The Mysterious Disappearance of Brandon Lawson

Suzanne: Warning. This episode may contain graphic and disturbing content. Listener discretion is advised.

June: Hi, y'all and welcome to Crime With My Coffee. I'm your fabulous hostess with the mostess, June.

S: And I'm Suzanne. We're gonna tell you some stories you've heard. 

J: Some you haven't.

S: And some you wish you hadn't. 

J: All with a Texas twang. And, we're live. 

S: Oh, yay. Actually this time from my mom's basement. Except it's not a basement. It's just a studio. 

J: No, no, no, really. It's a basement.

S: I wish we had a basement, but there are not very many basements in Texas, madam.

J: You are correct.

S: I miss having a basement.

J: I know. It was so cool. 

S: It was awesome. 

J: Yeah, a little creepy. Basements are creepy but pretty cool. 

S: Yeah, it was really really cool though. I liked it a lot.

J: Okay, so the wonderful coffee she was talking about from Bones.

S: Yes, Bones Coffee Company at bonescoffee.com. They're not a sponsor. This is totally 100% all us. But hey, if you're listening, we're open to talking to you. I'm just saying.

J: Yeah. Hey, we- that's what we are sipping on right now in our cups. 

S: Yes, the Frankenbones from Bones Coffee Company. On their website, it says that it is "here to delight your taste buds in ways that science never thought possible. Our 100% Arabica, Arabica?" How do I say that word?

J: You nailed it. 

S: Awesome. "Beans are roasted to a perfect medium and infuse delicious chocolate hazelnut flavor to create the best way to celebrate the spooky season." And this stuff is delicious.

J: Yes, it definitely has a chocolate hint to it that you can taste, pretty fucking amazing.

S: Oh, God it is so good. I'm gonna have to order more of this. Like, totally.

J: I’m so glad you ordered the first of it. That's awesome.

S: Unless of course you know, they just want to send us some and sponsor us. Just saying. Hint, hint, wink, wink, nudge, nudge, chuckle, chuckle. Ope, I bumped the mic.

J: It’s fine. It'll pick up everything.

S: So but yeah, this stuff is great. 

J: Yes, it is good.

S: I got fleas.

J: You forget your flea collar today?

S: I forgot my flea collar today. I took it off before I left home. And yeah. 

J: It’s fine. It's fine. I'm glad you came to visit. 

S: Me too. I am totally enjoying myself. I've had a great time since I got here. 

J: Yes. 

S: So. 

J: So. 

S: Okay, well, are you ready for this case today?

J: Yes. Let's get going. 

S: Well, this one has no conclusion.

J: Wow. Okay. I don't know if I want it if it doesn't have an ending to it. 

S: Yeah, no conclusion.

J: Okay, so. 

S: Alright, so yeah, this is case has no conclusion as of yet.

J: Okay, I don't like that when it doesn't have an ending.

S: Well, maybe one day it will. Hopefully one day it will. Fingers crossed. I think he deserves an ending that everybody knows about. But this is the case of the disappearance of Brandon Lawson. So Brandon Mason Lawson was born in Fort Worth, Texas on November 18, 1986. When he was a 16 year old junior in high school, he met Ladessa Lofton, who was a 15 year old sophomore. He walked up to her in the hallway at school and he was like, "Hey, you know who I am?" all cocky, you know, like 16 year old kids are. 

J: Oh, yeah. 

S: And she's like, "No, am I supposed to?" Truth is she really did know who he was and she had kind of a little crush on the guy so she was just like freaking out in her head, you know that he was talking to her. So they ended up exchanging numbers. And they hit it off and they were together after that. You didn't see one without the other. They were inseparable and totally in love.

J: That’s sweet.

S: They ended up having three kids together. One girl and two boys. And Ladessa essentially became the stepmom to another child that Brandon had in a previous relationship of his. So altogether they had four kids. Um, in 2012, he was employed for Renegade Well Services. And he and his family moved to San Angelo, Texas almost four hours away from the only home they had known. In August of 2013, he applied for, interviewed for, and drug tested for a different company in the area, so that he could get better pay and more flexible hours. And they were excited for him to have more time at home with his family. Well, after he did all of this, he ended up having a fight with Ladessa. It's been rumored that it was over him relapsing into using meth. It's been rumored that, you know, after he passed this drug test for this new job, he went out and bought him some stuff and went on into it again.

J: Oh, no.

