This is a trip that he made practically daily, considering he would drive from Marshall to Canby and back for classes all the time. Taunton is approximately a 15 minute straight drive from the party in Canby. Its believed he died of exposure. There are 206 bones in the body. More than 14 years after the sudden disappearance of 19-year-old Brandon Swanson from the rural roads of southwestern Minnesota, the search for his whereabouts continues. If he fell into the water along with his cellphone, all calls would have gone straight to voicemail. 34 Isaac Paredes-2B/3B TB. Though Brandon was barely 19 years old, the police response did not match the alarm his family and friends felt. In the early morning hours of Valentine's Day 2000, nine-year-old Asha Degree left her home with a packed bookbag. According to them, it was not uncommon for a nineteen-year-old to stay out all night after finishing classes. A Minnesota Tragedy. So what happened in the time that is unaccounted for? The dogs led authorities to the banks of the Yellow Medicine River, which at the time of the disappearance was high and flowing fast. It is also not likely Brandon drowned because it was reported that until May 16, 2008 Brandons cell phone remained turned on. His vehicle was found locked and abandoned the next day and eventually his laptop and the computer's hard drive were recovered from the nearby Susquehanna River. Aside from the fact that Brandon was relatively sober, this was also a very familiar drive for him. He has not been seen or heard from since this incident. However, something tragic happened to him, but that's not what is debated about his disappearance. They see darkness. Brian Swanson did indicate that 14 years after the disappearance of their son, the pain still remains. Marshall was a relatively quiet area, a population of around 13-14,000 but it was an area focused primarily on agriculture. Im so sussed out that mans was so close to Porter after traveling for like 2 hours very intriguing. You can find out more about the organization here. Numerous examinations were done, and his folks revealed a Brandon missing case to the Lynd Police. 19-year-old Jason Jolkowski went missing during a half-mile walk to the nearby high school on June 13, 2001. He then headed back to Canby to continue his night of celebration. In a ditch on the side of the road, just as he said. Divine, M. (2010, May 14). Using the elements of the psychological autopsy, Brandons disappearance was analyzed using an equivocal missing person analysis (Seifert & Immelman, 2007) in order to explore possible explanations of Brandons mysterious disappearance. #1. Annette Swanson smiles when she looks at pictures of her son Brandon. Investigating Agency Lincoln County Sheriff's Department 507-694-1664 Source Information The same argument holds true for Mud Creek, so it would be a mistake to focus all of the search efforts on that location. He disappeared outside of Marshall when he was 19. Within the last year, the Sheriffs Office and BCA have received additional tips, although he points out that not all tips are new for investigators. Although he obviously had a license and this didnt impair his life, at night in the darkness this really could have affected his depth perception. The trail with the river lined up with Brandon hearing running water nearby. Listen to this episode to hear what happened leading up to the accident, his phone calls with his parents and the investigation that ensued after. Photo courtesy of The Search for Brandon Swanson. Murdered in Texas: The Case of Amber Hagerman, Missing in Texas: The Case of Patty Vaughn, Unidentified in Virginia: The Case of the Christmas Tree Lady, Missing in California: The Case of Khadijah Britton, Unidentified in Texas: The Case of the Galveston Doe, Seeds of Hope: The Closed Case of Mostly Harmless, Missing in Tennessee: The Case of Summer Wells, Missing in Pennsylvania: The Case of Kortne Stouffer, Welcome to the Lost Souls of America Podcast, Vanished in the Dark: Where is Brandon Swanson Article on Medium by Jenn Baxter, Brandon Swanson: Missing without a trace by Rebecca Klein. On May 14, 2008 Brandon Swanson, age 19, drove towards Marshall, Minnesota. Brandon Swanson vanished from his vehicle after a small accident just before 2am on May 14, 2008 near Canby, MN. Brandon Swanson was a normal, nineteen-year-old man living during what should have been the best years of his life. Search photo from the weekend of June 8, 2008 (Photo: The Search for Brandon Swanson blog). What is it and how did it come to be? Brandons parents encourage him to flash his lights. . Brandon had been celebrating the end of the spring semester with friends from Minnesota West Community and Technical College's Canby campus. Brandon Victor Swanson. Citing the emotional toll of their sons disappearance and