December 15, 2025 • 37 mins
A treasured pediatrician from Tennessee spends the night out at an NBA basketball game. She calls her mom from the game and mentions to her that she isn’t feeling well. After she gets home, she hosts a couple of girlfriends at her place to finish out the evening as a quiet night in before heading to bed. What happens to her after they leave her home is a mystery, but her family began to worry when she wasn’t around early the next morning to babysit her sister’s children, something she was scheduled to do and would never miss. In the days following, alarming clues would point to her meeting with foul play and circumstantial evidence would cast suspicion and shift public opinion on those closest to her. Still, almost everything in her case is surrounded by mystery. She was known to love jigsaw puzzles, meticulously working on them and then gluing and framing the finished product to display. A puzzle seems like the perfect metaphor for this case, with little pieces everywhere, that all must fit together somehow but that authorities and her loved ones have not been able to connect at this point. Is the mysterious phone call to her house at 1:58 AM the missing piece?
TIPS:Bartlett Police Department at (901) 385-5555.
Case suggestions: simplertimecrimepod@gmail.com
IG: @simplertimecrimepod
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Music By Universfield: https://pixabay.com/music/mystery-dramatic-atmosphere-with-piano-and-violin-143149/
Source Material:
https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna12756112
https://medium.com/@jennbaxter_69070/tennessee-cold-case-the-disappearance-of-dr-cherryl-pearson-bf8f643964b8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppdGbsWLQn0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PetQ2W9FJK4
https://circuitdata.shelbycountytn.gov/crweb/ck_public_qry_doct.cp_dktrpt_docket_report?case_id=CT-000624-01&begin_date=&end_date=
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-commercial-appeal-charlton-hildreth/186806654/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-jackson-sun-cherryls-father-obituar/186803141/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-jackson-sun-jackson-family-searches/186632772/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-commercial-appeal-remains-not-cherry/186802465/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-commercial-appeal-14-homicide-cases/186802126/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-commercial-appeal-no-fresh-tips/186801865/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-commercial-appeal-reward-up-to-41k/186801770/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-commercial-appeal-4-year-anniversary/186801582/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-commercial-appeal-spotlight-on-witho/186800464/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-commercial-appeal-probe-stalls-22/186800080/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-commercial-appeal-probe-in-case-stal/186799137/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-commercial-appeal-doctor-missing-sin/186799010/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-commercial-appeal-fbi-adds-her-to-th/186798833/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-commercial-appeal-family-adds-5k/186798743/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-commercial-appeal-bartlett-police-ne/186798662/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-jackson-sun-police-continue-search-f/186798480/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-commercial-appeal-candlelight-vigil/186798296/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-jackson-sun-police-continue-search-f/186797934/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-commercial-appeal-car-found-no-othe/186797839/
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/a-simpler-time-true-crime--6665681/support.
TIPS:Bartlett Police Department at (901) 385-5555.
Case suggestions: simplertimecrimepod@gmail.com
IG: @simplertimecrimepod
Youtube: https://youtube.com/@simplertimecrimepod?si=OlCWQ2Ky8qFaof02
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@simplertimecrimep?_t=8s31x9iCrNv&_r=1
Music By Universfield: https://pixabay.com/music/mystery-dramatic-atmosphere-with-piano-and-violin-143149/
Source Material:
https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna12756112
https://medium.com/@jennbaxter_69070/tennessee-cold-case-the-disappearance-of-dr-cherryl-pearson-bf8f643964b8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppdGbsWLQn0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PetQ2W9FJK4
https://circuitdata.shelbycountytn.gov/crweb/ck_public_qry_doct.cp_dktrpt_docket_report?case_id=CT-000624-01&begin_date=&end_date=
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-commercial-appeal-charlton-hildreth/186806654/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-jackson-sun-cherryls-father-obituar/186803141/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-jackson-sun-jackson-family-searches/186632772/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-commercial-appeal-remains-not-cherry/186802465/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-commercial-appeal-14-homicide-cases/186802126/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-commercial-appeal-no-fresh-tips/186801865/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-commercial-appeal-reward-up-to-41k/186801770/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-commercial-appeal-4-year-anniversary/186801582/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-commercial-appeal-spotlight-on-witho/186800464/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-commercial-appeal-probe-stalls-22/186800080/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-commercial-appeal-probe-in-case-stal/186799137/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-commercial-appeal-doctor-missing-sin/186799010/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-commercial-appeal-fbi-adds-her-to-th/186798833/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-commercial-appeal-family-adds-5k/186798743/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-commercial-appeal-bartlett-police-ne/186798662/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-jackson-sun-police-continue-search-f/186798480/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-commercial-appeal-candlelight-vigil/186798296/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-jackson-sun-police-continue-search-f/186797934/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-commercial-appeal-car-found-no-othe/186797839/
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/a-simpler-time-true-crime--6665681/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
A treasured pediatrician from Tennessee, spends the night out at
an NBA basketball game. She calls her mom from the
game and mentions to her that she isn't feeling well.
After she gets home, she hosts a couple of girlfriends
at her place to finish out the evening as a
quiet night in before heading to bed.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
What happens after they leave.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Her home is a mystery, but her family began to
worry that she wasn't around early the next morning to
babysit her sister's children, something she was scheduled.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
To do and she would never miss.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
In the days following, alarming clues would point to her
meeting with foul play, and circumstantial evidence would cast suspicion
and shift public opinion on those closest to her. Still,
almost everything in her case is surrounded by mystery. She
was known to love jigsaw puzzles, meticulously working on them
(01:05):
and then gluing and framing the finished product to display
A puzzle seems like the perfect metaphor for this case,
with little pieces everywhere that all must fit together somehow,
but that authorities and her loved ones have not been
able to connect At this point, is the mysterious phone
(01:26):
call to her house at one fifty eight am, The
Missing Piece. I'm your host, Megan, and each week on
a Simpler Time True Crime, I cover older unsolved cases
and challenge the idea that a simpler time means a
safer time. This week, I'm bringing to you the unsolved
disappearance of doctor Cheryl Lamont Pearson. Friday, January fourth, two
(02:15):
thousand and two was slated to be a nice night
for Memphis Grizzly's season ticket holder, doctor Cherylamont Pearson. The
thirty seven year old was a huge basketball fan.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
She had been a standout.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Player herself through high school and through college. The Grizzlies
were having a losing season, and they were hoping to
break a two game losing streak in their eight pm
matchup against Atlanta. The energy was high at the Pyramid
because the game was close. At a break in the game,
(02:47):
Cheryl used her cell phone to call her mother, Hazel.
She jokingly called to ask her mom about her favorite player,
Michael Jordan, and how he was doing in a televised
game that Cheryl was not watching. Because she was at
the live game, Hazel knew exactly why.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Her daughter was calling.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
It was to tease her and to rub it in
because you see, for a while now, Hazel had talked
about how Cheryl's basketball idol, Michael Jordan, was too old
to be playing basketball still. And if you don't follow basketball,
you should know that Michael Jordan is one of those
professional athletes kind of like Tom Brady and Mario Lemux.