S: Of course, that's just a rumor. They could have been fighting about anything. It's also been rumored that they were fighting because he had been out and gone all day doing all of this stuff, and she was at home with a sick kid. Because I want to say their baby, he was just an infant, had an ear infection, and was running a fever and just being fussy because he's a baby and not feeling well. And she was at home dealing with all that while he was out doing whatever he was doing. And so it's been rumored that the fight was about that. We don't really know. So, on Thursday, August 8, he was having this really huge fight with his girlfriend, Ladessa. And it had to have been pretty intense, because he ended up calling his dad and said, "Hey, Dad, I'm going to come back home to you. And cool off for a couple of days. Like we had this really bad fight. And I just, I need to get away." Anyway. Well, his dad tried to convince him to just you know if he really needed to get out of town, or to get out of his house to go to his brother's house who lived five minutes down the road. So his brother, Kyle, lived in San Angelo as well. He was like, "Just go to your brother's house. Don't drive all the way back home to Crowley."

J: Crowley?

S: Crowley, Texas. Yes, ma'am. 

J: Oh. I think I might have skipped school from there once. 

S: Just once? 

J: We’ll go with just once.

S: Okay, I won't tell. 

J: Okay. 

S: Okay. 

J: Good. 

S: So that his dad didn't want him driving that far away, because it was almost four hours away. And this is 11:30, 11:45 at night. Like, it's late.

J: Wow. I guess he'd probably been up all day as well.

S: I’m assuming so. Ya know? So he was like, "No, Dad. No, I'm coming home." So at 11:54 pm he packed up his truck, and he left the house. Well, 36 minutes later, at about 12:30 am, Brandon, on Friday, August 9 now because it's after midnight, Brandon called his brother Kyle and said, "Dude, my truck just ran out of gas. I'm just south of Bronte, I need you to go get the gas can and bring me some gas." 

J: Okay. 

S: And so Kyle's like, "Okay, fiiiiine."

J: You know, it's amazing that you sound just like he did. 

S: Probably so.

J: I mean, I thought I was sitting in the room with him. "Well, fiiiiine."

S: Well, I have little sisters that have called for help before. So I can only imagine how he felt. 

J: Yes. 

S: So Kyle loads up his girlfriend, Audrey, and their young son. I think he was three at the time. They start heading over to Brandon and Ladessa's house. And so Kyle calls Ladessa and he's like, "Hey, Brandon ran out of gas. I'm gonna need to come get the gas can from your house so I can take it to him and get him some gas." And she was like, "Okay, fine. I'll leave the gas can out on the porch. I'm gonna put my phone in the van and charge it and I'm gonna take a shower and go to bed."

J: My question is why is she charging her phone in the van? 

S: So she's charging her phone in the van because when Brandon left he took the wall chargers. 

J: Oh, okay. Okay. 

S: So he's got the wall chargers for their phones. So the only way for her to charge her phone is in the van. 

J: Alright. 

S: So Kyle gets over there and he gets the gas can and he starts heading out to where Brandon is. At 12:34, 12:36, and 12:48 am, Brandon calls Ladessa. But she doesn't answer. And he doesn't leave any voicemails. 

J: Okay, well, her phone is in the van charging.

S: Well, it, it might be in the van at this point because he did call his brother at 12:30. And then he calls Ladessa at 12:34. But Kyle called Ladessa after he talked to Brandon, and she answered, so I'm thinking she's just not answering his calls because she's pissed off that he left and ran home to Mommy and Daddy after they had a fight instead of staying home and fixing the problem.

J: Yes, plus, I'm mad at you. And fuck off.

S: Kinda what I'm thinking. Or maybe she was on the phone with Kyle when he tried to call her. 

J: Could have been. 

S: So- because from the way I understand it, Kyle called Ladessa like, right after he got off the phone with Brandon. So so she could have been on the phone with his brother.

J: Yes.

S: So he goes and grabs the gas cans and he starts heading out where Brandon is. And it's about half an hour away. During this half hour trip, there were several calls and texts from Brandon. But the spot, the service was really really spotty.

J: Mm hmm.

S: So you know, he, he was dropping in and out of calls and everything else. Well, at 12:50 am Brandon calls 9-1-1. It's a really difficult call to understand. It's very, very garbled, but here's that call.

Recording Time Announcer: Nine, two thousand thirteen, zero fifty and thirty-eight seconds.

Operator: Nine one one emergency.

