2008 Brawner,Walter June 10,2008, Shepherd, TX 6 yrs old

[burnsjl2003]

Walter Brawner “Bo”, age 67, disappeared from his home on McClain Street in Shepherd, Texas on Tuesday, June 10, 2008 and has not been seen or heard from since. It is not known what Mr. Brawner was last seen wearing.

http://www.texasequusearch.org/

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[burnsjl2003]

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[PorchlightUSA]

San Jac into News-Times - Local News
Stories Added - June 2008
Copyright 2008 - Polk County Publishing Company

Foul play suspected in missing man’s disappearance from Shepherd home
San Jacinto News- Times - June 2008

SHEPHERD – The San Jacinto County Sheriff’s Department is investigating a “person of interest,” in the disappearance of a 67-year-old Shepherd man, according to Sheriff Lacy Rogers. Walter “Bo” Brawner has not been seen or heard from since Tuesday, June 10, Rogers said. Rogers, along with a team from EquiSearch and members of the Shepherd Volunteer Fire Department spent all day Tuesday, June 17, searching a wooded area in Lake Run-A-Muck and around Brawner’s home located on McClain Street, to no avail. Brawner’s disappearance was reported Sunday when some of his children came to visit him for Father’s Day, Rogers said.

“We immediately started working the case and have reason to believe there is a little more involved than just a missing person’s situation,” Rogers said. “We have a person of interest under investigation from the Shepherd area.” Brawner is described as a 5-foot 4- inch tall white male, weighing about 120 pounds with hazel eyes and gray, balding hair. Anyone with information about this case, please call the San Jacinto County Sheriff’s Department at 936- 653-4367.

http://www.easttexasnews.com/Sanjac/...08/story9.html

[PorchlightUSA]

Shepherd man still missing; few leads
By VANESA BRASHIER
vbrashier@hcnonline.com
06/22/2008

It’s been days since the disappearance of 67-year-old Walter “Bo” Brawner of Shepherd. Police still have not located Brawner, but sources tell the Advocate that law enforcement officers have obtained a search warrant for the home of a neighbor.

The neighbor reportedly is a person of interest in the case, though Captain Alvin Wyatt of the San Jacinto County Sheriff’s Office said Brawner’s family members have confirmed that the two men are believed to be friends.

“We have a lot of suspects right now until we narrow it down,” said Wyatt, adding that the neighbor is not the only focus of the investigation.

What’s also not clear yet is what may have happened to Brawner. Police say there is no sign of struggle at his Shepherd home, but there some puzzling details, like the fact that Brawner’s car is still at the home.

“We don’t know exactly when or how or with whom Brawner may have left,” said Wyatt. “We also aren’t sure if any of his personal property has been taken.”

One item that is not in the home is a gun owned by Brawner, which reportedly was in the possession of the neighbor.

Wyatt said he is still trying to determine if Brawner left on his own free will or was taken by force.

“There is a possibility of foul play,” said Wyatt.

When asked if Brawner may have any physical or mental impairments that could explain his disappearance, Wyatt said that Brawner did not suffer from Alzheimer’s disease or dementia.

Texas EquuSearch searched several places in Shepherd in the initial days of the investigation. A Texas EquuSearch spokesperson on Thursday said that teams will return to Shepherd to continue the search for Brawner once law enforcement officers are able to give them more direction.

The case is being handled by the San Jacinto County Sheriff’s Office. Brawner was last seen on June 10. He is described as a white male, 5-feet 4-inches tall, weighing 120 lbs., with gray hair (balding) and hazel eyes.
http://www.hcnonline.com/site/news.c...d=635561&rfi=6

[PorchlightUSA]

Foul play suspected in missing man’s disappearance from Shepherd home
San Jacinto News- Times - June 2008

SHEPHERD – The San Jacinto County Sheriff’s Department is investigating a “person of interest,” in the disappearance of a 67-year-old Shepherd man, according to Sheriff Lacy Rogers. Walter “Bo” Brawner has not been seen or heard from since Tuesday, June 10, Rogers said. Rogers, along with a team from EquiSearch and members of the Shepherd Volunteer Fire Department spent all day Tuesday, June 17, searching a wooded area in Lake Run-A-Muck and around Brawner’s home located on McClain Street, to no avail. Brawner’s disappearance was reported Sunday when some of his children came to visit him for Father’s Day, Rogers said.

