Jason Watts is the man who found the remains of Brandon Lawson. He and @LocalLegendsBertonMoran join us to talk about one of the weirdest unsolved disappearances to involve a 911 call. Welcome back to The Lore Lodge... https://www.bunkerbranding.com/pages/the-lore-lodge If you are able, please consider donating to any of the listed organizations recommended by Appalachian Voices: https://appvoices.org/helene-relief/ Google Doc compiling resources and orgs: https://docs.google.com/document/d/14hx_zisRfU65zxNyDvdJkar_k11DIgOj-4X_F13WYPI/edit#heading=h.kfkkt8x805k5 Subscribe on Patreon to support The Lore Lodge for just $1 per month! https://patreon.com/thelorelodge Get our new signature coffee blend at https://tablowroastingco.com/products/the-lore-lodge-mt-pocono-perk Shop our online retail store, find other content, and buy our partners' products at https://linktr.ee/theaidanmattis Discord: https://bit.ly/jointhelodge Shop sustainable products at https://www.gaiaindustrees.com/ using code "LORE" Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCctfIbo24UITlmfJbednOqA/join Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What inspired Jason Watts to investigate Brandon Lawson's case?
Oh God. Oh boy.
Yeah. That was a, that was, that was pretty well.
Yeah. So you guys were bringing cadaver dogs out. Uh, it was, so I know there's been obviously some skeletal remains that were found. They've been DNA tested. Was that, can you say, was that found in close proximity of the clothing? Yes. It was? Okay. Because that was one thing I was also curious about, you know, looking over it.
Because, again, you know, we were looking at all angles as we try to do of what could possibly have happened here. And one thing I was like, all right, well, if this was staged later on, you know, what would be there? Would you necessarily... Could it be that somebody was just throwing clothes out there to make it look like he was there? No, no, that...
That's not, you know, I've actually seen this theory brought up was, was that evidence planted there? Right. And I can go ahead and, you know, answer the question. Okay. In order to plant evidence, you have to know somebody's coming to look for it, right? Right. I mean, otherwise, what's the point?
Not only do you have to know somebody's coming to look for you, you have to know where they're going to look. Okay, I have to place these there because these are where these guys are going to be if I want this found, right? Okay, well, there were four people that knew what property we were searching that day. Okay, so probably not.
Yeah, me, Lou Barry, the landowner who was in the hospital with COVID in ICU on a ventilator, and one of the other searchers who unlocked the gate to let everybody on. That's it. Ledessa did not know. Sheriff McCutcheon didn't even know we were coming that day.
All right, so that's interesting. That was kind of the next thing I wanted to ask, too, was, like, you know, obviously we have a general idea of where these remains were found. It was on the east side of the highway, right?
I will not confirm or deny which direction they were found, just to protect the landowner. All right. Hey, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. No, you're fine.
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Chapter 2: What were the key findings from the search for Brandon Lawson?
I don't know if you were going to ask about this, but I was curious if you had any thoughts that you could share about the 911 call that he made.
As far as what I think he's saying?
Partially, yeah, about what you think he's saying and any reason that you could see as to why it didn't supposedly get connected properly. It did. It did?
Yeah. That's kind of an unknown. And for the longest time, LaDessa and the family didn't know. So here's the truth. Coke County did respond to that call. They sent a deputy north. It is in their dispatch logs. It's even in the sheriff's wife's articles. Say what you want about those. And I understand that because I don't necessarily agree with everything that was written either.
But they did respond to that call. It just wasn't put out publicly, probably like it should have been. But it is in their dispatch logs, which I do have. They did respond to that call. I even have the name of the deputy that responded.
Okay, so that was confusing because as you're looking at the reporting, the news media reporting, what it says is that what she said, I believe it was McCutcheon, was that they sent one deputy north and one deputy south in response to the trucker's phone call.
No, no, no. So the deputy that went north was dispatched because of Brandon's call. The problem was they didn't have enough of a geographic location. All he said was, I'm out here going towards Abilene. That's all the dispatcher could make out. So she interpreted that as he had already gone through Braunt. So that's why the deputy was sent north of Braunt.
The trucker call is what Deputy Neal responded. Gotcha. He knew somebody had called 911, and that's why the other deputy was out. But he did not have the full details as to who called, why they called. All he knew is, okay, another officer got sent north for that. This call's coming in about this truck on the south side of town. I'm going to go check that out.
Right. Okay, so that is very helpful because that was one thing I could not wrap my head around.
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Chapter 3: How does the 911 call play a role in Brandon Lawson's disappearance?
Oh, yeah.
That nobody's talking about.
You heard their Devil Went Down to Georgia cover? No. Nickelback has a Devil Went Down to Georgia cover.
What? Oh, my God.
It's incredible.
That's amazing. That is amazing.
As you can imagine, instead of a fiddle battle, it's a guitar battle. Yep.
That's pretty awesome.
You'll have to listen to it after this show because, oh, my God, is it fun. All right, next.
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