Branson Kayne Perry
Branson disappeared on the afternoon of April 11, 2001. The circumstances of his disappearance remain sketchy and, unfortunately, his father, Bob Perry – a person who may have been able to shed some light on the case – has since passed away.
"At the time of Branson's disappearance, Bob and I were divorced, and I was living in a small town about 20 miles from Skidmore," Branson’s mother Rebecca Perry wrote in an e-mail. "Bob had been in the hospital and was due to come home that Friday. Branson wanted the house to be clean when his father came home, so a friend was helping him that Wednesday. The alternator had also gone out of Bob's car prior to this day and there were two men replacing it where it was parked on the street in front of the storage shed that sat on an adjacent lot to the house. It is still unclear to me as to who asked them to fix it, whether it was Bob or Branson."
According to Rebecca, the story related to her was that a friend of Branson's was at the house that day and she witnessed several strange behaviors on the part of both Branson and the men who were working on his father's car.>
"At one point, the friend saw Branson run into the kitchen and take something out of one of the cabinets, then run out the back door. She said that when Branson returned, he wouldn't tell her what he was doing and acted like nothing had happened. She said later she had taken a shower and when she came out of the bathroom, she saw one of the men that had been working on the car going through the cabinets in the kitchen. She said she asked him what he was looking for and he told her, 'Nothing,' and went back outside."
At about 3:00 p.m. that afternoon, Branson's friend said Branson told her he was going to put some jumper cables in the shed and that he would be right back. For reasons unknown, Branson never returned and he has not been seen or heard from since.
"The friend just thought Branson had gotten sidetracked, so she left after she finished what she was doing," wrote Rebecca. "Bob did not come home that Friday, so his mother had come to the house to check on Branson, since she hadn't heard from him for a couple days. When she got to the house, all the doors had been left open and the radio was on. She went to check again Saturday, and still nothing. She became concerned and started making phone calls to his friends. No one had heard from him. I called Bob on Sunday and he called me that evening. Bob got out of the hospital Monday morning and I met them at the police station to file a missing person's report."
According to Rebecca, investigators were unable to find any clues suggesting what might have happened to Branson. However, one thing that still troubles her is the mysterious disappearance and eventual reappearance of the jumper cables Branson had gone to put away when he vanished.
"When they (the police) checked the shed for the jumper cables, they were not there," Rebecca wrote. "Two weeks after the investigation started, they mysteriously showed up in the shed, just inside the door."
The investigation eventually came to a standstill, and the case remained cold until April 2003, when police began to focus the investigation on a man from Fulton, Missouri, who had allegedly bragged about the kidnap, torture, and murder of a blonde-haired man from Skidmore. That man, who remains behind bars for unrelated crimes, denied any involvement in the case. Investigators have yet to completely rule him out as a suspect; however, they continue to explore other scenarios.
"I have never been a person to ask for much," Rebecca wrote. "I am asking, pleading, even begging for your help in finding my son or finding out what happened to him. I need for this nightmare to end. It is a roller coaster that doesn't ever stop. From the outside, I may appear to be fine. Inside, I will never be ok. If you have ever lost someone who has died, then you know that feeling of complete despair. Over time, it eases and becomes bearable."
Branson is described as a white male, 5'8" tall, 140 lbs., with blonde hair and blue eyes. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Nodaway County Sheriff at 660-582-7451 or the Missouri Highway Patrol at 816-387-2345.
For more information on this case, visit www.bransonperry.com.
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