Episode 142: Brandon Graves – Bite-Sized Crime

When a young man vanishes after a night of celebrating with friends, his disappearance leaves more questions than answers. Where is Brandon Graves?

Episode Media

Sabastian’s bar where Brandon was last seen on January 31, 2010 *(Google Maps)*

Episode Sources

Episode Transcript

Welcome back to Bite-Sized Crime. This week I’m bringing you a missing persons case from my home state, one that has baffled investigators for over a decade. This episode discusses sensitive topics, so listener discretion is advised.

Brandon Rodrigues Graves grew up in the small town of Little Rock, South Carolina, an unincorporated community not far from the North Carolina border. Brandon never knew his father, and he lost his mother to pneumonia when he was just three years old. He was raised by his aunt Martha and uncle Edward, who had several sons of their own. Being the youngest and smallest of the cousins, Brandon was nicknamed “Peanut”, a name that stuck with him into adulthood.

Brandon grew into a smart, outspoken young man who made friends easily. He had a big heart and was extremely close to his family. He was also passionate about sports, his favorites being football and baseball. He knew that he wanted his future career to center around helping other athletes.

After graduating high school in 2003, Brandon enrolled at Morris College in Sumter, South Carolina, about an hour away from his home in Little Rock. He joined the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, and he thrived in his new social environment. But as much as he loved being at Morris, he knew he needed a different program if he was going to pursue his dream of working in sports management. After his freshman year, Brandon transferred to Coastal Carolina University in Myrtle Beach, a school well known in the state for its athletics program.

Unfortunately, Brandon’s small stature prevented him from joining the football team, but it didn’t stop him from getting involved. He was made team manager and worked as a trainer, and his passion for the sport made him a valuable asset to CCU’s football program.

In December of 2008, Brandon graduated with a degree in recreation and sports management. He took a part-time job at a Nike outlet in Myrtle Beach while he searched for work in his chosen field. He also decided to begin working on a masters degree at CCU to further his education.

Through it all, Brandon leaned on his family for support. He traveled back to Little Rock every weekend to spend time with his aunt and uncle and cousins. On the rare occasion he couldn’t make it home, he made it a point to call and touch base.

On the evening of Friday, January 29, 2010, Brandon called his aunt Martha and told her he was thinking about spending the weekend in Sumter. Morris College was having its homecoming celebrations, and he wanted to see his fraternity brothers. He didn’t have much money to spend, but his friend Maurice, a fellow Morris alum, said he would drive. Martha told Brandon to have fun and call her on his way back to Myrtle Beach.

But on Sunday afternoon, Brandon’s cousin Lamont got a surprising phone call. Brandon’s friend Maurice was on the other end, asking him if Brandon had showed up in Little Rock. Confused, Lamont told Maurice that he hadn’t heard from his cousin in days. Maurice said that they were supposed to drive home together that day, but Brandon hadn’t shown up and he wasn’t answering his cell phone. He wondered if Brandon had hitched a ride with someone else, but now that didn’t seem very likely. It wasn’t like Brandon to make plans with someone and then change his mind without letting them know.

Maurice told Lamont that he and Brandon had been at a bar in Sumter on Saturday night, but Brandon had been kicked out after getting too rowdy. Maurice thought Brandon had left with another friend named Matthew.

Alarmed, Lamont immediately tried calling Brandon’s cell phone, but his calls went straight to voicemail. He then reached out to Brandon’s friend Matthew, asking if he knew where Brandon was. But Matthew said that he hadn’t seen Brandon after he got kicked out of the bar.

His concern growing, Lamont decided to take matters into his own hands. He and another of Brandon’s cousins got in their car and made the hour-long trip to Sumter. There, they made contact with some of Brandon’s friends and were able to piece together a timeline of the last few days.

On Saturday, January 30th, Brandon and Maurice had driven from Myrtle Beach to Sumter, about a two hour road trip. Once there, they jumped into the homecoming festivities at Morris College. They attended a basketball game and cheered on their fraternity as they won first place in the step competition. Everyone was in high spirits, and they wanted to celebrate. Around 11pm, Brandon and Maurice joined friends at Sabastian’s, a bar and nightclub just a few miles west of the college campus.

According to Brandon’s friends, everyone was drinking heavily that night, and it wasn’t long before Brandon began to get loud and unruly. Shortly before midnight, the club’s bouncer asked him to leave.

The night manager later told WIS News, “He was intoxicated we think but not out of hand, but we didn’t want any trouble so we told him he had to leave for the night.”

However, Brandon didn’t want to leave. Just a few minutes after being kicked out, he tried to get back into the bar. That time, he was escorted off the property by security.

There were multiple stories about that night. Some people said that Brandon and the bouncer got into a physical altercation. Some people said they saw Brandon get into a white car with someone and go to a different bar. Some said he jumped out of the car and ran back into Sabastian’s. But even with all these conflicting stories, everyone agreed that Brandon had been kicked out of the bar for being rowdy and hadn’t been seen after that.

On Monday, February 1st, after exhausting all of his leads, Lamont contacted the Sumter County Sheriff’s Department and reported Brandon missing. He then reached out to the rest of the family and let them know what was going on. By Tuesday, they had descended on Sumter and were conducting their own search for Brandon. They focused on the area near the bar, looking for potential clues in the parking lot and the surrounding woods. But it wasn’t long before the owners of the property called the cops on them. When deputies arrived, they informed the family that they were trespassing and couldn’t be there without permission.