Brandon:Yes, I'm in the middle of a field. A (inaudible) some guys over. We're out here going towards Abilene on (inaudible) sides. My truck ran out of gas. There's one car here. Got (inaudible) to the woods. Please hurry.

O: Okay, now, run that by me one more time.

B: (inaudible) talking to them. I accidentally ran into them.

O: Ah, you ran into him. Okay.

B: (inaudible) the first guy. 

O: Do you need an ambulance?

B: Yeah, no, I need the cops.

O: Ok. Is anybody hurt? Hello? Hello? Hello? 

S: So what do you think about that? 

J: Uh, wow. Gobbly gook?

S: A lot of gobbledygook. So the thing about that 9-1-1 call is, we're not 100% sure that that is the entire 9-1-1 call. 

J: Okay. 

S: Um, my understanding is that the 9-1-1 call was edited with certain parts of it cut out by the police department in order to keep, you know, certain information away from the family at this point in time, when they, they heard this call. And they were just playing the bits and pieces that we heard in order for them to confirm that it was Brandon on the call. 

J: Okay. 

S: And the recording is really a bad recording anyway, because it's a recording that Ladessa took on her cell phone of the recording that was being played in front of her. So it's not even the clean copy of the recording. 

J: Okay, yes.

S: So that, that's, it's pretty hard to understand. So there's been a lot of people giving hell to the 9-1-1 dispatcher, because she didn't try to get all the information from him that she should have, like, where his location was, who he was, what the problem was, or anything like that, you know, not not necessarily how people would expect a 9-1-1 call to be handled by a dispatcher.

J: Right. But she's trying to get information from him. And it seems like in the call, he's trying, he's trying to give information to show maybe where he's at, but it's, it's so unclear what he's saying.

S: Yes. Well, so she caught a lot of flack, a lot of flack. But to better understand where she's coming from- so at this point in time, the 9-1-1 calls for Coke County, which is where he was at when he made this 9-1-1 call. 

J: Mm hmm. 

S: They were actually routed through a nursing home in Robert Lee at the time because of how small this county is. 

J: Oh, wow. 

S: Coke County is 928 square miles. So it's not a very big county, and the population as of 2010 in this county, the entire county, was 3,320.

J: Oh, yeah. Not, not many at all for an area. I mean, that's pretty big area. But yeah, not many people.

S: So yeah, not many- I live in a tiny, tiny little town in Texas and our population is 10,000. 

J: Wow, there's that many people there? 

S: That- our official population is 10,001. 

J: Oh, wow. Somebody got a dog.

S: Somebody had a baby right before the last census. 

J: Yes. 

S: So yeah. And my town is tiny. We literally have two stoplights. No, no, no, no, we have three. We have three stoplights. 

J: Okay, that's cool. 

S: One by the middle school and the elementary school. 

J: Oh, yeah. 

S: One downtown. And one to get to the street that goes through the town. 

J: Yes. 

S: So we have three stoplights.

J: Ooo. Y'all high tech.

S: We are fancy up there.

J: Mm hmm.

S: So well. Now, however, because of this whole 9-1-1 call issue, a new law as of January 1, 2014, regarding 9-1-1 dispatchers in the state of Texas, all 9-1-1 dispatchers are now required to be trained and certified. 

J: Nice. 

S: Because these calls were answered by the nurses that were on call at a nursing home.

J: Busy with patients and just give me your info. Give me what you got. And I've got other things to do.

S: Yes. Well, now the calls are routed through Tom Green County, which is the county that San Angelo sits in, because it is a much larger county. The county itself is 1,541 square miles. And the population of this county is 110,224 as of 2010. 

J: Wow.

S: So it's, it's much, much larger. 

J: Yes. 

S: Well, anyway, so he makes this 9-1-1 call at 12:50 am. We've got a lot more calls to get through. And a very short time to do it. At 12:51 am, Kyle called Brandon and left a voicemail. Is that because Brandon was on the phone with a 9-1-1? So he didn't answer?

J: Could be. 

S: Maybe, quite possibly. At 12:52, Audrey called Brandon, twice. At 12:54, Kyle called Brandon. At 12:57, Brandon called his neighbor.

J: His neighbor?

S: His neighbor. Of course, nobody, you know, his neighbor didn't answer. So you know, and he didn't leave a voicemail, as far as I could tell. So my guess is maybe because Ladessa wasn't answering her phone, maybe? So he's trying to get his neighbor to go wake her up? Because I mean, he just called 9-1-1 less than 10 minutes before this. 

J: Right. 

