Brandon Lawson Obituary, Death – Brandon Lawson moved in with his longtime love Vanessa Lofton on August 8, 2013, after finally making it to San Angelo, Texas. At around 11:00 p.m., Lawson and Lofton got into an argument. Lofton assumed that Lawson was under the influence of narcotics because he hadn’t come home the night before.
Lawson had been sober for around 6 months at the time, but he still struggled with substance usage. After Brandon Lawson went missing, his brother Kyle speculated that he may have used methamphetamines. About three hours after leaving San Angelo, Brandon Lawson called his father in Crowley, Texas, to say he was on his way to visit. Lawson got in his father’s Silver Ford F-150 and drove off at 11:54 p.m. Lawson called Kyle at 12:30 a.m. on August 9 to inform him that he was stranded on U.S. Route 277 between San Angelo and Bronte, Texas due to a lack of petrol. Following the call, Kyle said that Lawson told him, “Three (expletives) are chasing me out of town,” before specifying that he meant “the Mexicans in the neighborhood.” Kyle questioned if he was hallucinating, and Lawson said that wasn’t the case.
Kyle, accompanied by his wife and young son, aged four, traveled to Lofton’s residence to get a fuel can. Kyle claimed that they kept calling each other, but that Lawson would cut off the connection after only a few phrases. Lawson dialed 9-1-1 at 12:50 a.m., awakening residents of a Robert Lee, Texas nursing home. He explained to the dispatcher that he was out of petrol and required police assistance. During the conversation, Lawson said things like, “Yes, I’m in the middle of a field (inaudible) pulled some guys over, right here coming into Abilene, on both sides,” and, “My truck ran out of gas. One vehicle is parked here. The man is following (unintelligible) into the forest. Be prompt! At 12:56 a.m., a trucker reported Lawson’s truck to 9-1-1 for being illegally parked in the roadway.
Lawson’s poor cell phone reception resulted in several calls with his brother, his girlfriend, his neighbor, and the 9-1-1 dispatcher going straight to voicemail between 12:50 and 1:15 a.m., and all calls to his phone went straight to voicemail after 1:19 a.m. During a call with Kyle around 1:18 a.m., Lawson sounded winded and said he was bleeding. Lawson wasn’t in his pickup when a sheriff’s deputy showed up shortly after 1 o’clock in the morning. At about 1:10 a.m., Kyle showed up at the truck. Lawson, who he was talking to at the time, said, “I can see you; I’m right here,” but neither the deputy nor Kyle could see him. Lawson had an outstanding arrest warrant at the time of his disappearance, and Kyle suspected that he was hiding from the deputy.
After his conversation with the police officer, Kyle drove his car a short distance up the road and parked it, presumably to wait for Lawson. However, after thirty to forty-five minutes, Kyle decided to leave. At around 5 a.m., Kyle went back to Lawson’s truck, where he had left the gas can, and was surprised to find that Lawson had not returned. The truck was towed at around 8 in the morning. A local deputy led a search party after Lawson went missing and after many hours of combing the area around Lawson’s truck, they came up empty-handed. Lawson’s loved ones have created a “Help Find Brandon Lawson” Facebook page, which as of 2022 had almost 26,000 followers.
Lawson’s family posted an update on the “Help Find Brandon Lawson” Facebook page on February 4, 2022, saying that the Texas Rangers had performed a search of the region and uncovered human remains after a search team had discovered clothing matching Lawson’s near his last known location. As of August 2023, DNA findings were still pending, but it was thought that the remains belonged to Lawson.
