Transcript of BlogTalk Radio interview with Brandon Lawson's wife, Part 2
January 27, 2014
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/newcolony/2014/01/28/monday-with-orion
Key to Participants:
H: Host
LL: Brandon's wife
Caller: A call-in guest
(Any unexplained snips are just extraneous wordy bits; you're not missing any vital info, I promise.)
H: Now, I was trying to think of a way to phrase this question. I was going to ask, were there any other instances where y'all may have got in a fight and left the house for a little bit, but let me rephrase that. Being with someone for an extended amount of time, things like that happen sometimes. When it had happened before, what's the longest he'd stayed away?
LL: Never. I mean like 30 minutes or an hour. I mean, we usually didn't like leave. When we got in a fight, we learned to deal with things.
H: It'd be a little thing where he'd leave the house, get out there and he'd say, I need to get back in there so we can work it out. It's never been an amount of time (unintelligible).
LL: No, hm-mm. Me and Brandon separated a couple of times in our relationship, but other than when we were way younger. We grew up together, but it wasn't for long periods of time. We grew up together. We were fifteen and sixteen when we met. I mean, we grew up together. Ten years. We definitely grew up and, you know, grown to be stronger at the end than the beginning. We worked together through everything, and we were teen parents also. I had my daughter when I was eighteen, and I was pregnant when I was seventeen, and that's very hard but we got through it and we were stronger than ever at the end. I just don't understand why this has happened. I just don't.
H: And I can understand that. <snip intermission> We do have someone that did have some questions. L, are you there?
Caller: Yes, I am.
H: Okay, L, this is L and she's, are you a private investigator, or what are you? I'm sorry.
Caller: No, I'm not a private investigator. I do have a Bachelor's in Criminal Justice. I do have my crime scene tech certificate and I have worked with law enforcement from a forensic standpoint, so listening to everything that's going on, L, my criminal justice mind is going a million miles an hour.
LL: Yeah, most people I talk to, that's how it feels like. What is going on? I don't know. I really don't know. I believe the county Brandon went missing in, unfortunately, is a small county and they don't have a lot of money and a lot of those cops are not paid like they, you know, they're underpaid. So I really don't know what's going on, but we do have a Texas Ranger involved, and the only reason why he's involved is because the sheriff asked him to because they're so small and they don't have the resource that the Ranger has. But Brandon, unfortunately, they said there's no foul play. I don't think it should be a matter of there's foul play or not. I mean, you call 911 and you ask for help, if there's foul play involved or not, every missing person, they need to be found. If they're missing for six months and they haven't touched their money in the bank, something's not right. I think if it was a woman...
Caller: Now, L, have you and family and neighbors and friends come together to go out to the area and do your own search?
LL: Yes, I did at first. The landowners were letting me search. Let's see, on that Friday when Brandon went missing, me and his brother searched all day that day, and we had some other friends come and help us. We didn't have much friends down there because we didn't really know anybody. Brandon and K, they worked in the oilfields. They worked 75, 80 hours a week. They didn't have time to meet friends. They were working. We did a search, when the family came down Saturday night, we did a search and we had about twelve to fourteen people and then, on that Sunday, I also took a plane that night and I flew and I paid for it to try to see if I could see buzzards or anything. But I didn't see anything, but you can't get real low in a plane also.
Caller: Now, when you guys went out there and did your own searches on the ground, how many people did you have with you?
LL: Twelve to fourteen.
H: Okay. So about how far apart were you guys from each other?
LL: Well, we all broke into two so we could search the area more. Some of us went on the other side of the truck and some of us went on the the other side of the truck. You know, both ways, the north and the south side so both of us went, two of us. And then, at the end, we saw some buzzards and we saw about ten of them and it was pretty far out. It was like a mile, I want to say about like a mile, almost a mile out there, and we were able to get there and there was more buzzards but it was just a dead raccoon, and six of us was out there looking in that area.
Caller: Now, surrounding the truck, that area, is there fields and wooded areas on both sides of the road?
LL: Yeah, it's 30 miles of straight land. Where Brandon went missing, it's 30 miles straight land until you get into Bronte. So it's a lot of land. There's nothing out there.
Caller: And were they able to actually locate his cell phone, or just got a ping?
LL: Just a ping. No, they wasn't able to get his cell phone.
Caller: Okay, is some of the problems associated with possibly finding his phone the fact that it may not be on or the battery is dead?
LL: Yeah, it went dead that night. The last ping that Brandon had was at 1:19 in the morning, but my brother-in-law, K, he said that Brandon's phone was on until 3:30 in the morning because he was calling it and it kept on ringing and ringing and ringing and ringing. Brandon's phone, because I knew, because when he was on location in the oilfield, I couldn't get ahold of him sometimes because he didn't have no service. So it goes to 41 seconds and then it will go to voicemail, and so he didn't have no service but his phone was on until 3:30 in the morning. That's why I feel like Brandon's out there because, if not, if Brandon would've got service anywhere on that highway or got a ride or somebody picked him up, there would have been some kind of service. You know what I mean?
