Lincoln County Sheriff Jack Vizecky even personally walked up and down the two mile stretch of river in the area every day for 30 days, but nothing was found. Eventually, the dogs pointed them to farm fields north of Porter. Searchers work an area just west of Taunton along Highway 68 and to the north, June 21-22, 2008. He would start walking in the direction of the lights. VOICE OF ANNETTE SWANSON, MOTHER OF BRANDON SWANSON: Well, just very briefly, Brandon`s Law is Minnesota missing . No alcohol or illegal drugs were found in the vehicle. He disappeared outside of Marshall when he was 19. On the night of 14 May 2008, after celebrating the last day of college classes with a friend, he was driving home along a gravel road, and somehow crashed his car into a ditch. He would be 33 years old today. It took him 30-40 minutes tops, and was a trek he made every single day for classes. Porter is located roughly six miles from where Brandon Swanson's vehicle was discovered. Did he fall into the river? He was last seen in Marshall, MN, on May 14, 2008. known location of 19-year-old Brandon Swanson. Nevertheless, drowning was the immediate fear, and so two miles of the river and the riverbank were thoroughly searched for 30 days. That doesnt mean that the tips arent redundant, or that they come from a different person, but include the same information that weve previously received, he said. So we are really confident that hes somewhere in this watershed. He and his wife began calling Brandons friends, who also rushed to the area to search for him in the dark night. With no body and very little evidence, it is impossible to know what happened to Brandon, leaving every possibility open for speculation. "So weve got huge amounts of scent in here, said Hasse as he points at a map. Brandon Lawson was 26 years old when he went missing on August 9, 2013. (2007, November 20). The farmers pretty much have this thou shalt not between this time and this time, and we still work it out as best we can, but it has exacerbated our search abilities, Anderson said. Chang, B. It wasnt oh shit, trip bang crash, gurgle disconnect There were no other noises like you might associate with someone falling into a river, tripping in a bear trap, whatever it couldve been. Reflecting on the last decade, however, those closest to the investigation and search efforts remain hopeful that. He wanted to blow off steam and eagerly went to a party in Canby on May 14, 2008. . Map showing Brandon's route | Photo Credits: Thomas Lauth Missing Persons Investigation Worldwide Brandon was a promising student, who was happy to have a break after studying wind turbines for an entire semester at the Minnesota West Community and Technical College. 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. He brought in expert handlers with trailing dogs. Brandon Swanson was 19 years old when he went missing in the state of Minnesota. He assured them that both he and the car were fine and that he merely needed them to pick him up. Brian Swanson did indicate that 14 years after the disappearance of their son, the pain still remains. "They know their property, and they search it and look around as well," he said. En route, he crashed into a ditch. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children works to help find missing children, reduce child sexual exploitation, and prevent child victimization. Lets look at the main theories: Brandon staged his own disappearance to run away and start a new life-. Kelsea Schneider is a senior at the College of St. Benedict/St. However, once they arrive to Brandons location, he is nowhere to be found. Brandon Swanson, a missing high schooler kid, was never found after he disappeared in 2008. 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. 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. Hmm, thats strange so they begin driving up and down the road. Brandon had big plans for the upcoming school year and was looking forward to attending Iowa Western College over 250 miles away. Case Details Name/age: Brandon Victor Swanson, 19 For nineteen-year-old Brandon Swanson, May 13, 2008 was an exciting day. Brandon is reported to have left the party in Canby between 12 and 12:30am. One officer in particular even stated that, at his age, Brandon, had a right to be missing, a remark that has stuck with Annette Swanson years later. The focus of the search moved to this area after bloodhounds led searchers there in March 2010. Helicopter and ground searches commenced, covering all the fields and areas Brandon may have attempted to make his short cut going toward what he incorrectly assumed was Lynd. Now Minnesota BCA will review the case. Annette, tell us about Brandon`s Law. Thats a troublesome issue for those leading the search party. (LogOut/ Unsure of what else to do, they hung up and tried calling him again multiple times, each time getting no response. Aside from the fact that Brandon was relatively sober, this was also a very familiar drive for him. The bloodhounds picked up a 3-mile scent trail that went along field roads to an abandoned farm, and then carried on along the Yellow Medicine River to a point where it seemed like Brandon entered the stream and then got back out. Missing. It happened in 2008 to Brandon Swanson, 2020 To Jason Landry, and 2021 to Daniel Robinson. Brandon Lawson 911 call depicted last moments before he went missing Around 11:30 p.m. Aug. 8, Lawson called his father and mentioned he was heading to his parents' house in Crowley, about 3. If you or someone you know has any information that could lead to the discovery of Brandon Swanson, please call the Lincoln County Sheriffs Office (Minnesota) at 1-507-694-1664 or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5687). That night was all about celebrating the end of the year, and Brandon had what was supposed to be a fun night with lots of friends ahead of him. What both Brandon and his parents thought though was that the other car was in the wrong spot. While search teams have