He couldn't quite commit to move retirements, so he ended
(03:30):
up doing so multiple times, and at this time and
during this particular season, he had just returned after a
three year retirement. So he indeed was playing on the
same night for the Washington Wizards against the Chicago Bulls,
but his Wizards fared much better than Cheryl's Grizzlies. The
(03:50):
Grizzlies would drop their third straight game that night with
a score of one thirteen to one oh nine. Now,
while she was on the phone with her mother, Cheryl
mentioned that she wasn't feeling well, that she kind of
felt dizzy and lightheaded.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
This wasn't completely out of the.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Ordinary, because Cheryl had pretty severe type one diabetes that
she managed with an insulin pump.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
When blood sugar.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Is too high or too low, a person with diabetes
can experience symptoms such as excessive thirst, frequent urination, fatigue,
blurry vision, shakiness, sweating, confusion, irritability, and fast heartbeat. It
can get really dangerous and severe if left untreated. But
being a doctor herself, Cheryl was well prepared to manage
(04:37):
her condition and she had good safety checks in place.
Cheryl frequently checked in with her family and would often
let them know when she was home safe for the night.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Now, some write ups on.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
This case will say that Cheryl left the game early
because she wasn't feeling well, But I personally couldn't find
any original reporting or any specific information that said she
left early, though it's possible.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
She may have.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
What we do know is that Cheryl had a couple
of friends stop by to visit after the game. One
of those is her good friend named Andrea Fox. The
other friend has never named herself publicly because Andrea has
named herself, That's the only reason I'm specifically using her name.
(05:25):
According to Andrea, there was nothing out of the ordinary
about that evening. They hung out, they visited, they laughed,
they caught up, and her and the other friend stayed
until after midnight, and they left just before or around
one am. When Cheryl called it a night herself, she
let them know that she really had to get to
bed because she had to get up early to watch
her sister's children. The kids were due to come over
(05:48):
at seven am that Saturday morning. Cheryl was absolutely obsessed
with being an aunt. Her older sister, Laurinda Hildreth, had
three children, and Cheryl's refrator was plastered with photos of
them and their artwork. It was a very regular occurrence
for Cheryl to watch Larina's children while she worked her
(06:09):
job as a physical therapist. So Cheryl's friends left that
evening and it appeared Cheryl was going to get ready
for bed. But sometime after her friends departed that night,
Cheryl's quiet night asleep would be interrupted, and the events
that followed would lead to a never ending trail of
unanswered questions. At seven am on Saturday, January fifth, Leon
(06:45):
and Hazel Pearson were noting the sunshine beaming through the
windows on the crisp winter morning, and they had just
sat down to the breakfast table when they got a
jarring phone call they just typically didn't.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Hear from anyone quite that early.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
On the line was their daughter, Laurinda, and she was
letting them know that she was standing outside her sister's
house and that all was quiet and she wasn't answering.
Even more puzzling, her sister's blue car was nowhere to
be found. Laurinda and her parents immediately began to worry
about Cheryl and her diabetes. As it turns out, Cheryl
(07:26):
and her mother had not had their typical good night
conversation that night to ensure that Cheryl had gotten home safe.
This is just my personal speculation, but because they had
just spoken so recently, right at the game, Cheryl probably
viewed it with a bit of redundancy. It's also possible
that her friends arrived at about the same time she
(07:46):
got home or shortly thereafter. This is two thousand and two.
We know that Cheryl had a cell phone and that
she used it to call her mom that night, but
in two thousand and two, texting was far less commonplace,
and my understanding was that she was calling her mom
on her mom's landline, so she couldn't have texted good
(08:06):
night and that she was home safe. Hazel and the
rest of the family worried about Cheryl experiencing a medical emergency.
Leon and Hazel immediately abandoned their breakfast plates and they
hopped into their car with their oldest son. The Pearson
parents then headed out to make the seventy mile drive
from Jackson, Tennessee to Bartlett. Bartlett, Tennessee is about twelve
(08:31):
miles outside of Memphis, and Cheryl chose an upscale, twenty
one hundred square foot sprawling brick ranch on Daybreak Drive
as her home. It overlooked Quail Ridge golf Course, and
the home sat amongst others on the streets with perfectly
manicured shrubs and lawns. Now without childcare and worried about
(08:51):
her sister, Laurinda had to cancel her appointments for the day.
When her family arrived from Jackson, they came with their
copy of Cheryl's house key, and they let themselves in.
Nothing was in disarray. The house was, as I mentioned,
obviously locked, and everything looked lived in but in order.
No signs of any kind of struggle, no blood, no
(09:14):
sign that any major event happened in the house. But
there were a few things left behind that were out
of the ordinary, such as Cheryl's cell phone and pager.
They were on the kitchen table, as well as all
of her insolent supplies that were left behind. At this point,
Cheryl's family decided to file a missing person's report with
(09:35):
the Bartlet Police Department, though her family would later share
that they felt police didn't view it with too much
urgency at first. After all, Cheryl was a single, grown
professional woman who may have been out with someone for
the night. But Cheryl's family insisted this just wasn't like her,
and that she was very committed predictable. Her mother, Hazel
(09:57):
told the Papers, quote, She's not flighty of a homebody.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
End quote.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Her sister Laurinda emphasized this and told the Papers quote,
if I'd say, Cheryl, you're going to keep the kids,
she would have been right there two or three days
a week. She would be here, or we would be
over there for her to just go off and not
leave a note or something end quote. Cheryl was always
known as being reliable, studious, and a ton of fun,
(10:25):
affectionately referred to as the Queen Bee at family gatherings.
Her family said you could always expect her to show
up with all the board games to play, though her
sister Larinda joked and told the paper that either Larinda
or her mom they'd always be the ones doing all
the cooking and prepping and cleaning, and that Cheryl would
just show up as the life of.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
The party and come to eat, which I love.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Even in the sadness of missing Cheryl. That's just such
a sister relationship to kind of tease about those sisterly things.
Would much rather have someone tease about those things than
hear another clear shade interview about someone lighting up her room, which,
to be fair, it does sound like Cheryl did. The
three Pearson children grew up in Jackson, where Leon was
(11:10):
a school principal and Hazel was a school counselor. Cheryl
was the baby of the family, but Lorenda was only
a year older, and their mother used to dress them
in the same outfits for as long as they would
tolerate it, just like they were twins. Cheryl loved to
dress up pretty for church on Sundays, and her favorite
color was purple.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
When she was.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Little, she loved the Doctor Seuss book, the foot book,
you know, the one left foot, right foot feet feet feet,
how many many feet you meet, or it's something like that. Right. Well,
if Cheryl were here, she'd be able to correct me, because,
according to her father, if he would try to skip
a line and maybe end the night a little early.
After our reading the foot book a few times and
(11:53):
he would try to skip a line, she would call
him out, which is just so cute. As she got older,
Cheryl was a great student. Hazel would joke that Cheryl
liked to study. To you out of doing chores, She'd say, sorry, Mom, I.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Can't do the dishes.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
I have to study. And that paid off for her.
After graduating high school in nineteen eighty two, she got
her degree in chemical engineering from the University of Tennessee
at Knoxville. She worked at a chemical company out of
state while secretly applying to medical school, her true passion.
One day, her mom got a call from Harry Medical
(12:29):
College saying that Cheryl had been accepted. Her mom was
very confused and called her and she said, oh my god, yes, Mom,
please tell them that I'm in. So off she went
to pursue her dreams. And by the way, Harry Medical
College is a prestigious historical institute that graduated some of
the nation's first black physicians and it's just remained a
(12:52):
pillar ever since. Cheryl went on to do internships in Nashville, Chicago,
and Detroit before settling back outside of Memphis, where she
worked first in private practice before joining as a pediatrician
for an office called the Raleigh Group, not to be
confused with Raleigh, North Carolina. This is a part of Tennessee.