S: So you know, maybe he really needs to talk to Ladessa now, but he knows she's not going to answer because she's still pissed off.

J: Right. And maybe he just wants to make sure that Kyle has gotten the gas can and is on his way.

S: Well, he talked to Kyle after that. 

J: Oh. 

S: So you know, I don't know. So at 12:58 Brandon calls Kyle twice. The neighbor calls Brandon back three times. And a trucker that was driving down 277, which is the road that Brandon ran out of gas on, called 9-1-1 about Brandon's truck. He calls and he tells 9-1-1, "Hey, there's this white truck out here on 277," whatever, however, he told them where it was. It's the middle of nowhere out there. So-

J: Truckers go by mile markers a lot. 

S: There’s not mile markers on this road. Because it's-

J: There’s gotta be some somewhere. 

S: It, no there's not. It's more like a Farm to Market road than it is like a bigger highway. 

J: Okay, okay. 

S: So, anyway, so he tells 9-1-1, "Hey, this truck is parked kind of wonky out here. It's like parked on the side of the road on the shoulder of the road out here. But part of it is sticking out into the lane that you know people are supposed to be driving in."

J: Oh yeah. And it's dark and it's a big hazard.

S: And there are no lights out here. There's no streetlights. It's just whatever your headlights light up is what you see. And he's like, you know, "This, this truck is an issue and you something's going on." This particular 9-1-1 phone call and the identity of this caller have never been released to the public.

J: The trucker? 

S: Correct. 

J: Okay. 

S: Of the trucker. 

J: Okay.

S: But because of this call from the trucker Chief Deputy Brandon Neil was dispatched to be, was dispatched to the location of Brandon's truck to check it out. 

J: Okay. 

S: Okay, so at 12:59, Kyle calls Brandon again. At 1:04, the dispatcher calls Brandon back, leaves a voicemail, and calls him back again.

J: And he's still not answering the phone? 

S: Well, he's answering some of these calls.

J: Oh. Okay. 

S: Just not all of them. 

J: Okay.

S: He’s not answering the calls from 9-1-1. You know, he didn't answer the calls from his neighbor. As far as I can tell.

J: Okay. 

S: But, but I do know that some of these calls are being answered, but some of them are not.

J: Do we know what's said in any of these calls that he's speaking with other people on, do we know what the content of these calls are?

S: We know a couple of them. Not, not the ones that have been made so far. But in a couple of the other calls that are coming up, we do know the context of those.

J: Oh. Okay. Okay.

S: So, at 1:09, Brandon calls Kyle three times. At 1:10, Chief Deputy Brandon Neal of the Coke County Sheriff's Office, arrives at Brandon's truck coming from the north. At the same time, Kyle and Audrey get to Brandon's truck coming from the south. 

J: Okay. 

S: So they get to the truck at the same time. And the deputy is like, "Is this your truck?" And Kyle's like, "No, it's not my truck. You know, it's my brother's truck. He ran out of gas and called me and you know, so I have the gas can here to you know, get him gas." And he's like, "Okay, so put gas in the truck so we can move it." Kyle's like, "Well see, the thing is, I don't have any money in my bank account. I was going to pick him up and take him to the gas station, and he was gonna put gas in the gas can and I was gonna bring him back to his truck." 

J: Okay. 

S: So because he, his checks were direct deposited at the time and he was waiting on his check to hit the next day and clear his bank account. So the cop is like, "Okay, so where's your brother?" and Kyle tells him, "You know, well, he must have just, you know, stepped away. Maybe he went over to this random tree eighteen hundred thousand yards away to go pee. Or maybe he's walking up the road, you know, headed to the gas station, you know that I was gonna take him to up in Bronte." The cops like, "Well, I didn't see anybody walking down the road." But he also wasn't looking for anybody walking down the road, either. 

J: Right. 

S: So maybe he did and just didn't notice. 

J: Right. 

S: So he's like, "Okay, so I don't see your brother. Go find your brother. Get him some gas. You know, this truck can't be here. It's, it's in a dangerous, dangerous position." And Kyle's like, "Okay." So Kyle notices that the truck, when he got it, got to the truck, had one of the windows halfway down, the doors to the truck were unlocked, it didn't have any flashers on. And there were no keys, wallet. Nothing. So Brandon took his keys and his wallet and left but he didn't turn the emergency flashers on. 

J: Okay. 

S: And Kyle's like, "God, Brandon, you're such a dummy. You know? Like, why didn't you do that? Come on. Now the cops are here, dude." 

