TX TX - Brandon Lawson, 26, San Angelo, 8 Aug 2013 - #1

[Hejlena]

Ok don't throw tomatoes at me: I woke up this morning with this young man on my mind, and my first thought was "this could very well have been staged".

That would explain the lack of information from friends and family. It would explain the seeming lack of interest on the part of law enforcement.

Brandon had felony warrants. And yes it would be cruel and misguided to do to his children, but so is dealing drugs.

 

[ChuckieD]

Ok don't throw tomatoes at me: I woke up this morning with this young man on my mind, and my first thought was "this could very well have been staged".

That would explain the lack of information from friends and family. It would explain the seeming lack of interest on the part of law enforcement.

Brandon had felony warrants. And yes it would be cruel and misguided to do to his children, but so is dealing drugs.

I really can't see him disappearing from his kid's lives for the sake of not doing a bit of jail time. Why would he run now? He'd known about the warrant for some time, seems a bit odd to choose a day years later to disappear.

I do, however, think that his family have an idea of what did happen and have lied about events for whatever reason. To protect their own back, to avoid having Social Services sniffing around, to protect Brandon's character, who knows but I definitely think they know more than they are letting on. I don't think any questions will ever be answered though, by the time they find Brandon it's unlikely his remains will give any clues by this stage.

 

[Desertwind]

I think the warrants were more likely to be fines than much jail time, because LL stated they were saving to pay them. Not sure that possession, even if you did jail time, would be a reason to abandon your kids. But, I haven't actually seen the charges, so who knows.
This case has started to get more attention, which is good. Some big questions though, and I have to give LE the benefit of the doubt.

 

[Hejlena]

I really can't see him disappearing from his kid's lives for the sake of not doing a bit of jail time. Why would he run now? He'd known about the warrant for some time, seems a bit odd to choose a day years later to disappear.

I do, however, think that his family have an idea of what did happen and have lied about events for whatever reason. To protect their own back, to avoid having Social Services sniffing around, to protect Brandon's character, who knows but I definitely think they know more than they are letting on. I don't think any questions will ever be answered though, by the time they find Brandon it's unlikely his remains will give any clues by this stage.

Bbm. Respectfully, this is only one of the disjointed stories we are hearing from LL. Common sense leads me to agree with you, but nothing about this makes any sense.

The upside of this scenerio, if there is one, is that he would be alive.

 

[Psychic Sleuth]

Interesting thoughts and comments from everyone! I could definitely see him saying "Stater" in that tape if that's a term some people use.
As far as the warrant goes, we don't really know the details. LL did mention saving money to take care of it. Is it fines/fees? She also mentioned contacting a bail bondsman so that part is confusing. BUT she also said he'd been at his job for a while (13 months or something?) and they had lived in the same home for that time, so if that's the case and it was something real serious he certainly could have been found and arrested. Warrants can be something as simple as not paying a speeding ticket or fines.

I did read about the pregnant woman sighting of the truck being parked on one side then the other on her way back to San Angelo. I have no idea if this is true or not but it's interesting. I wish we could dig up more or she would come forward with more info.

I do feel LL has been less than honest and forthcoming and that is always going to put some doubt in people's minds. If not for the 911 call I might think Brandon ran off and is in hiding.

I also read about the sheriff owning some property out there but again, I have no idea if that is fact or fiction.

techpuppy, thanks for the Verizon map. Going to look at that now. I know LL posted an actual picture of a lone cell phone tower out there and I think that's where they got the original ping data. It seems that since then the PI was able to get gps data.

Also rumored is that Brandon called his friend and said he was being chased from Walmart. I just can't find any information other than that. Certainly that might explain him heading out 277 with no gas.

 

[Psychic Sleuth]

Okay. Based on what information I can find: There is a verizon tower between San Angelo and Bronte. The image I've attached is an approximation of the coverage from that tower. It is only showing the coverage from the one tower. There are others more distant in the area which might fill in some spaces shown.

What do the different shades of blue represent? His truck was a ways past this tower past where hwy 277 takes a turn to the left.