(13:15):
Her sister Laurinda and her husband Chuck. They also lived
in Bartlett nearby, and Larinda was really close in contact
because of Cheryl's diabetes and the potential for a complication
to arise, And at this point that's what her family
was thinking had happened, that Cheryl must have gone out,
(13:36):
become disoriented, gotten into some sort of accident, and that
it was just a matter of time until they located
her and found help. So while some of the family
went out looking, Hazel and others stayed behind trying to
keep busy tidying up the house and pacing back and forth,
having no idea that they might be cleaning up a
(13:58):
potential crime scene because Cheryl never came home that Saturday
or on Sunday. But by Monday morning, with the search
kicking into high gear, a discovery turned the investigation in
a whole new direction. After being alerted to their missing colleague,
(14:27):
the Raleigh Groups sprung into action. Alongside the family, they
printed flyers and asked how they could help, and when
Cheryl didn't return on Saturday night, Bartlett police also began
to share in the worry, knowing of the medical risk,
and so they deployed scent tracking dogs along with helicopters
to search, and then early on Monday morning, two days
(14:50):
into the search, Cheryl's dark blue Audi Sedan was found
not far from her home. It was parked in the
parking lot of the Gables apartments and how Cheryl's home
overlooked the Quailridge golf Course from the north side of it,
while on the south side that's where this apartment complex was.
Something interesting that her family and police noted was that
(15:13):
the area seemed to have already been searched. So did
somehow everyone just miss it on Saturday and Sunday.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Or was the vehicle moved there before it was found.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Of course, authorities braced themselves when they opened the trunk,
expecting to find the worst, but Cheryl was not in there. Curiously,
some odd items were First, there was what was described
as her medical bag. It had some medical supplies in it,
think like her stethoscope and the like, but it also
(15:48):
seemed like she was kind of using it as a
purse too, and it had personal belongings in it as well.
In the trunk where the tickets from the game that night,
two sets off keys were back there, including keys to
her car. There was also a bank envelope with one
hundred and forty dollars cash in it, all in twenties.
(16:10):
This was all confusing, like why were these items in
her trunk of all places, particularly things like keys to
get into her work office, keys to get into her home,
and keys to drive her car. If Cheryl had been
abducted or forced to go to an ATM to withdraw cash,
why was this money left behind?
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Was it even related at all?
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Or had she just taken out cash personally for another reason.
And almost as strange as what was present.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Was what wasn't.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
When police did a forensic search of the car, it
appeared to have been completely detailed. Not even Cheryl's own fingerprints,
much less those of anybody else's, were present. And I
don't know about you, but when I'm just going about
my life and having a regular day, I don't make
it a habit to wipe down my steering wheel and
(17:04):
entire car of my fingerprints. This shifted everything. Police and
loved ones no longer believed that Cheryl had a medical
emergency and was just missing. They now believed some person
or persons had harmed her and made her go missing.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
But who and why.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Cheryl's community was stunned. Those who worked with her said
she was known as someone who took her time with patience.
She was highly requested as a physician and very knowledgeable.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
A couple of her.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Nurse colleagues regularly attended Grizzly's basketball games with her, and
they said she just led a very quiet life, no
enemies they could even remotely think of. Early on, crime
stoppers put up a one thousand dollars reward, and then
the medical group matched it, and then some they offered
ten thousand dollars, bringing the reward up to eleven thousand,
(18:00):
and in the meantime, police began interviewing everyone in her life.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Now, this is.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Only briefly mentioned in the reporting, but it did appear
she had at least some kind of boyfriend, not that
they were super serious, but police pretty quickly got a
hold of this person and ruled them out because of
their alibi, so they never really come up again. Then
they talked to those friends.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Who were over.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
He reiterated that nothing odd came up that night they visited.
They left, she was in good spirits and was ready
to go to bed so she could be awakened just
a few hours to be on aunt duty. When talking
to Cheryl's colleagues, they learned that Cheryl was actually on
call that night, So the fact that her pager was
left behind at the table, that was a big clue.
(18:49):
A cell phone, yes, I imagined she would have that
with her too, but cell phones were not as velcrowed
on to people back then as they are now. But
her pager, she would absolutely need that for work if
she did leave the house. She couldn't have thought she'd
be gone for very long because you have restrictions around
the time sensitivity. You have to return to pages when
(19:12):
you're on call, and it wouldn't take long for them
to get another clue about that piece as well. You see,
police got a warrant for her phone records and what
they found was interesting. Now, there are two different reports
on the length of the phone call, but at one
fifty eight am on Saturday morning, Cheryl received a phone
(19:35):
call to her house phone and she for sure picked
up almost all reporting, including the original statements from investigators
to the media. They shared that the phone call was
only about five seconds long. There is one isolated interview
in twenty sixteen with the detective who says the call
(19:57):
was closer to a couple of minutes, which in this
context is a huge discrepancy and could drastically alter the
conclusions we draw about this call. So I really wish
they would clarify that. But the call was traced to
a Sicko gas station that was less than a half
a mile from Cheryl's home. Police visited the Sicko station
(20:19):
to see if they had any surveillance footage and listeners.
You already know the answer to that. So now we
have a mystery caller at almost two am, about an
hour after her girlfriend's leave, and we know it's, if
nothing else, a brief phone call. In an interview with Dateline,
one of the investigators, Detective Lee, had some thoughts on this.
(20:42):
The interviewer prompted the topic, saying, quote, that phone call
could have been I'm on my way over, I'm at
the surface station, come meet me. And it was Detective
Lee that said quote. It could have also just as
easily been to see if.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
She was home. She could have answered the.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Phone Hello, Hello, no response and they hung up end quote,
which is chilling to think about. We know there's no
sign of forced entry to her home, but the items
she left behind seemed odd even for just a quick tripow.
So what if she did just open her door, possibly
even to someone she knew, and that person quickly brandished
(21:23):
some sort of weapon and abducted her. That would explain it.
Others speculate that the phone call with someone luring her
out with some kind of fake emergency that she responded
quickly to, like a loved one that needed her or
was experiencing.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
A health issue. Whatever the case may.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Be, there was a strong suspicion that Cheryl likely knew
the person who caused her to leave her home, and
that the payphone call was probably related. Hazel and Leone
(22:04):
Pearson continued to try to get their daughter's story coverage,
something that was hard to come by. Sure, some local
papers ran stories, and this was just a few years
prior to the Internet and social media being used as
a major tool for missing persons cases. Still, it's just
crazy to me that a pediatrician can disappear into thin
(22:26):
air from her home, and that it's not national news
and nobody talked about it outside of the Memphis area
for the longest time. And I can't help but be
aware of the missing white woman syndrome phenomenon, and that
there is a lack of coverage that black and Indigenous
people have faced with getting media coverage for decades. This
(22:49):
is the type of case that feels like if it
just received a little more pressure and media coverage early on,
maybe it would have had a better chance of being solved.
We just don't know. But the lack of coverage doesn't
exactly sit right with me, and it's important to mention it.
But her local community and her loved ones, they really
(23:11):
did rarely. Her family tried to give the case a
boost two months and they contributed five thousand dollars of
their own At the time, they said that their daughter, Laurinda,
was having the hardest time with it, struggling with the
hole in her life that her sister's presence usually filled.
