Years after being accused of killing his girlfriend and hiding her body in the woods, a 57-year-old man has learned whether his defense stood up.

It did not.

Matthew Pahl sat stoically in court on Tuesday as a Waukesha County judge announced that he had been found guilty of first-degree intentional homicide and hiding a corpse in the death of his girlfriend, 44-year-old Stephanie Pavlons. The trial lasted six days.

It was Sept. 9, 2022, and construction workers were in the area of Golf Road in Delafield when they saw a dead body and called 911. The corpse was in an "accelerated state of decomposition," according to a criminal complaint obtained by Law&Crime.

Once the body was identified as Pavlons, authorities spoke with her family. Her parents said they had not heard from their daught

See Full Page