In the wee hours of September 11, 1991, Earl and Carrie Lawson were awoken by an urgent phone call from a woman claiming to be a nurse who said Earl’s father was hospitalized and might not make it through the night. The couple threw on clothes and rushed out the door, only to be stopped by a masked man as they were getting in their Ford Explorer. He bound Earl with duct tape, then forced 25 year-old Carrie into the Explorer and raced off into the darkness. Their families were shocked to discover this was a kidnapping for ransom. It seemed like something you only saw in movies…but it was very real and they were terrified for Carrie. 

 
 

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Show Notes

Hosted and produced by Erica Kelley 

Researched and written by Erica Kelley & Andrea Marshbank

Original Graphic Art by Coley Horner 

Original Music by Rob Harrison of Gamma Radio 

Edited & Mixed by Brandon Schexnayder & Erica Kelley

Suggested by: Nocturnal Druid, Reagan Williams and Amanda

SOURCES:

  1. Carrie Lawson's kidnapping haunts family, friends and Alabama 25 years later - al.com

  2. Kidnapper's family: 'I don't love what she did, but that doesn't mean I don't love her' - al.com 

  3. Deaton, Inc. v. McPherson, 655 So. 2d 991 – CourtListener.com

  4. Sep 14, 1991, page 1 - Birmingham Post-Herald at Newspapers.com

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  6. Sep 14, 1991, page 6 - Birmingham Post-Herald at Newspapers.com

  7. Sep 16, 1991, page 1 - Birmingham Post-Herald at Newspapers.com 

  8. Carolyn Elizabeth “Carrie” Smith Lawson (1966-1993) - Find a Grave Memorial

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  12. Sep 18, 1991, page 1 - Birmingham Post-Herald at Newspapers.com

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  17. Sep 21, 1991, page 6 - Birmingham Post-Herald at Newspapers.com 

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  43. Ancestry.com

  44. Carolyn Elizabeth Lawson – The Charley Project

  45. Harriett Hill Smith (1935-2008) - Find a Grave Memorial

  46. David Franklin Smith (1934-2017) - Find a Grave Memorial

  47. Carrie Smith Lawson Scholarship

  48. Jerry Bland (1941-1991) - Find a Grave Memorial

  49. Amy Sue Bland Johnson (1969-2024) - Find a Grave Memorial

  50. Katherine Lynn “Kathy” Bland (1965-2022) - Find a Grave Memorial

  51. Jerry Bland (1941-1991) - Find a Grave Memorial

  52. Alabama Dept of Corrections

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  58. Apr 29, 1993, page 11 - Birmingham Post-Herald at Newspapers.com

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  69. Carrie Lawson kidnapper Karen McPherson again denied parole in lawyer’s 1991 disappearance - al.com

  70. https://www.cbs42.com/news/missing-mysteries-sister-of-carrie-lawson-still-has-questions-after-1991-kidnapping/

  71. https://www.nytimes.com/1991/09/30/us/jasper-journal-familiar-voice-talks-of-kidnapping.html

  72. https://leb.fbi.gov/articles/featured-articles/no-body-homicide-cases-a-practical-approach