J: Right. 

S: And he's kind of concerned about the cop being there, because they had found out that Brandon had a warrant out for his arrest out of out of Johnson County. But they they knew about this warrant, they had recently found out about this warrant. And they were already in the process of getting it taken care of. They had already gotten a lawyer. They were getting ready to you know, get the warrant lifted and get everything paid off. And it was all gonna be good. 

J: Right. So it might be a good thing. Brandon was not around his truck.

S: Right, because the cop theoretically could have arrested him and taken him in if he wanted to. 

J: Yes. 

S: So Kyle's thinking that Brandon's off hiding from the cop, you know, so he's not too concerned at this point. Um, at 1:12 Kyle called Brandon three times. And at 1:15, Brandon called Kyle twice. At 1:18, while Kyle and the deputy were speaking, Audrey texts, Brandon and she's like, "Hey, there's a cop at your truck, dude," you know, trying to trying to warn him saying, "You know, hey, don't don't come back because there's a cop here. You know, when he leaves me, me and Kyle we'll get you, you know, so just just stay away. Kyle's got it handled." And, but like I said he was in the process of getting it taken care of so, you know, it's not like he was just straight up running from it. 

J: Right. 

S: So at 1:19 Brandon called Kyle and said, "Hey, I'm 10 minutes up the road. I need you to get here pretty quick because I'm bleeding, you know," and then his call drops out again. Well, Kyle figures that you know, he's bleeding because he his legs got scratched up from the bramble and mesquite trees and, and all that that's out there because like I said, that's all that's out here. It's a lot of fields, a lot of the landowners use a lot of it for hunting, and they lease it out for hunting. And I mean, it's just open fields. There's nothing out here.

J: Okay. 

S: In this area.

J: And the good thing is, I mean, he told him, "I'm only 10 minutes away."

S: Yes. Just 10 minutes up the road. So of course, Kyle didn't tell the cop, you know, "Hey, I'm on the phone with my brother. You know, he's right up the road. We'll go get him and it's all good." Because he didn't want his brother to get arrested. He's looking out for his brother. You know? Snitches get stitches, yo. 

J: Exactly. 

S: Just saying. So at this point in time, both Kyle and the deputy had no idea that Brandon had called 9-1-1. 

J: Right. 

S: Which I think is kind of crazy, because Brandon had talked to his brother since he made this 9-1-1 call. But he didn't mention calling 9-1-1 to his brother. I'm thinking if I'm calling 9-1-1, there's a reason for it.

J: Very, very true.

S: If I talk to somebody after that, especially if it's my brother who's coming to get me coming to help me, I'm going to tell him what's going on and say, "Hey, dude, I called 9-1-1. because of this," you know. 

J: Right. 

S: So but at this point, neither one knows that Brandon and called 9-1-1. At 1:30 Deputy Neil turns on the flashers of the truck, rolls the windows up, locks the doors, and calls in to have the truck towed the next, you know, later that morning if it's still there.

J: Okay. 

S: So Kyle- and he leaves. So Kyle and Audrey start driving up and down 277 looking for Brandon. They're yelling out, you know, calling his name and they're cruising slowly up and down this road thinking you know, he's gonna come out now because the cops gone.

J: Right? And he's just he said he was just 10 minutes up the road.

S: Right. So, but there's no Brandon. They can't find him. Well, at this point, Kyle's son starts complaining that he's hungry. You know, he's he's hungry. He's three. So they're hungry, like, every 30 minutes, I swear.

J: Or anytime their eyes are open. Whatever.  It's all the same.

S: True. True. Absolutely. So but his son's getting hungry. So he's like, "Okay, you know, I'll take you home. We'll get you some food. And you know, I'll take you and your mom home and I'll come back out and look for Uncle Brandon again after that." So he takes the gas can and he leaves it in the bed of Brandon's truck thinking you know if Brandon comes back before I get back he can take the gas can, walk the few miles it is up the road into Bronte, and fill the gas can up, come back to his truck and go. 

J: Right. 

S: So they head back to San Angelo. Well, he still calling his brother's phone, Audrey's still calling his brother's phone. He's not answering anymore, you know. And of course out here in the middle of nowhere, there's- the signal is terrible. 

J: Right. 

S: You know. Well, at 3:30 am Brandon's phone becomes unreachable and starts going straight to voicemail. 

J: Oh, I bet his battery died.

S: I bet it did, too. 

