CRIME LIBRARY Branson Perry's Mother is Desperate to Find Her Son
By David Lohr
April 11, 2007 April 11, 2007 SKIDMORE, Mo. (Crime Library) � Six years ago today, 20-year-old Branson Kayne Perry disappeared from his West Oak Street home. He has not been seen or heard from since. His case has puzzled law enforcement officials and left his family desperate for answers.
Branson's parents, Rebecca and Bob Perry, were divorced in 2000. At the time of his disappearance, Branson was staying with his father in Skidmore. Bob Perry had been hospitalized for some health problems but was due to return home any day. On the day of his disappearance, April 11, 2001, Branson wanted to make sure everything was in order for his father's return, so he asked a friend to come over and help clean the house. The details surrounding the day's events are somewhat sketchy.
According to a girl who was helping Branson clean the house, up she said there were two guys replacing an alternator on his father's car," Rebecca Perry said in a telephone interview with Crime Library yesterday afternoon. "Around three o'clock in the afternoon, Branson went to put some jumper cables into a shed on a lot adjacent to the house, but the jumper cables never made it to the shed and nobody has seen Branson since."
Perry first discovered her son missing two days later when she went to check on him. She found the house unlocked and Branson nowhere to be found. His wallet and personal possessions were left untouched. Fearing the worst, she called police and reported her son missing. "There was speculation, because a river wraps around the town of Skidmore, and maybe something happened at the river," Perry stated. "They also searched a pond and brought in cadaver dogs, but they didn't find anything."
Branson's disappearance baffled friends and family alike. He was not the type of kid to just run off without telling anyone. Where would he go with no money or transportation? Interestingly enough, the jumper cables that never made it to the shed miraculously reappeared not long after Branson's disappearance. "Two weeks after the investigation began, the jumper cables appeared in the shed. We have no idea who put them there," Rebecca Perry explains. "When I asked police if they could look for fingerprints on the cables, I was told that they wouldn't be able to get any good prints because so many different people used them. So as far as I know, they never did check them."
According to statements made by the men repairing Bob Perry's car, they never saw Branson leave the house and left after finishing the job. Branson's friend also left when he failed to return. Bob passed away in March 2004, and Rebecca is not clear on who asked the two men to fix the car. Police gave several people lie detector tests; however, they have not commented on the results.
The investigation quickly came to a standstill. Branson's mother was beginning to lose hope. But then, in April 2003, the arrest of 58-year-old Jack Wayne Rogers, a former Presbyterian minister and Boy Scout leader from Fulton, Missouri, caught everyone's attention.
Perry states, "Rogers had been a minister in a Fulton church, about 150 miles away from Skidmore. The police came across him because of a chat log from another man arrested for child porn. The chat log suggested that Rogers might have something to do with Branson's disappearance."
On March 22, 2003, the FBI arrested 26-year-old Michael Adam Davidson, a University of South Alabama medical student, during an Internet child pornography sting known as "Operation Candyman." According to the original arrest warrant, Davidson received and transmitted child pornography over the Internet. When authorities searched Davidson's computer, they found an interesting chat log between Davidson and Rogers. The log was dated February 21, 2002. Davidson used the screen name "MickPower2134," and Rogers used the screen name "Buggerbutt."
During the chat, Rogers told Davidson that he was responsible for the disappearance of a blonde-haired kid from Skidmore. He said the boy was hitchhiking when he picked him up. He claimed he drove him to a secluded area and gave him alcohol and pills. Afterwards, he claimed to have tied the boy to a tree before torturing, murdering, and mutilating him.
Authorities were shocked by items they found when they searched Rogers' home. The details of that search are listed in his 2005 appeal. The following text is taken from that appeal: "The charges against Rogers resulted from warrant searches of his home and business. Investigators seized computers and data storage devices on which they found at least 860 images of child pornography that included sexually explicit photographs of prepubescent children. . . Forensic analysis revealed that Rogers had distributed numerous e-mail attachments showing male children engaged in sexually explicit conduct, including photographs of children chained and bound by ropes. . . Investigators also discovered numerous photographs of Rogers posing with severed male genitals, wearing them on his head, placing them in his mouth and apparently chewing them, placing them in a coffee cup or on a plate, and attaching severed penises together...
During the chat, Rogers told Davidson that he was responsible for the disappearance of a blonde-haired kid from Skidmore. He said the boy was hitchhiking when he picked him up. He claimed he drove him to a secluded area and gave him alcohol and pills. Afterwards, he claimed to have tied the boy to a tree before torturing, murdering, and mutilating him.