“We immediately started working the case and have reason to believe there is a little more involved than just a missing person’s situation,” Rogers said. “We have a person of interest under investigation from the Shepherd area.” Brawner is described as a 5-foot 4- inch tall white male, weighing about 120 pounds with hazel eyes and gray, balding hair. Anyone with information about this case, please call the San Jacinto County Sheriff’s Department at 936- 653-4367.
http://www.easttexasnews.com/Sanjac/...08/story9.html

[PorchlightUSA]

[PorchlightUSA]

Missing man’s family looking for answers



Walter "Bo" Brawner

By VANESA BRASHIER
Updated: 12.01.08
It’s been nearly six months since the disappearance of Walter “Bo” Brawner, and while family members aren’t holding out for a happy ending, they are hoping to have some resolution.

Brawner, 67, was last seen around Father’s Day at his Shepherd home. The mystery surrounding his disappearance is deepened by the many clues left behind. His car was left in the driveway, clothes were in the washing machine, medication he would have needed was still in the home, and packs of cigarettes were left behind.

His sister, Joy Gumienny, said the months since his disappearance have been gut-wrenching for the family.

“We lost my mom in 2002, my sister in 2006, our dad in 2007, and now Bo has been missing since May,” said Gumienny.

Bo, as he was known, wasn’t an easy person, according to his sister.

“A lot of people don’t understand Bo’s makeup. He was a marshmallow on the inside, but could be a hard person on the outside,” she said.

Growing up, Brawner was afflicted with a severe bone infection, forcing him to spend months in the hospital.

“He was in the hospital, on and off, for months at a time. They would bring him home and he would be in a hospital bed. Whether he would live or die was a question,” she said.

Gumienny went through her description of her brother’s reclusive life to explain why it took days for anyone to realize he was missing and through his medical history to explain why his family believes it would have been impossible for him to get very far on foot.

“One of his legs is shorter than the other. He walks with a limp and shuffle,” she said. “The thing of it is, Bo couldn’t walk from his house to the end of his driveway without huffing and puffing.”

Even if he had left home with a friend, as has been suggested by a person of interest who was questioned by police, Brawner would have been home well before dark on the night on his disappearance, his sister contends.

“Bo never had many friends. He was a loner. He never went off. He never even wanted to come to family functions because he was such a recluse,” Gumienny said.

Law enforcement officers in San Jacinto County, when questioned about Brawner’s case, said they still have little information to go on at this time. In the days immediately after Brawner’s disappearance, a neighbor was questioned, but so far no arrest has been made.

Brawner’s family hopes that by keeping the information in the forefront, the public will come forward with tips.

Gumienny alone has distributed 500 posters with Brawner’s photo and information. They also were on the scene during searches by Texas EquuSearch, but they were not allowed to participate because of their familial connections to the victim, Gumienny said.

“We were on the scene and felt like we were doing something. It feels like everyone has forgotten him,” she said.

Brawner is described as 5-feet 4-inches, weighing 120 lbs. with gray hair (balding) and hazel eyes. Anyone with information is asked to call the San Jacinto County Sheriff’s Office at 936-653-4367 or Texas EquuSearch at 1-877-270-9500.
http://www.hcnonline.com/articles/2008/12/...sing_man_ca.txt

[PorchlightUSA]

http://www.hcnonline.com/articles/2009/01/...dictment_ea.txt
Fester indicted five times

Updated: 01.15.09
Steven Ray Fester was indicted by a San Jacinto County Grand Jury. Fester, 38, has been charged with four counts of Forgery and one count of Theft of a Firearm.

According to court documents Fester allegedly stole Walter Brawner’s checkbook in June of 2008. Fester is accused of forging Brawner’s signature on four checks between June 3 and June 16 for a total of $650.

He also allegedly stole a .380 semi automatic pistol from Brawner on or about June 17. The Texas Penal Code considers both Forgery and Theft of a Firearm to be State Jail Felonies, which are punishable with 180 days to 2 years in Texas State Jail and a fine not exceed $10,000.

[PorchlightUSA]

Missing Piney Woods hermit baffles officials

By DANE SCHILLER
Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
March 21, 2009, 9:46PM

The two men lived like hermits in a junk-cluttered slice of the Piney Woods.

One was described by relatives as a feeble curmudgeon who didn’t have friends or even a dog. The other was nearly half his age, twice his size, and may have been the last person to see him alive.

Nine months after 67-year-old Walter “Bo” Brawner went missing, Steven Ray Fester, 38, is charged with stealing Brawner’s handgun and forging his personal checks. San Jacinto County prosecutors consider him a “person of interest” in the disappearance.

He pleaded not guilty to the theft charges last week.

“We are still hoping he is alive, but with this time frame, there is a good possibility the worst is out there,” said sheriff’s Capt. Carl Jones.

It is unclear how well the men knew each other, but Brawner’s family said both had fallen on hard times and talked about partnering in a junk business they could run from their adjacent lots.

Kept to himself

Relatives said they are all but certain Brawner is dead, and they’d like to have some closure, maybe a funeral.

“He just fell off the face of the Earth,” said Lonnette Brawner, a sister-in-law who is the family point person for the search.

She said she realizes hundreds of people go missing each year, and that some cases understandably garner more public attention than others.

Brawner wasn’t a beautiful woman or a helpless child, she said, just a broken-down, lonely old alcoholic.

Brawner wasn’t known to go anywhere but to the doctor’s office or the grocery store in the town of Shepherd, where he lived.

He is said to have kept to himself, smoking, drinking and watching television.

Fester tapped into electric power from Brawner’s place with a lengthy extension cord leading to his trailer.

An empty search

Brawner “was a loner, who knew he aggravated people, so he stayed to himself,” Lonnette Brawner recalled from her Houston home.

When his two sons went to see him for Father’s Day last June, his grimy efficiency, attached to the side of a workshop, was locked.

His keys were inside, as were his medications and an open pack of cigarettes.

Clothes were in the washer. His van was parked outside.

Searchers have since used horses, trained dogs and all-terrain vehicles, all in vain.

Side-scan sonar was used on the Trinity River last month and came up with nothing.

'Person of interest’

District Attorney Bill Burnett said the neighbor remains under scrutiny and the investigation continues.

“Steven Ray Fester is a person of interest, and a strong person of interest, but up to this point, we don’t have anything else on him,” he said.

Fester’s attorney, Gilbert Garcia, emphasized his client hasn’t been charged in Brawner’s disappearance.

“He could be in Las Vegas,” Garcia said of Brawner.

Joe Brawner, Walter Brawner’s son, said he suspects Fester knows more than he has said, but is unsure whether authorities will solve the mystery.

“I would like them to find the answers,” he said. “Will they? I don’t know. I really don’t know.”

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...o/6328420.html

[PorchlightUSA]

http://www.mcclainsfoodmarket.com/PDFNews/...1509Vol1915.pdf

Missing Person!
Walter “Bo” Brawner, 67
years old of Shepherd, Texas
has been missing since June
19, 2008, and has not been
seen or heard from since that
time. His family is trying
to keep his disappearance in
public awareness so that anyone
who may know where he is or
anything about his disappearance
will contact someone with that
information.
If you know anything about
this tragic disappearance, please call (281) 309-9500 (Equisearch),
or Toll Free (877) 270-9500, or SJC Sheriff’s Department (936) 653-4367

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