TADP EP 27 – True Crime – Brandon Lawson Missing

Brandon Lawson was a 26 year old man from San Angelo, Texas. He was an oil field worker and father of four children and he also had a common law wife named Ladessa Lofton. He is described as being 5 foot 9 inches tall and weighing approximately 230 pounds. He was a Caucasian male with brown hair and blue eyes. Lawson has multiple tattoos on his arms and has a scar on his chin and left knee and one of his ears is pierced. At the time of his disappearance, Lawson was wearing a yellow shirt, camouflage-print shorts and white 2013 Air Max shoes.

August 8, 2013 was the last time that Brendon was seen in San Angelo, Texas. He and his longtime girlfriend got into an argument which led to Brandon leaving the home at around 11:54 p.m., with the intentions of going to his father's residence. Approximately 45 minutes later, Brandon called his brother Kyle to tell him that he had run out of gas. What is known is that following his phone call to his brother Kyle, something happened and Brandon phoned 911 and advised the dispatcher that he was "in a field" and needed help and that he needed a cop. The dispatcher heard Brandon say "I ran into somebody" and responded to him , "Ahhh, ran into them? Ok." Another call was made to 9-1-1, by a passer-by (Trucker) regarding Brandon's truck parked crooked on side of the road, posing a hazard. Kyle and his Kyle's girlfriend Audrey went out to bring Brandon their gas can. Kyle, and his girlfriend Audrey, phoned Ladessa to tell her that Brandon ran out of gas and he needed their gas can. Ladessa told him she would leave on the porch as she was going to have a shower and heading to bed. Kyle's check however did not clear in his bank account so he had no money to fill the gas can but figured when he got to Brandon with the can he would drive him to Stripes Convenient Mart and Brandon could pay for the gas...and he would drive him back to his truck and he and Audrey could be on their way back home.

The truck was located on U.S. 227 four and a half miles south of Bronte, Texas, and close to a rest stop, and parked haphazardly. By the time Kyle arrived, at 1:10 am, August 9, 2013, there was no sign of Brandon. There was also a Sheriff's Deputy that arrived at the truck at about the same time as Kyle and Audrey. There was no visible damage to Brandon's truck and his keys and his cell phone were missing. It is understood that the Deputy, nor Kyle, were aware that Brandon phoned 9-1-1 asking for "a cop" as well as stating, "please hurry!" While talking with the deputy, Kyle received a call from Brandon, in which Brandon's cell was going in and out and he was hard to understand. Brandon claimed that he was "ten minutes up the road." He also mentioned that he was bleeding. The phone went dead at this point. What Kyle understood was "I'm in the field." Kyle, felt maybe Brandon was hiding in the field due to an outstanding warrant from 2 years ago (that Brandon himself just learned and was going to address it the following week) so Kyle made no mention to the deputy of Brandon being the phone call he was listening to. Had Kyle known Brandon phoned 9-1-1 he would never have assumed his brother was "hiding."It was confirmed that the gas tank was in fact empty. His cell phone was a Motorola Droid Razr. There was an extensive search of the area which turned up no sign of him, however; he has never been heard from again. Lawson’s family were unaware that he called 911 that night and only found out when they viewed his cellular phone records.

At around 1:18 Audrey sent Brandon a text saying"A cop is at your truck" it is assumed she did such as she wanted to warn him due to his warrant. At this time they were not aware that he himself phoned 911 asking for a cop and to please hurry. In statements given to police, as explained by the family, they did admit Brandon's earlier call to them in which he told his brother, and Audrey,