Her family hired a private investigator. Her brother was going
(23:33):
to hire a psychic until you found out that she
was going to cost about one thousand dollars and made
no promises on that return on investment. Cheryl's parents joined
forces with parents of other missing and murdered young adults
in Tennessee, and they tried to push for transparency and
resolution in their children's cases. The Pearsons did interviews, just
(23:56):
pleading for information. Weeks turned into months and into years
without any real updates. In fact, since the discovery of
her car, there's never been another trace of doctor Pearson again.
But for whatever reason, at around the four year mark
of the investigation, the case started stirring again. A governor's
(24:20):
reward for twenty five thousand dollars was tacked on, bringing
the total reward up to forty one thousand dollars by
March of two thousand and six, and her parents even
came into town for the announcement. And maybe it's because
that significant reward drummed up exactly zero new leads. But
(24:40):
at this time the police began giving more interviews and
they had a sharper edge in talking about their suspects.
For example, early on, police had begun to suspect someone
with very close proximity to Cheryl, her brother in law,
Chuck Yes, the one married her sister Laurinda and here's.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Why Chuck ed.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
A checkered passed and a checkered not so distant pasted.
In late September of two thousand and one, just a
few months prior to Cheryl going missing, Chuck Hildreth walked
into a bank in the town of Raleigh, Tennessee, in
a hat and a wig, claiming to have a bomb.
He handed a note to the teller and threatened to
(25:26):
hurt her if she didn't give him money. After telling
her he had a bomb in his deposit bag, she
handed over the money and he left. He was apprehended
just a few days later in charge with aggravated robbery.
He was bailed out and was awaiting trial when Cheryl
went missing. I don't have the ins and outs of
(25:47):
Chuck and Loreinda's financial situation. Some sources say they were
having marital and financial troubles. I mean, I would say
robbing a bank would lead most people to think that
you were having trouble with finances. But I don't have
their bank statements in front of me, so I truly
don't know. But what I do know is that Chuck
seems extra suspicious because Cheryl had a life insurance policy
(26:12):
that was fairly substantial, about one hundred and fifty thousand
dollars total, and it was to be paid out to
her sister, Laurinda in the event of her death. It
was said that Cheryl had thought the world of her
nieces and nephews and that it was left to her
sister so that they would be taken care of if
something happened to her.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
On one hand, money can be a huge motive in.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
These cases, and we see right here that her brother
in law was facing criminal charges. He was struggling financially,
and we know that things like lawyer fees and all
sorts of other stuff he had ahead of him that
costs a lot of money.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
But at the same time, Chuck went to.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Jail for these charges, he served his time, and with
Cheryl just missing and her body not being found, there
was no life insurance payout. In fact, you'll recall that
Cheryl's family hired their own private investigator. Why would they
do that if they were somehow involved in this that
and Cheryl's parents did not feel like Chuck had anything
(27:16):
to do with it. And after the police went on
TV and they aired their suspicions about Chuck, the family
really pulled back from communicating with police and the media.
On one hand, this could look suspicious because it looks
like the family's not cooperating in the investigation, and that's
a fair perspective and opinion to have. But also I
(27:39):
could see where if he is innocent, they are already
grieving and now they just feel victimized all over again.
So you're probably wondering, did Chuck have an alibi? Well,
it's worth noting that police really didn't focus on Larenda
at all, but they questioned Chuck several times in two
(28:01):
thousand and six. They said that he had an ALBI,
but they weren't satisfied with it.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
He was at a store, for.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
Example, for some of it, and they were able to
see that he was on the surveillance camera, but they
couldn't be sure that the time stamps were correct, so
like fully solidifying his alibi was difficult. They said there
were parts of his ALBI that were inconsistent and that
they couldn't truly rule him out.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
But by twenty.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Sixteen, ten years later, a detective interview said that they
had worked hard to verify his ALBI and they felt
content in ruling him out as a suspect, even though
he seems to be in the clear. If you look
at any single web page or Reddit thread on doctor Pearson,
you will see people pylon and say that they absolutely
(28:46):
believe he did it, and if not himself, he had
something to do with it, and that his family behavior
was suspicious. Some of the other finger pointing behavior at
the family has to do with other things people find
odd how within a year they had returned her vehicle
to the leasing dealership and let her bank take the house.
(29:07):
In their defense, though Cheryl's family was middle class, they
weren't poor, but they weren't doctors either. There isn't a
playbook out there on what to do if your loved
ones go missing, and those of us on the sidelines
looking in we only see little pieces of the news reports,
But when you dig deeper, these families sometimes have to
go through great troubles just to gain access to the
(29:28):
information needed to handle financial obligations, cancel subscriptions, cancel expenses, and.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Take care of the estate.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
It's exhausting to do on top of grieving a loved one,
and exhausting is probably not.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Even very word. It's just what came to mind.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
The car was forensically examined and found to be wiped down.
They weren't going to keep paying for her lease payments
for no reason, and they likely couldn't afford to just
keep paying her mortgage. They did take all the meaningful
things that connected them Cheryl, her board games, family photo albums.
They donated some of the clothes and stored other items,
(30:08):
but they kept her puzzles in her framed puzzles, everything
that was sentimental, and they let go of the rest. Now,
one other theory that I have not yet talked about,
(30:29):
but that is discussed out there, primarily online, is what
is the male practice suit theory? So just before her disappearance,
the medical group slash hospital system that Cheryl was working
in was sued. It was a wrongful death male practice lawsuit,
and doctor Pearson was named in it, seemingly in the
(30:50):
death of a child in the pediatric emergency department. Some
people online say that the child died and that the
person suing the medical group one to point to doctor
Pearson's diabetes for her laps in care of the child.
And I don't know this story fully. The public information
available is limited, but there are some pieces publicly available
(31:12):
that do align with that in the public records that
I do have, and I'll have those linked in the
show notes. This shows a few different motions to dismiss
the request to disclose aspects of doctor Pearson's medical conditions
and history, and this case was in different phases of
litigation well beyond the time that Cheryl Pearson went missing.
(31:36):
Some wonder though, was the family involved, Like were they
so angry that they came after doctor Pearson. I could
see thinking that, But one thing to remember is that
hospitals get sued all the time, and this wasn't just
against her. She was just one of many people named
as part of the medical group. This lawsuit seemed to
(31:57):
be settled out of court like many of the so
it seems to me personally.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Like it's a bit of a stretch.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
But it's never been named as excluded either, so I
at least wanted to mention it. Over the years, there
hasn't been much more out there. For a while, doctor
Pearson's tiny little patients would show up to her office
and say, is my doctor back yet? Breaking the hearts
of those who worked there. They have been interviewed over
(32:27):
the years and they are shocked that there's no conclusion.
There was one other sign of closure, potentially in December
of twenty ten, human bones were found in Lakeland, eight
miles outside of Bartlett by some hunters, and at first
people immediately thought of doctor Cheryl Pearson, but it was
(32:49):
determined relatively quickly that those were not Cheryls, but it
was of a man instead. As a quick PSA. Those
bones have not yet been identif and for my sleuthing
listeners out there, it's believed that this person was thirty
to fifty years old at the time of their death,
which is estimated to be between twelve to eighteen months
(33:11):
before the bones were found in December of twenty ten.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
It's thought to be.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
A white man, but not much more has been figured
out beyond that. The last and final clue came in
twenty thirteen, and it's pretty convoluted. One Tennessee inmate wrote
to another indicating they knew what happened Cheryl and insinuated
that two women living in Georgia were aware as well.
