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Branson Perry ////// 484

November 07, 2022 / 01:00:41

This episode covers the disappearance of Branson Perry from Skidmore, Missouri, on April 11, 2001, and the subsequent investigation into his case. Key discussions include Branson's background, the circumstances of his last known movements, and the involvement of local residents and law enforcement.

Branson Perry, a 20-year-old living with his father, was last seen leaving his home to return jumper cables to a shed. His grandmother, Joanne Stinnett, later found the house unlocked and Branson missing. The episode details the activities at the house on the day of his disappearance, including the presence of two unnamed mechanics working on his father's vehicle.

Branson's family reported him missing several days later, leading to an investigation that uncovered various leads, including a troubling incident involving a neighbor named Jason. Branson's father believed his son had been victimized and possibly drugged during this encounter.

The episode also discusses a potential connection to Jack Wayne Rogers, a convicted sex offender whose property contained items linked to Branson. Despite extensive investigation, including searches for Branson's remains, law enforcement has not been able to charge anyone in connection with his disappearance.

Branson's case remains unsolved, with law enforcement believing foul play was involved. The episode concludes with reflections on the impact of Branson's disappearance on his family and the community.

TLDR

Branson Perry vanished in 2001; investigation reveals troubling leads and potential foul play in Skidmore, Missouri.