Caller: Well, yeah, and he was able to have some service to be able to call his brother and 911 to begin with.
LL: Yeah, but when you get out there in those fields, I have the same phone company and I went out there in the fields when I searched and took my phone so far and then I saw it out of service. I didn't have any service, so far. I was just trying to see when the service stopped.
H: That was a good idea. Now, a question that I did ask you, that I may have a follow-up with it or L may, is that it was obvious that he did not go or walk along the side of the road.
LL: I don't know if he could've walked on the side of the road when he first ran out of gas and then went out in the field. I really don't know.
H: Okay, so he may not have entered the field right where the truck was?
LL: No. I think Brandon, you know, Brandon stated on his 911 call that he was in the middle of the field, so Brandon was somewhere in the field. He wasn't on the side of the highway. Because when the cop came, he didn't see Brandon and then when K came, he never saw anybody walking, so both of them came from the opposite directions.
H: Oh, I didn't realize that. So the officer came from one way and K came from the other way, and neither one of them saw him.
LL: No, they did not.
H: Okay, I didn't realize that for some reason. I had the image of K pulling up or an officer pulling up, and the other person pulling up behind him. Now, when we spoke last night, you said that there was a store four and half miles away, or approximately four miles away from where Brandon's truck was, correct?
LL: Yes. Yes, sir.
H: Okay, and would he have passed that store to where he was at or was he still yet to get to that store? Do you see what I'm saying?
LL: No. Yeah, well, because if you leave from San Angelo, you have to go into Bronte to get gas. See, San Angelo and Bronte are about, if you go into town, it's about, I don't know, 37, 38 miles all the way, how fast you go. And if you leave San Angelo and don't get gas in the middle, you pretty much have to get gas in Bronte.
H: All right, so he had not yet made it to Bronte?
LL: No, he was in Bronte. You know, it's Bronte but he didn't make it to the town.
H: Oh, yeah, he didn't make it to where the services were?
LL: Yeah. Yes.
H: And L, did you have anything to follow that one up with?
Caller: <snip> I want to go back to the 911 call a little bit, L, that they told you about. Did they tell you that someone was chasing Brandon?
LL: The cops, or when I listened to it?
Caller: When you listened to it and the cops, did they tell you or did you hear that someone was chasing him?
LL: I heard it on the 911 call. The Ranger kind of told me a little bit but the sheriff, he said it was in and out. So it is a little bit in and out, but I could hear Brandon. Like some of the words I don't, some of the things you don't understand, but you understand mostly all of it.
Caller: Okay, so some of the things that you can remember Brandon saying were what?
LL: Just that somebody was after him and that he needed help and he needed a cop, and he said he was talking to them and then he ran into them. He never said that he hit somebody or somebody hit him. I don't know what Brandon meant by that but, then he said he was in the middle of the field, and then at the end she was like, is anybody hurt? She goes, do you need an ambulance? He said yes, and then he said no, I need a cop. So he said yes and he said no, so I really don't know what Brandon meant. I think about it all the time. For me it's emotional. I'm not going to want to say somebody hurt Brandon but, now that it's been this long, do we know that somebody hurt Brandon? We don't know. I don't know what to think sometimes.
Caller: <snip> Had Brandon or you been drinking at all that night?
LL: No, uh-uh.
Caller: Okay. Because I know that can be a factor and I just wanted to clear that part up too, in case there was any question.
LL: Brandon does have a, Brandon's been to prison a couple of times but they were like, not really big charges but when he was younger. It took Brandon a little bit to grow up but he was a good person. He would do anything for anybody and he was a good dad and he worked hard for his kids and for me and to support us. We were fortunate enough that I got to stay at home for a little bit with the kids and he worked and made all the money. I mean, he was good to us. He would do anything for his family, so I don't understand why this has happened, you know?
Caller: Right. <snip> Now you said that they have brought a Texas Ranger in that is now helping with this investigation. What are his thoughts and what are his plans to help further this investigation?
LL: Well, I know the sheriff and him are like both on the same, you know, side to side, but they're half and half. Half of them think Brandon's alive and half of them think he's not, so they don't know, because there's just no clue. It's just like Brandon vanished without a trace. I know the Texas Ranger did get CrimeStoppers to take the case, I think after five weeks, I'm pretty sure. No, it was seven weeks, CrimeStoppers took the case. They still haven't got but a couple of CrimeStoppers calls and it was just saying someone looked like Brandon, and I saw the pictures on one of the guys and it looked like Brandon, his features but it wasn't Brandon. We're from a small community. We went to high school in Joshua, a little country town. If somebody, if Brandon was out there, we would've got lots of CrimeStoppers or just something to go on, leads. Somebody out there knows something, but we haven't got none of that and it's been almost six months. There hasn't been one break on anything, so that's why I feel like Brandon's out there.
