was living with her boyfriend, Matthew Pahl.
Death investigation in the town of Delafield (September 2022)
The complaint says detectives pulled surveillance which showed Pahl and the woman leaving their apartment on Aug. 23, 2022 at 8:40 a.m. Medical records show Pahl checked in 20 minutes late for his appointment at the Orthopaedic Associates of Wisconsin clinic.
Then cellphone data shows they both returned to the apartment after 11 a.m., but prosecutors say the surveillance only shows Pahl, who was carrying the victim's water bottles and other things.
Orthopedic Associates of Wisconsin
The complaint doesn't say how the victim died, just that she was never seen again on surveillance.
When detectives served a search warrant at the apartment, they found her phone, wallet and credit cards. Detectives then focused on Pahl's phone.
Between Aug. 26 and Sept. 17, they say Pahl searched local obituaries and the victim's name more than 60 times. He even read articles on the investigation.
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Pahl's also accused of checking a police scanner app hundreds of times in that same time frame, including the day construction workers found her body near the clinic while he was there for another appointment.
Pahl is charged with first-degree intentional homicide and hiding a corpse. FOX6 asked prosecutors why it took around a year to charge this case but did not hear back.
A judge set Pahl's bond at $2 million cash.