This week’s featured missing person is Verna Marie Richardson, a 48-year-old grandmother who was last seen in Fort Myers, Florida on July 7, 1990. She had begun dating a guy named Alexander Smith, but broke up with him the summer she went missing and was trying to reconcile with her husband.
Smith took her from her home on the day of her disappearance, apparently against her will. Verna was last heard from when she placed a pay phone call to say Smith had kidnapped her, tied her up and beaten her. For some reason she chose to call a friend to tell them this, instead of 911. She was never heard from again and Smith later crashed her car and was arrested for drunk driving. Richardson was gone by then, but Smith still had her purse.
I think there’s a pretty strong presumption of foul play here. I wonder where Smith is now, or if he’s even still alive.
Verna had multiple health problems, including insulin-dependent diabetes, and she needed dialysis. Even if Smith didn’t kill her, she could not have survived long without needing medical assistance.
In the unlikely event she’s still alive, she’d be 80 today. She is black, pierced ears, and she’s missing her two front teeth. She’s 5’8 and at the time of her disappearance she weighed somewhere between 180 and 225 pounds.
The Charley Project Blog 
“The son said he’d come over, but fell asleep instead.”
Son of the Year award goes to…
“Hardy store”. Wondering if this was actually a Hardee’s?
I don’t think it’s fair to say that about the son. People fall asleep and make small mistakes all the time. He had no way of knowing that something so terrible would happen to her. If it had been any normal day it would have been an accident and he probably would have come over when he woke up.
I hate to cast stones, but hear, hear.