36 years later: Cold case officially closed, but family still searching for grandmother's remains

FORT MYERS, Fla. (WINK) — For 36 years, Shavon Johnson has lived with the memory of the last time she saw her grandmother.

Johnson was just 12 years old on July 7, 1990, when 48-year-old Verna Marie Richardson left her Fort Myers home after an argument with her boyfriend, Alexander Smith.

Richardson never came back.

Now, Johnson is the same age her grandmother was when she disappeared.

"It's scary being this age," Johnson said. "If I was to sit here and say I love being this age, I'd be lying. It's scary being this age knowing that I was just 12 years old and experienced her getting kidnapped at 48."

For decades, Richardson's disappearance remained one of Southwest Florida's greatest unsolved mysteries. While detectives have now determined who they believe was responsible for her death, Johnson says the search is far from over.

"My biggest prayer is to please at least find her bones and bring her home," Johnson said. "Bring her home."

According to the Lee County Sheriff's Office [LCSO], Richardson left her home on South Meador Court in Fort Myers with Smith on the evening of July 7, 1990. Johnson remembers that night vividly.

Earlier that evening, Johnson and several of her cousins went to a carnival. When they returned home, Johnson discovered the window to her bedroom had been broken.

Frightened, she asked to sleep in her grandmother's room.

She remembers Smith accusing Richardson of cheating on him as the couple argued for nearly two hours.

Eventually, everything became quiet.

"She told me that she was gonna go and she was going to take him home," Johnson recalled. "Unfortunately, that was the last time that I ever saw my grandmother again."

The following day, Richardson's best friend received a phone call from her.

According to LCSO, Richardson told her friend over the phone Smith had kidnapped her, tied her up and beaten her. It was the last time anyone heard from her.

After receiving the call, Richardson's family traveled to Okeechobee, where they located a convenience store clerk who confirmed seeing Richardson and Smith. Despite searching the area, they were unable to find her.

Days later, one of Richardson's sons spotted Smith driving Richardson's car in Fort Myers.

LCSO tells WINK Investigates Smith told the family Richardson was staying at a motel on Palm Beach Boulevard and offered to lead them there. Instead, he sped away.

Richardson's son followed Smith until he crashed the car on Interstate 75.

According to Johnson, Richardson's purse was found inside the vehicle, but she was nowhere to be found.

"I feel hurt," Johnson said. "I feel like the system failed us in so many ways." 

In 2009, a Lee County judge legally declared Richardson dead. Investigators said there was not enough evidence at the time to charge Smith in Richardson's disappearance.

Smith later moved to DeSoto County, changed his name to Marion Williams and obtained identification under that name, according to LCSO.

That same year, investigators interviewed Smith again.

A spokesperson with LCSO says Smith made admissions about killing Richardson and disposing of her body. However, detectives had concerns about his mental competency at the time of the interview, and he was never arrested.

'It's the worst feeling in the world to actually see your grandma leave that house and not never come back," Johnson said.

Johnson said she tracked Smith down herself after discovering he had changed his name. She says she confronted him while he was in jail for unrelated charges, where he admitted to assaulting Richardson, tying her up and leaving her near Lake Okeechobee before hitchhiking back to Arcadia.

"I'm gonna tell you why I get so emotional... I didn't have a childhood after that," Johnson said.

More than three decades after Richardson disappeared, the LCSO's Cold Case Unit reopened the investigation in 2024. Detectives re-interviewed family members, former investigators, and reviewed decades of case files and evidence.

In July 2020, Smith died in a nursing home in Pinellas County, according to LCSO.

A LCSO spokesperson said investigators determined all available evidence pointed to Alexander Smith, also known as Marion Williams, as the person responsible for Richardson's disappearance and death.

By then, Smith was already dead.

"I just don't want nobody, nobody in this world to ever have to go through what I've been through, or have a face what I had to face, because it's hard. It's hard when nobody listens to you, nobody cares about you, and nobody loves you like your grandma did," Johnson said.

In October, the Cold Case Unit officially closed the case, classifying it as "Death by Offender."

Although the homicide investigation has been closed, detectives say they continue to investigate where Richardson's remains may be located. Investigators believe her remains could be somewhere in the Okeechobee area and are asking anyone with information to contact the Lee County Sheriff's Office Cold Case Unit or Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers.

Johnson describes Richardson as someone who always put others first.

"She would give you the shirt off her back if she had it," Johnson said. "She would give you her last meal if you needed it."

She says Richardson welcomed neighbors into her home, fed children in the community and always ended gatherings with the same message: "Have a blessed day."

Today, Johnson continues that tradition.

"Everybody that knows me, I always tell them, 'Have a blessed day,' because those are the words that she would say," Johnson said.

Johnson says losing the woman who raised her changed the course of her life. She struggled with anger as a teenager and says she was forced to grow up far too quickly.

"I didn't have a childhood after that," she said. "I had to grow up fast."

Now, 36 years after watching her grandmother walk out the front door, Johnson says she has learned to channel her grief into helping others, just as Richardson once did.

If she could say one more thing to her grandmother, Johnson says she would want Richardson to know she turned her pain into purpose.

But before she can truly find peace, she says there is one final wish: "My biggest prayer is to please at least find her bones and bring her home."