Pregnant Mistress Refused to Get an Abortion. Then She Was Killed and Her Home Burned Down to Cover Up Crime: Complaint

A college professor in Wisconsin is facing homicide charges after a woman he allegedly had a years-long affair with was found dead in her apartment.

Alexis Pickett, 27, was pronounced dead at the scene after officials responded to a fire at her home in La Crosse on Nov. 13. A dog was also found dead inside the residence.

An autopsy later determined Pickett died before the fire and ruled her death a homicide, according to a copy of the criminal complaint obtained by the publication.

Authorities have charged Matthew Sierra — a married man who told police he had been in a relationship with Pickett — with killing both Pickett and their unborn child.

In the complaint, La Crosse County Sheriff’s Deputy Jordan Stratman wrote that an investigator spoke with one of Pickett’s friends, who claimed Sierra was unhappy about the pregnancy. The friend told investigators Pickett and Sierra already shared a son, who was staying at Pickett’s home the night she died.

“All I know is that they have been on and off and they have been constantly fighting because he found out she was pregnant with his kid and he didn’t want anything to do with it,” the friend told police.

The friend “indicated” Sierra “wanted [Pickett] to have an abortion but [Pickett] did not want to do that,” the complaint states. The friend also said Sierra allegedly threatened to seek full custody of their child if Pickett refused to terminate the pregnancy.

Pickett, meanwhile, had posted publicly about the pregnancy on Facebook, writing: “Me and [my son] forever. New addition coming soon. [My son’s] going to be a big bro.”

In a separate interview, Sierra’s wife told police she knew about the affair and that her husband had fathered a child outside their marriage, according to the complaint. She said she had no contact with Pickett and that Pickett had been blocked on her phone because, she told investigators, she had spent significant money on additional therapy that “basically hypnotized her” to stop thinking about Sierra and Pickett having sex.

The wife also told police she believed Sierra was home the night Pickett died and that she did not see him leave at any point.

Investigators noted that Sierra’s phone appeared to be at his residence during the timeframe of the killing and the fire. However, surveillance footage allegedly shows Sierra at Pickett’s home that night — and leaving as the fire began to spread, according to the complaint.

The complaint further alleges Sierra did not immediately speed away. Instead, he drove a short distance and remained there until multiple smoke alarms could be heard sounding inside Pickett’s apartment building, based on a timeline assembled by police from surveillance video.

Sierra was arrested on Dec. 17, after Dr. Michelle Stram and staff at the Southeast Minnesota Regional Medical Examiner’s Office concluded Pickett was “deceased prior to the fire,” citing the absence of soot in her lungs and carbon monoxide in her bloodstream, according to the complaint.

He is charged with first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree intentional homicide of an unborn child, arson, and mistreatment of animals for the alleged killing of Pickett’s dog.

Sierra is scheduled to appear in court on Dec. 23. He has not entered a plea. Records show his attorney filed a motion to dismiss, which a judge denied.

Sierra’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment.