TX TX - Brandon Lawson, 26, San Angelo, 8 Aug 2013 #6

[Force Ten]

But she answered a call from KL about the gas can during the time her phone was supposedly in her car charging. According to the timeline her phone is in the car charging, she misses three calls from BL between 12:34 and 12:38.

After that, while her phone should still be in the car charging, she answers a call from KL in which he relays BL is out of gas and he's (KL) coming to borrow their gas can. She said she'll leave it on the porch because she's going to shower or had just gotten out of the shower, maybe, and go to bed.

Does she randomly check the phone at some point? Did she ignore the 3 earlier calls and put the phone on charge after KL called?

It’s peculiar but I’m sure there’s a rational explanation. Even if she weren’t 100% forthcoming or lying it doesn’t change the fact that Brandon was in the middle of nowhere, out of gas, in trouble and has since gone missing. It’s not detrimental to know where her phone was.

 

[Keyedin]

It’s peculiar but I’m sure there’s a rational explanation. Even if she weren’t 100% forthcoming or lying it doesn’t change the fact that Brandon was in the middle of nowhere, out of gas, in trouble and has since gone missing. It’s not detrimental to know where her phone was.

True. And I’m not as familiar with this case as others are, but I’ve been listening to the True Crime Garage podcasts on the 911 call and the subsequent update they did. They mentioned him making a comment to KL along the lines of LL sent somebody after him.

Has this basically just been dismissed as a rambling since his brother has stated he believes Brandon was on under the influence of drugs at the time of his disappearance?

 

[nannymo]

That is a point I seemed to have missed. I need to look at the timeline again, but I was always under the impression she talked to Kyle to go get gas, took her phone to the car and showered and went to bed. Good observation. She did have a sick child. Double ear infection....was angry at BL because he had been "out of pocket"* a long time and she was home with a sick baby.

<modsnip>
I have never been 100% happy with KL explanation of the events that night. He never spoke about it for a couple of years I think. As for someone chasing him from the neighborhood, I think that is totally in sync with some of the things that transpired.

I don't think he was tripping for one reason. I think I understand most of the 911 call. I'm from the area. understand his Texas dialect and understand the biggest majority of what he says.
1. "Someone chased me into the woods." "I'm in a field". One side of the highway is pasture land...mesquite trees, cedar shrub etc., Could be construed as woods but not what most Texans call woods. The other side of the highway is a field of coastal bermuda grass (hay) along with some homes. Did he cross the road and run into the field if someone was chasing him? That would be the side of the truck he got out of. In other words, did he jump out of the drivers door, slam it and run across the road to the field? Or did he jump out of the truck, run around the truck and run into the "woods"? What would you do if you were being chased by someone and ran out of gas? If being chased it had to start in San Angelo I am thinking. Makes sense why he didn't fill up with gas before he left. He was in a big hurry. When I leave San Angelo to drive to Abilene, it is the first think I look at because gas stations are few between there going through Bronte.
2. "I've got one of em"....this speaks volumes to me because I am 100% convinced another person answers yes to Brandon's no when asked "do you need an ambulance". I think the clues tell us someone else was there with BL, the others came and overpowered BL, saved the guy he had, harmed BL and took him with them. Someone else could have been driving a vehicle on the highway and came back around somehow and picked them up.

The only other scenario to me is he was making or interrupted a drug deal and it went bad. Could very well have happened under the same circumstances. That is a very lonely dark road at night. It is well traveled tho.

I really don't think we will ever know what happened to BL. I think his body is a ways off from Bronte.

 

[cnmccarthy]

That is a point I seemed to have missed. I need to look at the timeline again, but I was always under the impression she talked to Kyle to go get gas, took her phone to the car and showered and went to bed. Good observation. She did have a sick child. Double ear infection....was angry at BL because he had been "out of pocket"* a long time and she was home with a sick baby.

<modsnip>
I have never been 100% happy with KL explanation of the events that night. He never spoke about it for a couple of years I think. As for someone chasing him from the neighborhood, I think that is totally in sync with some of the things that transpired.

I don't think he was tripping for one reason. I think I understand most of the 911 call. I'm from the area. understand his Texas dialect and understand the biggest majority of what he says.
1. "Someone chased me into the woods." "I'm in a field". One side of the highway is pasture land...mesquite trees, cedar shrub etc., Could be construed as woods but not what most Texans call woods. The other side of the highway is a field of coastal bermuda grass (hay) along with some homes. Did he cross the road and run into the field if someone was chasing him? That would be the side of the truck he got out of. In other words, did he jump out of the drivers door, slam it and run across the road to the field? Or did he jump out of the truck, run around the truck and run into the "woods"? What would you do if you were being chased by someone and ran out of gas? If being chased it had to start in San Angelo I am thinking. Makes sense why he didn't fill up with gas before he left. He was in a big hurry. When I leave San Angelo to drive to Abilene, it is the first think I look at because gas stations are few between there going through Bronte.
2. "I've got one of em"....this speaks volumes to me because I am 100% convinced another person answers yes to Brandon's no when asked "do you need an ambulance". I think the clues tell us someone else was there with BL, the others came and overpowered BL, saved the guy he had, harmed BL and took him with them. Someone else could have been driving a vehicle on the highway and came back around somehow and picked them up.

The only other scenario to me is he was making or interrupted a drug deal and it went bad. Could very well have happened under the same circumstances. That is a very lonely dark road at night. It is well traveled tho.

I really don't think we will ever know what happened to BL. I think his body is a ways off from Bronte.

100% agree. I have never really trusted the opinion of his brother that he was under the influence. There was definitely someone else there with him and it also makes absolutely no sense for him to hide if he called the police.

 

[nannymo]

Yes! And there is no way he could have been at the bridge and saw KL at the truck. Get on Google maps and drive it!

