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Transcript

Cops CAN’T EXPLAIN his 911 call... · Crime and Horror

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Speaker 1: Today, I'm going to tell you the story of one
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Speaker 1: of the most talked about mysteries on the Internet. And
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Speaker 1: I think part of the reason this story is so
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Speaker 1: mysterious and so intriguing is because there's this really unsettling
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Speaker 1: audio recording that sort of confounds the whole mystery and
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Speaker 1: really forces you to take a stance about what you
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Speaker 1: think really happened. And so I'm going to tell you
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Speaker 1: the story, and towards the end, I'm going to play
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Speaker 1: you that recording and you can decide what you think
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Speaker 1: really happened. But before we get into that story, if
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Speaker 1: you're a fan of the strange, dark and mysterious delivered
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Speaker 1: don't miss any of our weekly uploads. Okay, let's get
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Speaker 1: into today's story. At twelve thirty am on August ninth,
1:23
Speaker 1: twenty thirteen, a man named Kyle Lawson was asleep in
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Speaker 1: his bedroom with his wife at their home in San Angelo, Texas,
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Speaker 1: when his cell phone rang and it woke up. Kyle
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Speaker 1: looked at the caller ID and saw that the call
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Speaker 1: was coming in from his twenty six year old brother, Brandon,
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Speaker 1: And so, you know, Kyle picked it up, but before
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Speaker 1: he could even say hello, his brother said he needed help,
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Speaker 1: and then he launched into this big story that really
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Speaker 1: sounded completely insane. He told Kyle he was currently driving
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Speaker 1: north on Highway two seventy seven, which is this totally
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Speaker 1: desolate two lane country road that runs through West Texas,
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Speaker 1: and that three men were chasing brands. And on top
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Speaker 1: of that, Brandon told his brother that, you know, he's
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Speaker 1: trying to get away from these men, but his truck
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Speaker 1: was about to run out of gas, and so what
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Speaker 1: he wanted Kyle to do was to right now, in
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Speaker 1: the middle of the night, come meet him secretly to
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Speaker 1: hand off a gas tank so Brandon could officially escape
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Speaker 1: these three men. But as Kyle listened to this, he
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Speaker 1: was not really actually concerned at least in terms of
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Speaker 1: Brandon being in any sort of real danger with regards
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Speaker 1: to these three men that were chasing him. In reality,
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Speaker 1: Kyle's reaction to this was just being so annoyed at
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Speaker 1: Brandon because after hearing this story, this frantic story Brandon's
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Speaker 1: telling him in the middle of the night, he was
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Speaker 1: sure that really there were no three men that instead
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Speaker 1: his brother Brandon was just high again and he was hallucinating.
2:47
Speaker 1: He was basically having an episode that was substance induced.
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Speaker 1: So Brandon had a history of methamphetamine use. He'd been
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Speaker 1: cleaned for the last six months or so, and he'd
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Speaker 1: been working on, you know, being a better partner to
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Speaker 1: his fiance Ladessa and also a better father to his
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Speaker 1: four children. But just two days ago, Brandon had also
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Speaker 1: called Kyle, but it had been to ask Kyle.
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Speaker 2: If he knew where he could get some drugs.
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Speaker 1: Now, Kyle did not immediately say, oh, here's where you
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Speaker 1: go to get drugs. Instead, he tried to tell Brandon, like,
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Speaker 1: don't do it, like you should not get high.
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Speaker 2: You're clean, like you're doing good. But he was pretty sure.
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Speaker 1: Brandon had not listened because ever since that phone call,
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Speaker 1: even though Kyle didn't give him.
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Speaker 2: Any resources for drugs.
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Speaker 1: Brandon must have gone and gotten drugs anyways, because his
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Speaker 1: behavior had just been completely crazy in general. In fact,
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Speaker 1: right now, Kyle knew from having spoken to his parents
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Speaker 1: earlier that the whole reason Brandon was even driving on
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Speaker 1: Highway to seventy seven right now was because he got
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Speaker 1: into a big fight with his fiance and was supposed
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Speaker 1: to be going to his parents' house to chill out,
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Speaker 1: like he was basically.
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Speaker 2: Going to time out for bad behavior. That's why he
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Speaker 2: was out right now.
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Speaker 1: Now, Kyle knew Brandon was very likely high, and so
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Speaker 1: this was not going to be a good time to
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Speaker 1: reason with Brandon and tell him to, you know, just
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Speaker 1: come home or just go to your parents' house, because
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Speaker 1: you know, there's no such thing as these three men
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Speaker 1: like you're just high.