the accompanying difficulty of the holiday season Brian Swanson and Annette Swanson chose not to comment for this story. Brian began flashing the lights of his pickup truck and instructed Brandon to do the same. He cannot understand why his parents are so confused and are struggling to find him when he told them exactly where he is. Another possibility is that this could be a case of vehicular homicide. The vehicle simply looked like it was stuck in the ditch, or partially in the ditch, He said. At the time Swanson went missing, it was flowing high and fast. The Search for Brandon At 6:30 a.m., Brandon's parents called police to report him missing. Bloodhound search and rescue dogs were brought in to track Brandons scent from his car. In addition, the examiners likewise looked around there; partners observed Brandon's neglected vehicle in a trench off a rock street along the Lincoln . Gravel rural roads are not illuminated with street lights and visibility is poor. "She walked away from. Trisha Taurinskas is an enterprise crime reporter for Forum Communications Co., specializing in stories related to missing persons, unsolved crime and general intrigue. Leaving the car and navigating dark fields, Brandon called his parents for help. (2008, May 20). The dogs did follow what was believed to be Brandons scent to the river and that was it, Wallen said. Armed with this new information, the search moves to the area where they finally find Brandons car in Porter, stuck in a ditch. Episode Summary. He disappeared while driving home after spending the night with friends celebrating the end of spring semester classes. Reflecting on the last decade, however, those closest to the investigation and search efforts remain hopeful that. KSTP-TV, LLC Apparently hed just drifted a little, but the curb was low, and try as he might on his own he just could not get his Chevy Lumina out of the ditch hed landed in. If anyone has any information about Brandon . To know you were running away to start a secret new life and to keep your dad on the phone for an hour while you fake your incident seems. Shortly after stating his intentions, Brandon Swanson expressed with an expletive that he might be in trouble and the line went silent. Brandon Swanson would never be seen or heard from again. It's believed he died of exposure. Ok Brandon lets honk our horn He says he cant hear them. Thats only about 10 minutes away, well be right there. Please enable javascript and refresh the page to continue reading local news. For nineteen-year-old Brandon Swanson, May 13, 2008 was an exciting day. Rural roads of Minnesota remain last known location of 19-year-old Brandon Swanson. If you have any information, please contact: Agency Name: Lincoln County Sheriffs Office, Agency Name: MN Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. The drive from Canby to Marshall in total is about 35 minutes. He was really outside of Porter, which is northwest of Marshall, more than 20 miles away. There are no known personal, economic, or social motives that plausibly may have driven someone to murder Brandon; however, there are individuals who murder strangers because of a deep-seated usually sexual fantasy. In 1912, a four-year-old boy named Bobby Dunbar went missing on a family trip, 8 months later he was found and reunited with his family. What both Brandon and his parents thought though was that the other car was in the wrong spot. What makes even less sense is the timing of it all. Perhaps this is why he misunderstood where he was, why he ended up in the wrong area, how he drifted gently off the road. Retrieved December 13, 2010, from http://www.immelman.us/news/missing-person-joshua-guimond. Since 2008, Hasse and other volunteers have spent tens of thousands of hours, walking thousands of miles through farm fields, ditches and rivers, all in a 120 square mile area. Kare 11 News. Sometimes multiple times a day even. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Your email address will not be published. However, this area has now been ruled out because if Brandon did fall into the river his body would have been washed downriver and eventually found (The Search for Brandon blog). He told his parents he would walk the rest of the way and meet them in the parking lot of a Lynd tavern. The family was very close, including his younger sister, and by all accounts Brandon was a loving brother and son. Brian and Annette stayed on the phone with their son while driving to pick him up. 5 talking about this. And you cant find it. Thats a troublesome issue for those leading the search party. This would have meant going out on his own for the first time, but he was really excited about the opportunities to further his life and education. He wasnt hurt, and there wasnt any damage to the car- everything was going to be fine, he just needed a little help to get it back on the road. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. We know that he was on gravel roads, said Annette Swanson. Brandon was legally blind from his left eye and had left his glasses in the car the night he disappeared, so he could have missed something in his peripheral, causing him to shout that expletive and fall. During the conversation, Brandon described his surroundings to his father, at one point stating he was walking along a fence line and could see the lights of town in the distance. He said most landowners are more than willing to make it work, as they're dedicated to their community and the Swanson family. It happened in 2008 to Brandon Swanson, 2020 To Jason Landry, and 2021 to Daniel Robinson. He was returning from a party when he crashed his car in a ditch and called his parents for help. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Its all documented and backed up by science, its there and its real.". He would start walking in the direction of the lights. The drive from the gathering in Canby to Marshall is one he had made nearly every day during his commute to and from his college campus. Yellow Medicine County Sheriff Bill Flaten has worked closely with Emergency Support Services throughout the years, particularly when it comes to seeking landowner permission. TikTok video from Crime With Kourt (@crimewithkourt): "The Disappearance of Brandon Swanson. Retrieved Nov. 18, 2010, from http://www.startribune.com/politics/state/49466647.html. (2007, November 20). Having just wrapped up his second semester in wind energy at Minnesota West Community and Technical College in Canby, Brandon Swanson gathered with his friends to celebrate. Theyve performed 1,900 K-9 missions, using 45 highly-trained dogs, led by 35 handlers from nine states. The early morning search turned up nothing and at 6:30 a.m. on May 14 Annette Swanson contacted the Lyon County Sheriffs Department for assistance. Despite the fact that he had been drinking that night, his parents were adamant that he seemed perfectly lucid during their phone call. Eventually, Hasse was called to manage the search. Brandon Swanson was last seen in the early hours of May 14, 2008 leaving a friends house in Canby, Minn. His destination was just 35 miles away a straight shot to his Marshall, Minn. home. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); https://medium.com/the-shadow/vanished-in-the-dark-where-is-brandon-swanson-d5d99bfde9a7 , https://charleyproject.org/case/brandon-victor-swanson, https://www.doenetwork.org/cases/5185dmmn.html, https://www.namus.gov/MissingPersons/Case#/2471?nav, https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/vicap/missing-persons/brandon-victor-swanson, Murdered in Kansas: The Case of AlonzoBrooks, Murdered in Kansas: The Case of Alonzo Brooks, Missing in Minnesota: The Case of Brandon Swanson, Murdered in DC: The Case of the Freeway Phantom, Unsolved in California: The Case of the Keddie Cabin Murders. Credit: Google Maps Police said it wasn't uncommon for young men to drop off the grid and to wait a while, in case he turned up. Up and down side roads and gravel paths, and even the bar in Lynd. What does not make sense to me is how Brandon could have suspected he was near Lynd, if he were driving Canby to Marshall, as Lynd is 7 miles BEYOND his home in Marshall, a further drive. Weve had excavators come in and sift through the dirt, looking for something, whether its remains or property, Wallen said. They continued to search for him on their own throughout the morning. It took him 30-40 minutes tops, and was a trek he made every single day for classes. Annette says that was a problem in Brandons case because his car was found right where three counties come together. He was 19 years old at the time. There was no way to miss each other so what was going on. 38 Bobby Dalbec-3B Bos. So then the search was focused there, and the car was located.. At around 2 a.m. on the morning of May 14th, Swanson called his parents from his cellphone, informing them that he had accidentally driven his car into a ditch, essentially high-centering the vehicle. There were massive ground searches being conducted along with an aerial search of the fields. By morning, when the sun had risen, Brandons family knew it was time to file a missing persons report. Calls back to his phone indicated the phone was still on, but Brandon Swanson did not answer. He reassured them that he was not injured and that the car did not have any damage, but he needed help getting the car free. (LogOut/ Brandon s parents, Brian and . It was a cold night. Jason Chen, her boyfriend and accused killer, is currently being held without bond. Brian and Annette waited for their son to tell them what was wrong, but he never did. However, considering it was just under 40 degrees that night and he would have been freezing and soaking wet, he could have possibly died due to hypothermia. Is it possible that Brandon met with foul play? They call him back and tell him to keep an eye out for them. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. 065 - The Disappearance of Brandon Swanson. During the early morning hours of May 14, 2008, 19-year-old Brandon Swanson disappeared under mysterious circumstances from a rural area northeast of Marshall in southwestern Minnesota. He asked his parents to meet him in the parking lot of a popular nightclub in Lynd. Theres also a lot of debate in the research I found online about what that particular type of hang up and how the calls that came after it were received could mean about the phone. The Night of the Disappearance Both of his parents state Brandon sounded clear-headed and coherent when they were on the phone with him, and he had no history of mental illness or mental disorder. The Record. VOICE OF ANNETTE SWANSON, MOTHER OF BRANDON SWANSON: Well, just very briefly, Brandon`s Law is Minnesota missing . It is not plausible that he drowned, because they would have found his body somewhere downstream. Missing. Trace Evidence - 065 - The Disappearance of Brandon Swanson 119,756 views Nov 21, 2018 Nineteen year old Brandon Swanson had just completed his first year of college. Did he fall into a ditch? When Brian and Annette arrived at the location described by Brandon, neither Brandon nor his car was there. Brandon started walking. However, later that day cell phone records showed Brandon was near Porter, Minnesota, not Lynd, when he phoned his parents. He attended a small gathering at a house, where it is said that there was alcohol, however, Brandon did not appear to be drunk. He wanted to blow off steam and eagerly went to a party in Canby on May 14, 2008. . He was seen drinking at both parties, but according to his friends, he didn't drink enough to become intoxicated, at least not overtly. Even the idea of vehicular homicide has been brought up and that someone could have accidentally hit Brandon and hid the body in their car, but with no concrete evidence whatsoever, these theories are hard to prove. Also, his phone was still taking calls. "And when one goes as long as this, you know the family has put their hopes on your shoulders. Brian and Anette arrive where Brandon has told them he should be, and they cant seem to find his car. On the law enforcement investigation end of the case, Wallen said tips continue to come in. We would take that opportunity very, very quickly, Anderson said. The call didnt end at that point, though. Brandon Swanson. Another odd detail: although the call continued on for a bit after Swanson had abruptly stopped speaking, they heard nothing at all, which might shed light on what had alarmed their son. A mental breakdown does not seem like a plausible cause of Brandons disappearance, although it cannot be ruled out entirely. Again his friends report that he was not intoxicated, and when he left around midnight no one thought twice about his ability to make it home safely. The likelihood that an offender especially one with homicidal fantasies happened to be driving in rural Minnesota at 3 a.m. on the same road Brandon was on is remote, but still needs to be considered. Then, at around 2:30 a.m., 47 minutes into the phone call, Brandon suddenly interrupts himself on the phone, exclaiming, Oh, s***! and goes silent for the remainder of the call. The most recent major search effort was conducted August 7-8, 2010. "When he initially called them he said I am between Marshall and Lynd, come get me, said Hasse. Row One. So they drove out there looking for him. He loved his car, he loved to drive, said Annette Swanson. It seems that every tip that we receive, we investigate and we run into a dead end, he said. There was nothing odd about it. Photo courtesy of National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Kelsea Schneider is a senior at the College of St. Benedict/St. Family and friends indicated that Brandon had always been a high-functioning and emotionally stable individual and for his whereabouts not to be discovered for nearly three years makes the mental breakdown explanation highly unlikely. Still on the phone with their son they say ok, were going to flash out lights, can you see us? Birthday: 01/20/1989. The map below shows the main geographical locations in the timeline outlined. If you have any information on Brandon, please call the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension at 877-996-6222 or email them at bca.coldcase@state.mn.us or call Lincoln County Sheriff's . While driving his Chevy Lumina, Brandon accidentally crashed into a small ditch. He told his parents that he believed himself to be near the city of Lynd and that the lights he