Episode

1:00:41
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foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] welcome to True Crime garage wherever you are whatever you're doing thanks for
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podcasts and Colonel that is enough of the business all right everybody gather around grab a chair grab a beer let's
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talk some true crime [Music] [Music] all right [Music] Skidmore is a small town in Northwest
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Missouri the state that we have ventured off to on True Crime garage before but not often
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we covered the horrific case of Kent heitholt who has found beaten and strangled in a Columbia Missouri parking
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lot in 2005 Ryan Ferguson was wrongfully convicted of that crime Charles Erickson the alleged accomplice
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remains imprisoned obviously there is much debate if that case should be closed or reopened
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we covered the still unsolved mysterious disappearance of three women dubbed the
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Springfield three Stacy McCall her good friend Suzanne Streeter and Suzanne's mother Cheryl
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Levitt that case began on June 7 1992 when all three went missing from Cheryl Levitt's home in Springfield Missouri
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all of their personal belongings including cars and purses were left behind again
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that case is still unsolved and all three are still missing Skidmore is a small town not just in
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size less than .4 square miles but also in population in fact it's estimated that only about
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260 people live in Skidmore and for some reason the population has been decreasing a little more each year
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for the last 100 years in 1981 Skidmore got the reputation of a town that wouldn't take any crap
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a town that takes care of itself and watches out for their own this became known when Ken Rex McIlroy
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the town bully was shot to death and dozens of people were present but like the old saying nobody saw a
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thing Skidmore is a small town that is far away from the big cities of Colombia and
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Springfield Missouri but certainly not too far that it is free from Big City problems
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this week we go to Skidmore and examine a story that involves a strange disappearance an abduction and murder
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this is true crime garage Branson Perry was born on February 24 1981. his parents are Becky klino and
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Bob Perry Branson was born and raised in Skidmore Missouri the town sits on a hill above the Nottoway River amid
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cornfields in Northwestern Missouri the residents farm and there is one lone gas station in town some of the citizens
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work at the factories nearby at some point Branson's parents split up but this was not when he was young
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Branson was the oldest of two boys and he went to live with his father his little brother lived with Branson's
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mother Branson was close with his father and not only that Branson's father Bob had
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some ongoing health concerns so there is some thought that maybe Branson chose living with his father in a way to take
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care of him regardless we should point out that this was not a messy or nasty divorce that took place during Branson's
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high school years Branson and his father were close and did a lot of father-son bonding type
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activities together especially outdoorsy type stuff like fishing hiking and so on
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one activity that the two enjoy together they both trained in the martial art of
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hapkido have keto is described as a hybrid Korean martial art this is a form of self-defense that employs joint locks
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grappling throwing techniques kicks punches and other striking attacks it also teaches the use of traditional
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weapons there are different levels of belts and according to the Charlie Project's website Branson was a black
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belt but I don't think we can fully say with confidence just how skilled he was one website I found says that there are
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only black belts in this discipline and different degrees of black belt so that makes sense because in other
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forms you'd have like a white belt and that would be your starting point but here they're saying okay just black
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belts and then we give you different degrees as you get better and again this is according to one website that I found
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I don't I'm not going to pretend to know much about hapkido I actually had to look up how to spell the darn word so
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this is a fun cool and interesting thing to study and practice and a great thing
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for father and son to do together but I don't think captain that we should assume that Branson was like Carlos
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Norris or Steven Seagal you know a one-man Wrecking Crew sort of thing a Perry graduated not away Holt High
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School in 1999 and has been employed by a roofing company and a traveling petting zoo he worked as like a
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maintenance man for the petting zoo for some time not easy jobs he was unemployed at the time that he would go
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missing and he was said to have been looking for work Branson was 20 years old at the time of his disappearance and
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he was still living with his father on West Oak Street in Skidmore Missouri now the day in question will be
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Wednesday April 11 2001. this is reported to be the date that Branson was last seen
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right he was reported missing by his family and depending on which report you read
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this was either five or six days after he disappeared but either way he is officially as far
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as the sheriff's department is concerned Officially Missing by the following Tuesday on April 17 2001.
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so we don't have a clear-cut definitive this is the last day that he was seen we
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had the report that he was last seen on April 11. but there were some things and
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I think possibly very important things going on before Branson went missing right so we already established that
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Branson is living with his father Bob everything we could find shows that it was just the two of them living together
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in that home right now Bob on Wednesday April 11 he is laid up in the hospital but he is due to come home soon
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so on this Wednesday there is going to be a lot of activity at the house Branson to me looks to be prepping the
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house for his father's return or is just being as productive as possible as he doesn't have a job so he's
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probably helping out by getting some things done around the house right this also gives us a good opportunity to
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introduce Joanne Stinnett Joanne is Branson's grandmother and I think she likely is the one to
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have organized the events of April 11. so on this day Captain we are going to have some house cleaning and some
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vehicle repair and others will be involved so we have Gina Crawford who was a good friend of Branson's
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she is at the house she is helping with some cleaning and some household chores there are two men at the house these
