Unforgotten · Alabama Cold Case Advocacy

S2 Ep 5: Stephen Pearson, Part 1

·1 hr 10 min·5 clips

Steven Pearson signed for a package containing roughly 10 pounds of marijuana, then threatened to report it.

1. Unforgotten follows the disappearance of Steven Pearson in Grand Bay, Alabama, after a December 2000 sequence of package deliveries, cash withdrawals, and car changes. 2. Sellers, Stormy, and Mitch McRae matter because McRae is the Mobile County Sheriff's Office investigator who has worked cold cases, including Pearson’s. 3. The episode asks whether Steven Pearson vanished by choice or whether someone forced him to disappear. 4. Pearson helped a postal worker by signing for a package and delivering it to a neighbor in a quiet Mobile County neighborhood. 5. That package was later described as roughly 10 pounds of marijuana, and Pearson said he would report it if the neighbors did not. 6. The hosts say Pearson then vanished, and his abandoned car was found in the woods about a month later. 7. Sheriff Paul Birch calls the case the only unsolved one he still carries and says he believes Pearson was murdered. 8. McRae describes Pearson as a longtime friend of Cooter, a man who brought Christmas gifts, told stories, and liked to embellish details. 9. Cooter said Pearson arrived in a red Blazer, delivered a six-pack, and told him, “This is goodbye,” before saying he would disappear. 10. Julie Pearson is described as keeping her father’s stocking hanging every year while waiting for answers. 11. McRae says Pearson took two weeks off work from Ingalls Shipbuilding starting December 15, 2000, but kept stopping by the office. 12. He also says Pearson mentioned trouble with a relative and said he needed to “get away.” 13. Between December 1 and December 27, Pearson withdrew more than $1,500 in cash from ATMs across the area. 14. On December 4, he paid $107 to National Car Rental, and later records showed a $5,000 Citi Financial loan on Christmas Eve. 15. Pearson drove from Grand Bay to Florida before dawn on December 24 and arrived at Julie’s house between 7 and 8 a.m. 16. Julie said he seemed “tight” and “manic almost,” but he spent Christmas with her and her son and appears in the last known photo from that day. 17. The hosts use an informal, conversational interview style, with repeated interruptions and back-and-forth reactions to each detail. 18. The episode moves like a case review, with McRae explaining records, witnesses, and timelines while Sellers and Stormy react in real time. 19. Listeners interested in Alabama cold cases and missing-person timelines. 20. Listeners who want a self-contained story with little procedural detail.

As heard by us

A patient missing-person case that turns ordinary details into something harder to explain.

Stephen Pearson's disappearance is presented through the kind of small, unsettling details that tend to linger: a trailer break-in, a shaken visit, money moving through accounts, and a birthday that never comes.

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Why you'd press play

You want a careful missing-person case that starts sounding like a cover-up.

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