A college instructor in Wisconsin is accused of murdering his pregnant mistress and her unborn child after she refused to have an abortion.
La Crosse County prosecutors charged Matt Sierra, 38, with killing 27-year-old Alexis Pickett on November 13 and subsequently burning her house down, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Friday. Sierra is also charged for the death of her unborn child and of Pickett’s dog, who was killed in the blaze.
“Charges were initially filed against Sierra on December 17, but La Crosse Judge Scott Horne dismissed the charges after finding the criminal complaint insufficient during a December 23 hearing,” according to the report. “On Dec. 26, the La Crosse District Attorney’s Office filed a new complaint against Sierra, with 14 additional pages of detail, and the case moved forward,”
The updated charging document against Sierra, who is married to another woman, alleges that Sierra killed a pregnant Pickett and lit her house on fire months after she informed him she was pregnant with his baby.
Sierra and Pickett already had a 2-year-old child together. Sierra reportedly tried to persuade Pickett to have their baby aborted, but she refused.
“I barely kept my life together after [the previous child],” Sierra allegedly told Pickett over text, the report details, citing the complaint. “I told you I’m not having another kid.”
The criminal complaint does not say how authorities believe Sierra killed Pickett or how the fire began; however, authorities cite surveillance footage showing him leaving the area of her home at the same time smoke alarms went off at her residence, according to the report. The footage shows no one else coming or going from the area when Sierra left and authorities responded to the fire.
Authorities found Pickett dead in the house while they investigated the scene, the report continues. Per the criminal complaint, her dog was also found dead. The complaint states that the fire happened the night after she and Sierra had spent parts of the day together.
Sierra told police in an interview that he left her home between 1:00 a.m. and 2:00 a.m. but stayed close by to see if she would text him. Authorities said phone records revealed his phone was at his home all night.
The doctor who performed the autopsy on Pickett determined she died before the fire, pointing to a “lack of soot and carbon monoxide in her body,” the report states, citing the criminal complaint. The doctor said determining her cause of death would be “difficult” because there were “no obvious signs of injury” and her body was extremely damaged from the fire.
The amended complaint reportedly includes pictures of text messages between Sierra and Pickett arguing about their unborn baby. A friend of Pickett’s told authorities the pair had argued repeatedly over the pregnancy.
“I’m going to do what I feel I need to do,” Sierra allegedly texted to Pickett. “You aren’t going to change your mind and neither am I.”
“Well tell me what are you going to do because that sounds like a threat,” Pickett replied.
Sierra worked as an instructor at Western Technical College, but he is no longer listed in the staff directory on the school’s website, according to the report. The school did not immediately respond to the publication’s request for comment.
Sierra is charged with four felonies, including first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree intentional homicide of an unborn child, arson, and mistreatment of animals causing death. He is due in court on January 5 for a preliminary hearing.
He remained in custody at the La Crosse County Jail on December 29 with bail set at $1 million. An attorney for Sierra did not respond to the outlet’s request for comment by time of publication.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.