J: All these phone calls and everything else. 

S: Absolutely. Well, at 4:30 in the morning, Ladessa woke up, went out to the van, got her phone. She tries to call Brandon. But it goes straight to voicemail. You know it started going straight to voicemail about an hour before. And so she calls Kyle and she's like, "Hey, what's going on? You know?" And Kyle's like, "Well, I got to the truck with the gas can. Brandon wasn't there. I looked for him up and down the road. Yelling for him, calling him. Brandon wasn't there. And now his phone is not ringing. It's going straight to voicemail. And I haven't talked to him since like about 1:15, 1:20 or so, you know." 

J: Oh, wow. 

S: It was actually 1:19 was the last call that he had with Brandon. So about seven o'clock, sun's starting to come up, and Kyle had already been back out looking for Brandon again. So he gets the gas can and takes it into Bronte, fills it up, puts it back in the truck again and he heads back home to San Angelo because at this point his check had cleared the bank. So, sun's coming up and Ladessa starts making phone calls. She calls the Sheriff's Department in Coke County trying to file a missing persons report. Because Brandon's missing and they're like, "Dude, it's been like, seven hours- 

J: Right. 

S: -since you saw him and it's only been like, five hours since he talked to his brother. Plus, he doesn't live here. So we suggest you call somewhere else." So she starts getting the runaround, on getting the missing persons report filed or whatever. At 8:30 in the morning, Brandon's truck is towed away because it was still sitting on the side of the road.

J: They’re pretty fast about towing that stuff off then. That's-

S: Well, I think usually they don't tow them that quickly. But because it was poking out into the lane- 

J: Right. 

S: -and it's a two lane highway, you know, one lane north, one lane south. 

J: Okay. 

S: So and it's, it's poking out into the northbound lane.

J: Yeah, definitely a hazard that definitely needs to be moved. 

S: Definitely a hazard. So I think that's why it was towed so quickly in this case. Um, well, she was finally able, Ladessa was finally able to at least in Coke County, get welfare concern type report filed on Brandon- 

J: Yes. 

S: -because nobody could find him. So she loads up, heads to Bronte, gets a motel room, and starts looking for Brandon on her own since the cops aren't helping her, you know, which I get. He's a grown up. And so the cops are looking at it as he's a grown up, so if he wants to not talk to you, he doesn't have to talk to you. That doesn't mean he's missing.

J: Right. But she probably knows well, if his truck's still there, he's got to be missing if he's not with his truck.

S: Yeah, I'm sure she, yes she knows Brandon way better than these guys do. But they also have their own rules that they have to follo.

J: True. 

S: So, Sunday, August 11, Ladessa conducted an hour long aerial search that she paid for with her own money via a private plane. They didn't find anything. 

J: Okay. 

S: On Monday, August 12, because there has still been no sign or sound or any thing from Brandon, um, the sheriff's office decided to take his welfare concern, and you know what, let's go ahead and upgrade this to a missing person. 

J: Good. 

S: So he is officially a missing- missing person on Monday, August 13, or August 12. Tuesday, August 13, there was an official search done by law enforcement. This included Chief Deputy Brandon Neal, which was the responding officer to his truck being all wonky in the road- 

J: Yes. 

S: Texas Ranger Nick Hanna, so bam, the Texas Rangers are already involved, too. 

J: Wow. 

S: You know, so we're going to get some results, right? 

J: Yes.

S: Because the Texas Rangers don't play. 

J: No.

S: So they search using infrared technology with a Texas DPS helicopter. They didn't find anything either.

J: And they're checking all this area all around his truck, right?

S: Yes, they're checking it like this huge, I have a map that I can show you of this huge area that they're they're searching, you know. On Friday, August 16, there was another search done by law enforcement. It included aerial coverage with infrared lights again. There were also search dogs. They still didn't find anything. I'm kind of thinking that the infrared searching at this point is kind of a moot point. It's, it's been a week. If he had been hurt and died, he's not gonna have a heat signature. 

J: That is true. 

S: He’s gonna be the same temperature as everything around him. 

J: Yes. 

S: So. Yeah, no, um, I don't know. I don't know. I'm not law enforcement. I don't go out and search for people. So I don't know why they would do that. But you know, hey, that's just my thoughts on it. Well, on Saturday, August 24, Ladessa hired another private plane for another aerial search. 

J: Wow. 

S: This one was approximately two hours long. They didn't, they didn't find anything.

J: Oh my God, you're killing me with this.

