A blog about my life, fitness and fun! (...and maybe a few cat pictures...)

A blog about my life, fitness and fun! (...and maybe a few cat pictures...)

Sunday, March 12, 2017

Reading about murders is affecting my running!


Over the past couple years, I have had only a few "favorite" murders. Jodi Arias and JonBenet are at the top of the list. When I say "favorite", I mean I could either read about them every single day without getting bored or watch coverage of them over and over again without getting bored. For instance, I read about the JonBenet case every night before I go to bed and I watched the Jodi Arias trial twice, plus highlights from it many times.

I have never been scared while reading or listening to the trial of Jodi Arias. Maybe that is because I know I will never have a psychotic ex girlfriend. There have been times when the JonBenet case has creeped me out. One time, I was listening to a podcast about JonBenet. I was on a run in the dark early morning hours and I got scared! I also have gotten scared reading about it on my phone while laying in bed at night. Even though I will never be a 6 year old beauty queen murdered in my own home, the JonBenet case has given me the creeps!

Recently, I found a brand new (to me) fascinating disappearance to read about! It is the disappearance of Brandon Lawson.



Here is the short story:


In 2013, Brandon Lawson was a 26 year old father of four living in Texas. He lived with his girlfriend of many years. This girlfriend was also the mother of three of his children, so it was a serious relationship. One night, they had an argument and Brandon decided he was going to drive two hours to his dad's house. Since it was about midnight, his dad told him it was best to stay put, but Brandon insisted on going anyway. He hopped in his truck and hit the road.


Around 12:30am, Brandon called his brother, Kyle, to let him know he ran out of gas on a long, desolate stretch of highway. 




Kyle said he'd bring him gas. When Kyle showed up to Brandon's truck, Brandon was nowhere to be found but there was a cop at his truck. Apparently, a trucker called the police to let them know that there was a truck parked haphazardly on the side of the road and it may pose a danger. Kyle told the cop Brandon must have stepped away, but he was there to bring him gas.

Now, there was actually a warrant out for Brandon's arrest due to a very old drug charge. It was the kind of drug charge that would warrant a fine, not jail time, and Brandon and his girlfriend were actually in the process of saving up money to pay the fine and take care of it. So when Brandon wasn't at the truck, Kyle assumed that when Brandon saw the cop approaching his truck, that he went and hid in nearby brush so he wouldn't get arrested.


Well it turns out the cop never even ran Brandon's license plates and when Kyle showed up with gas, the cop left. At this point, Kyle called Brandon to figure out where he was. Brandon answered and sounded out of breath and like he was running through brush or a field or something. He said he was about 10 minutes up the road and that he was bleeding. He told Kyle to hurry up and get there.


Very strange, right?


Kyle drove up and down the road but his brother Brandon was nowhere to be found... and Brandon has NEVER been found!


Now that isn't the creepiest part. Are you ready to be freaked out?????


After Brandon's disappearance, his girlfriend was looking through his cell phone records and realized BRANDON CALLED 911 THAT NIGHT!


THE POLICE NEVER TOLD THE FAMILY HE CALLED 911!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Wait until you hear the 911 call. It is creepy. It's hard to understand what he is saying at some parts. Here's the 911 call... 



Here's what most people agree Brandon is saying...


9-1-1 Emergency:
9-1-1 Emergency?
Brandon:
Yes, I’m in the middle of the field …
A scaper just pruching guys over ..right here, goin’ towards Abilene, on both sides.
My truck ran out of gas… there’s one car here…
(inaudible) got chased through woods.
Please hurry.

9-1-1 Emergency:
Ok. Now. Run that by me…..?
Brandon:
(inaudible)…we’re not talking to em (inaudible)…ran into em
9-1-1 Emergency:
Ahhh…you ran into them? Ok.
Brandon :
(inaudible)…just the first guy.
9-1-1 Emergency:
Do you need an ambulance?
Brandon:
Yeah. No. I need the cops.
9-1-1 Emergency:
Is anyone hurt? Hello? Hello? Hello?

Now, Brandon's family insists he never would have run off and faked his death. He never would have purposefully disappeared and left his children. He was a loving father and a very hard worker. Some weeks he worked 80-90 hours in the oil fields. It would be unlike him to just leave...





So where is Brandon? No one knows.


Here's a Google Map view of exactly where Brandon's truck was found. As you can see... there's nothing around!

Here's a timeline of what happened that night. It's very interesting because when Kyle first arrived at the truck and called Brandon (when Brandon told Kyle he was bleeding) Brandon had ALREADY called 911! So Brandon was alive and answering his phone for at least 30 minutes after he called 911.