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guys are replacing the alternator and Branson's father's vehicle now one thing here is that Gina is mentioned by name
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in almost every source that I could find these two men however are not in some sources they are referred to as two men
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working on Bob's vehicle right other sources as two mechanics and in some Outlets they are even
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referred to as two unnamed men or two unnamed mechanics yeah it's difficult here because you have such a small town
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that it wouldn't be unlikely for a mechanic to come to your house and just do the work hey I'll just come off on my
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off day and I'll do the work over at your house we don't need to take it into my shop so it's not unlikely
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but yo well who are these guys they could be mechanics and like you said it wouldn't be uncommon especially in a
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town this small for them to come to the property and work on the vehicle we're talking about a town that is less than
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0.4 square miles in size so everybody lives within blocks of one another so if you have a vehicle
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that cannot move cannot operate you save everybody the hassle of a tow company picking it up and moving it just
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to fix it when you could walk three blocks over to your neighbor's home and fix it in the driveway and maybe they're
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also just being called mechanics because they're fixing the car but changing an alternator in most cars is not the most
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complex mechanical work so there's a lot of people that don't even know much about cars that could change that
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themselves because of this small town in the population and we know Gina Crawford's name and we
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know Joanne stinnett's name I just am curious why these guys are unnamed it seems purposeful purposeful
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by the cops or purposeful just by by all involved that may know the names of these two individuals it all it also
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could be two guys that were cleared by cops and but maybe they have a history a criminal history and so they don't want
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to bring up those names to have people run wild with rumors we see that a lot with cases that afternoon Joanne and
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Gina are working inside the home according to Gina around 3 P.M Branson was inside the home and he retrieved
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something from a kitchen cabinet he said nothing and then walked outside a little after 3 P.M Gino looked out the
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window and saw Perry talking with the two men Gina says that she opens up the window
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asking Branson hey what are you doing he tells her I'm going to put some jumper cables back in the shed and then I'm
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going to go out for a bit and I will be back soon Gina watched him throw the cables in the
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shed and then watch Branson leave the property on foot now we said Branson and his father were tight right
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so Branson was in the habit of visiting his father every evening or night while Bob was at the hospital so the next day
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Joanne Branson's grandmother she's at the hospital visiting Bob during which it comes up in conversation that Branson
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did not visit his father in the hospital the night before apparently it was known to the
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grandmother and to Bob that sometime on the evening of April 11 Branson would make his daily visit to see Bob
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Joanne is learning that that did not happen so after the visit to see Bob at the
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hospital now she's going to go back to the house and check on Branson so this is on April 12th
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Joanne sennick goes by the house when she gets there she finds that the doors are open I don't have an exact
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time for this Captain but with the events of that day and from some things that I've seen I
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think it's safe to say that this is in the ballpark of noonish yeah midday so Joanne finds the house empty no
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Branson more alarming the doors are unlocked and open she does say she walks through the house
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and nothing seemed to be missing from the home other than Branson she specifically checked for some of
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Branson's personal belongings checking to see if things are missing or out of place maybe that would clue her in on
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where to look for Branson or where he went none of his personal belongings were out of place
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on Wednesday April 11 this is the last time any friends or family reportedly saw Branson and no one is really sure
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where he was going when he said when he left that day so so when he puts up the the cables
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the car cables and he says I'm leaving he doesn't say where he's heading to he simply says I'm returning these
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cables to the shed I'm heading out for a bit and then he leaves on foot says he'll be back
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I think he says he'll be back in a little bit or in a few minutes whatever it was at least according to
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Gina's story it doesn't sound like she had the impression that he would be gone very long one it's not clear to me so
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maybe you can make it clear is he able to visit his dad in the hospital by walking there
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well let's get into that because that took quite a bit of further digging there's a lot of these stories out there
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about Branson and his disappearance when you really start digging you can fill in the
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gaps in the big blanks that are left in a lot of the stories out there about Branson so as we said earlier Branson
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has reported missing to the local authorities this was by Bob and Becky his parents and again it was either on
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April 16th or April 17th I'm guessing here Captain but one would think this missing report likely may
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have coincided with Bob's return home from the hospital now there will be some leads and some
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Persons of Interest in Branson's case but again before we get into those we should stop and examine something a
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little further now I'm not saying that there is any reason to question Branson's family as they have been
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extremely active looking for him and looking for answers over the years and likely local law enforcement probably
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have filled in a good number of these blanks that I mentioned but again Captain I really get bothered anytime we
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have friends I want to be clear about that friends because we have Gina Crawford in two unnamed individuals or
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family telling about the details surrounding one's disappearance and there are so many holes and gaps in lack
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of information in the overall story right recently we discussed the Logan schindelman disappearance out of
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Washington state a fascinating case with some very bizarre stuff going on in that
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one and really the bizarre stuff it really overshadows what I think was really going on in that situation that
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someone close to Logan is responsible for his disappearance and for whatever reason a person or persons in the family
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are slow to act and then there are big chunks of the story missing or parts of the story that just do not make sense