S: Well, Thursday, August 29, um, there was a 2,500 acre search done with multiple agencies. That included the Coke County Sheriff's Office, the Texas Rangers, San Angelo Fire Department, Tom Green County Sheriff's Office, the DPS highway patrol, the DPS Criminal Investigative Division, and search and rescue tracker dogs.

J: Wow. Seems like you would need all those people and stuff anyway, because that's a lot of area. 

S: Exactly. They didn't find anything.

J: Ugh. Why? Why? 

S: Yeah, they still didn't find anything. Oh! Also of note for that particular search, there were ATVs provided to them to use. And these were provided by Carl Beal of the Texana Ranch in the area.

J: That was really nice of him.

S: So I guess he wanted to make sure that they could get everywhere to search for this guy. 

J: Yeah. 

S: You know, and they can get through more area on ATVs than they could on foot, you know, because this is rough terrain out there. You know, so, you know, high five, Carl Beal. 

J: Yes. 

S: Well, in October, Ladessa goes up, again, in a private plane, for another aerial search that she paid for.

J: Wow, good for her. But does she really? I mean, she's just a average Joe, like you and I, do we really know what we would be looking for?

S: No, but I'm sure she had people up there with her that did. 

J: Oh. Okay. 

S: I would assume anyway. 

J: I would hope so. 

S: But I do know that this particular aerial search that she hired this plane for, um they were actually out looking at different areas that they had marked on some maps that looked different between her first search and her second search- 

J: Oh. Okay. 

S: -in, in the planes. 

J: Okay. 

S: So, so there were, there were areas of interest and anomalies that they had spotted in between these two searches. And so they were going to fly over that again and look some more. 

J: Okay. 

S: They didn't find anything. 

J: Ugh, why? Why do you do this to me?

S: Because, you know you want to know what happens.

J: Yes.

S: So on Thursday, October 24, TexSAR, which the- which is the Texas Search and Rescue, they conducted a grid search with six cadaver dogs, their handlers, and some flankers. 

J: Nice. 

S: The search was actually extended further northeast than originally planned, because one of the dogs showed an interest in that direction. 

J: Okay. 

S: They didn't find anything.

J: Oh, my God. No.

S: Yeah, They, they still didn't find anything. 

J: I thought you said I would know something. 

S: I told you at the beginning that this was not gonna have a conclusion.

J: I know.

S: So at this point in time, law enforcement came out and said, there are not going to be any more official searches done, without new evidence popping up.

J: Oh, no.

S: So unless somebody finds his phone, or his wallet, or his keys, or his clothes, or some sign of Brandon, some physical actual sign, they're not going to do any more searches. 

J: Oh, my God. But that's such a big area. How are you going to find such little stuff? 

S: Yeah, I don't know. So his family and friends were searching up and down 277, as well. However, they weren't allowed to go into the fields and actually search in the fields. They could only search from the road because the homeowners, the the property owners, not homeowners, the property owners weren't giving them permission to search their land. 

J: Probably kind of dangerous. 

S: A lot of people have said, "Oh, it's because somebody is hiding something. They know something. They're hiding something." My thought process on this is like you, you know. There's all these random strangers walking around on my land. If they fall in a hole or get bit by a snake, or, you know, they get gored by a wild boar, I'm going to be liable for that. 

J: Right. Right. 

S: You know, so I can't say that I would have granted permission either, even though I would want this guy found. 

J: Yes. 

S: You know, I would probably go out and search my own land. But I'm not gonna let some stranger come look.

J: Yes, I agree. I agree with that.

S: You know, I've got to protect myself, too. 

J: Yes. 

S: You know, so so I get that. Um, yeah, but that's it. Brandon's still missing.

J: Oh, my goodness. And when was this? This is way back in- 

S: Seven years ago. 

J: Oh, geez. And nothing has ever been found? 

S: Nothing. Nothing has ever been found. At the time of his disappearance, he was 26 years old, five foot nine inches tall. He weighed 230 pounds. He had brown hair and blue eyes. There were multiple tattoos on his arms, back, neck and chest. And he had one pierced ear. There's a scar on his chin and his left knee. And at the time, he was wearing a yellow shirt, camo shorts and size 11 white 2013 Air Max shoes.

J: Wow.

S: So, you know if if you happen to know anything about this, and we'll repeat this information again at the end. But if you happen to know, anything, anything at all this guy's got kids, you know, they deserve to know what happened to their dad. 

J: Well, not only that, his family. 