8-8-13

10:45-11:00 pm: Brandon and his girlfriend, Ladessa, have an argument.
11:54 pm: Brandon leaves his house with his keys, wallet, and cell phone. He had phoned his father in Fort Worth to let him know he was driving there.
8-9-13
12:30 am: Brandon calls his brother Kyle and tells him he ran out of gas. Kyle and his girlfriend, Audrey, call Ladessa to let her know that Brandon ran out of gas. Kyle and Audrey pick up a gas can from Brandon's house and then drive out to give it to him.
12:34 am, 12:36 am, and 12:48 am: Ladessa misses three from Brandon.  He does not leave any voice mails. Ladessa says her phone was charging in her car, that is why she did not hear the calls.
12:50 am: Brandon calls 911 and leaves a confusing call. He says he ran out of gas and that he needs the cops. He sounds out of breath and it's hard to understand what he's saying.
12:58 am: The Coke County Sheriff’s office gets a call from a trucker that a vehicle is parked on the side of Highway 277 and may pose a risk to oncoming traffic.
1:18 am: Kyle and Audrey call Brandon to find out where is truck is. Brandon sounded like he was running through brush, and Kyle heard Brandon say that he was “10 minutes up the road” and to “just hurry up and get here.”  At some point, Audrey also talks to him on the phone and Brandon tells her he's bleeding. The call either drops or Brandon hangs up.
Kyle and Audrey are at Brandon’s truck, which is abandoned and undamaged. A police officer arrives from the other direction at the same time. The police officer asks if Kyle was the one who made the call about the vehicle.  Kyle says the truck is owned by his brother who must have stepped away.  Shortly after this, the officer leaves the scene, and proceeds to drive around looking for Brandon (who he assumes is walking).
It is important to note that the officer does not mention Brandon's 911 call and Kyle does not mention that he talked to Brandon and that he was bleeding. Kyle and the officer came from different directions and neither saw anything suspicious.
Kyle and Audrey try texting Brandon since the cell service was bad. They tell him a cop was at his truck but that he is gone now. They thought maybe Brandon had been hiding from the cop due to the warrant out for his arrest.
1:30-4:30 am:  Kyle drives up and down the highway trying to find Brandon.
3:30 am: Kyle says Brandon’s cell phone stops ringing, so it was either turned off or dead.
4:30 am: Kyle calls Ladessa and says he’s found Brandon’s truck, but he can't find Brandon.
5:00 am: Ladessa calls the police station regarding the abandoned truck and to see if they had any information.
7:00 am: Kyle puts in Brandon’s truck, in case he returns.
8:30 am: The Sheriff’s Department has Brandon’s truck towed.
If you want to listen to a podcast about the case which covers just about everything and really digs into the 911 call, I recommend part 1 and part 2 from True Crime Garage.

After listening to these podcasts, I started doing more research on the case using reddit and other blogs. I was laying in bed Friday night reading about Brandon Lawson's disappearance and I told him this case was freaking me out so much that I didn't want to go run trail by myself.

"No, come on! You're not afraid to go run trail!" Paul told me.

"YES I AM!" I told him. Then I made him listen to the 911 call and he agreed with me. It was reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally freaky! I think this case has me too scared to run in the woods by myself...
Are there certain places you're afraid to run alone?
What true crime stories freak you out the most?
What do you think happened to Brandon?

17 comments:

  1. Aliens. That is so crazy. It had to be aliens!!

    I'm not freaked out by crime/murder mysteries, but ghost/demon shows freak me out! It's from living in 2 different 150+ year okd houses...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Even though I don't believe in ghosts, movies, books, shows about them FREAK ME OUT!!!! (I know, it shouldn't freak me out if I don't believe in them, right!?)

      Delete
  2. OMG this is so intriguing!
    Have you ever watched the show "vanished"? It's hosted by Bethe Halloway, Natalie Haloway's mom. There was an episode on there around Christmas time that had me intrigued. It was a girl that was kidnapped off a cruise ship. You should check out that show. I think you'd enjoy it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think Vanished has a podcast too! I will check out the show and the podcast. Lately, my favorite things to read about are people who disappear...

      Delete
  3. HOLY COW okay so things jump out at me that are probably pretty obvious:

    1. Why was Landessa's phone charging in the car randomly after midnight? Does a phone even charge in the car when it's turned off? Mine doesn't but maybe in some cars it does. But, why would she charge it that late at night in the car instead of the house?

    2. Why didn't Brandon stop for gas before he left? He knew he had 2 hour drive to his dad's house in the middle of the night, and surely he knew there would be a stretch of the road with no gas stations. I mean, he ran out of gas after just 30 minutes (since he left at midnight and called at 12:30am ish) knowing he had a 2 hour drive ahead. Surely he would have thought to stop for gas before?

    3. Why did Brandon call Landessa 3X over the span of 14 minutes (all calls spread out with minutes in between) before calling the cops if he was having as serious of an emergency as it sounds? I would have called the cops before I called my boyfriend/girlfriend if someone was chasing me through the woods at night.

    4. What do we know about Landessa? Would she have friends she could have called to give Brandon a scare as pay back for the fight knowing he would be driving on a dark road alone at night? Could it have been a prank gone wrong?