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real quick a shout out to the good people that participated in the honk and wave event in Grand Mound Washington
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last week raising awareness for Logan's case Matthew anfeld's case and Karen bodine's case
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back to our case captain here is what is missing from the story and again law enforcement likely has
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filled in all of these blanks so Branson leaves and the persons at his home that day they do not know where he
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is going I get that but Joanne says when she arrives at the home less than 24 hours later Branson is gone and the
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house is unlocked and the doors are open so when did the people leave the house the
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day before and when did Joanne leave and when she left if she was the last one to leave
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did she lock up the house or was she not the last one to leave and it was general
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information at least between Joanne and Bob that Branson would go visit Bob on the 11th this is after the time Branson
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was last seen so how was Branson getting to the hospital as you pointed out Captain did Branson have a vehicle was
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he going to drive his dad's vehicle maybe ride a bike the hospital is 15 miles from Branson's home
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a 19 to 22 minute drive according to my map app right if he was taking Dad's car
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to go see Dad that is a fine explanation but we know two men two unnamed men were
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replacing the alternator in the vehicle on that day in question so was the vehicle even operable before this switch
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out job because if it wasn't then again how was you know Branson how did he get to and
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from the hospital the previous day and the day before that and the day before that to visit to visit his father right
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it couldn't hurt the investigation to shrink the time frame of when this dude actually went missing this would really
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help us to have a better understanding of where whatever it was that went down to prevent Branson from coming back home
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because he could have run into some trouble when he went out that day or if we knew if Joanne Gina or either of
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these mechanic guys locked up the house after leaving well then it would most certainly look like Branson probably
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returned at some point and maybe something went down at the house right who knows but I'm again concerned with
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the lack of details here yeah and why don't we do we have details on when these mechanics left that house
00:21:06
we do not have an exact time captain of when these two men left the property but
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what has been reported is that they left sometime after Branson left on foot look
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the the way that this case is generally told is a Young Man Branson Perry tells a friend
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I'm taking some jumper cables to the shed he vanishes into thin air forever two weeks later these jumper cables
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magically reappear in the shed apparently they were not there before or until that point that's the version of
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this story that gets clicks views and so on right it's similar to some of the issues you and I had with the Brian
00:21:50
Shaffer case a man walks into a bar and disappears well that's not that's not the true story that's not the full story
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and same with Branson's case Captain there are a lot more here there's a lot more to this so I think we've already
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filled in some of the blanks but let's see if we can fill in some more along the way because there were some leads in
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this case and there were some theories foreign [Music] [Music] True Crime animals
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cheers to you cheers cheers cheers first off Captain early on in this investigation there was a theory that
00:23:00
maybe Branson hitchhiked a ride out of town but his family and friends they all said
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that they have never known Branson to hitchhike ever even you know one single time at that
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so that will immediately lead us back to well what the heck was his vehicle situation because most sources do not go
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this far into the story but the Charlie project page dedicated to Branson's case
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says Branson owned a van and that the van was in fact found parked at Branson's home after he failed to return
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or at least the next day when his grandmother came over on the 12th noticing that Branson was not home right
00:23:45
so he had a van but we don't even know if that van was Opera rule that's that was my next
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question that I had so what we ended up finding here he owns the van is found at his home I found
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three other sources that that reference Branson's van so again I think it's safe
00:24:03
to say that he had his own transportation and the way that the van is discussed it sounds like it was
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operable at the time and it sounds like this was the method that Branson had been using to get to and from the
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hospital to go see his father so then my question would become for his family and friends where would
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Branson go without his van without his van was there a coffee shop around the corner was there a McDonald's that he
00:24:29
liked to just walk to and get something to eat this I think that's another key thing here is understanding the the
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setting understanding the the city well I shouldn't even say City I don't know that they even have enough people to be
00:24:42
City status depending on what Missouri's rules are on that but it's a town of roughly 260 people from the reports I
00:24:53
read there was one gas station in the entire town there was one bar in the entire town
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I don't know that there were I'm assuming there might be a restaurant or a diner but it's not a place where
00:25:07
you have a lot of choices as far as shopping or dining or any you know really anything like that at
00:25:16
all so after you date a couple people you have to start dating your cousins right
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that's certainly an option the uh two guys you wanted to know about the two guys working on Dad's car so it's my
00:25:29
understanding captain that yes the van was operable that was Branson's method of getting to and from the hospital but
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the two guys working on Dad's car fixing the alternator well they were trying to
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fix the vehicle because Branson's father Bob originally was scheduled to be released that evening and it sounds like
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Branson was going to pick him up in his father's vehicle that would make sense I
00:25:54
can't say if the following is true or not but I like to think that it is Branson was close with his father that
00:26:02
is well known by all and I like to think that he was having the vehicle fixed as
00:26:07
a surprise for his old man now as for the people at Branson's house that day this is where things get tricky
00:26:16
only one source that I could find states that Branson's grandmother was even there on that day however
00:26:24
however however that in my humble garage opinion was a very very good source so let's take that a step further I
00:26:36
believe that if she were Branson's grandmother were in fact there on that day that she probably was just there
00:26:43
very briefly and left before Branson left and I say that because later in an interview I found with Branson's mother
00:26:52
his mother states that look we only have one person telling us the story of Branson going missing this Gina Crawford
00:27:00
friend of bransons only one person Gina is the only one ever on record saying that she saw
00:27:07
Branson retrieve something from a kitchen cabinet she believed he was trying to conceal whatever it was that
