A married Wisconsin professor was thrown behind bars for allegedly killing his pregnant mistress and her dog after she refused to get an abortion — then torching her home with her lifeless body still inside.
Matthew Sierra, 38, a mechanical design instructor at Western Technical College, was arrested on Dec. 16, more than a month after he murdered 27-year-old Alexis Pickett inside her La Crosse home and tried to cover up the killing by setting the apartment ablaze, according to the complaint obtained by People.
Police said the two-timing pair already had one child, and when Pickett became pregnant again, Sierra pressured her to terminate the pregnancy — threatening to seek custody of their first kid if she refused.
“This has been a very diligent, comprehensive, and strategic investigation in collaboration with the La Crosse Fire Department and the Wisconsin Department of Justice of Criminal Investigation and the Wisconsin State Fire Marshal’s Office,” La Crosse Police Chief Shaw Kudron said in a statement.
“Our thoughts continue to be with the Pickett family.”
The alleged cheating killer’s bust came after firefighters responded to the blaze at the victim’s Taylor Street apartment on Nov. 13 and found her and her dog dead inside, according to La Crosse police.
An autopsy later revealed Pickett had died before the fire even started, the complaint said.
Surveillance footage captured Sierra entering his secret lover’s home at 12:45 a.m. and leaving two hours later, while smoke alarms blared and he scrambled to get into his car and flee the scene, police said.
The couple’s two-year-old son was reportedly staying with Pickett’s friend the night she was murdered.
“All I know is that they have been on and off,” the friend told police, the outlet reported.
“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 twisted suspect’s wife, who was aware of his affair and love child, told authorities she thought he was home the night of the killings and never saw him leave — despite cell phone data allegedly placing him at the grisly scene, the court docs showed.
Sierra, who was placed on administrative leave from his teaching job the day after his arrest, was charged with first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree intentional homicide of an unborn child, arson, and mistreatment of animals causing death.
During a preliminary hearing on Tuesday, a judge granted the defense’s motion to dismiss the professor’s charges, citing issues with the complaint, and gave prosecutors 72 hours to refile, WKBT reported.
Sierra is currently behind held on $1 million cash bond a La Crosse County Jail.
He is due back in court on Friday afternoon.
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