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Speaker 2: You know, he's not going to listen to that. So
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Speaker 2: instead Kyle just focused on.
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Speaker 1: Trying to calm Brandon down, because again Kyle is not
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Speaker 1: thinking Brandon is actually in danger. He's thinking this is
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Speaker 1: just a hallucination. But as Kyle tried to do that,
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Speaker 1: Brandon did not calm down. He got more and more anxious,
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Speaker 1: and he's he's continuing to talk about these these three
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Speaker 1: men that are gaining on him, and finally Kyle just said, dude, Brandon,
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Speaker 1: have you relapsed?
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Speaker 2: Is that what's going on here?
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Speaker 1: But as Kyle expected, Brandon swore up and down that
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Speaker 1: he was not high, and he just kept on begging
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Speaker 1: Kyle to come help him fast before these men caught
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Speaker 1: up to him, like, come give me the gas I
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Speaker 1: need so I can escape.
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Speaker 2: Come on, man.
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Speaker 1: At this point, Kyle felt like there was no point
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Speaker 1: even talking to Brandon, and in some ways he just
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Speaker 1: wanted to hang up and forget about this whole thing,
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Speaker 1: like this was crazy. He has his own life and
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Speaker 1: his own respec on abilities, like he shouldn't be babysitting
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Speaker 1: his younger brother. But at the same time, Kyle was
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Speaker 1: very close with his brother. Even if you know he
5:07
Speaker 1: resented it, he did love his brother very much. And
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Speaker 1: even though he did feel like there is no imminent
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Speaker 1: danger here other than maybe Brandon to himself, Kyle decided,
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Speaker 1: you know what, I'm just gonna go out on Highway
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Speaker 1: to seventy seven. I'm gonna find Brandon and just get
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Speaker 1: him back home. So he told Brandon he'd be right there,
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Speaker 1: and then he hung up about forty five minutes later,
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Speaker 1: Kyle drove north on Highway to seventy seven, along with
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Speaker 1: his wife in his passenger seat and their four year
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Speaker 1: old son in the back. Kyle's wife had not wanted
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Speaker 1: him to be out in the middle of the night
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Speaker 1: dealing with his crazy brother all alone, so she'd insisted
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Speaker 1: that she and their son come along, And so as
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Speaker 1: Kyle drove down the road, he kept an eye out
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Speaker 1: for Brandon's truck. Now, to set the scene for you,
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Speaker 1: this really is like a desolate highway. There's no real
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Speaker 1: traffic and really in either direction, it's just kind of
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Speaker 1: open planes and some shrubs and small trees. Like this
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Speaker 1: is a a big, wide open area. It's pretty easy
6:02
Speaker 1: to see way out in front of you. And so
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Speaker 1: he's got a great view even though it's nighttime. But
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Speaker 1: he can't see any vehicles, Like there's no truck, there's
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Speaker 1: nothing like his brother is nowhere to be seen. But
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Speaker 1: Kyle just kept on driving and kept.
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Speaker 2: On looking out.
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Speaker 1: He was even just sort of looking out into the
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Speaker 1: fields in case, you know, his brother had veered off
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Speaker 1: the road somewhere, which seemed entirely possible. But eventually, after
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Speaker 1: driving for some time way up ahead, sort of parked
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Speaker 1: half on the road.
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Speaker 2: Half off was a truck.
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Speaker 1: Its lights were off, you know, it's just sitting there.
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Speaker 1: It's not even idling, it's clearly turned off. But as
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Speaker 1: Kyle got closer, he realized it was Brandon's truck.
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Speaker 2: So he had found Brandon. And so Kyle he pulls
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Speaker 2: over to the.
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Speaker 1: Opposite side of the road and he parks his car
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Speaker 1: and he tells his wife and his son to stay
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Speaker 1: in the car, and he's going to go talk to Brandon, who,
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Speaker 1: at this point Kyle is assuming is sitting in his truck,
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Speaker 1: you know, waiting for Kyle. And also keep in mind,
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Speaker 1: at this point, Kyle's thinking, well.
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Speaker 2: There's nobody else out here.
