Lawson was abducted from her Jasper, Alabama home while responding to a telephone call from a woman who told Lawson she was a nurse and someone in Lawson's family was seriously ill in the hospital. A masked assailant managed to subdue and tie up her husband. Karen McPherson pleaded guilty to the kidnapping. McPherson said she and her cousin, Jerry Bland, planned the kidnapping for $300,000 ransom. Bland killed himself at his home three weeks after Lawson disappeared. Lawson's family payed the ransom and authorities found most of what they believe is the ransom money in the home of Bland. Despite numerous tips and a private investigator hired by Lawson's family, her body has never been found. A court declared Lawson dead in 1993. Lawson is originally from Cleveland, Tennessee. She's a graduate of the Alabama School of Law. (Information retrieved from NamUs.gov)