Episode 305 - Nowhere to Go - The Murder of Stephanie Pavlons
The Minds of Madness - True Crime Stories
themindsofmadness
4.5 • 6.7K Ratings
🗓️ 16 February 2026
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
When a woman in Wisconsin is found dead in the woods, the explanation seems almost ready-made. It is built from familiar truths, repeated often enough to sound convincing.
But as investigators dig deeper, small inconsistencies begin to surface. Timelines shift. Messages do not quite fit. And what first appears straightforward slowly turns into something far more unsettling.
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Research & Writing:
Ryan Deininger
Editing:
Aiden Wolf
Sources:
Court TV Recap
Prosecution Opening Statements
Defense Opening Statements
LIVE: Hidden Body Murder Trial – WI v. Matthew Pahl – Day 1
LIVE: Hidden Body Murder Trial – WI v. Matthew Pahl – Day 2
LIVE: Hidden Body Murder Trial – WI v. Matthew Pahl – Day 3
LIVE: Hidden Body Murder Trial – WI v. Matthew Pahl – Day 4
LIVE: Hidden Body Murder Trial – WI v. Matthew Pahl – Day 5
LIVE: Hidden Body Murder Trial – WI v. Matthew Pahl – Day 6
LIVE: Hidden Body Murder Trial – WI v. Matthew Pahl – Day 7
Police Interrogation
Prosecutors charge man with killing woman found in town of Delafield last year
Criminal Complaint
Construction crew finds body in Delafield
Trial delayed for man charged with killing girlfriend and dumping body
Waukesha man charged with homicide and hiding corpse
Man accused of killing girlfriend, dumping her body pleads not guilty
Judge hears motions in Pahl homicide case
Jackson home searched for evidence in murder probe
Doctor’s testimony in Pahl murder trial to be limited
Man convicted of murdering his girlfriend
Live updates: Day 1 of WI v. Matthew Pahl, homicide of Stephanie Pavlons
Live updates: Day 2 of WI v. Matthew Pahl, homicide of Stephanie Pavlons
Live updates: Day 3 of WI v. Matthew Pahl, homicide of Stephanie Pavlons
Live updates: Day 4 of WI v. Matthew Pahl, homicide of Stephanie Pavlons
Live updates: Day 5 of WI v. Matthew Pahl, homicide of Stephanie Pavlons
Body found in woods, Waukesha man on trial for girlfriend's death
Man killed girlfriend and hid her body in the woods after she said she was going to leave
'She was caring, loving': Waukesha man charged in 2022 murder of girlfriend
Waukesha man found guilty of girlfriend's 2022 murder
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Follow the Minds of Madness on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:07.8 | To support the show and get access to early release and ad-free episodes, go to patreon.com |
| 0:13.9 | slash madnesspod. You can also hit subscribe in Apple Podcasts. |
| 0:19.1 | Videos of our Thursday release episodes between the Madness |
| 0:22.6 | are available on YouTube and Spotify. |
| 0:25.6 | We've got all the links in our episode notes. |
| 0:28.7 | The opinions expressed in the following episode do not necessarily reflect those of the |
| 0:33.4 | Minds of Madness Podcast. |
| 0:35.5 | Listener discretion is advised. |
| 1:16.6 | Thank you. The Minds of Madness podcast. Listener discretion is advised. The most convincing lies don't sound outrageous, they sound familiar. In 1977, psychologists gave this phenomenon a name, the illusory truth effect. |
| 1:24.6 | Repeat something enough, and the mind starts to accept it as fact. Repeat it more, |
| 1:31.3 | and it becomes common sense. But long before researchers coined that term, people already |
| 1:37.4 | understood how to use it. Politicians, con artists, anyone trying to sell a story? |
| 1:47.6 | The trick isn't to invent something out of thin air. |
| 1:51.8 | It's to weave a new story out of details that already sound true. |
| 1:55.4 | A single fact becomes a building block. |
| 1:57.8 | Two sounds like corroboration. |
| 2:00.6 | Three, start to look like a pattern. |
| 2:03.1 | Patterns are persuasive. |
| 2:05.3 | Patterns feel inevitable. |
| 2:10.1 | And that's how small truths can conceal a much bigger lie. |
| 2:18.9 | In August 2022, when a Wisconsin woman was found dead in the woods, her longtime boyfriend leaned on that very principle. |
... |
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