It doesn't make sense when KL says he could see the light of BL's phone in the bushes and thought he was just hiding from LE. What bush was he behind?

 

[Force Ten]

Yes! And there is no way he could have been at the bridge and saw KL at the truck. Get on Google maps and drive it!

It doesn't make sense when KL says he could see the light of BL's phone in the bushes and thought he was just hiding from LE. What bush was he behind?

Where did he say he was on the bridge?

 

[Force Ten]

<modsnip - not victim friendly>
If BL ran away from his car in a panic why did he bother turning off the ignition and taking out the keys and turning off the headlights and shutting the door behind him?

Also someone must have gotten into the truck after the sheriff left because the sheriff said the truck was not in any disarray, but then after the cop locked it up and left, someone got into it because when they picked it up from the tow yard someone had removed the door panels. supposedly BL was the only one with a key.

Technically speaking, it’s all desert out there. And he absolutely could have succumbed to dehydration or hypothermia.

Why would it be in his best interest for people to believe he was high? This makes zero sense. Do you think he faked his disappearance?

<modsnip - reference in quoted post snipped>

If BL ran away from his car in a panic why did he bother turning off the ignition and taking out the keys and turning off the headlights and shutting the door behind him?

He was out of gas. There’s nothing to indicate he was running from his vehicle at any point. His phone call to 911 was long after he left his truck.

<modsnip>

 

[nannymo]

Where did he say he was on the bridge?

It has been mentioned in the thread discussions that BL could have been by the bridge when he said he was 10 minutes up the rode.

BL never said he was by the bridge, but the phone supposedly pinged close to the bridge/river.

 

[Force Ten]

It has been mentioned in the thread discussions that BL could have been by the bridge when he said he was 10 minutes up the rode. Furthermore, why would he keep walking away from his truck if he knew his brother was coming to give him gas? Furthermore, why would he continue to walk away from his truck if he knew his brother was coming to give him gas?

BL never said he was by the bridge, but the phone supposedly pinged close to the bridge/river.

Well the bridge is over a mile from where the truck was. For one, I doubt he could walk that distance in 10 minutes. Maybe by the time KL got there. He definitely wouldn’t be able to see his phone light, even at a distance of a few hundred yards.

His phone pinged a tower near the bridge, it doesn’t mean that his phone or he was by the tower or bridge. A phone can ping a tower from several miles away. It’s not like GPS.

 

[nannymo]

I agree you cannot see from the river(bridge) to where BL ran out of gas. That is what I was saying. I will find the interview KL was doing where he talks about the bridge and BL could see him at his truck. IIRC it was when he told him to run Bro run. I will find it and make my opinion a little clearer. Sorry I was not clear on what I was talking about.

 

[Jason Watts]

I agree you cannot see from the river(bridge) to where BL ran out of gas. That is what I was saying. I will find the interview KL was doing where he talks about the bridge and BL could see him at his truck. IIRC it was when he told him to run Bro run. I will find it and make my opinion a little clearer. Sorry I was not clear on what I was talking about.

This is partially true. If Brandon was under the bridge he wouldn't have been able to see Kyle. But he may not have been under the bridge. He may have been standing near it or beside it before it drops off to the river. If that's the case he would have been able to see Kyle's headlights. Deputy Neal saw the headlights from kyles car as he was turning around and parking on the opposite side of the road from Brandon's truck

 

[Sgt. Pepper]

It's just recently come to my attention that that town didn't have traditional 911 dispatchers. When a person in that area calls 911 it rings the ER dept. at the towns hospital. So you've got nurses, medical staff answering 911 calls whenever they aren't busy. So I think if it had been a trained 911 operator she would have been more thorough.

 

[nannymo]

Actually Sgt. Pepper, it rang at a nursing home the night BL called.

And yes Jason, he might have been able to see headlights but I don't think he could have noticed whose car it was coming from. That is just my opinion from driving that road hundreds of times.

 

[Sgt. Pepper]

Oh wow. That just doesn't seem logical to be set up like that. Poor guy.

 

[everybodhi]

Actually Sgt. Pepper, it rang at a nursing home the night BL called.

And yes Jason, he might have been able to see headlights but I don't think he could have noticed whose car it was coming from. That is just my opinion from driving that road hundreds of times.

Brandon called K as he was pulling up to his vehicle, maybe he saw headlights and called to confirm it was him? That was the last call Brandon ever made, allegedly.
I don’t know how reliable K’s memory really is of the sequence of events that night.
Too bad K soon left the scene without his bro and when he came back later that night/morning, it was too late.

 

[Jason Watts]

Actually Sgt. Pepper, it rang at a nursing home the night BL called.

And yes Jason, he might have been able to see headlights but I don't think he could have noticed whose car it was coming from. That is just my opinion from driving that road hundreds of times.

Are you from the area?

 

[nannymo]

Are you from the area?

I live in Abilene, my kids and grand kids used to live in San Angelo, I know a couple of people from there as I have a family member who used to teach there. Lived here all my life and know the area well.

 

[Jason Watts]

I live in Abilene, my kids and grand kids used to live in San Angelo, I know a couple of people from there as I have a family member who used to teach there. Lived here all my life and know the area well.

Next time I'm in the area I'll give you a shout

 

[Ozoner]

This is a case that I revisit only occasionally due to the lack of significant developments.

I spent the last couple of hours getting caught up.

I am now 100% convinced that foul play was not involved but rather that Brandon, high on meth and wandering around in the dark, ended up drowning in the Colorado River and simply wasn't found.

 

[nannymo]

The Colorado River only had a few inches of water in it at the time. Drought that year. It is seldom deep enough in that area to float a boat....unless there is a heavy rain and then it goes back to low.....