00:27:14
he pulled out from the cabinet right and then of course a short while later she says she asked Branson what he's doing
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he says he's going to take these jumper cables to the shed and then go out for a bit
00:27:28
to fill in some more of the blanks in in that same interview Branson's mom says Gina and the guys
00:27:35
working on the car they all say that they left for the day when they finished working on whatever their project was
00:27:43
and Branson had not returned by the time that they left so to be clear it does not sound as if they all left together
00:27:51
but rather once when they had finished you know the car was done and then when the house was done yeah so once the
00:27:59
mechanics were done they left and once the house was done that that she left my question then becomes
00:28:05
was that vehicle now could you drive that vehicle could you drive Branson's dad's vehicle were they done putting
00:28:14
that alternator in or or were they not successful that's a great question I do not know the answer to that you know one
00:28:22
thing left out of a lot of the sources are what I believe are more key pieces of information maybe even possible
00:28:32
evidence right so continuing with that Branson's mom says that the shed was in a side Lot remember we have Gina
00:28:42
again this is the only person telling us what is going on activity wise at that house or what Branson was up to that day
00:28:50
that he's last seen Branson tells Gina I'm going to replace these take these cables to the shed I'm
00:28:58
going to leave for a bit I'll be back in a few minutes vanishes forever Branson's mom says that the shed was in
00:29:05
a side Lot so Bob owned a double lot side by side the shed was not in the backyard like
00:29:10
most would expect but in a side yard and then Becky also says that the jumper cables were typically kept on the porch
00:29:17
so the shed comment about the cables is strange to her completely Gina the friend that was over that day
00:29:26
said one of the guys working on the car at some point this after Branson left came into the home and she says went to
00:29:34
the same cabinet that she had earlier seen Branson retrieve something from and according to Gina this guy too
00:29:42
behaved strange when she saw him Branson's family says Not only was Branson's van found parked at the house
00:29:50
but they found all of his personal belongings inside the home including Branson's wallet and to Joanne's
00:29:57
statement the grandmother's statement about finding the doors to the home open and unlocked according to Gina if you do
00:30:05
some further digging she closed up the house when she left I cannot say if this included locking
00:30:12
the doors or not but she says she closed up the house so that makes me wonder Captain did
00:30:18
Branson come home later that day and then go out again or did something happen at the home right so we're going
00:30:26
to add to the story a little more because Joanne's if you do further digging says not only were the doors
00:30:32
open but the stereo was on at the house and the music was turned up when she arrived on the 12th and Branson was not
00:30:40
there that's strange right so doesn't it look to you like there are other things going on at this
00:30:47
home even after Branson supposedly walked off on his own yeah and let's go back to
00:30:53
those jumper cables real quick because she goes oh well those were kept on the porch
00:30:58
okay well if they're kept on the porch that that's probably because the car again the alternator is it runs and
00:31:06
feeds energy back to your battery right if it doesn't feed energy back to your battery then you normally have to jump
00:31:13
it so they would want those wires to be accessible and maybe you want to put them in the shed because you don't want
00:31:21
to walk you know 10 feet every time you have to jump the car because it's a common occurrence but you're having the
00:31:29
alternator fixed so maybe that's why he thought why I can put the cables finally
00:31:33
back into the shed that makes a lot of sense and the the weird thing with the jumper cables always has been the reason
00:31:41
why this part of the story sticks and refuses to go away is it according to every report that I could find
00:31:50
the jumper cables were not present they couldn't find the jumper cables and then
00:31:55
two weeks later they magically reappeared and they were inside the shed yeah and look again I would love to know
00:32:04
the names of these guys that were quote unquote the mechanics because they could
00:32:08
have simply went oh we need to jump the car to get it started to let it run to feed energy back to the battery if they
00:32:18
completed the job we don't know if they completed the job or not and they used jumper cables one of them threw it threw
00:32:25
those cables in the back of their car or the back of their truck and didn't realize those aren't my cables a couple
00:32:31
weeks later they come back and return them but if it had if it was nothing nefarious why wouldn't somebody just
00:32:37
come forward and explain why they you know hey it was me that returned the jumper cave again if if somebody has a
00:32:42
record they you know these might be the reasons why they're not coming forward and going hey I'm my name is Frank and I
00:32:49
was one of them I trust you believe you Mead the sheriff's department knows who these men are that were working on the
00:32:57
vehicle oh yeah yeah they're not going to let Gina Crawford uh maybe she's the only one that says she saw these men
00:33:04
they're not going to go into a town of 260 people and believe somebody that they don't know at least one of the
00:33:11
men's names well no and on top of that so Branson puts these you know jumper cables away and people just didn't know
00:33:20
where they were and so then they they see him one day that that doesn't mean that that the jumper cables
00:33:28
ever went missing it just means that maybe they didn't recognize the spot they were located in for a week or so
00:33:37
possibly I'm I'm going with the that that part sticks because I heard it from the sheriff himself say that you know
00:33:45
they weren't there and then they were there uh so again these things need to be explained there's an answer for them
00:33:52
that answer might lead you to whatever happened to Branson right so our situation regardless is of course
00:34:00
that there is no real physical evidence or information that's really pointing law enforcement in the direction of
00:34:09
where this young man could be we have to keep in mind that law enforcement is working five or maybe
00:34:15
even six days after Branson disappeared so they are already at quite a disadvantage
00:34:21
remember Bob had scheduled his scheduled release was for that night on the 11th but that got changed at the last minute
00:34:30
and Bob was kept at the hospital longer than expected so this is probably a good
00:34:37
explanation for the delay that was going on so you're hoping to find a breadcrumb
00:34:43
from the bransons you know from Branson's family and friends what was he up to where does he normally go where do
00:34:51
you think he would go if maybe if he were in some type of trouble that sort of thing you're going to be
00:34:57
asking those questions hoping that you can find that breadcrumb to give you some kind of lead in this investigation
00:35:04
yeah I mean let's let's do our our big Tech sweep real quick no mention of Branson having a computer no mention of
00:35:15
Branson having a cell phone would he have any way to communicate with anybody once he left the property
00:35:22
other than maybe a pay phone or something well the first interesting breadcrumb comes from
00:35:31
Branson's father right so first there is this weird bit that took place on April
00:35:38
7th so four days before this is all alleged information but Branson's father seemed to believe this
00:35:46
enough that this story has gotten passed along time and time again right Bob said
00:35:53
Branson's father Bob said that on April 8th Branson told him a story and because
00:35:58
of the seriousness and because of Branson's tone Bob believed it Branson told his dad he was hanging out
00:36:06
with a neighbor this guy is named Jason this is the day before on April 7th and Jason gave him a pill and then the two
00:36:15
engaged in sexual activity together Bob says he was Furious because Jason was older than Branson and Bob felt
00:36:25
based on what Branson's reaction was and how he told the story that Branson was victimized by this guy
00:36:34
Bob felt that Jason drugged his son and took advantage of him right Bob said he was pretty sure that his son
00:36:42
had homosexual tendencies and probably explored that during his life but right it gets tricky because if you're
00:36:51
taking a drug that you don't know how you're going to react to how can you really be how can you really consent to
00:36:58
anything if you don't know how you're going to react to a drug could have been I have
00:37:03
even seen some throw around the word rape in regards to this situation I'm not going to pretend to know exactly
00:37:09
what went down if I had to really think that there was some drugs involved I also know that Branson was an adult at
00:37:19
this time he was 20 and look Branson could have been a victim here he probably was I'm just pointing out that
00:37:24
this is not a man and little boy situation this could have all been consensual or could have been predatory
00:37:32
behavior and again I think because Bob seemed to believe this story and had it took you know took a big issue with this