But police looked into this.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
And they declared it a dead end.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
So what did happen to doctor Cheryl Lamont Pearson Overnight?
In January of two thousand and two, how relevant is
that phone call? Was it someone who knew her that
lured her out? Was there a fake emergency? Did the
person do with the detective thought, such as just called
to see if she was home and then showed up
(33:58):
to her home and got her to open the door.
Or did the insurance policy have any part in her death?
Was it someone she knew or was it a stranger?
Why did she leave her insolence supplies and her pager behind?
Does that mean that the crime really did happen in
her house?
Speaker 2 (34:15):
Like did someone just clean up?
Speaker 1 (34:19):
Where was her car for those couple of days?
Speaker 2 (34:21):
Was it really there the.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
Whole time and missed or did someone move it later?
But more than anything, where is Cheryl?
Speaker 2 (34:30):
What happened to her that night? And why?
Speaker 1 (34:34):
Cheryl was declared dead in Lee two thousand and nine,
and her father Leon passed away almost immediately thereafter, almost
as if a piece of him died with her, feeling
that even her living relatives must hold, to a degree
just that missing piece. But legally declaring her dead and
actually having answers are two different things, and no matter what,
(34:57):
all who love Cheryl deserved those answers. Something kind of
out of The ordinary that happened in more recent years
was that a cold case detective working Choil's case actually
made a Facebook page for it. I haven't seen updates
to the page in a few years, but I still
give credit to that detective for trying. They would interact
with all sorts of kind of people all over the page,
(35:19):
even if they were really out there, and I give
them credit for doing anything to try to drum up leads.
The page is still live at the time of this recording,
so I encourage you to go check it out. But
most importantly, if you have any information on the disappearance
of doctor Ryl Pearson, please contact the Bartlett Police Department
(35:45):
at nine zero one three eight five five five five five.
This has been another episode of a Simpler Time True crime.
If you appreciate the work I'm doing, please leave before
star review on your favorite listening platform, and know that
every word of mouth recommendation really helps me too. I
(36:08):
work with families directly, so if you know of a
family hoping to draw attention to a cold case that
is from the year two thousand and six or earlier,
direct them to my social media at Simpler Timecrimepod at
gmail dot com. I take case suggestions there as well.
To support my show monetarily, please join the Speaker Supporters
(36:28):
Club linked in the bottom of the show notes to
help me just move forward with this work. Thank you
so much for listening and join me again next Monday
(37:02):
school includ
A treasured pediatrician from Tennessee, spends the night out at
an NBA basketball game. She calls her mom from the
game and mentions to her that she isn't feeling well.
After she gets home, she hosts a couple of girlfriends
at her place to finish out the evening as a
quiet night in before heading to bed.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
What happens after they leave.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Her home is a mystery, but her family began to
worry that she wasn't around early the next morning to
babysit her sister's children, something she was scheduled.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
To do and she would never miss.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
In the days following, alarming clues would point to her
meeting with foul play, and circumstantial evidence would cast suspicion
and shift public opinion on those closest to her. Still,
almost everything in her case is surrounded by mystery. She
was known to love jigsaw puzzles, meticulously working on them
(01:05):
and then gluing and framing the finished product to display
A puzzle seems like the perfect metaphor for this case,
with little pieces everywhere that all must fit together somehow,
but that authorities and her loved ones have not been
able to connect At this point, is the mysterious phone
(01:26):
call to her house at one fifty eight am, The
Missing Piece. I'm your host, Megan, and each week on
a Simpler Time True Crime, I cover older unsolved cases
and challenge the idea that a simpler time means a
safer time. This week, I'm bringing to you the unsolved
disappearance of doctor Cheryl Lamont Pearson. Friday, January fourth, two
(02:15):
thousand and two was slated to be a nice night
for Memphis Grizzly's season ticket holder, doctor Cherylamont Pearson. The
thirty seven year old was a huge basketball fan.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
She had been a standout.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Player herself through high school and through college. The Grizzlies
were having a losing season, and they were hoping to
break a two game losing streak in their eight pm
matchup against Atlanta. The energy was high at the Pyramid
because the game was close. At a break in the game,
(02:47):
Cheryl used her cell phone to call her mother, Hazel.
She jokingly called to ask her mom about her favorite player,
Michael Jordan, and how he was doing in a televised
game that Cheryl was not watching. Because she was at
the live game, Hazel knew exactly why.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Her daughter was calling.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
It was to tease her and to rub it in
because you see, for a while now, Hazel had talked
about how Cheryl's basketball idol, Michael Jordan, was too old
to be playing basketball still. And if you don't follow basketball,
you should know that Michael Jordan is one of those
professional athletes kind of like Tom Brady and Mario Lemux.
He couldn't quite commit to move retirements, so he ended
(03:30):
up doing so multiple times, and at this time and
during this particular season, he had just returned after a
three year retirement. So he indeed was playing on the
same night for the Washington Wizards against the Chicago Bulls,
but his Wizards fared much better than Cheryl's Grizzlies. The
(03:50):
Grizzlies would drop their third straight game that night with
a score of one thirteen to one oh nine. Now,
while she was on the phone with her mother, Cheryl
mentioned that she wasn't feeling well, that she kind of
felt dizzy and lightheaded.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
This wasn't completely out of the.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Ordinary, because Cheryl had pretty severe type one diabetes that
she managed with an insulin pump.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
When blood sugar.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Is too high or too low, a person with diabetes
can experience symptoms such as excessive thirst, frequent urination, fatigue,
blurry vision, shakiness, sweating, confusion, irritability, and fast heartbeat. It
can get really dangerous and severe if left untreated. But
being a doctor herself, Cheryl was well prepared to manage
(04:37):
her condition and she had good safety checks in place.
Cheryl frequently checked in with her family and would often
let them know when she was home safe for the night.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Now, some write ups on.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
This case will say that Cheryl left the game early
because she wasn't feeling well, But I personally couldn't find
any original reporting or any specific information that said she
left early, though it's possible.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
She may have.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
What we do know is that Cheryl had a couple
of friends stop by to visit after the game. One
of those is her good friend named Andrea Fox. The
other friend has never named herself publicly because Andrea has
named herself, That's the only reason I'm specifically using her name.
(05:25):
According to Andrea, there was nothing out of the ordinary
about that evening. They hung out, they visited, they laughed,
they caught up, and her and the other friend stayed
until after midnight, and they left just before or around
one am. When Cheryl called it a night herself, she
let them know that she really had to get to
bed because she had to get up early to watch
her sister's children. The kids were due to come over
(05:48):
at seven am that Saturday morning. Cheryl was absolutely obsessed
with being an aunt. Her older sister, Laurinda Hildreth, had
three children, and Cheryl's refrator was plastered with photos of
them and their artwork. It was a very regular occurrence
for Cheryl to watch Larina's children while she worked her
(06:09):
job as a physical therapist. So Cheryl's friends left that
evening and it appeared Cheryl was going to get ready
for bed. But sometime after her friends departed that night,
Cheryl's quiet night asleep would be interrupted, and the events
that followed would lead to a never ending trail of
unanswered questions. At seven am on Saturday, January fifth, Leon
(06:45):
and Hazel Pearson were noting the sunshine beaming through the
windows on the crisp winter morning, and they had just
sat down to the breakfast table when they got a
jarring phone call they just typically didn't.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Hear from anyone quite that early.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
On the line was their daughter, Laurinda, and she was
letting them know that she was standing outside her sister's
house and that all was quiet and she wasn't answering.
