Riverside Homicide
April 27 - May 3, 2026
The Vanishing of Dr. Cherryl Lamont Pearson
More than two decades have passed since Dr. Cherryl Lamont Pearson, a respected pediatrician in the Memphis area, disappeared without a trace. Despite extensive investigations, public appeals, and years of unanswered questions, her case remains one of West Tennessee’s most troubling unsolved mysteries.
Dr. Pearson was born on August 21, 1964, in Jackson, Tennessee, to Leon and Hazel Pearson, both lifelong educators. The youngest of three children, she was an energetic and determined student who loved school, excelled academically, and competed in track, where she often outran her peers. After graduating from Jackson Central Merry High School in 1982, she earned a degree in chemical engineering from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She worked briefly in Delaware before following her true calling to medicine, attending Meharry Medical College in Nashville and training as a pediatrician.
In the late 1990s, Dr. Pearson settled in Bartlett, Tennessee, where she joined the Raleigh Group practice affiliated with Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital. Known for her warmth and empathy, she was deeply devoted to her young patients and to her family, especially her nieces and nephews. Friends described her as outgoing and playful, with a love for board games and puzzles. She also lived with Type 1 diabetes, which she carefully managed using an insulin pump.
On Friday, January 4, 2002, Dr. Pearson attended a Memphis Grizzlies basketball game alone at the Pyramid Arena, something she often did as a season-ticket holder. During halftime, she phoned her mother, mentioning she felt slightly lightheaded but planned to stay until the game ended. She returned home around 10:30 p.m., where two friends visited until approximately 1:00 a.m. By all accounts, she was upbeat and looking forward to babysitting her sister’s children the next morning.
When her sister arrived early Saturday morning, January 5, to drop off the children, Dr. Pearson was gone. Her car was missing, and with concern heightened by her medical condition, the family contacted police. Inside her home, nothing appeared disturbed, but her cell phone, pager, and insulin pump had been left behind, suggesting she had not planned to be away for long.
Investigators later confirmed Dr. Pearson answered a phone call at 1:58 a.m. from a nearby gas station pay phone. The caller was never identified. Two days later, her meticulously cleaned Audi was found abandoned at a nearby apartment complex, containing personal items but no fingerprints—not even her own. Police explored numerous leads, interviewed family, friends, and colleagues, and ruled out those closest to her. Despite a reward that eventually reached $41,000 and years of private investigation efforts by her family, no definitive answers emerged. Dr. Pearson was legally declared dead in 2009.
Dr. Cherryl Lamont Pearson stood 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighed approximately 160 pounds, had a distinctive dark facial birthmark, and a rare condition—polydactyly, a small sixth finger on each hand. These identifiers remain critical in ongoing efforts to solve her case.
Anyone with information is urged to contact the Bartlett Police Department at 901-385-5565. Her family continues to seek answers, hoping one day to bring long-overdue closure to a life dedicated to caring for others.
For readers who want to know more about the investigation, be sure to listen to the true-crime podcast Riverside Homicide available on all major platforms, which offers additional details connected to this complex and heartbreaking case.