Brandon Lawson has been missing
since the early hours of 8 August 2013.
The 26 year-old father of three
left his home in San Angelo, Texas at approximately midnight after having an
argument with his long-term girlfriend, Ladessa. Brandon had planned to drive
to his father’s house to cool off from the row.
On highway 277, near Bronte,
Texas, Brandon’s car ran out of petrol. He phoned his brother Kyle for help. After
calling Ladessa, Kyle and his girlfriend Audrey set off to find Brandon,
stopping to collect an empty petrol from Brandon’s front porch. Kyle had no
money in his bank account to pay for the petrol, so he intended to pick Brandon
up and drive him to the petrol station then drive him back to his truck.
When Kyle and Audrey arrived at Brandon’s
truck at approximately 1.10am it was empty, with the front bumper slightly
pointing out onto the carriageway. There was no damage to the truck, and
Brandon, his keys and mobile phone were missing. A Deputy Sheriff’s truck
arrived at the same time as Kyle and Audrey.
It seems that Kyle and Brandon
spoke a further two times that night; once when Brandon told his brother that
he was ten minutes up the road and bleeding, and a second time where he said he
was ‘in a field’.
Audrey also texted Brandon at
1.18 to tell him, ‘a cop is at your truck.’ Earlier that week, Brandon had
learned of a two-year-old outstanding warrant for possession of controlled
substances and this is possibly why Audrey had texted him to the presence of
the officer at his truck.
At around one am, Brandon
called 911. Kyle, and the deputy who arrived at his empty truck, were unaware
of this call. The call is garbled, and
difficult to understand; Brandon sounds out of breath and his words run into
each other.
You can listen to it here:
Below I have transcribed what I
think I hear, the text in brackets is only what I think is said.
Dispatcher: 911 emergency.
Brandon: Yes, I’m in the middle
of a field [a stooper /staper] ****‘stooper’ is a blend of ‘State Trooper’ and is
commonly used in parts of Texas*** just pulled some guys over going towards
Abilene on [both/ Bronte] sides [unintelligible] my truck ran out of gas.
[There’s one car here. got chased into the woods.] Please hurry. **Stooper**
D: Ok, now, run that [by me]
B: [I don’t want to talk to
them, I ran into them]
D: Ah, ok, you ran into him, ok
B: Yes, [the first guy]
D: Do
you need an ambulance?
[voice in background says.
‘yeah’]
B: No, I need the cops
D: DOk, is anybody hurt?
B……… (sounds of traffic / wind)
D: Hello?
B………
D: Hello?
B……..
D: Hello?
At the time of Brandon’s disappearance,
911 calls were routed not to a call centre manned by trained call handlers, but
to a local nursing home. The dispatcher does not ask Brandon his name, or where
he is. This has since changed, and dispatchers are given training.
The
Local Newspaper, The Sheriff and His Wife
The local newspaper, The Observer
Enterprise, is owned by the sheriff (who was away the night Brandon went
missing) and his wife.
From the ‘Missing Brandon
Lawson’ blog:
From
all media reports written by The Observer Enterprise, owned by the Sheriff and
his wife, that the 911 call was only reported as " a stranded motorist who
ran out of gas." No mention of the urgency nor any mention of "I ran
into them"( as understood by the dispatcher) The Deputy put
emergency flashers on , locked the truck and proceeded to "leave the
scene" and arranged for a tow in the morning. According to reports
the Deputy drove up and down the roadway to see if he could spot Brandon
walking. Kyle and his girlfriend left the empty gas can in the bed of the
truck thinking if Brandon came back he would have the can and could retrieve
gas. They began to go look for him. When morning came, and still no sign of
Brandon, Kyle's money was available in his account and he went back to the
truck and filled the can and returned it to the truck. At this point he was now
starting to become concerned and felt that Brandon may not have been hiding and
may be in trouble. In talking with Investigators he now gave them the full
account of Brandon being on the phone at the time the Deputy was at the truck.
Brandon’s family would later
tell the Brainscratch YouTube channel that their requests for the police to
involve the press in Brandon’s case were blocked and that Ladessa was told,
‘we’re not going to have a three-ring circus in this town,’
The family claim that the only
news source given any police information was the one owned by the Sheriff and
his wife.
Privately
Owned Land Not Searched
This Buzzfeed map shows just
how large Texas is:
The area Brandon vanished in was vast, and
very remote. It’s dry, scrubby land, with little or no trees, just miles and
miles of highway and desert punctuated by buildings and bridges. When I first
heard the 911 call, I imagined Brandon running off the road and into a densely
wooded area. If he had been trying to hide, he would have failed miserably;
there wasn’t anywhere for him to conceal himself out there.
Large areas of the land are
apparently privately owned, and requests by Brandon’s family to search the land
have been refused. Allegedly, land owners have said they will allow searches if
the sheriff issues a warrant. The sheriff has yet to issue any search warrants.
Theories
1) Brandon
encountered illegal activity – possibly perpetrated by State Troopers, with the
local sheriff’s knowledge. Bronte is 736 miles (a 12 hour car drive) from the Mexican
border, but Texas is a common people trafficking route. Did Brandon see ‘coyotes’
trafficking people into the USA? Or had
he stumbled across a drug deal?
2) Did the
sheriff know about these activities, and did he cover them up because he was taking
a cut?
3) Was
Brandon shot trespassing on private land? It seems unlikely – though Brandon
was a large, physically fit man, he was also unarmed, and by his own account,
bleeding. It would be usual for a
landowner defending their property to issue a warning for Brandon to leave
before shooting to defend their property. The ‘stand your ground’(Castle Doctrine)
law does not apply if someone is trespassing on land. The owner of the land may use reasonable – but not deadly –
force t remove somebody from their land.
4) Brandon
was attacked by wild boars – again unlikely. Boars will generally not
deliberately attack humans, though it may be that they were used to help ‘dispose’
of human remains.
What do you think happened to
Brandon?
Photos
and links
 |
| Brandon's truck (Missing Brandon Lawson) |
 |
| Highway 277 Near Bronte (Google Maps) |
 |
| Texas / Mexico border map |
 |
| Missing poster (Missing Brandon Lawson) |
Thanks: J McCabe
