The Disappearance of Branson Perry: Three Witnesses, Zero Answers

0:00 Three witnesses, 30 feet, three minutes. That's all it took for Branson Perry to vanish from his own backyard and a town that's world famous for knowing how to keep a secret. And when I say famous, I mean globally infamous. This isn't a case where nobody knows what happened. This is a case where somebody definitely knows and they've been quiet for 23 years. (upbeat music) Let's talk about Skidmore, Missouri.

0:46 Population somewhere between 300 and 400, depending on who you ask and what year you're asking. This tiny town in Nautaway County should be anonymous. One of those places you drive through without even noticing, but Skidmore earned a reputation that true crime people know on site. In 1981, a man named Ken Rex McElroy was shot to death on Main Street at 10.30 in the morning. He was the town bully, the kind of guy who terrorized people for decades. And when someone finally had enough, they didn't do it quietly in the middle of the night. They did it in front of an estimated 60 witnesses, 60 people in broad daylight. Three grand juries investigated.

1:27 The federal government got involved. And you know what every single witness said? Nothing. Not one person saw who pulled the trigger. To this day, that murder remains officially unsolved. The message was clear, Skidmore handles its own business and outsiders don't get answers. 20 years later, that culture of silence would become the biggest obstacle in solving what happened to Branson Cain Perry. Branson was born February 24, 1981. He grew up right there in Skidmore, graduating from Nautaway Holt High School in 1999. And he bounced around between jobs. He did some roofing work, helped out with a traveling petting zoo. At the time, he disappeared.

2:07 He was 20 years old, unemployed, and living with his dad, Bob Perry, on West Oak Street. Physically, Branson was someone you wouldn't expect to be overpowered easily. He was between 5'9" 5'10", weighed about 140 to 155 pounds, blonde hair, blue eyes. He lifted weights, yet a black belt and hapkido. He also had Takakardia, which made his heart race when he was stressed. That detail becomes relevant later. Four days before he disappeared, something happened that threw Branson's whole world sideways. On April 7, 2001, Branson went to visit his neighbor, Jason Beerman. According to what Branson later told his father, he was drugged during that visit.

2:51 While he was high and not in control, he did things that deeply humiliated him. He danced naked. He shaved his pubic hair. He had sex with Beerman. When Branson came down from whatever it was he was given, he was devastated. He told his dad everything. Bob knew his son was gay. That wasn't the issue. The issue was that Bob believed Beerman had drugged Branson and taken advantage of him. Bob was furious and Branson was traumatized. Again, this was four days before Branson vanished. Four days of tension, anger, and unresolved conflict in a town where everyone knows everyone's business. Here's where it gets wild. On the afternoon of April 11, Branson was home preparing for his dad to come back from the hospital.

3:36 His friend, Jenna Crawford, came over to help him clean. According to what Jenna later told the police, she and Branson used methenphenomines together that afternoon. So right away, you've got a situation that's already high stress and chemically complicated. There were also two men outside working on Bob's car, which needed a new alternator. So the scene is this. Jenna, inside the house, two guys outside and Branson moving between the two spaces. At 3 p.m., Branson told Jenna he was going outside to return jumper cables to the shed. The shed was right there. We're talking about a walk that should have taken 30 seconds. Maybe a minute if you're moving slow. Jenna was inside.

4:16 The two men were outside. Three witnesses, three different positions, all within ice sites of the path Branson would have taken. Branson walked out of that house and never walked back in. So here's what makes this case different from a lot of missing persons cases. Branson wasn't reported missing until April 17. That's six full days after he disappeared. His grandmother, Joanne, stopped by the house April 12th and 13th. The house was unlocked, which wasn't unusual. She figured Branson had hitchhiked to Kansas City to visit friends, something he had done before. His car was still there, but that didn't immediately raise any alarms. By the time the police got involved, six critical days had passed.

5:00 But even with that delay, investigators found something that confirmed this wasn't a voluntary disappearance. Remember those jumper cables? When police first checked the shed, the cables weren't there. Branson's whole reason for leaving the house was to return them to the shed, but they were gone. Then, two weeks later, those same jumper cables mysteriously appeared in the shed, placed right inside the door. Someone went back. Someone with access to the property staged that scene. That feels like evidence of a cover-up. While police were working the case, they got tips that Branson owed money to drug dealers. They questioned his acquaintances in St. Joseph. Everyone passed polygraph tests.

5:42 But then another lead came in, and this one had teeth. Multiple sources told investigators that Branson had been seen at a house about a mile east of Quitman, Missouri. This location was known, and I mean widely known, as a drug hub. If Branson did leave his property that afternoon, the theory is that he went straight there. And here's the part that should have been a five alarm fire for investigators, except they didn't even know Branson was missing yet. That drug house in Quitman burned down less than a week after Branson vanished. A former Nautilag County Sheriff's Deputy confirmed responding to the scene and noted that everyone had cleared out before the fire started. The timeline is damning. Branson disappears April 11th.