Even more puzzling, her sister's blue car was nowhere to
be found. Laurinda and her parents immediately began to worry
about Cheryl and her diabetes. As it turns out, Cheryl
(07:26):
and her mother had not had their typical good night
conversation that night to ensure that Cheryl had gotten home safe.
This is just my personal speculation, but because they had
just spoken so recently, right at the game, Cheryl probably
viewed it with a bit of redundancy. It's also possible
that her friends arrived at about the same time she
(07:46):
got home or shortly thereafter. This is two thousand and two.
We know that Cheryl had a cell phone and that
she used it to call her mom that night, but
in two thousand and two, texting was far less commonplace,
and my understanding was that she was calling her mom
on her mom's landline, so she couldn't have texted good
(08:06):
night and that she was home safe. Hazel and the
rest of the family worried about Cheryl experiencing a medical emergency.
Leon and Hazel immediately abandoned their breakfast plates and they
hopped into their car with their oldest son. The Pearson
parents then headed out to make the seventy mile drive
from Jackson, Tennessee to Bartlett. Bartlett, Tennessee is about twelve
(08:31):
miles outside of Memphis, and Cheryl chose an upscale, twenty
one hundred square foot sprawling brick ranch on Daybreak Drive
as her home. It overlooked Quail Ridge golf Course, and
the home sat amongst others on the streets with perfectly
manicured shrubs and lawns. Now without childcare and worried about
(08:51):
her sister, Laurinda had to cancel her appointments for the day.
When her family arrived from Jackson, they came with their
copy of Cheryl's house key, and they let themselves in.
Nothing was in disarray. The house was, as I mentioned,
obviously locked, and everything looked lived in but in order.
No signs of any kind of struggle, no blood, no
(09:14):
sign that any major event happened in the house. But
there were a few things left behind that were out
of the ordinary, such as Cheryl's cell phone and pager.
They were on the kitchen table, as well as all
of her insolent supplies that were left behind. At this point,
Cheryl's family decided to file a missing person's report with
(09:35):
the Bartlet Police Department, though her family would later share
that they felt police didn't view it with too much
urgency at first. After all, Cheryl was a single, grown
professional woman who may have been out with someone for
the night. But Cheryl's family insisted this just wasn't like her,
and that she was very committed predictable. Her mother, Hazel
(09:57):
told the Papers, quote, She's not flighty of a homebody.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
End quote.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Her sister Laurinda emphasized this and told the Papers quote,
if I'd say, Cheryl, you're going to keep the kids,
she would have been right there two or three days
a week. She would be here, or we would be
over there for her to just go off and not
leave a note or something end quote. Cheryl was always
known as being reliable, studious, and a ton of fun,
(10:25):
affectionately referred to as the Queen Bee at family gatherings.
Her family said you could always expect her to show
up with all the board games to play, though her
sister Larinda joked and told the paper that either Larinda
or her mom they'd always be the ones doing all
the cooking and prepping and cleaning, and that Cheryl would
just show up as the life of.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
The party and come to eat, which I love.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Even in the sadness of missing Cheryl. That's just such
a sister relationship to kind of tease about those sisterly things.
Would much rather have someone tease about those things than
hear another clear shade interview about someone lighting up her room, which,
to be fair, it does sound like Cheryl did. The
three Pearson children grew up in Jackson, where Leon was
(11:10):
a school principal and Hazel was a school counselor. Cheryl
was the baby of the family, but Lorenda was only
a year older, and their mother used to dress them
in the same outfits for as long as they would
tolerate it, just like they were twins. Cheryl loved to
dress up pretty for church on Sundays, and her favorite
color was purple.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
When she was.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Little, she loved the Doctor Seuss book, the foot book,
you know, the one left foot, right foot feet feet feet,
how many many feet you meet, or it's something like that. Right. Well,
if Cheryl were here, she'd be able to correct me, because,
according to her father, if he would try to skip
a line and maybe end the night a little early.
After our reading the foot book a few times and
(11:53):
he would try to skip a line, she would call
him out, which is just so cute. As she got older,
Cheryl was a great student. Hazel would joke that Cheryl
liked to study. To you out of doing chores, She'd say, sorry, Mom, I.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Can't do the dishes.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
I have to study. And that paid off for her.
After graduating high school in nineteen eighty two, she got
her degree in chemical engineering from the University of Tennessee
at Knoxville. She worked at a chemical company out of
state while secretly applying to medical school, her true passion.
One day, her mom got a call from Harry Medical
(12:29):
College saying that Cheryl had been accepted. Her mom was
very confused and called her and she said, oh my god, yes, Mom,
please tell them that I'm in. So off she went
to pursue her dreams. And by the way, Harry Medical
College is a prestigious historical institute that graduated some of
the nation's first black physicians and it's just remained a
(12:52):
pillar ever since. Cheryl went on to do internships in Nashville, Chicago,
and Detroit before settling back outside of Memphis, where she
worked first in private practice before joining as a pediatrician
for an office called the Raleigh Group, not to be
confused with Raleigh, North Carolina. This is a part of Tennessee.
(13:15):
Her sister Laurinda and her husband Chuck. They also lived
in Bartlett nearby, and Larinda was really close in contact
because of Cheryl's diabetes and the potential for a complication
to arise, And at this point that's what her family
was thinking had happened, that Cheryl must have gone out,
(13:36):
become disoriented, gotten into some sort of accident, and that
it was just a matter of time until they located
her and found help. So while some of the family
went out looking, Hazel and others stayed behind trying to
keep busy tidying up the house and pacing back and forth,
having no idea that they might be cleaning up a
(13:58):
potential crime scene because Cheryl never came home that Saturday
or on Sunday. But by Monday morning, with the search
kicking into high gear, a discovery turned the investigation in
a whole new direction. After being alerted to their missing colleague,
(14:27):
the Raleigh Groups sprung into action. Alongside the family, they
printed flyers and asked how they could help, and when
Cheryl didn't return on Saturday night, Bartlett police also began
to share in the worry, knowing of the medical risk,
and so they deployed scent tracking dogs along with helicopters
to search, and then early on Monday morning, two days
(14:50):
into the search, Cheryl's dark blue Audi Sedan was found
not far from her home. It was parked in the
parking lot of the Gables apartments and how Cheryl's home
overlooked the Quailridge golf Course from the north side of it,
while on the south side that's where this apartment complex was.
Something interesting that her family and police noted was that
(15:13):
the area seemed to have already been searched. So did
somehow everyone just miss it on Saturday and Sunday.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Or was the vehicle moved there before it was found.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Of course, authorities braced themselves when they opened the trunk,
expecting to find the worst, but Cheryl was not in there. Curiously,
some odd items were First, there was what was described
as her medical bag. It had some medical supplies in it,
think like her stethoscope and the like, but it also
(15:48):
seemed like she was kind of using it as a
purse too, and it had personal belongings in it as well.
In the trunk where the tickets from the game that night,
two sets off keys were back there, including keys to
her car. There was also a bank envelope with one
hundred and forty dollars cash in it, all in twenties.
(16:10):
This was all confusing, like why were these items in
her trunk of all places, particularly things like keys to
get into her work office, keys to get into her home,
and keys to drive her car. If Cheryl had been
abducted or forced to go to an ATM to withdraw cash,
why was this money left behind?
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Was it even related at all?
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Or had she just taken out cash personally for another reason.
