Missing Since: 1987-04-15 Location: White Bluff, Tennessee
Martha’s twin brother, Lawson Green, picked up from her hostess job at the Holiday Inn on April 15, 1987. They were driving back to their family’s residence in White Bluff, Tennessee in a Monte Carlo with tinted windows that Lawson had borrowed, when the vehicle ran out of gas on Highway 46 near Fabric Road in Dickson County, Tennessee at approximately 9:00 p.m. This was about half a mile from the Holiday Inn. A photo of a similar car is posted with this case summary. A family of four pulled in behind them and offered to help. Martha said she was scared and Lawson said she should come with him and the family so they could get gas, but she said she’d stay behind. Lawson left with the family to purchase fuel, leaving Martha alone in the car. He discovered she had vanished upon his return about ten to fifteen minutes later. Martha’s handbag was still inside the vehicle, as were the keys. There was no sign of a struggle at the scene. She has never been seen again. Authorities do not believe she ran away, as she was looking forward to attending the Dickson County High School prom the next day. She had picked out a pink prom dress and shoes, which were lying on her bed at home when she went missing. Authorities had a suspect in Martha’s disappearance, Robert McKinley Richards. A photo of him is posted with this case summary. After she disappeared, he was incarcerated in Florida for the rape of two women. During the autumn of 1987, Richards was questioned under hypnosis, and admitted to killing Martha. He knew she had been menstruating at the time of her disappearance, and also described a distinctive piece of jewelry she wore. A photo of Richards is posted with this case summary. He took investigators to several places where he claimed he had buried Martha’s body, but searches of those locations turned up no evidence, and he was never charged in Martha’s case. When her parents went to visit him in prison in 1989, he denied having killed her. In 1991, he was murdered in prison by a cellmate. He is still considered the primary suspect in Martha’s disappearance. Her case remains unsolved. Investigating Agency Dickson County Sheriff’s Office 615-789-4130 Tennessee Bureau of Investigation 615-952-4989 Source Information The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children Child Protection Education of America Our Missing Children The Dickson Herald The Commercial Appeal The Doe Network Something’s Not Right Podcast WKRN-TV News Channel 5 True Crime Diva Updated 9 times since October 12, 2004. Last updated April 16, 2025; two pictures added, details of disappearance updated.