S: I was getting to that. His parents, you know, have no idea what happened to their son, his brother has no idea what happened to him. Ladessa has no idea what happened to the father of her kids, you know, so but so if you know, anything, anything at all, you can call the Texas DPS Missing Persons Clearinghouse at 512-424-5074.

J: You can also contact the Coke County Sheriff's Office at 325-453-2717.

S: So, there are a lot of theories out there about what actually happened to Brandon. And I just wanted to kind of touch on a couple of those because a lot of them I find kind of laughable, honestly. 

J: Okay. 

S: So the first one that a lot of people subscribe to is the cops were doing something bad and did something to Brandon. 

J: I don't buy that. 

S: They’re, they're convinced that you know, Brandon ran out of gas and he's walking up to the gas station and he comes across the cops doing something they shouldn't be doing, you know, whether it's running drugs or killing somebody or you know, who knows, they have no idea. You know, and and they noticed Brandon witness this and so they killed him and got rid of his body.

J: Um, no.

S: I’m not. I don't think so either. There's just too many issues with that.

J: Oh, way too many.

S: I don't think that happened. But that seems to be the most popular theory. 

J: Wow. That's because nobody likes the cops.

S: Or, okay, I'll say not the most popular theory, but it seems to be neck and neck with our next theory-

J: Which is?

S: He was high on drugs and got hurt, twisted his ankle or something out there and succumbed to the elements and the wild boars ate him.

J: I, I think I could get behind that.

S: I could agree with that one. You know, I'm not saying that's what happened. 

J: No, no.

S: I’m just saying I, I could believe that one. 

J: It is very highly possible because yeah, we have wild boar and- 

S: And they're mean. 

J: And he's not used to the terrain. 

S: No, and it's dark. 

J: Exactly. 

S: You know, I could totally get behind this particular theory.

J: It makes a lot more sense than the first one.

S: Just a little tip. His brother Kyle did an interview with the podcast Crawlspace. 

J: Uh huh. 

S: And in this interview, you'll have to totally go listen to it. So if you're listening to this, go listen to their episode. This is a great episode. You get a lot of information from Kyle that wasn't available before. But in this particular interview that he did with Crawlspace, he said that, yeah, at the time his brother disappeared, he was high.

J: Oh, no.

S: On meth.

J: Well, you know, kind of by the 9-1-1 call, I could see where he definitely, there was, he was having some kind of issues.

S: Yes. So those are the two most popular theories. Um, another one is that, you know, there was a road rage incident. And so that's why his truck was parked crazy because somebody was chasing him. And it ran out of gas. So he just like stopped at the angle that he did so that he could jump out of the driver's side door and take off running and get a little bit of a head start on these guys that were chasing him, you know, using his truck to kind of block the car. 

J: Okay. 

S: Um, and that they caught up with him and killed him and got rid of his body. 

J: You know, I mean, that's totally believable as well. 

S: Yeah, that, that works too. I still think I believe that he was high and got hurt and then the pigs ate him.

J: Yes, yes. 

S: Um, and one more theory that I kinda want to touch on. A lot of people think that he staged this disappearance. And he ran off. And he's living down in Mexico with a new girlfriend, a new life.

J: But he didn't have any money.

S: No, he didn't take any money. He didn't take anything. He had his wallet and his cell phone, and whatever he had in his wallet. 

J: Wow. And you know, in his wallet, he's gonna have an ID. So if he gets stopped going into Mexico, they're gonna know he's there. 

S: Yeah, yeah. So you know, I don't really buy that one either. A lot of people have said that. Number one, they just laugh at this theory, because Brandon never would have left his kids. 

J: That’s what I was thinking. 

S: They said that he was a very, very devoted father. And he never would have left his kids. 

J: Yes. 

S: No matter what. I mean, he was still very active in his daughter's life, his oldest daughter from a previous relationship, even though he now lived hours away from her. 

J: Right. 

S: He still saw her as much as he could and was always there for her.

J: Yeah, I don't I don't see him skipping out. 

S: And I don't either. I really, really don't.

J: No. 

S: So, but yeah, that's pretty much the case of Brandon Lawson. Again, if you know anything, give Texas DPS Missing Persons Clearinghouse a call at 512-424-5074. 

J: Or the Coke County Sheriff's Office at 325-453-2717. Let's bring Brandon home. 

S: Absolutely. Thanks for listening today. Be sure to tune in next week for another episode of Crime With My Coffee.

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