It wasn’t until Wednesday, February 3rd, that the sheriff’s department finally conducted their own search. They obtained surveillance footage from the bar from the night Brandon disappeared, and it confirmed what his friends had said: Brandon had gotten kicked out, tried to get back in, and was escorted off the property. Unfortunately, the camera didn’t see what happened after that.

Investigators brought several of Brandon’s friends in for questioning, including Matthew, who they believed was the last person to see him at the bar that night. Matthew told detectives that he had no idea what happened to Brandon after he got kicked out. He had stayed and partied, figuring Brandon had a ride home.

Investigators also learned that Brandon had his cell phone on him that night. They put in a request for his phone records, and while they waited, they reached out to his friends and family to see if he had contacted anyone in the last few days. What they learned only added another layer of mystery to the case.

In the early morning hours of January 31st, after leaving the bar, Brandon had made two separate phone calls. The first was a call to one of his cousins; the second, placed shortly before 4am, was to a friend. In both instances, Brandon left a rambling voicemail, his words slurred and unintelligible. Neither of these individuals lived anywhere close to Sumter, so it seemed odd that Brandon would contact them in the middle of the night, but if he was as intoxicated as everyone said he was, he probably wasn’t thinking clearly. Unfortunately, we may never know what Brandon was trying to say or do when he made those calls.

On February 4th, the sheriff’s department organized a large-scale search of the area near the bar, bringing out search dogs, four-wheelers, and helicopters. But in the end, there was no sign of Brandon.

At this point in the investigation, detectives didn’t have any reason to believe that someone would want to hurt Brandon. He had lots of friends and no known enemies. He wasn’t into the drug scene and he didn’t have a criminal record. There was nothing to indicate that he had been the victim of foul play.

There was also no evidence that Brandon had walked away from his life on purpose. He was very close to his family, had a career he enjoyed, and kept in constant contact with everyone. It was very unlikely that he would disappear of his own accord.

As the days passed, Brandon’s family stayed in Sumter, searching wherever they could and handing out flyers in the community. They wanted everyone to be on the lookout.

On February 9th, investigators announced that they had identified a person of interest in Brandon’s case. According to Major Larry Florence, they received a tip that Brandon may have left the bar with a man from neighboring Clarendon County, and deputies were trying to track him down so they could speak with him. Major Florence told WIS News, “He’s just a person of interest, there’s nothing saying there was any wrongdoing of any sort right now.”

Florence also reiterated that they were following every lead, no matter where it took them. “Whether [Brandon] got hurt, or injured, or maybe even left Sumter and went somewhere else, right now we’re exploring all avenues and we’re asking for any help we can possibly get… How he left, when he left, who he left with is still up in the air. We just have no idea right now.”

On March 1st, a month after Brandon disappeared, the sheriff’s department finally received his cell phone records, but unfortunately, the records were incomplete. There was no location data, no way to tell where Brandon had been when he made his final calls on the morning of January 31st. It was a disappointing blow to the investigation.

In late March, Lamont received a call from the sheriff’s department informing him of some updates in the case. According to Lamont, detectives interviewed both of the friends Brandon had been with at the bar the night he disappeared – Maurice and Matthew. Maurice agreed to take a polygraph exam and passed, but Matthew refused. Of course, we know that polygraphs are notoriously unreliable and inadmissible in court, but for Brandon’s family, Matthew’s refusal to cooperate with investigators was a red flag.

Lamont told the Find Our Missing show that he called Matthew and confronted him, demanding to know why he wouldn’t take the polygraph. He said that Matthew wouldn’t answer him. Brandon’s aunt Martha reached out to Matthew as well – she couldn’t understand why an old friend and fraternity brother wasn’t willing to help find Brandon.

Sadly, the leads in Brandon’s case eventually dried up. There were a few possible sightings, but each one ended up not being Brandon. One tip even had the sheriff’s department bringing out their dive team to search a local waterway, but again, it ended in disappointment. Brandon’s case went cold.

As the years have passed, Brandon’s family has refused to give up hope. They make regular trips to Sumter to search the area and stay in contact with the investigators on Brandon’s case. They hold candlelight vigils every year on the anniversary of his disappearance. They give interviews to local news stations, hang flyers around town, and make sure that Brandon is not forgotten.

As of this recording, Brandon Graves has been missing for 15 long years. His family believes that he will come home to them someday. They believe that someone out there has the information they need. In the words of his aunt Martha, “We are going to continue keeping hope alive. We are going to let our light so shine. That the world can see that we haven’t forgotten our own, Peanut.”

Brandon Rodrigues Graves was last seen on the night of January 30, 2010, at Sabastian’s bar and nightclub located at 3289 Broad Street in Sumter, South Carolina. He is described as a Black male with brown eyes and black hair styled in long dreadlocks. He is 5’4” tall and weighs approximately 150 lbs. At the time of his disappearance, Brandon was 24 years old. He sometimes goes by the nickname “Peanut”.

If you have any information about the disappearance of Brandon Graves, please contact the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office at 803-436-2000.