    5. Why did the cops not mention anything, how very very strange. And how did Kyle nor the cop see anything IF Brandon was truly just 10 minutes up the road. Something is definitely not right there and I am suspicious of the cop since the police didn't say anything about the 911 call and there is no reason to believe Kyle would be hiding anything. He just responded to his brother's call for help.

    So many questions! What do you think happened?

    This would definitely freak me out too, but I would probably never run in the woods alone anyway!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How does the witness protection program work? could he be in that program somehow? How does the program explain a person's disappearance? I need to research that!

      Delete
    2. I LOVE YOUR INSIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!! Let me see if I can answer some of these....

      1. Some cars CAN charge phones without having them turned on. Why charge in the car? Who knows. Maybe she couldn't find her inside charger? If she was purposefully trying to not hear his calls, she could have turned it off and charged it... Or maybe she didn't want to turn it off. Maybe she wanted it ON to prove it was at home in her car and that she wasn't out on the road. But either way, if she was out there on the road, don't you think she would have been seen? Kyle was driving everywhere and the police officer that came to Brandon's abandoned vehicle came from the OPPOSITE direction of Kyle. Neither Kyle nor the officer saw a scuffle or anything. Sooooooo weird. Landessa raised and paid a lot of money for search teams like Texas Equisearch to look for Brandon. I don't think she was involved BUT you never know.

      2. I don't know why he didn't think to get gas first. Maybe he didn't notice? I mean, why does anyone run out of gas??

      3. I don't think he was having problems when he called Landessa. I think he was calling her to let her know he ran out of gas. Or he ran out of gas and then was walking along the road and bored and figured he'd call her. I don't think he was in trouble at this point.

      4. It COULD have. I never thought of that. But again, no evidence of anyone else being around! Although on the 911 tapes it sure sounds like there are other people there.

      5. I am suspicious of the cops too! A lot of people are.

      I just feel so bad for him. If I ever ran out of gas somewhere that desolate, I would lock my car doors and hide in the back seat or something. I wouldn't want anyone to know I was there alone. I would call 911 and not allow them to get off the phone with me until someone came to rescue me!

      What do I think happened... It's so hard to say! The most confusing part is how his body hasn't been found. Say someone chased him into the woods or he even just ran into the woods to hide and succumbed to the elements... where's his body?

      Delete
    3. There were a few questions that came to my mind too. The first being, why didn't Kyle ask his brother why he left the car? If my sister was 10 miles down the road I would certainly ask what she was doing there (instead of waiting for me back at the car), not just say "oh, you are ten miles down the road? Okay, I'll be right there...lol. Strange people, but I guess maybe I'm just nosey.

      Delete
    4. Okay I love hearing these fresh thoughts. I know there was a rest stop up the road... maybe someone picked him up? I don't know. So many questions, keep em coming!

      Delete
    5. I would not have gotten out of the car either, no way in hell! But women think differently than men since we are almost constantly on high alert, especially when alone at night.

      I will think about your points some more! I am too afraid to listen to the podcast!

      Delete
    6. Listen to it on your commute. You will love it!!!

      Delete
    7. Karen- you are absolutely right! The cop that saw the vehicle was just responding to a report that there was a vehicle on the road that could pose a threat to traffic. The 911 dispatcher had not told that cop of the 911 call. Their 911 was actually a receptionist at a nursing home in the town. :( So not great resources it sounds like. But I am wondering, DID the dispatcher send a cop out? Would she have even known where to send a cop because it's not like Brandon said exactly where he was. Also, the cop that checked on his vehicle- even though he wasn't looking for Brandon (cause he didn't know), after the fact they asked him if he saw anything strange because he and Kyle came to Brandon's truck from opposite directions and he said no.

      Delete
  4. Wow ! That is interesting ! How does somebody just got Missing like that?

    When I was in Penn State, a girl went missing, she hasn't been found, as far as I can remember. Her name was Cindy Song. Now, you would have thought that this would have scared me from walking the college at night, but it never did! I used to walk across the entire campus at night, sometimes all by myself.


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I ha v e heard about Cindy Song from Dateline or something similar. I'm going to have to look that up to refresh my memory...

      I think when we are young we feel invincible!

      Delete
  5. Sometimes listening to true crime (or even reading creepy fiction) makes me nervous to run alone. I just get super paranoid lol!

    This is a fascinating case. I don't understand how he could've disappeared without a trace. And did the cop who was at his car know of the phone call to 911? Or was he there because of the calls of other drivers, like he said? WHO was chasing him? It's just so mysterious!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, the cop did NOT know of the 911 call. He was there because of the trucker who phoned in that there was a pick up truck (Brandon's) haphazard on the side of the road. At least, the cop SAYS he didn't know of the 911 call!

      Delete
  6. I know! It doesn't sound like she did. But also, would she even know where to send them? He didn't saw what road he was on. He didn't even say his NAME. So it's not like the cop who checked on his car could have even eventually made the connection.

    ReplyDelete