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Speaker 1: There's no three men chasing my brother, probably just sitting
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Speaker 1: here high as can be. And I'm gonna talk to him,
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Speaker 1: and he's just gonna go home and we're gonna move
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Speaker 1: past this. But when Kyle walked over to the vehicle,
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Speaker 1: there was nobody.
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Speaker 2: Inside of it.
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Speaker 1: Brandon's gone, and he's thinking to himself, this really doesn't
7:16
Speaker 1: make any sense. Because on the ride to the truck,
7:19
Speaker 1: as they were on Highway to seventy seven, Brandon kept
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Speaker 1: repeatedly calling Kyle over and over and over again, being.
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Speaker 2: Like, come on, you gotta hurry up, you gotta get here.
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Speaker 2: They're gaining on me, like I'm in trouble. Bring that gasoline.
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Speaker 2: You gotta get here.
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Speaker 1: And now that he's here, he's finally reached clearly Brandon's truck.
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Speaker 1: It's right here, and Brandon's gone, He's gone from his truck.
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Speaker 1: He didn't tell him that on the phone, Like where
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Speaker 1: is he? What's going on here? And so Kyle he's
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Speaker 1: like looking under the vehicle. He's he's searching the vehicle
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Speaker 1: now for his brother, which is totally crazy, like what's
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Speaker 1: his brother doing here? But as he's searching the vehicle
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Speaker 1: for his brother and looking around the area for his brother, Kyle's.
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Speaker 2: Phone rings and it's Brandon.
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Speaker 1: And so Kyle, who at this point is feeling really annoyed,
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Speaker 1: he answers the phone and he's like Brandon, where are you?
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Speaker 1: And Brandon goes, bro, I'm right here, and Kyle's like, no,
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Speaker 1: you're not, Like I don't see you. There's no one here.
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Speaker 1: Your truck is here, You're not here. But just then
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Speaker 1: Kyle looked out and there was a car coming towards him.
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Speaker 1: So he saw the headlights and he realized it was
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Speaker 1: a cop car, And so he's on the phone with Brandon.
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Speaker 1: He's looking out at this cop car that's coming up
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Speaker 1: this road towards him and clearly slowing down, like the
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Speaker 1: police officer is going to stop and talk to Kyle, presumably,
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Speaker 1: And so as this cop car is coming in and
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Speaker 1: slowing down right in front of him, Brandon on the
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Speaker 1: phone says to Kyle, run away from that cop Now,
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Speaker 1: think about this. That meant Brandon had to be somewhere
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Speaker 1: nearby because he can clearly see the cop car approaching Kyle.
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Speaker 1: He's watching the scene even though Kyle has not found
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Speaker 1: his brother, Brandon is clearly actually nearby. But Kyle he's
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Speaker 1: sort of quickly interpreting this and he's thinking, like where
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Speaker 1: is Brandon because he's looking out and it's just open fields.
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Speaker 2: In either direction on either side of this highway.
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Speaker 1: It's like this barren wasteland out in the middle of Texas.
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Speaker 2: Like, where is he hiding? There's nowhere to hide.
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Speaker 1: There's a couple of shrubs and really small trees sort
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Speaker 1: of off in the distance, but like there's really nowhere
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Speaker 1: to hide. So where is Brandon? And Kyle, he's just
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Speaker 1: feeling furious at this point, confused but furious. It's like,
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Speaker 1: what are you doing Brandon, Like he knew the reason
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Speaker 1: Brandon wanted Kyle to run also is because Brandon had
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Speaker 1: an active warrant out for his arrest that had to
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Speaker 1: do with a drug charge, and so he's just protecting himself, like,
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Speaker 1: don't get involved with the police, Like keep me out
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Speaker 1: of it. And it's like, Kyle, he's already out here
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Speaker 1: in the middle of the night doing this crap for
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Speaker 1: his brother who's completely office rocker like he was so annoyed.
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Speaker 2: But again it's like what does he even do? He
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Speaker 2: has no idea where Brandon is.
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Speaker 1: And so Kyle he was about to say something to
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Speaker 1: Brandon to demand, you know, where are you come out here,
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Speaker 1: but Brandon hung up. Now by this point, the police
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Speaker 1: officer had arrived on scene. He had parked his car
10:06
Speaker 1: and he walked over to Kyle, who now is standing
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Speaker 1: right next to his brother's vehicle. You know, he's put
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Speaker 1: his phone back in his pocket, and the officer when
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Speaker 1: he got close enough, he introduced himself as Deputy Neil
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Speaker 1: of the Coke County Sheriff's Department and he told Kyle
10:19
Speaker 1: that he was responding to a nine to one to
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Speaker 1: one call from a trucker about a stranded driver on
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Speaker 1: the road, and so he asked Kyle if maybe that
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Speaker 1: was him, Is this your truck? Are you the stranded driver?