 

[TRL]

I'm new to reading up on this case, so please forgive me if this has been discussed, but it sounds like on the 911 call, he says, "I'm in the middle of a field", but then it also sounds like he says something like "They're chasing me into the woods" or someone is going "into the woods"? I also hear something about "the first guy", possibly. This is all SO strange. He sounds so out of breath to me on the call, so I really think someone (or multiple people) were after him or he was scared of them for some reason. I hope they find answers soon.

Him hitting someone, but then running out of gas seems so strange to me, though. What are the odds that both incidents would occur? If he had just hit someone, I could see that person (or people) becoming violent (my husband and I just recently had a guy point a gun at us from his car because we weren't going fast enough for him), but he hit someone AND ran out of gas?? Is it possible he hit them and then tried to run from the accident, ran out of gas and they caught up with him? But then why wouldn't the other people just report the accident? Weird.

 

[TRL]

I'm trying to read and catch up to the latest, but have they ever said if there was any damage to the truck, as if he had been in an accident?

 

[Desertwind]

There was no damage to the truck. I think he may have meant "ran into" as in 'met up with" not an actual accident.

 

[techpuppy]

What do the different shades of blue represent? His truck was a ways past this tower past where hwy 277 takes a turn to the left.

The triangle represents the tower location. The grayish blue is the strongest signal area. The medium blue is a lower signal level. And the light blue would be a fairly weak signal area -from that particular tower. The uncolored areas would be little or no service. The problem is that I tracked down about a dozen Verizon towers within a 35 mile range- some obviously targeting in-town users. There is going to be some overlap from other towers possibly. The map just indicates where the signal should reach based on terrain and distance. Based on tower coordinates, this one seemed to be the one most likely used.

 

[Psychic Sleuth]

He never said he "hit" someone. He said he ran into them and I believe he meant like ran into them like you or I would run into an old friend at the grocery store. I think LE/the dispatcher took that to mean he HIT someone. That's where the words got twisted. There was no damage to the truck.

 

[Psychic Sleuth]

The triangle represents the tower location. The grayish blue is the strongest signal area. The medium blue is a lower signal level. And the light blue would be a fairly weak signal area -from that particular tower. The uncolored areas would be little or no service. The problem is that I tracked down about a dozen Verizon towers within a 35 mile range- some obviously targeting in-town users. There is going to be some overlap from other towers possibly. The map just indicates where the signal should reach based on terrain and distance. Based on tower coordinates, this one seemed to be the one most likely used.

And the white areas would basically be no service? If you look to the left of where his truck was there are light blue/white areas. It seems to be a better signal to the right or east of hwy 277.

 

[Psychic Sleuth]

It's really hard to compare the Verizon map to google maps but the best I can tell is the location of his truck is just about when it turns into the light blue area. Where hwy 158 hits 277 is in the town of Bronte. He wasn't that far yet. To the right side of the highway he would have had better reception then to the left. Of course you wouldn't know that when out there. He would have had better service to the south of the truck location also-again he wouldn't have known. To the left it's all light blue and even white in places. So that certainly could explain the poor cell service.

 

[techpuppy]

It's really hard to compare the Verizon map to google maps but the best I can tell is the location of his truck is just about when it turns into the light blue area. Where hwy 158 hits 277 is in the town of Bronte. He wasn't that far yet. To the right side of the highway he would have had better reception then to the left. Of course you wouldn't know that when out there. He would have had better service to the south of the truck location also-again he wouldn't have known. To the left it's all light blue and even white in places. So that certainly could explain the poor cell service.

And that would seem to indicate that the later dropped calls would have been made in the area on the west side of the road if he is the one who made them. It will be interesting to see where that last, more accurate ping registered if that information is released.

 

[Psychic Sleuth]

And that would seem to indicate that the later dropped calls would have been made in the area on the west side of the road if he is the one who made them. It will be interesting to see where that last, more accurate ping registered if that information is released.

There's a little pocket of light blue to the right (east side) of the road in the area where his truck was too. Basically, best I can tell his truck was in a poor cell phone reception area. So that would go along with Kyle's story of the calls continuing to get dropped.

I am so bothered by the use of the word "FUGITIVE" in the recent article. IIRC the warrant stems back to 2005. Brandon would have been what 18 years old? He's just a kid/very young man to me, 26 years old with 4 kids. I'm not condoning drug use/sales or whatever but does this mean he doesn't deserve to be found? I am irked! I was also very irked over the Observer articles. Something in them really rubs me the wrong way. They seem to be more interested in painting him as a hardened criminal than a human being who is missing, who called 911 asking for help and who IMO is likely deceased.