Authorities were shocked by items they found when they searched Rogers' home. The details of that search are listed in his 2005 appeal. The following text is taken from that appeal: "The charges against Rogers resulted from warrant searches of his home and business. Investigators seized computers and data storage devices on which they found at least 860 images of child pornography that included sexually explicit photographs of prepubescent children. . . Forensic analysis revealed that Rogers had distributed numerous e-mail attachments showing male children engaged in sexually explicit conduct, including photographs of children chained and bound by ropes. . . Investigators also discovered numerous photographs of Rogers posing with severed male genitals, wearing them on his head, placing them in his mouth and apparently chewing them, placing them in a coffee cup or on a plate, and attaching severed penises together...
"The evidence also included Internet chat logs in which Rogers discussed methods of torturing and mutilating children and bragged that he once abducted, raped, tortured, and murdered a blonde-haired boy from Skidmore, MO. In Rogers' home, office, and van, investigators found surgical equipment, items used in bondage and torture, and books dealing with these subjects."
It was subsequently discovered that several of the severed penises in the photographs belonged to people whom Rogers had met over the Internet. Although he had no medical license, he lured individuals seeking to have their male genitalia surgically removed. In a motel room setting, he removed the individual's [censored] and scrotum and then consumed the genitals. One of those surgeries is mentioned in Rogers' appeal.
"At sentencing, the person who received the motel room nullification testified that she paid Rogers $750 for the four-hour procedure in which he removed her [censored], scrotum, and testicles using only local anesthetics. Rogers told her he had performed over a hundred castrations and penectomies. Rogers placed her genitals in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. His assistant took photographs of the procedure, which were subsequently posted on the Internet. The victim bled profusely during the operation and for six days thereafter, when she finally admitted herself to an emergency room.
"The emergency room urologist who treated her testified that she would have died from the bleeding if she had not come to the hospital that night. An acquaintance of Rogers testified that he had been present when Rogers performed several nullifications and had even photographed one such operation at Rogers's request. He further testified that Rogers said he assumed ownership of the severed genitals and physically consumed them, a claim consistent with the obscene photographs."
Despite numerous searches of Rogers' home and vehicles, investigators were unable to find any solid evidence linking him to Branson's murder. The only item of interest in regard to Branson's disappearance was a necklace found in Rogers possession that was later identified as belonging to Branson.
Rogers denies having anything to do with Branson's disappearance and claims that the chat he had with Davidson was a fictional fantasy. For his other crimes, Rogers was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Davidson was eventually sentenced to federal prison for possession of child pornography.
"I just think that somebody or several somebody's are keeping things secret that need to come out in the light," Rebecca Perry states. "Skidmore residents are notorious for keeping their mouths shut. Skidmore is the town where they had a vigilante shooting in broad daylight, and nobody saw a thing then, either. That is Skidmore, unfortunately."
The shooting Perry refers to involved "Skidmore bully" Ken McElroy. For many years, McElroy terrorized the town, until 1981 when residents took the law into their own hands and gunned him down in broad daylight. Despite multiple witnesses, no one ever came forward to say what happened.
It is also interesting to note that two of Branson's relatives have been the subjects of national media attention in recent years. In 2000, his cousin Wendy Gillenwater was stomped to death by her boyfriend, and in 2004 Lisa Montgomery was accused of strangling Bobbi Jo Stinnett, another of Branson's cousins and cutting her fetus out of her womb.
A spokesperson for the Nodaway County Sheriff's Department states that the investigation into Branson's disappearance is ongoing and that new leads pour in every few months. Calls to the Missouri Highway Patrol were not immediately returned.
Since Branson's disappearance, Rebecca has had his missing persons poster featured in a national poster placement campaign known as 18 Wheel Angels. Every two weeks, the program coordinator selects a different missing person, and participants place the posters along travel routes. Branson's story has also been featured in the national trucking magazine, Through the Gears, which has a circulation of 150,000 and can be found in more than 2,000 locations nationwide.
Rebecca Perry recently posted the following plea for help on her son's website, Bransonperry.com: "Please, please, please find it in your hearts to come forward if you have any information. You may think it is insignificant, but it may be the key link to answers. You can remain anonymous if you want. I continue to pray to God that Branson is safe. Is happy. And will come home soon. But I fear the worst has happened. I fear I will never see my son's beautiful smile again, or hear his voice. . . I don't want anyone to forget my son. It has been so long since he disappeared that I have to get the information out again. I believe if there is a constant reminder there again, that perhaps someone will come forward."
Right now, Rebecca Perry is trying to raise money to have billboards with Branson's picture put up along the highway coming into Skidmore. Donations can be sent to: Branson Perry Fund, Bank Midwest, 4201 North Belt Highway. St. Joseph, MO 64506.
Anyone with information on the disappearance of Branson Kayne Perry is asked to contact the Nodaway County Sheriff at (660) 582-7451