10:30
Speaker 1: You know, pointing to Brandon's truck, But Kyle said, no,
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Speaker 1: it was not his.
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Speaker 2: It belonged to his brother.
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Speaker 1: But despite how much he really wished he could say
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Speaker 1: the truth, he wanted to protect his brother, so he
10:42
Speaker 1: couldn't tell the deputy that, well, you know, the reason
10:44
Speaker 1: my brother left his car here is because he's probably
10:46
Speaker 1: high on meth and he's somewhere nearby hiding, and also
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Speaker 1: he has a warrant out for his arrest. So instead
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Speaker 1: Kyle said, well, you know, I think he went off
10:54
Speaker 1: to get some gas because he called me and he
10:56
Speaker 1: said he had run out of gas, so he parked
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Speaker 1: his car here, so he probably has has walked on
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Speaker 1: and I just got here.
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Speaker 2: Is it okay with you if I.
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Speaker 1: Get back in the car with my wife and son
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Speaker 1: and just drive up and down the road here to
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Speaker 1: find Brandon, because I'm sure he's fine, but he called
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Speaker 1: me to help get him gas. So do you mind
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Speaker 1: if I do that, and surprisingly the deputy was like, yeah,
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Speaker 1: that's fine, go ahead, and so Kyle he got right
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Speaker 1: back into his car with his wife and his son,
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Speaker 1: and he did fire up his car and he drove
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Speaker 1: farther down the highway, and as he did, he kept
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Speaker 1: looking over his shoulder to see what the cop was
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Speaker 1: going to do, and the cop was just still parked
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Speaker 1: next to Brandon's car, And eventually, when Kyle drove far
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Speaker 1: enough that he knew the cop couldn't see him anymore,
11:36
Speaker 1: he pulled over to the side of the road and
11:38
Speaker 1: he began really angrily calling his brother over and over
11:41
Speaker 1: and over again to get him back on the phone,
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Speaker 1: but Brandon never answered the calls. And so at this
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Speaker 1: point Kyle has no idea what's going on with Brandon.
11:49
Speaker 1: I mean he didn't before, but now especially he's out
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Speaker 1: of contact with his brother, and so Kyle and his
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Speaker 1: family would sit there for a little bit longer, like,
11:56
Speaker 1: continuing to try to get in touch with Brandon, but
11:59
Speaker 1: to no end, and eventually Kyle's four year old son
12:02
Speaker 1: began crying and complaining because it's so late and he's tired,
12:05
Speaker 1: and you know, Kyle's wife is tired it's two in
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Speaker 1: the morning, and Kyle, he's just so over it. He's like,
12:11
Speaker 1: you know what, Brandon is an adult. I tried to
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Speaker 1: come out here and get him out of this mess.
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Speaker 1: But if he doesn't want to be in touch with
12:17
Speaker 1: me and he wants to hide off the side of
12:19
Speaker 1: the highway, that's on him.
12:21
Speaker 2: I'm taking my family and I'm going home. And so
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Speaker 2: that's what he did.
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Speaker 1: He turned around, he drove right back the way he came,
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Speaker 1: and he actually passed by his brother's truck that was
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Speaker 1: still there. So Brandon clearly is still in hiding, and
12:33
Speaker 1: standing next to his brother's truck is still Deputy Neil,
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Speaker 1: he presumably was waiting for Brandon to show back up.
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Speaker 2: He drove right past them. He went back to his
12:41
Speaker 2: home and.
12:42
Speaker 1: They went to bed, and he figured, you know what,
12:44
Speaker 1: tomorrow I will likely hear from Brandon and he'll tell
12:47
Speaker 1: me some crazy story explaining what really happened. But you
12:51
Speaker 1: know what, whatever, that's on him. Not long after Kyle
12:54
Speaker 1: had driven past Deputy Neil on his way back home,
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Speaker 1: Neil decided, you know what, like, I'm not just going
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Speaker 1: to sit.
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Speaker 2: Here waiting for Brandon.