And almost as strange as what was present.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Was what wasn't.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
When police did a forensic search of the car, it
appeared to have been completely detailed. Not even Cheryl's own fingerprints,
much less those of anybody else's, were present. And I
don't know about you, but when I'm just going about
my life and having a regular day, I don't make
it a habit to wipe down my steering wheel and
(17:04):
entire car of my fingerprints. This shifted everything. Police and
loved ones no longer believed that Cheryl had a medical
emergency and was just missing. They now believed some person
or persons had harmed her and made her go missing.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
But who and why.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Cheryl's community was stunned. Those who worked with her said
she was known as someone who took her time with patience.
She was highly requested as a physician and very knowledgeable.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
A couple of her.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Nurse colleagues regularly attended Grizzly's basketball games with her, and
they said she just led a very quiet life, no
enemies they could even remotely think of. Early on, crime
stoppers put up a one thousand dollars reward, and then
the medical group matched it, and then some they offered
ten thousand dollars, bringing the reward up to eleven thousand,
(18:00):
and in the meantime, police began interviewing everyone in her life.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Now, this is.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Only briefly mentioned in the reporting, but it did appear
she had at least some kind of boyfriend, not that
they were super serious, but police pretty quickly got a
hold of this person and ruled them out because of
their alibi, so they never really come up again. Then
they talked to those friends.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Who were over.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
He reiterated that nothing odd came up that night they visited.
They left, she was in good spirits and was ready
to go to bed so she could be awakened just
a few hours to be on aunt duty. When talking
to Cheryl's colleagues, they learned that Cheryl was actually on
call that night, So the fact that her pager was
left behind at the table, that was a big clue.
(18:49):
A cell phone, yes, I imagined she would have that
with her too, but cell phones were not as velcrowed
on to people back then as they are now. But
her pager, she would absolutely need that for work if
she did leave the house. She couldn't have thought she'd
be gone for very long because you have restrictions around
the time sensitivity. You have to return to pages when
(19:12):
you're on call, and it wouldn't take long for them
to get another clue about that piece as well. You see,
police got a warrant for her phone records and what
they found was interesting. Now, there are two different reports
on the length of the phone call, but at one
fifty eight am on Saturday morning, Cheryl received a phone
(19:35):
call to her house phone and she for sure picked
up almost all reporting, including the original statements from investigators
to the media. They shared that the phone call was
only about five seconds long. There is one isolated interview
in twenty sixteen with the detective who says the call
(19:57):
was closer to a couple of minutes, which in this
context is a huge discrepancy and could drastically alter the
conclusions we draw about this call. So I really wish
they would clarify that. But the call was traced to
a Sicko gas station that was less than a half
a mile from Cheryl's home. Police visited the Sicko station
(20:19):
to see if they had any surveillance footage and listeners.
You already know the answer to that. So now we
have a mystery caller at almost two am, about an
hour after her girlfriend's leave, and we know it's, if
nothing else, a brief phone call. In an interview with Dateline,
one of the investigators, Detective Lee, had some thoughts on this.
(20:42):
The interviewer prompted the topic, saying, quote, that phone call
could have been I'm on my way over, I'm at
the surface station, come meet me. And it was Detective
Lee that said quote. It could have also just as
easily been to see if.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
She was home. She could have answered the.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Phone Hello, Hello, no response and they hung up end quote,
which is chilling to think about. We know there's no
sign of forced entry to her home, but the items
she left behind seemed odd even for just a quick tripow.
So what if she did just open her door, possibly
even to someone she knew, and that person quickly brandished
(21:23):
some sort of weapon and abducted her. That would explain it.
Others speculate that the phone call with someone luring her
out with some kind of fake emergency that she responded
quickly to, like a loved one that needed her or
was experiencing.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
A health issue. Whatever the case may.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Be, there was a strong suspicion that Cheryl likely knew
the person who caused her to leave her home, and
that the payphone call was probably related. Hazel and Leone
(22:04):
Pearson continued to try to get their daughter's story coverage,
something that was hard to come by. Sure, some local
papers ran stories, and this was just a few years
prior to the Internet and social media being used as
a major tool for missing persons cases. Still, it's just
crazy to me that a pediatrician can disappear into thin
(22:26):
air from her home, and that it's not national news
and nobody talked about it outside of the Memphis area
for the longest time. And I can't help but be
aware of the missing white woman syndrome phenomenon, and that
there is a lack of coverage that black and Indigenous
people have faced with getting media coverage for decades. This
(22:49):
is the type of case that feels like if it
just received a little more pressure and media coverage early on,
maybe it would have had a better chance of being solved.
We just don't know. But the lack of coverage doesn't
exactly sit right with me, and it's important to mention it.
But her local community and her loved ones, they really
(23:11):
did rarely. Her family tried to give the case a
boost two months and they contributed five thousand dollars of
their own At the time, they said that their daughter, Laurinda,
was having the hardest time with it, struggling with the
hole in her life that her sister's presence usually filled.
Her family hired a private investigator. Her brother was going
(23:33):
to hire a psychic until you found out that she
was going to cost about one thousand dollars and made
no promises on that return on investment. Cheryl's parents joined
forces with parents of other missing and murdered young adults
in Tennessee, and they tried to push for transparency and
resolution in their children's cases. The Pearsons did interviews, just
(23:56):
pleading for information. Weeks turned into months and into years
without any real updates. In fact, since the discovery of
her car, there's never been another trace of doctor Pearson again.
But for whatever reason, at around the four year mark
of the investigation, the case started stirring again. A governor's
(24:20):
reward for twenty five thousand dollars was tacked on, bringing
the total reward up to forty one thousand dollars by
March of two thousand and six, and her parents even
came into town for the announcement. And maybe it's because
that significant reward drummed up exactly zero new leads. But
(24:40):
at this time the police began giving more interviews and
they had a sharper edge in talking about their suspects.
For example, early on, police had begun to suspect someone
with very close proximity to Cheryl, her brother in law,
Chuck Yes, the one married her sister Laurinda and here's.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Why Chuck ed.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
A checkered passed and a checkered not so distant pasted.
In late September of two thousand and one, just a
few months prior to Cheryl going missing, Chuck Hildreth walked
into a bank in the town of Raleigh, Tennessee, in
a hat and a wig, claiming to have a bomb.
He handed a note to the teller and threatened to
(25:26):
hurt her if she didn't give him money. After telling
her he had a bomb in his deposit bag, she
handed over the money and he left. He was apprehended
just a few days later in charge with aggravated robbery.
He was bailed out and was awaiting trial when Cheryl
went missing. I don't have the ins and outs of
(25:47):
Chuck and Loreinda's financial situation. Some sources say they were
having marital and financial troubles. I mean, I would say
robbing a bank would lead most people to think that
you were having trouble with finances. But I don't have
their bank statements in front of me, so I truly
don't know. But what I do know is that Chuck
seems extra suspicious because Cheryl had a life insurance policy
(26:12):
that was fairly substantial, about one hundred and fifty thousand
dollars total, and it was to be paid out to
her sister, Laurinda in the event of her death. It
was said that Cheryl had thought the world of her
nieces and nephews and that it was left to her
sister so that they would be taken care of if
something happened to her.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
On one hand, money can be a huge motive in.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
These cases, and we see right here that her brother
in law was facing criminal charges. He was struggling financially,
and we know that things like lawyer fees and all
sorts of other stuff he had ahead of him that
costs a lot of money.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
But at the same time, Chuck went to.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Jail for these charges, he served his time, and with
Cheryl just missing and her body not being found, there
was no life insurance payout. In fact, you'll recall that
Cheryl's family hired their own private investigator. Why would they
do that if they were somehow involved in this that
and Cheryl's parents did not feel like Chuck had anything
(27:16):
to do with it. And after the police went on
TV and they aired their suspicions about Chuck, the family
really pulled back from communicating with police and the media.