spotted off in the distance were coming from there. Online at [http://thesearchforbrandon.blogspot.com%3c/span%3e%3c/a]http://thesearchforbrandon.blogspot.com. Swanson wears black wire-framed eyeglasses. Brandon did not call to report being stuck in a ditch until nearly 2am. Brandon was 5 feet 6 inches and weighed 120 pounds at the time of his disappearance. However, local police initially didnt take their concerns seriously, stating that it wasnt at all unusual for a young man his age to stay out all night and advising them to just be patient and wait for him to return on his own. Search efforts for Brandon Swanson will move forward when the weather allows, Anderson said and theyll continue to wait for access to areas that could hold answers to their investigation. More than Ive ever seen in any other search. It was the beginning of what Hasse calls the most well-documented and detailed search ever conducted. Sheriff running out of answers in disappearance of Marshall teen. Unfortunately, no one has been able to answer that for certain. but some landowners have refused to allow access to search parties working to find Swanson, missing since 2008. His parents attest to this as well based on the phone calls they had with him. Each one left Long's hand with plenty of time on the clock . Shortly after midnight on May 14, 2008, Brandon Swanson (born January 30, 1989) of Marshall, Minnesota, United States, drove his car into a ditch on his way ho But he was also unable to get his car back on the road. Brandon had been partying and drinking that night, but many witnesses have confirmed that he was not visibly intoxicated or incoherent in any way. On 13th May 2008, Brandon was coming to the end of his first year in college and made plans to celebrate with friends. "The search area is always bigger than you suspect it, Hasse. Your email address will not be published. Thanks to the Crawlspace podcast, which interviewed Kyle Lawson, we now have a lot more details than we did when Brandon first went missing. Did he fall into the river? His phone call pinged off of a tower near Taunton, another small town 25 miles away from Lynd along State Highway 68, the main road that connects Canby to Marshall. Moving the search to the Taunton area, authorities quickly located Brandons abandoned car. While alcohol was being consumed at the gatherings, his friends indicated to law enforcement that he did not appear to be intoxicated when he left the party. The USA and similar big nations have all . With each passing year, different types of search dogs are required to pick up on aging scents. The 19-year-old was uninjured. In the 1920s, a lawman in North Dakota had a dark secret - He was Al Capones brother, Amid a night of costumed Halloween revelry, a man found beaten to death, Police deemed Refugio Rodriguez's death a suicide, not a murder. Brandons Law was passed in Minnesota later that year in 2008 and it requires police to begin an immediate search for missing adults under 21, as well as older adults who are missing under suspicious circumstances. Brandon was a 2007 high school graduate of Marshall Senior High School. That evening Brandon was at a friends house in Lynd, Minn., celebrating and consuming alcoholic beverages, but not in excess. When Emergency Support Services initially took over the majority of search efforts for Brandon Swanson in late 2008, they ran into the issue of landowner permission, particularly among cattle farmers who took issue with search canines present on their property. He had just finished up his last day of classes for the spring semester at the Minnesota West Community and Technical Colleges Canby campus, where he was studying wind turbines. ", "Its a straight shot down Highway 68, said Search Manager Jeff Hasse with Midwest Technical Rescue Training. While none have, at this point, led investigators to his whereabouts or remains, they keep the case from going cold. He started the night off at a party in Lynd, a small town just seven miles from his native Marshall. If suicide were the case Brandons body would have been discovered rather quickly. It was almost as if he vanished into thin air. The search for Brandon Swanson blog (n.d.). Another possibility is that Brandon could have fallen into a hole or a type of naturally occurring trench encountered while walking in the dark, but if that were the case it would be odd that after nearly three years of extensive searching nothing has been found (The Search for Brandon blog). Weed, A. Its his right to be missing, one officer reportedly said to the worried parents. Now, geographically speaking it makes perfect sense that Brandon and his car would be in Taunton. It has also been postulated that Brandon may have sought shelter in a farmers outbuilding and perished there. 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