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Speaker 1: You know, he had searched Brandon's truck and there was
13:03
Speaker 1: nothing concerning inside of it. There was you know, no phone,
13:06
Speaker 1: no wallet, no keys, things that people would not leave
13:09
Speaker 1: behind if they ran out of gas and decided to
13:12
Speaker 1: go walk to get gas. So it seemed very much
13:14
Speaker 1: like that is what happened. Brandon had pulled his car over,
13:17
Speaker 1: gotten out and begun the walk, and then his brother
13:19
Speaker 1: showed up, and the whole thing was playing out here,
13:22
Speaker 1: and so Neil figured, okay, well, I have other calls
13:24
Speaker 1: to go to.
13:25
Speaker 2: It doesn't seem like.
13:25
Speaker 1: This is a huge emergency, and so he just reached
13:28
Speaker 1: inside the truck. He turned on the hazard lights, then
13:30
Speaker 1: he locked all the doors and shut them, and then
13:33
Speaker 1: he got in his own vehicle. Then he took off
13:35
Speaker 1: because again he had other calls to attend to that night.
13:39
Speaker 1: The next morning, around eight am, Deputy Neil was back
13:42
Speaker 1: out on Highway to seventy seven just to make sure
13:45
Speaker 1: Brandon had eventually come back and claimed his truck, but no,
13:49
Speaker 1: the truck was still sitting there.
13:50
Speaker 2: Hazard's on. Now.
13:52
Speaker 1: At this point, Deputy Neil was starting to get a
13:54
Speaker 1: bit concerned about Brandon because you know, he's out on
13:57
Speaker 1: foot walking to get gas for his truck and even
13:59
Speaker 1: though it's it seemed like the risk was sort of
14:01
Speaker 1: low for him, it is possible something could have happened
14:04
Speaker 1: to him and that's why he had not come back
14:06
Speaker 1: to his truck. You know, maybe he was hit by
14:08
Speaker 1: a car or you know, got lost or something. Who knows,
14:11
Speaker 1: like anything could have happened, or you know, maybe Brandon
14:13
Speaker 1: decided not to claim his truck yet, maybe he just
14:15
Speaker 1: went home and he's gonna.
14:17
Speaker 2: Get it later.
14:17
Speaker 1: But regardless, it just seemed like Neil really had to
14:20
Speaker 1: go follow up personally with Brandon just to make sure
14:24
Speaker 1: he was okay. And so Neil drove back to the
14:26
Speaker 1: sheriff's department to see if he could find the contact
14:29
Speaker 1: information for Brandon. But when he walked in the door,
14:32
Speaker 1: he didn't have any time to do any digging because
14:34
Speaker 1: another employee told him that while he was out, the
14:37
Speaker 1: department had gotten a call from Brandon's fiance, Ladessa, and
14:41
Speaker 1: Ladessa had given them a very different story than the
14:44
Speaker 1: one Brandon's brother Kyle had told Neil the night before.
14:47
Speaker 1: According to Ledessa, she and Brandon had been fighting for
14:50
Speaker 1: the past few days and last night, so on the
14:53
Speaker 1: night that this whole truck thing happened. Brandon was supposed
14:56
Speaker 1: to be on his way to his parents' house to
14:59
Speaker 1: cool off from the fight he was having with Ladessa,
15:02
Speaker 1: but he never arrived at his parents' house, and he
15:05
Speaker 1: never came back to Ladessa's house, and so Brandon was
15:09
Speaker 1: totally unaccounted for. And on top of that, nobody could
15:12
Speaker 1: get in touch with Brandon. They were calling and texting
15:14
Speaker 1: him no response. After hearing this, Deputy Neil was surprised
15:19
Speaker 1: and also pretty angry because clearly Brandon's brother Kyle, had
15:24
Speaker 1: acted like everything was totally fine the night before, but
15:26
Speaker 1: that had to have been a lie, you know, because
15:29
Speaker 1: Ladedessa is saying this totally different story. And so the
15:31
Speaker 1: first thing Neil did is he went and spoke to
15:33
Speaker 1: Kyle and also to the rest of Brandon's family to
15:36
Speaker 1: get the story straight here. And very quickly it became
15:40
Speaker 1: clear to Deputy Neil that any omissions or even lies
15:44
Speaker 1: about what had happened exactly on the night that Kyle
15:46
Speaker 1: went missing were not because the family was hiding something.