6:24 The drug house burns down between April 14th and 17th. Branson was reported missing on April 17th. Someone torched a potential crime scene before law enforcement even knew there was a crime. In 2003, the case took a turn that grabbed national headlines. Jack Wayne Rogers, a man from Fulton, Missouri, more than 200 miles from Skidmore, was arrested on federal child pornography charges. When investigators searched his computer, they found disturbing posts on a message board. Rogers had written detailed descriptions of a ducting, torturing, and murdering a blonde-haired boy from Skidmore, Missouri. The posts included details that seemed specific to Branson.

7:05 Rogers ran an employment agency and served as a lay minister at a country church, which made the revelations even more shocking. Kind of. When police searched his property, they found surgical equipment, bondage gear, and torture devices. And then they found the necklace, a leather necklace with a turtle claw inside Rogers van. Bob Perry confirmed that necklace belonged to Branson. For years, Jack Wayne Rogers seemed like the answer. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2004. But Rogers denied any involvement in Branson's disappearance. And investigators couldn't place him in Skidmore on April 11, 2001. Nobody was ever found.

7:46 The logistics didn't line up with a 3PM disappearance witnessed by multiple people. Eventually, the Rogers theory lost steam. Many investigators now believe Rogers was a fantheist, who incorporated real details, like the necklace, into his online confessions to make them more believable. Branson's mother, Becky Cleno, publicly rejected the Rogers connection after attending his synancing. She said the answers were back in Skidmore, and she was right. Both of Branson's parents died without ever knowing what happened to their son. Bob Perry died in 2004. His mom, Becky, maintained a blog called Bring Branson Home for Years, searching for answers until she passed away in 2011.

8:28 Her obituary listed Branson as having preceded her in death. And then in 2004, three years after Branson vanished, another tragedy hit the family. Branson's cousin, Bobby Joe Stinett, was eight months pregnant when Lisa Montgomery strangled her to death and cut the baby from her womb. That case became nationally famous. Montgomery was eventually executed in 2021. While the crimes are unrelated, the connection amplified media attention on the Perry family and insured Branson's case stayed in the public eye. For 23 years, the case stayed cold. Then in May 2024, something shifted. The Notaway County Sheriff's Office received new tips they deemed credible.

9:11 They returned to the equipment area with a full team, including the Missouri State Highway Patrol Water Division to search for a well on the property. Two individuals came forward and identified a specific spot where they claimed Branson's remains had been buried. When investigators excavated the area, they didn't find the body. But they found something almost as important. Clear evidence that the Earth had been disturbed and something had been buried there at some point. The FBI immediately deployed a specialized agent to assist. After 23 years, the investigation has circled back to where it started. The local drug network, the equipment area, the burned house that was destroyed before anyone even knew to look for Branson.

9:54 The most likely scenario has always been local. Branson was in crisis. He'd been traumatized four days earlier. He was using methamphetamines the day he disappeared. He potentially owed money to dangerous people. And he lived in a town that had already proven it knew how to bury secrets. The fact that the jumper cables reappeared, the fact that a drug house burned down within days, the fact that 23 years later, people are finally talking and pointing to a specific burial location. This wasn't a random stranger abduction. This was someone Branson knew, someone who had help, and someone who counted on Skidmore's culture of silence to protect them.

10:34 The investigation is ongoing. Sheriff Randy Strong continues to follow leads, and somewhere, and not away county, someone knows exactly what happened to Branson Perry. Thanks for listening to 10 Minute Murder, Bingeable True Crime Stories. My name is Joe. Thank you for asking. Hope you're doing well. If you're a brand new listener, hit subscribe, wherever you're listening right now, think oto10minutemerder.com. You can learn all about the podcasts and emails, read the blog, et cetera, et cetera. And most importantly of all, Paramount, if you enjoy listening to this podcast, couple things.

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11:57 And I can't thank you enough for that, but it still has to continue. I don't want to be stagnant or go and reverse. So please, if you're a new listener, you enjoy the podcast, let people know about it. All right, let's get to a listener email, subject, crime podcasts, and public spaces. Hey, Joe, this might sound weird, but I was at the grocery store the other day listening to your podcast in my earbuds. Everything was fine until you started describing a crime scene in very vivid detail. Right as I was in the produce section, surrounded by children, the lady next to me gave me the look of a lifetime. My question is, by the way, I think she probably, your earbuds were too loud. She heard me saying gross stuff. My question is, has anyone ever told you about the weirdest place they've listened to 10 Minute Murder?

12:39 I can't be the only one committing questionable public listening decisions. That's Kaylee and Boise. Kaylee, thank you for the email, first of all. And yeah, people tell me they listen to the podcast and all kinds of weird places, taking their kids to school in the morning, which I mean, if they can handle true crime, I guess, I guess so. The grocery store is, that's a pretty common one. I do that myself. Listening to the office where other people and cubicles can hear the true crime stories you're talking about. That was a strange one. The one place that I hear that people listen the most is the one that I'm like, I would never in my life be able to do that. And that's out going for a walk, walking their dog or walking, you know, doing a walk by yourself. That's crazy work.

13:20 That's the one time I would not be wanting to listen to a story about maybe your next door neighbor is a secret serial killer. But that's just me. This is a judgment-free zone. You do you, booboo. I'm just happy that you're listening. All right, that's gonna do it. That is your episode for today. Thank you again for listening to 10 Minute Murder. I'll see you next time. [BLANK_AUDIO]