BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Karen McPherson, a woman serving a life sentence for the 1991 kidnapping of Carrie Lawson, briefly escaped custody during a work release program Monday morning, only to be quickly apprehended by law enforcement.
McPherson, 63, was last seen around 5 a.m. exiting a McDonald’s at 5170 Medford Drive in Hoover, according to Crime Stoppers of Metro Alabama. She was participating in a work release program in the Birmingham area when she fled, but authorities had her back in custody by 9 a.m., just a few hours after the escape.
McPherson’s conviction stems from the notorious kidnapping of 25-year-old Carrie Lawson from her home in Jasper on the early morning of September 11, 1991. Lawson, a recent graduate of the University of Alabama’s law school, was abducted after receiving a phone call from a woman claiming to be a nurse, who told her that a family member was at the hospital. As she and her husband, Earl Lawson, a fellow attorney, prepared to leave for the hospital, a gunman approached their vehicle, restrained Earl, and kidnapped Carrie.
Despite the subsequent ransom demand and the payment of $300,000 by Lawson’s family, Carrie Lawson was never found. The money was later discovered on the property of Jerry Bland, McPherson’s cousin, who had been named the primary suspect in the case. Before authorities could arrest him, Bland took his own life, leaving many questions unanswered about the whereabouts of Lawson.
In 1993, two years after Lawson’s disappearance, she was declared dead. However, her body has never been recovered, and the mystery of her fate remains unsolved.
McPherson’s escape on Monday raised concerns about the security measures surrounding work release programs, especially in cases involving individuals convicted of such serious crimes. Authorities have not commented on the specific circumstances that led to McPherson’s escape but emphasized that she was swiftly taken back into custody.
McPherson was last denied parole in 2022 and continues to serve her life sentence for her role in the kidnapping. Her brief escape has sparked renewed attention on the case, which remains one of Alabama’s most tragic and unresolved criminal mysteries.
As of now, no new leads have been reported in the search for Carrie Lawson, and her family remains in limbo, seeking answers that have eluded them for over three decades.