15:50
Speaker 1: I mean, they were kind of trying to protect Brandon,
15:52
Speaker 1: but it was because they didn't understand how serious this
15:55
Speaker 1: situation really was. And so now that Brandon really was
15:59
Speaker 1: missing and nobody knew what happened to him. The family
16:01
Speaker 1: was very forthright that they really didn't know what had
16:04
Speaker 1: happened to him, and that yes, maybe he was on drugs,
16:07
Speaker 1: we don't know, but he really is missing and you
16:09
Speaker 1: gotta go look for him.
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Speaker 2: And so that's what Neil did.
16:13
Speaker 1: Over the next four days, there was this huge search
16:16
Speaker 1: that Neil led all around Highway to seventy seven, where
16:19
Speaker 1: the center of the search was where Brandon's truck had
16:22
Speaker 1: been found.
16:23
Speaker 2: But despite using.
16:24
Speaker 1: Canines, helicopters and these huge search teams, some of which
16:27
Speaker 1: had thermal cameras which would allow you to see body
16:29
Speaker 1: heat like, despite covering this vast area all around where
16:33
Speaker 1: Brandon clearly had been, there was.
16:36
Speaker 2: Absolutely no sign of him.
16:38
Speaker 1: And they also spoke to the homeowners and the property
16:41
Speaker 1: owners sort of roughly in the area to see if
16:43
Speaker 1: maybe they had seen something strange, maybe seen Brandon or
16:47
Speaker 1: or those three men that apparently had been chasing him
16:50
Speaker 1: on the night he went missing. But nobody had seen anything,
16:52
Speaker 1: and so basically Brandon was definitely not here and there
16:56
Speaker 1: was no sign he had been here other than his
16:59
Speaker 1: truck that was and so Deputy Neil and the rest
17:02
Speaker 1: of the authorities who were involved in this search ultimately
17:05
Speaker 1: came to the conclusion that, based on the fact that
17:08
Speaker 1: Brandon had clearly been fighting with his fiance, that he
17:11
Speaker 1: had an active warrant out for his arrest, and that
17:14
Speaker 1: he had not been seen in days and there was
17:16
Speaker 1: no sign of him anywhere nothing, that what must have
17:19
Speaker 1: happened here is Brandon fled, that he's not here because
17:23
Speaker 1: he chose not to be here, that he was never
17:26
Speaker 1: in any danger, he fled the area, and looking here
17:29
Speaker 1: is going to do nothing. We basically have to wait
17:31
Speaker 1: for Brandon to show up at some point, and so
17:34
Speaker 1: for the most part, this seemed like a pretty open
17:37
Speaker 1: and shutcase until Brandon's fiance, Ladessa, came into the station
17:42
Speaker 1: in person with a bombshell on August thirteenth, twenty thirteen,
17:46
Speaker 1: so four days after Brandon went missing. This is right
17:49
Speaker 1: around the time the search has been called off. The
17:52
Speaker 1: officer on duty at the Coke County Sheriff's Department sat
17:54
Speaker 1: across from Ldessa, and Ladessa looked extremely upset, and she
17:59
Speaker 1: said that she got so worried about Brandon that she'd
18:01
Speaker 1: started searching through their cell phone records, and she had
18:04
Speaker 1: found something really concerning.
18:06
Speaker 2: She pulled out a piece.
18:07
Speaker 1: Of paper and she handed it to the officer, and
18:09
Speaker 1: she pointed at a specific section, and this officer he
18:13
Speaker 1: realized quickly that this was a printed out copy of
18:15
Speaker 1: Brandon's call locks and what Ledessa was pointing to was
18:19
Speaker 1: a call that Brandon had made at twelve fifty am
18:23
Speaker 1: on the night he disappeared. In between a flurry of
18:26
Speaker 1: calls to Kyle and also to Kyle's wife, Brandon had
18:30
Speaker 1: also placed a call to nine one one. Ledessa told
18:34
Speaker 1: the officer that the fact that Brandon himself had called
18:37
Speaker 1: nine one one actually terrified her, because Brandon would have
18:40
Speaker 1: done practically anything to avoid the police. He was terrified
18:44
Speaker 1: of the police. In fact, she knew from talking to
18:46
Speaker 1: Kyle that Brandon had even suggested to him that he
18:50
Speaker 1: should run from the police on the night he went
18:52
Speaker 1: missing when he saw the cop approaching him. And so
18:54
Speaker 1: she said, look like he would only ever call the
18:57
Speaker 1: police if he truly had two But she's like, why then,
19:03
Speaker 1: after calling the police did he presumably run away.