00:37:39
situation we would be remiss to not mention it now either way it's something that needs to be looked
00:37:48
into and could be a solid lead for the sheriff's department this is the not away Sheriff's Office investigating the
00:37:56
case by the way the other lead that stems from this same story about the neighbor
00:38:02
is Bob says to detectives that maybe because of this event Branson needed to you know he may have been seeking some
00:38:09
help from a friend Branson had a longtime friend a close friend that lived out of state so maybe
00:38:16
he went there this neighbor story and then the out of state Friends Story the Sheriff's Office were made aware of both
00:38:25
of these situations very early on and from everything I saw Captain both were fully investigated and nothing came
00:38:35
out of either of these possibilities the other concern too is that at the time there was quite the drug problem going
00:38:43
on in and around Skidmore Missouri during that General time frame remember when attempting to profile an
00:38:51
offender you have to profile the victim the area and the situation we do have a psychic
00:38:57
situation here captain and some people get all weird about the psychics yeah but we like them and it's our show so
00:39:03
that you can do what you want when you get your own show uh well we're not saying that they're accurate what we're
00:39:08
saying is that they're interesting to to hear from from time to time well and I think that the general problem that that
00:39:15
the general public has with the psychic situations in these cases is the same thing you know we Echo this
00:39:22
we Echo this concern is that sometimes a psychic will see vulnerable people vulnerable people that are experiencing
00:39:30
the loss of a loved one a loved one's either missing or has been murdered and the psychic will present themselves to
00:39:37
the family right and then start you know requesting money and things for information and these people are
00:39:45
desperate for any type of help in some situations the family seeks out a psychic so it does go the other way
00:39:51
sometimes I don't know what happened here who sought out who I will say this Branson's father and mother
00:40:00
extremely obvious to me and everyone else else out there they loved this kid and they were desperate for answers so
00:40:10
maybe they sought out the psychic but regardless what happens here is the psychic says to Mom and Dad
00:40:18
you know I can see that your son has been murdered he was tortured he suffered a long
00:40:25
brutal torture before he was killed and the psychic refused to go into details about
00:40:34
what actually happened to Branson because they didn't they simply couldn't didn't have the heart to tell the family
00:40:42
so then you wonder about this neighbor but you also wonder about the town itself again it's
00:40:49
small but we have we have surrounding areas and some of those people are are not as
00:40:55
open-minded about sexuality so is it is this possibly a hate crime because psychic is saying that Branson
00:41:06
was tortured well I think let's go ahead and give a description here because this
00:41:12
is a missing person's case the case itself is classified as endangered missing Foul Play is strongly suspected
00:41:19
in this case and we will be getting into that more so but Branson is a white male
00:41:25
he was 20 at the time when he went missing he would be 40 years old today he was five foot nine inches tall
00:41:33
155 pounds athletic build not a great clothing description but it said that he was possibly wearing size
00:41:42
32 shorts a size medium or large t-shirt and necklaces with leather trinkets or chains with some arrowheads on them now
00:41:54
Branson does have a medical condition it's a racing heart condition and he is also allergic to penicillin he has
00:42:01
blonde hair blue eyes he wears his hair typically short you know it was a good looking kid and has a small faint scar
00:42:08
on the upper part of his right cheek and a small scar on his left knee again we'll post pictures on our Instagram and
00:42:15
Twitter and Facebook all right this takes us to a weird part in this whole story Captain it actually takes us to
00:42:24
another investigation not in any way meant to be connected to Branson's missing persons case
00:42:31
about 20 years ago and for several years the FBI ran a project called operation Candyman the very basic goal of Candyman
00:42:40
was to identify and round up as many as possible child pornography collectors Traders sellers suppliers makers all
00:42:49
from the internet and I hope and pray that this is a continued thing just running under different names over the
00:42:54
years because a lot of sickos and a lot of potentially violent dangerous sickos can be outed and locked up using this
00:43:02
method this is the old pervert Roundup undercover style yeah the old p-r-u-s so this operation leads to dozens of
00:43:11
arrests when got him they identify these computer curves they go to their homes they go to their you know through
00:43:19
their things and more importantly through their computers and Communications so one of the Sickies that they
00:43:26
uncovered in this operation Candyman is a man named Michael Adam Davidson this is in 2002. this perv was a medical
00:43:34
student down in Alabama he would later plead guilty to multiple charges of receiving and attempting to
00:43:41
receive images of child pornography pleading guilty in federal court on his computer amongst some other really gross
00:43:48
stuff they found a child pornography movie MP3 and a short short snuff film MP3 this showed a man dying it would
00:43:57
have been an mp4 Davidson had Communications with another man that he thanked for the snuff film file
00:44:06
the man Davidson thanked frequently chatted with Davidson even calling the man his mentor this Mentor told Davidson
00:44:15
in not such short way that he was a sexual sadist and he had killed a number of boys slash
00:44:24
men one of the stories this man discussed to be clear these were discussions and I
00:44:30
promise I am not going to go through all of it it's lengthy it's disgusting and frankly I don't want to have to say some
00:44:37
of the things that I have read and heard the man tells Davidson when he was at the Walmart the other day
00:44:44
he spotted something that reminded him of something he had done now this man is attempting to be cryptic he says he was
00:44:51
reminded of something that's missing he says it was not really missing it was just never returned
00:45:01
he said he had a great fondness and memories of it and said that the thing with most prey is they are not worth
00:45:08
looking for it was a runaway or so it told me and they again are referring to pray
00:45:16
they are just throwaways no one gives a [ __ ] this man chatting with Davidson when he was talking about something that
00:45:24
wasn't really missing it was just never returned it was determined that he was talking about seeing a missing person's
00:45:30
flyer for Branson Perry at the Walmart now again I'm going to keep this short as there is a lot to this chat and it's
00:45:38
vulgar really depraved stuff so the short of it is he picked it up hitchhiking on the interstate it told
00:45:48
him he was from Skidmore the two partied together drinking and he gave it a pill
00:45:57
the combo of the pill and the drinking made it most compliant he took it out to a remote location that
00:46:06
the man called basically a campsite stripped it tied it to a tree and tortured it physically mentally
00:46:13
emotionally and spiritually until it begged him to kill it this man said that these were activities that he
00:46:22
had done before and his favorite part of these activities was breaking it afterward he said he burned all of the
00:46:30
clothing and he was very descriptive about destroying the clothing and other evidence
00:46:36
he said he eviscerated it so the body would not float or bloat and tossing the guts into a ditch in the
00:46:44
body into deep water he described the area simply as an Ozarks overnight stay and it as an
00:46:54
18-hour project the FBI tracked down this man this was a Fulton Missouri resident Fulton is about
00:47:04
250 miles south east of Skidmore and they did a search and seizure at the man's home work vacation property
00:47:13
basically described as a campsite with a trailer on it and his vehicle they uncovered a plethora of child porn
00:47:21
on his home and work computer and bondage items these are devices some would say torture tools and devices
00:47:29
these were found in the trailer at the campsite of course this man is arrested and they
00:47:36
are looking for evidence of any crimes this man may have committed but specifically looking for evidence that
00:47:42
he killed and concealed the body of Branson Perry now what they find in relation to the Perry case is a leather
00:47:50
necklace with beads and a turtle's claw this is shown to Branson's parents and his father says the necklace is
00:47:58
identical to the one Branson had so who is this monster well it's 59 year old business owner and
00:48:08
resident of Fulton Missouri he is the owner operator of Decker and Decker Employment Services in Columbia Missouri
00:48:16
he also is an ordained Presbyterian lay Minister and a Boy Scout leader oh yeah this this guy he's already been
00:48:27
convicted on child porn charges before so how he was allowed to be involved with
00:48:34
this church or the Boy Scouts I have no clue no answers for you there captain now he reminds me a lot of Buffalo Bill
