Murder of Jessica Ellenberger and daughter Madyson Marshel by Patrick Fowler investigated on Evil Lives Here

Evil Lives Here is investigating the shocking murder of Jessica Ellenberger and her young daughter, Madyson Marshel, at their home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, by her boyfriend, Patrick Fowler.

The pair had only been dating approximately a month before an argument led to Fowler hacking the mother and child to death. He fled the city but was quickly caught and confessed. However, he later retracted his confession.

On March 19, 2016, Ellenberger got into an argument with Fowler, which led to him brutally stabbing her and 4-year-old Madyson. He then set fire to the house by using Madyson’s coloring books to start ablaze.

Fowler fled the city by purchasing a bus ticket for Texas. He was stopped for a layover in Texarkana, Arkansas, when the cops managed to get him into custody.

While in an Arkansas county jail, Fowler made a full and detailed confession to Milwaukee detectives. He claimed that Ellenberger had treated him “like a dog,” which led to him following her into Madyson’s room with a kitchen knife, where he stabbed her repeatedly.

He said he grabbed his girlfriend by the hair and began stabbing. He also recounted how Madyson was constantly screaming and that he killed her quickly after he’d finished killing her mother.

Chillingly, Fowler said he watched them both die and then prayed for God to be with them before he burnt the house down and fled. The firefighters later said that the flames had been so severe that the corpses were almost unrecognizable as humans.

Patrick Fowler later denied killing Jessica Ellenberger and Madyson Marshel

The killer later retracted his confession, which led to a trial by jury. His lawyers tried to argue that the confession had been coerced out of him.

Fowler further tried to lie his way out of trouble by suddenly inventing a new story claiming that another man had broken into Ellenberger’s apartment and murdered the mother and child. He said he hid in a bathroom and then fled the scene when he realized that as a Black man he would automatically get blamed for a white woman’s death.

Thankfully, the jury saw through his lies, and in April 2017, he was found guilty on two counts of first-degree intentional homicide. At his sentencing, Fowler appeared in court with his hair braided into the shape of two devil’s horns. He continued to maintain his innocence, but the judge showed little mercy when they sentenced him to life in prison without parole.

More from Evil Lives Here

Follow the links to read about more murderers profiled on Evil Lives Here.

Kenneth Roth strangled to death 61-year-old nurse and grandmother Linda Smith at her home in Ohio. Roth had been Smith’s maintenance man, and the cops believe he may have been responsible for numerous other murders.

Christopher Duntsch, aka Dr. Death, botched 35 of the 38 spinal surgeries he conducted in two years. His medical malpractice led to the deaths of Floella Brown and Kelli Martin.

Evil Lives Here airs at 9/8c on Investigation Discovery.