19:06
Speaker 2: It just doesn't make any sense.
19:08
Speaker 1: And all of this came as a total surprise to
19:11
Speaker 1: this officer and to the Sheriff's department, because until this moment,
19:15
Speaker 1: the belief had been that a trucker had called nine
19:17
Speaker 1: one one about a stranded driver, and that was how
19:20
Speaker 1: Deputy Neil got involved, and really this whole thing started,
19:22
Speaker 1: but nobody knew there had also been this other nine
19:25
Speaker 1: to one one call from Brandon himself. The nine to
19:29
Speaker 1: one one dispatch in the area was tiny, underfunded, and understaffed,
19:33
Speaker 1: and at some point someone must have just dropped the
19:35
Speaker 1: ball when it came to informing the Sheriff's department about
19:39
Speaker 1: Brandon's nine one one call, because they really didn't know
19:41
Speaker 1: about it, but now that they did, they needed to
19:44
Speaker 1: hear that call for themselves. The Sheriff's Department would contact
19:47
Speaker 1: that nine to one one dispatch and they would send
19:50
Speaker 1: them an audio recording of Brandon's call, and when they
19:53
Speaker 1: listened to it, they were shocked because one Brandon one
19:58
Speaker 1: hundred percent sounded like he was an imminent danger. This
20:01
Speaker 1: was not like a low stakes call from a stranded driver.
20:04
Speaker 1: This was someone who thought they were in real peril here.
20:07
Speaker 1: And then too, if you listen closely, you can hear
20:10
Speaker 1: the sound of somebody else's voice in the background on
20:14
Speaker 1: Brandon's side of the call, shortly before it cuts out,
20:18
Speaker 1: I don't want an emergency. Yeah, I'm in the middle
20:21
Speaker 1: of the fielder side. We're just persting guys over.
20:24
Speaker 2: Got here going to javelin on both sides, not turking
20:27
Speaker 2: out of gas.
20:28
Speaker 1: Here.
20:28
Speaker 2: You got strake the woods.
20:32
Speaker 1: Okay, now run that round me. Were not hill, You're
20:36
Speaker 1: a gel ah You ran into him? Okay, got the
20:41
Speaker 1: heart stock eating an ambulet. Now I need a call. Okay,
20:48
Speaker 1: is anybody hurt? Hello?
20:57
Speaker 2: Hello, Hello.
21:02
Speaker 1: And so at this point authorities are thinking, Okay, this
21:06
Speaker 1: doesn't necessarily seem like this is just a disappearance.
21:09
Speaker 2: This might be a murder.
21:11
Speaker 1: I mean, they didn't have a body, but the idea
21:13
Speaker 1: that there's another voice and he's talking about being chased
21:16
Speaker 1: through the woods and there's these men coming after him,
21:19
Speaker 1: I mean, this audio recording gave a lot of legitimacy
21:21
Speaker 1: to that. And so the search, which had just ended,
21:25
Speaker 1: was quickly resumed and expanded dramatically, and for the next year,
21:30
Speaker 1: with all these additional resources being poured in, there was
21:33
Speaker 1: this massive effort to find Brandon Lawson. But they didn't
21:38
Speaker 1: find him. There was no other sign of him. He
21:41
Speaker 1: was just completely gone. They looked everywhere around that highway
21:45
Speaker 1: to seventy seven, all over the place near where his
21:48
Speaker 1: truck was. There was no evidence he was just gone.
21:51
Speaker 1: And so ultimately Brandon's case went cold, and for the
21:55
Speaker 1: most part, authorities just kind of moved on, but Brandon's
21:59
Speaker 1: family did not move on. His fiance, Ladessa, would go
22:02
Speaker 1: on to hire two private detectives and they would both
22:05
Speaker 1: conduct these big searches multiple times over around the area
22:09
Speaker 1: where Brandon left his truck and also across the state.
22:12
Speaker 2: But they too, also just came up empty.
22:15
Speaker 1: And as the years passed by without answers, Brandon's disappearance
22:19
Speaker 1: captured more people's attention and it started being featured on TV.
22:23
Speaker 2: Shows and podcasts.
22:24
Speaker 1: People had all kinds of theories about what had happened.
22:27
Speaker 1: You know, maybe Brandon really was just high and hallucinating
22:30
Speaker 1: and he wandered off somewhere and got attacked by wild animals.