Caller: <snip> The cops that showed up, did they show up because of the truck driver calling in about Brandon's truck, or were they showing up because Brandon had called 911?
LL: What they told me is that a stranded motorist called 911. They really didn't give us details of what there was. I'm trying to remember everything and I pretty much do but, when this first happened, it was such a daze, I didn't even know. It was a lot, and such a daze but no, they just said the 911 call was from a stranded motorist and that night, when I called, they just said there was a 911 call that (unintelligible). Because I called at 4:30 in the morning and I talked to the dispatcher, and she just said that Deputy Sheriff BN, he turned on the hazard lights, the blinkers, and he locked the truck. He just said that a stranded motorist called 911. He never said that Brandon called 911. I didn't know he called 911 until we looked at the phone records (unintelligible) on that Tuesday.
H: <snip> One thing I kept focusing on during the 911 call was where Brandon had said that "I was talking to them and I ran into them." Obviously, "them" was meaning somebody specific, but either the 911 call faded out or the signal faded out when he was trying to say who "them" was, or something where he wasn't able to relay that information, because that would've been one great lead right there. When I heard her say that, my mind went back and I started thinking of different crimes I have heard of, and one of those being is somebody that appeared to be stranded on the side of the road, so a good Samaritan would pull over to help them. Well, when they would pull over to help, they would be ambushed. Would you know of anything that could be looked at to determine what kind of crime rate for that kind of crime was for in that area? Do you see what I'm asking?
LL: Yeah, the Ranger, he told me that he checked every, you know, to see if there was any calls out there or state troopers or anything, and there was no one out there. I don't know if anybody was broken down, but Brandon was really nice. I think what worries me the most is, if Brandon ran out of gas and he asked someone for help, because Brandon was real nice. Brandon didn't know a stranger. He was just an outgoing person, and he would also help anybody. He would give the shirt off his back to anybody but, I mean, he could've asked for help and something could've happened to Brandon. I don't know. Or Brandon could've been scared running and he could've got bit by a snake or he could've hit his head or fell in the brush or something bad like that. I really don't know.
Caller: What kind of traffic flow is through that area where Brandon broke down?
LL: It's a lot of 18-wheelers mostly. I mean, it's a lot of traffic but the oilfield is down there, so it's oilfield traffic too and also a lot of 18-wheelers, because that Route 77 goes through San Angelo, and then you go through a lot, you know what I mean? And San Angelo's about two and a half hours away from the border, too, of Mexico.
Caller: From your house to where he broke down, am I understanding correctly? It was roughly 30-some miles?
LL: Yeah, it's 35 miles. See, when Brandon first went missing, that Friday I stayed in the Country Inn, in the hotel there. They only have one and I stayed in there the whole weekend because going back and forth was too hard. It was too much. That's an hour and ten minutes both ways, so I just stayed there because I was searching non-stop, calling his name, you know, trying to find him.
Caller: When he left upset and mad, did he say where he was going? Or did he just say, I'm leaving?
LL: Yeah, he was leaving. I called him and I said, well, just cool off and then go home or go to your brother's and then, you know, I talked to him for a little bit and then it hung up, but we were kind of mad at each other but his last words are I think the hardest things I've ever had to deal with, because in a second someone could just not be in your life, so everything that you say to someone, you don't want to ever have regrets and I have a lot. I didn't tell Brandon I loved him or that I was sorry or anything, but I knew at the end of the day, Brandon knew how much I loved him and he loved me a lot.
<snip>
Caller: I'm just really baffled and like I said, I understand, L, that y'all are really out there in the middle of nowhere. I lived in Rock Springs, Texas, for a little over a year, so I understand what remote is.
LL: Actually, I live in the Fort Worth area now. I had to move back because I had no family down there, and then my parents and my in-laws, they wanted to help me with the kids and wanted me to move back down here. I didn't want to move because I've got Brandon missing down there, but I had to do what was the best for the children, to get more help, because it is hard raising a one-year-old and a two-year-old and a seven-year-old on my own, and they help me out. They help me out and they want to, through this, so I don't have to be alone through this.
<snip>
LL: I think the sheriff is working with a search team about doing another search. I don't know when, but I really don't know what's going on. I call, but the sheriff and the Ranger said if they have, you know, pinpoint new evidence where they need to search or some kind of clue, then they'll search. I'm pretty sure the ping is going to be of evidence that maybe they didn't search that area. <snip> To me, I think there should be more done, because I feel like there is foul play involved, or even if there's not foul play involved, he needed help.
<the end>