00:48:44
like if you look at him just real quick he doesn't look normal he looks uh we definitely can see the
00:48:52
Evil coming out in this individual back in the 90s this man served a few months on child porn charges this is
00:49:01
Jack Wayne Rogers and his whole story will just get stranger and stranger and I'll read some of this here Captain this
00:49:09
is from CBS News out of Columbia Missouri a former Church Minister and Boy Scout
00:49:17
leader who cut off another man's genitals and a makeshift gender reassignment surgery in a hotel room
00:49:23
pled guilty to first-degree assault and practicing medicine without a license Jack Wayne Rogers age 59 of Fulton
00:49:32
Missouri admitted he performed the grizzly operation the judge followed the recommendation of prosecutors sentencing
00:49:40
Rogers to 17 years in prison for assault and seven years for the illegal surgery
00:49:46
the prison time is to run concurrently with a 30-year sentence handed to Rogers after he pled guilty to child
00:49:54
pornography and obscenity charges Rogers promised the victim he'd remove his genitals in a four-hour operation that
00:50:04
time passed complications developed and bleeding refused to stop the victim says
00:50:10
she didn't feel like a victim at first but changed her mind after prosecutor computers presented her with Roger's
00:50:17
checkered criminal history peppered with allegations of cannibalism and a pornography collection that included
00:50:24
photographs of severed genitals quote I didn't know his motivation when I went into it she said I was under a lot of
00:50:31
emotional stress and it seemed like there was no alternative Rogers Public Defender said she advised
00:50:38
her client to plead guilty to avoid further prison time quote he is getting concurrent time she said if he had gone
00:50:45
to trial he very well could have gotten consecutive time he is still being investigated in the torture and killing
00:50:52
of Skidmore Man Branson Perry who disappeared in April 2001 a police search of Rogers property turned up that
00:51:00
necklace that we already mentioned belonging to Branson Perry well okay we know he's a piece of [ __ ] right we know
00:51:07
he's capable of doing this and his name gets thrown around and like if I'm hearing you correctly
00:51:14
at some point that Jack was telling somebody this is what I did confessing to somebody that this is what
00:51:23
I did to Branson yes yeah yeah now after he's arrested for these child pornography charges that what led them
00:51:32
to this illegal surgery that this man performed was he had photos and evidence of it on his computers
00:51:42
and so you know you can't just be out there performing surgeries and so they were able to charge him not
00:51:48
only with the child pornography charges but this illegal surgery that could have
00:51:52
led to this individual's death I mean this man's not a doctor he's performing this surgery where there's
00:52:00
going to be a lot of blood in a hotel room and as sick is this individual sounds Jack Wayne Rogers from
00:52:09
what he is chatting about in chat rooms and of course the nasty stuff found on his computers right as weird and strange
00:52:16
and he describes himself as a sexual sadist that poor individual that's so damn desperate to to change their life to
00:52:25
alter their life could have ended up being severely victimized by this man in the end Captain Rogers has denied
00:52:34
killing Branson Perry and he's never been charged with anything in relation to Branson's
00:52:40
disappearance he said his writings and discussions were works of fiction fantasies that he
00:52:47
lived out online and frankly I don't know what's more disgusting the most disgusting thing obviously is the idea
00:52:54
that maybe he actually did all or some of what he said he did but even if he didn't I don't know what is more
00:53:01
appalling the idea that he has these fantasies and acts and lives them out online or the fact that a bunch of
00:53:07
others want to sit around and listen to it Branson's mother attended Jack Wayne Rogers trial
00:53:14
every chance she got she begged him to tell her where he hid Branson's remains he offered no answers so where
00:53:25
does the case stand today sadly Branson's father Bob died in 2004 and his mother Becky died in 2011. Branson
00:53:34
has never been located in Branson's mother's obituary it is noted that her son Branson Perry
00:53:43
pre-deceased her so even though no remains have been found Becky who had cancer and knew that
00:53:50
she was going to pass went to her grave knowing in her heart that Branson was dead
00:53:56
of course as we said earlier Foul Play is suspected in this case that's law enforcement stance
00:54:04
now where the case stands today and why Becky put in her obituary chose to put in her obituary that her son Branson
00:54:14
pre-deceased her will be quite clear we're going to fill in some more blanks here go for it there is a man a retired
00:54:22
Sheriff the sheriff that worked the case at the time this would be not a way County Sheriff Ben Espy and if you could
00:54:31
take a mound of clay and mold it into a sheriff this is what you would get this guy was
00:54:38
born to be a sheriff you you should see this guy in interviews he's got that cold dark stare
00:54:45
when he's asked a dumb questioned by some reporter this man is all business all the time
00:54:53
he knew that Branson's mother Becky was dying this was a battle with cancer and it was coming
00:55:00
to the end he wanted to offer her some kind of answers before she left this Earth
00:55:11
and he said look it is my job to investigate these cases I however don't make a rest I don't prosecute
00:55:24
people it's the prosecutor's job to tell me who to arrest and who to convict in court
00:55:31
Jesus Gathering evidence get said suspects and keep in mind this lead with Jack Wayne Rogers that looked very very
00:55:38
promising this is happening a couple years into the investigation Sheriff Espy said basically what was
00:55:46
going on was we were we were going to follow every lead that came in every tip that came in especially the Jack Wayne
00:55:53
Rogers that all needs to be looked at it all needs to be sorted out but he said you know what at the very
00:56:00
beginning very early on in this case we knew what happened to Branson we knew who was responsible we just couldn't put
00:56:10
together the evidence and I think a lot of that was not being able to locate and recover the remains
00:56:17
to bring forth charges on some individuals that were responsible Espy points out back to the drug problem at
00:56:26
the time and he says look unfortunately Branson Perry was no angel he was not a saint he was a good kid
00:56:32
but later in life he got mixed up with the wrong crowd and he was involved in some of the drug
00:56:40
manufacturing and peddling that was going on at the very local small level in the area at the time
00:56:49
Espy is on record after being retired saying that Branson Perry was shot in the head
00:56:57
and he was buried somewhere and he said that two people at least two people are responsible for the murder of Branson
00:57:05
Perry and he believes and has evidence that will show that nine approximately nine people are either involved or aware
00:57:14
or know exactly what went down with Branson's case these are all people on the local level
00:57:21
that everything leads back to the small town of Skidmore Missouri right and over
00:57:28
the years Captain they've gone to several locations and done these Excavating digging looking for the
00:57:37
remains and I really think that if they would have had those remains they could have
00:57:43
brought this thing to court but again this murder is all at the local level it's not from some sicko
00:57:52
that lived in Fulton Missouri it's all about the drug trade and the drugs that were being trafficked in the local area
00:58:00
of Skidmore Missouri and again the sheriff's department knows who is responsible for this young man's murder
00:58:06
they've even gone so far to say that not only do we know who's responsible we know who else is involved we know that
00:58:14
he was buried at some point and we also have evidence and reason to believe that
00:58:19
at some point they went and moved the body well it sucks that they can't collect
00:58:24
enough evidence to bring in charges against these individuals yeah and Sheriff Ben aspie said look he he had to
00:58:32
give this information to Branson's mother before she was passing and he believed that even though they
00:58:40
couldn't bring charges against these individuals that they owed her the truth as the evidence and as their
00:58:48
investigation showed the truth to them Jack Wayne Rogers although not involved in this case other
00:58:57
than being kind of a side story that gets lumped in because of his sick fantasies that he's living out online
00:59:04
he's an older man he's probably about 75 years of age and if my calculations are
00:59:10
right he's about 10 maybe 12 years left on that 30-year sentence so hopefully he'll die still with the
00:59:20
status of a federal inmate but because but because of his actions and his fantasies and for the sake of
00:59:28
the communities and just Public Safety in general the feds better make sure that he serves
00:59:34
every minute of that 30-year sentence [Music] join us here in the garage tomorrow for
00:59:54
another case cheers to you Colonel cheers to you Captain cheers to everybody out there join us back here in
01:00:00
the garage tomorrow until then be good be kind and don't let [Music] thank you [Music]