22:33
Speaker 1: Or maybe he really was being chased by these three
22:36
Speaker 1: men and they kidnapped or killed him, and maybe that
22:39
Speaker 1: voice you hear on the recording was one of those
22:41
Speaker 1: three men.
22:42
Speaker 2: Or maybe he.
22:43
Speaker 1: Really had just fled the area on purpose, like the
22:45
Speaker 1: Sheriff's department originally thought nobody really knew, and so for
22:49
Speaker 1: nine years Brandon's case was full of questions and zero answers.
22:53
Speaker 1: But then in January of twenty twenty two, a small
22:57
Speaker 1: group of volunteers went out to Highway two seventy seven
23:00
Speaker 1: to the area where Brandon had disappeared, which had been
23:03
Speaker 1: searched so many times over. They this small group of
23:07
Speaker 1: volunteers would make the biggest breakthrough in Brandon's case in
23:11
Speaker 1: nearly a decade. While they were combing through this field
23:15
Speaker 1: off the side of the highway again, a field that
23:17
Speaker 1: had been searched numerous times by hundreds and hundreds of people,
23:21
Speaker 1: these volunteers came across an old pair of shorts and pieces.
23:25
Speaker 2: Of two white shoes.
23:27
Speaker 1: They called the Sheriff's department, and very quickly a team
23:30
Speaker 1: of deputies arrived and cordoned off the area and they
23:33
Speaker 1: continued the search, and in that same field, not far
23:36
Speaker 1: from the shorts and the shoes, they found a fragment
23:39
Speaker 1: of a human skull, and DNA testing confirmed the skull
23:43
Speaker 1: fragment belonged to Brandon Lawson. Now you would think that
23:46
Speaker 1: finding some of Brandon's remains would answer at least some
23:49
Speaker 1: of the questions about his disappearance. But actually it just
23:53
Speaker 1: made the whole thing more baffling because the area where
23:56
Speaker 1: Brandon's skull was found was right near his truck. It
24:00
Speaker 1: had been searched so many times, there were thermal cameras
24:04
Speaker 1: and canines and helicopters and hundreds of searchers, and nobody
24:09
Speaker 1: found it. Remember, off the side of the highway. This
24:12
Speaker 1: is not some thick forest. It is like this huge
24:15
Speaker 1: flat field in West Texas with nothing but grass and
24:19
Speaker 1: short cactus plants and scattered trees, like this is an
24:23
Speaker 1: easy place to find stuff. Yet this skull fragment was
24:26
Speaker 1: not found, nor were the shorts or the shoes. It
24:29
Speaker 1: just seems so improbable. So where does that leave us? Well,
24:33
Speaker 1: we basically have two options here. Option one is despite
24:37
Speaker 1: the enormous man power, the helicopters, canine units, the thermal
24:42
Speaker 1: cameras that were used, the hundreds of volunteers and searchers
24:45
Speaker 1: that combed this area for years, either they just didn't
24:50
Speaker 1: see the grown man and bright white sneakers who was
24:53
Speaker 1: in this barren strip of West Texas where it's easy
24:57
Speaker 1: to see anything. They just didn't see him, So that's
24:59
Speaker 1: option one or two. He wasn't there. Brandon was not
25:04
Speaker 1: in the search area when they were looking for him.
25:07
Speaker 1: He was somewhere else. But if you believe option two,
25:10
Speaker 1: the question becomes, well, where was Brandon?
25:13
Speaker 2: Where was he?
25:14
Speaker 1: Why did he call nine one one and then run
25:16
Speaker 1: away and go somewhere else?
25:18
Speaker 2: Why where was he?
25:19
Speaker 1: And then also, even if you answer that, how did
25:22
Speaker 1: his skull, fragment and his clothes wind up back in
25:25
Speaker 1: the search area nine years later? It is one of
25:28
Speaker 1: the most profound mysteries on the Internet, and to this
25:31
Speaker 1: day we still don't have a good answer. Thank you
25:43
Speaker 1: so much for watching. Let me know what you thought
25:45
Speaker 1: of today's episode in the comments. And remember we have
25:48
Speaker 1: hundreds of videos for you to binge right now. But
25:51
Speaker 1: if you're looking for a recommendation for me of that
25:54
Speaker 1: one video that's worth your time, well it's this one
25:57
Speaker 1: right here, So give it a watch, all right, until
26:00
Speaker 1: next time, see ya,