 

[Hejlena]

He never said he "hit" someone. He said he ran into them and I believe he meant like ran into them like you or I would run into an old friend at the grocery store. I think LE/the dispatcher took that to mean he HIT someone. That's where the words got twisted. There was no damage to the truck.

No damage to the truck but on the slower verson of Techpuppy's 911 I hear Brandon say, (exhale) "I accidentally ran into 'em". Jmo, but that part I'm sold on. For me, this rules out running into someone in the "collegial" sense.

Not questioning your theory PsychicSleuth-I know you've put a lot of work in here. Just my two cents.

 

[docbh]

I've had a thought that I haven't shared yet, I haven't listened to the tape myself, but with regards to him saying Viper/Cipher or anything along those lines:

People have mentioned the make of a car, like a Dodge Viper, but I also wondered if it could be the name of a trucking company or piece of equipment or something else from the oil field. I googled and found a few oil field services companies in Texas with "Viper" in the name, and I know when I was out near that area recently I saw a lot of large tanker trucks and other equipment trucks rolling through these sort of two lane roads.

The only other possibility I could think of would be if it was a name linked to a motorcycle club or a gang he knew from whatever brief time he spent in prison, but I can't find any known Texas gangs with Viper in the name, at least from my rudimentary searchings.

I do think "run into" in this context means "came upon" as his truck supposedly had no damage, unless he accidentally bumped someone in a parking lot or something (low speed) that wouldn't have left a mark but might've made someone angry. I'd love to have seen whatever camera footage might exist at either end of that stretch of road for the hours surrounding the incident but I'm sure it's all been overwritten by now.

 

[TRL]

He never said he "hit" someone. He said he ran into them and I believe he meant like ran into them like you or I would run into an old friend at the grocery store. I think LE/the dispatcher took that to mean he HIT someone. That's where the words got twisted. There was no damage to the truck.

Thanks! Like I said, I'm still trying to catch up on all of the posts, so I might be a little behind on everything y'all have discussed so far. Before I comment anymore, I'm going to finish catching up, so I'm not asking questions and rehashing things you've already talked about. Thanks again! :seeya:

 

[Psychic Sleuth]

No damage to the truck but on the slower verson of Techpuppy's 911 I hear Brandon say, (exhale) "I accidentally ran into 'em". Jmo, but that part I'm sold on. For me, this rules out running into someone in the "collegial" sense.

Not questioning your theory PsychicSleuth-I know you've put a lot of work in here. Just my two cents.

I hear "I totally ran into em" but even if the word is accidentally, someone can run into someone accidentally in that sense. He's walking through the woods and accidentally comes upon some people that he didn't know were there. He accidentally ran into em.

Accidentally = 5 syllables
Totally = 3 syllables

I absolutely don't hear a 5 syllable word after the word I. But with the tape being what it is and the (what I consider slurred speech) I suppose it could be.

 

[Psychic Sleuth]

I've had a thought that I haven't shared yet, I haven't listened to the tape myself, but with regards to him saying Viper/Cipher or anything along those lines:

People have mentioned the make of a car, like a Dodge Viper, but I also wondered if it could be the name of a trucking company or piece of equipment or something else from the oil field. I googled and found a few oil field services companies in Texas with "Viper" in the name, and I know when I was out near that area recently I saw a lot of large tanker trucks and other equipment trucks rolling through these sort of two lane roads.

The only other possibility I could think of would be if it was a name linked to a motorcycle club or a gang he knew from whatever brief time he spent in prison, but I can't find any known Texas gangs with Viper in the name, at least from my rudimentary searchings.

I do think "run into" in this context means "came upon" as his truck supposedly had no damage, unless he accidentally bumped someone in a parking lot or something (low speed) that wouldn't have left a mark but might've made someone angry. I'd love to have seen whatever camera footage might exist at either end of that stretch of road for the hours surrounding the incident but I'm sure it's all been overwritten by now.

There is a piece of heavy equipment called a scraper. I had contemplated that in the beginning.

Viper in the name of oil field service companies is interesting.