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 80
    Most shocking
  • 75
    Most heartbreaking
  • 70
    Most emotional
  • 70
    Most intense

Episode Highlights

  • Skidmore's Dark History
    Skidmore, Missouri, is known for its dark past and a town that protects its own.
    “A town that takes care of itself and watches out for their own.”
    @ 04m 39s
    November 07, 2022
  • The Disappearance of Branson Perry
    Branson Perry went missing on April 11, 2001, under mysterious circumstances.
    “Branson leaves and vanishes into thin air forever.”
    @ 21m 26s
    November 07, 2022
  • Branson's Mysterious Disappearance
    Branson was last seen leaving to take jumper cables to a shed, vanishing without a trace.
    “Branson vanished forever.”
    @ 28m 58s
    November 07, 2022
  • Controversial Neighbor Incident
    Branson's father believed his son was victimized by an older neighbor, raising serious concerns.
    “This could have all been consensual or could have been predatory behavior.”
    @ 37m 24s
    November 07, 2022
  • Psychic's Disturbing Revelation
    A psychic claimed Branson was murdered and tortured, leaving his family desperate for answers.
    “He was tortured, he suffered a long brutal torture before he was killed.”
    @ 40m 20s
    November 07, 2022
  • Jack Wayne Rogers: A Disturbing Profile
    Jack Wayne Rogers, a convicted child pornographer, performed illegal surgeries and is linked to Branson Perry's case.
    “He looks uh we definitely can see the Evil coming out in this individual.”
    @ 48m 49s
    November 07, 2022
  • Tragic Family Loss
    Branson Perry's parents both passed away without knowing the truth about their son's disappearance.
    “In Branson's mother's obituary, it is noted that her son Branson Perry pre-deceased her.”
    @ 53m 39s
    November 07, 2022
  • Sheriff's Investigation Insights
    Sheriff Ben Espy reveals knowledge of Branson Perry's murder and the involvement of multiple suspects.
    “We knew who was responsible, we just couldn't put together the evidence.”
    @ 56m 07s
    November 07, 2022

Episode Quotes

  • A town that takes care of itself and watches out for their own.
    Branson Perry ////// 484
  • Branson leaves and vanishes into thin air forever.
    Branson Perry ////// 484
  • Branson vanished forever.
    Branson Perry ////// 484
  • This could have all been consensual or could have been predatory behavior.
    Branson Perry ////// 484
  • I didn't know his motivation when I went into it.
    Branson Perry ////// 484
  • Branson was dead.
    Branson Perry ////// 484

Key Moments

  • Welcome to True Crime Garage00:40
  • Small Town Secrets04:39
  • Mysterious Disappearance05:17
  • Branson Perry's Case05:41
  • Neighbor Incident37:24
  • Destruction of Evidence46:32
  • FBI Investigation47:01
  • Family Tragedy53:34

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown