Insets: Matthew R. Sierra and Alexis Pickett (La Crosse Police Department). Background: Home in La Crosse, Wisconsin, where Pickett was found dead after a fire (WKBT).
A 38-year-old Wisconsin man allegedly murdered his pregnant on-again, off-again girlfriend and her dog before he set her house on fire, authorities say.
Matthew R. Sierra faces charges of first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree intentional homicide of an unborn child, arson and mistreatment of animals causing death. He's accused of killing 27-year-old Alexis Pickett.
The La Crosse Fire Department responded around 3:30 a.m. Nov. 13 to a house fire in the 1700 block of Taylor Street. Crews encountered heavy smoke when they arrived on scene. When firefighters went inside the home, they found Pickett dead.
Law&Crime obtained a criminal complaint that said an autopsy revealed her body lacked soot in her lungs and had low carbon monoxide, meaning she was dead before the fire started. Her cause of death has not been revealed. Authorities also determined her dog was killed before the blaze as well. The dog was found underneath a toilet, the affidavit stated.
Surveillance video showed Sierra arriving at Pickett's home around 12:45 a.m. on the day in question and leaving about two hours later, with the home's smoke alarms going off as he was entering his vehicle.
Sierra and Pickett already had a child together and she was pregnant with their second child. But he wanted her to have an abortion and threatened to seek custody of their first child if she refused, cops alleged.
Detectives spoke with Pickett's friend, who said, "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 defendant claimed he was at a gas station at the time of the fire, but cellphone data showed he was at Pickett's home.
Cops arrested Sierra on Tuesday and took him to the La Crosse County Jail, where he remains on a $1 million bond. His next court date is set for Dec. 23.
"This has been a very diligent, comprehensive, and strategic investigation in collaboration with the La Crosse Fire Department and the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation and the Wisconsin State Fire Marshal's Office," City of La Crosse Police Chief Shawn Kudron said in a statement. "Our thoughts continue to be with the Pickett family."
Sierra is a mechanical design professor at Western Technical College, according to local ABC affiliate WXOW. He was placed on administrative leave.
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