On one hand, this could look suspicious because it looks
like the family's not cooperating in the investigation, and that's
a fair perspective and opinion to have. But also I
(27:39):
could see where if he is innocent, they are already
grieving and now they just feel victimized all over again.
So you're probably wondering, did Chuck have an alibi? Well,
it's worth noting that police really didn't focus on Larenda
at all, but they questioned Chuck several times in two
(28:01):
thousand and six. They said that he had an ALBI,
but they weren't satisfied with it.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
He was at a store, for.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
Example, for some of it, and they were able to
see that he was on the surveillance camera, but they
couldn't be sure that the time stamps were correct, so
like fully solidifying his alibi was difficult. They said there
were parts of his ALBI that were inconsistent and that
they couldn't truly rule him out.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
But by twenty.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Sixteen, ten years later, a detective interview said that they
had worked hard to verify his ALBI and they felt
content in ruling him out as a suspect, even though
he seems to be in the clear. If you look
at any single web page or Reddit thread on doctor Pearson,
you will see people pylon and say that they absolutely
(28:46):
believe he did it, and if not himself, he had
something to do with it, and that his family behavior
was suspicious. Some of the other finger pointing behavior at
the family has to do with other things people find
odd how within a year they had returned her vehicle
to the leasing dealership and let her bank take the house.
(29:07):
In their defense, though Cheryl's family was middle class, they
weren't poor, but they weren't doctors either. There isn't a
playbook out there on what to do if your loved
ones go missing, and those of us on the sidelines
looking in we only see little pieces of the news reports,
But when you dig deeper, these families sometimes have to
go through great troubles just to gain access to the
(29:28):
information needed to handle financial obligations, cancel subscriptions, cancel expenses, and.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Take care of the estate.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
It's exhausting to do on top of grieving a loved one,
and exhausting is probably not.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Even very word. It's just what came to mind.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
The car was forensically examined and found to be wiped down.
They weren't going to keep paying for her lease payments
for no reason, and they likely couldn't afford to just
keep paying her mortgage. They did take all the meaningful
things that connected them Cheryl, her board games, family photo albums.
They donated some of the clothes and stored other items,
(30:08):
but they kept her puzzles in her framed puzzles, everything
that was sentimental, and they let go of the rest. Now,
one other theory that I have not yet talked about,
(30:29):
but that is discussed out there, primarily online, is what
is the male practice suit theory? So just before her disappearance,
the medical group slash hospital system that Cheryl was working
in was sued. It was a wrongful death male practice lawsuit,
and doctor Pearson was named in it, seemingly in the
(30:50):
death of a child in the pediatric emergency department. Some
people online say that the child died and that the
person suing the medical group one to point to doctor
Pearson's diabetes for her laps in care of the child.
And I don't know this story fully. The public information
available is limited, but there are some pieces publicly available
(31:12):
that do align with that in the public records that
I do have, and I'll have those linked in the
show notes. This shows a few different motions to dismiss
the request to disclose aspects of doctor Pearson's medical conditions
and history, and this case was in different phases of
litigation well beyond the time that Cheryl Pearson went missing.
(31:36):
Some wonder though, was the family involved, Like were they
so angry that they came after doctor Pearson. I could
see thinking that, But one thing to remember is that
hospitals get sued all the time, and this wasn't just
against her. She was just one of many people named
as part of the medical group. This lawsuit seemed to
(31:57):
be settled out of court like many of the so
it seems to me personally.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Like it's a bit of a stretch.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
But it's never been named as excluded either, so I
at least wanted to mention it. Over the years, there
hasn't been much more out there. For a while, doctor
Pearson's tiny little patients would show up to her office
and say, is my doctor back yet? Breaking the hearts
of those who worked there. They have been interviewed over
(32:27):
the years and they are shocked that there's no conclusion.
There was one other sign of closure, potentially in December
of twenty ten, human bones were found in Lakeland, eight
miles outside of Bartlett by some hunters, and at first
people immediately thought of doctor Cheryl Pearson, but it was
(32:49):
determined relatively quickly that those were not Cheryls, but it
was of a man instead. As a quick PSA. Those
bones have not yet been identif and for my sleuthing
listeners out there, it's believed that this person was thirty
to fifty years old at the time of their death,
which is estimated to be between twelve to eighteen months
(33:11):
before the bones were found in December of twenty ten.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
It's thought to be.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
A white man, but not much more has been figured
out beyond that. The last and final clue came in
twenty thirteen, and it's pretty convoluted. One Tennessee inmate wrote
to another indicating they knew what happened Cheryl and insinuated
that two women living in Georgia were aware as well.
But police looked into this.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
And they declared it a dead end.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
So what did happen to doctor Cheryl Lamont Pearson Overnight?
In January of two thousand and two, how relevant is
that phone call? Was it someone who knew her that
lured her out? Was there a fake emergency? Did the
person do with the detective thought, such as just called
to see if she was home and then showed up
(33:58):
to her home and got her to open the door.
Or did the insurance policy have any part in her death?
Was it someone she knew or was it a stranger?
Why did she leave her insolence supplies and her pager behind?
Does that mean that the crime really did happen in
her house?
Speaker 2 (34:15):
Like did someone just clean up?
Speaker 1 (34:19):
Where was her car for those couple of days?
Speaker 2 (34:21):
Was it really there the.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
Whole time and missed or did someone move it later?
But more than anything, where is Cheryl?
Speaker 2 (34:30):
What happened to her that night? And why?
Speaker 1 (34:34):
Cheryl was declared dead in Lee two thousand and nine,
and her father Leon passed away almost immediately thereafter, almost
as if a piece of him died with her, feeling
that even her living relatives must hold, to a degree
just that missing piece. But legally declaring her dead and
actually having answers are two different things, and no matter what,
(34:57):
all who love Cheryl deserved those answers. Something kind of
out of The ordinary that happened in more recent years
was that a cold case detective working Choil's case actually
made a Facebook page for it. I haven't seen updates
to the page in a few years, but I still
give credit to that detective for trying. They would interact
with all sorts of kind of people all over the page,
(35:19):
even if they were really out there, and I give
them credit for doing anything to try to drum up leads.
The page is still live at the time of this recording,
so I encourage you to go check it out. But
most importantly, if you have any information on the disappearance
of doctor Ryl Pearson, please contact the Bartlett Police Department
(35:45):
at nine zero one three eight five five five five five.
This has been another episode of a Simpler Time True crime.
If you appreciate the work I'm doing, please leave before
star review on your favorite listening platform, and know that
every word of mouth recommendation really helps me too. I
(36:08):
work with families directly, so if you know of a
family hoping to draw attention to a cold case that
is from the year two thousand and six or earlier,
direct them to my social media at Simpler Timecrimepod at
gmail dot com. I take case suggestions there as well.
To support my show monetarily, please join the Speaker Supporters
(36:28):
Club linked in the bottom of the show notes to
help me just move forward with this work. Thank you
so much for listening and join me again next Monday
(37:02):
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