worked diligently to cover the 140-square mile area of interest, there has been resistance by some landowners to allow access to search parties, including those associated with Emergency Support Services, an organization based in Minneapolis that provides assistance in search and rescue operations. St. Paul Pioneer Press, p. B1. NEW: 200 - The Shocking Murder of Betty Williams. He is legally blind in his left eye. Episode Summary. Brandon Swanson was a normal, nineteen-year-old man living during what should have been the best years of his life. Dont you see me? he asked his parents, exasperated. Johns University in St. Joseph, Minnesota. According to them, it was not uncommon for a nineteen-year-old to stay out all night after finishing classes. Naturally curly Brown hair, blue eyes. For those working on behalf of Emergency Support Services, its still important that they continue to try to access untouched property, yet they also know that the number of dogs trained to help them, at this point, is dwindling. Brandon was 5 feet 6 inches and weighed 120 pounds at the time of his disappearance. Moving the search to the Taunton area, authorities quickly located Brandons abandoned car. And you cant find it. The initial search for Brandon Swanson included trained search dogs, hundreds of volunteers and air surveillance. "The Mysterious Disappearance Of Minnesota College Student Brandon Swanson,". His parents lobbied for change due to the delayed response time from police, causing a new law in Brandons name to be written, requiring law enforcement to respond to a missing persons report immediately, regardless of the persons age. Selected by the Giants in the fifth round of the 2009 MLB draft, Belt made his debut with the big club in 2011 and then promptly captured World Series titles in . He was cold and wet and actually walking in the opposite direction of his home and where his parents were looking for him. (LogOut/ This prompted Brandon to. Seven-year-old Kyron Horman went missing from his elementary school on June 4, 2010, and hasn't been seen since. 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. What happened to the Fort Worth Missing Trio? It has also been nearly three years since Brandon went missing and for a fraud of this nature to last that long without detection is unlikely. A strange phenomenon keeps occurring where young men go missing from their cars and then seem to vanish into thin air. Online at [http://thesearchforbrandon.blogspot.com%3c/span%3e%3c/a]http://thesearchforbrandon.blogspot.com. 065 - The Disappearance of Brandon Swanson. The roadblock to access has come down to landowner permission. He Was Murdered. The Yellow Medicine River has been the subject of extensive searches over the years, including excavation efforts in areas where the dogs have led law enforcement. Annette says he was on the phone with his folks the whole time. In the early weeks of the search in May and June 2008, land and air searches were conducted both by community volunteers and individuals from professional search organizations, but with no luck. ", "Search management is a real soul-sucking job, said Hasse. Hasse points to a map showing where Brandons car was found. Nothing unusual was found in or around the vehicle; there was no significant trace evidence, no signs of blood, and no indication of a struggle. The Search for Brandon At 6:30 a.m., Brandon's parents called police to report him missing. When a cell phone is off or when it is damaged for example, as the result of being submerged under water incoming calls go directly to voicemail, either with no rings or just one ring. It had a violent crime rate of less than half the average. Right on the border between Lincoln, Yellow Medicine and Lyon counties, said Hasse. It was almost as if he vanished into thin air. He cannot understand why his parents are so confused and are struggling to find him when he told them exactly where he is. Multiple theories have been brought forward over the years to try and explained what happened that night. (2010, January 18). Born on January 30, 1989, in Marshall, Minnesota, Brandon Swanson was a 19-year-old college student who was enrolled in a wind turbine program at Minnesota West Community and Technical College in Canby. 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. I mean, you could place a call and it would ring before turning over to voicemail, Lyon County Sheriff Eric Wallen said. At most it gets to 15 feet, and if Brandon DID fall in the river, he easily could have made it out to the other side, just unable to leave a strong enough trail for the dogs being that hes wet and washed. However, no body was, or ever would be, recovered. People at the party report that Brandon had one alcoholic drink that they noticed, and that he seemed fine, not inebriated in any way. 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. 00:00. 2023 The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers on this website. You can find out more information here. Just to summarize for people who aren't familiar with the case, Brandon Swanson was a 19 years old from Marshall, MN when he disappeared in May 2008. Its important to note that this particular river is not one thats notably deadly. For unknown reasons, he left his glasses in his car that night. Its the same case police have been studying for nearly four decades: the unsolved murder of Kathy Kolodziej. There are 206 bones in the body. Its heavily debated in the armchair detective web groups, but the police have not given an official stance as far as I found. Its searching for answers, its searching for where, who, what, were, when, why? With the search area located among plenty of farmland, Emergency Support Services has worked diligently with farmers to create an access schedule that works around the shifting planting and harvest seasons. A Hubbard Broadcasting Company, You can find out more information about the Jacob Wetterling Resources Center here, You can find out more about the organization here. Brandons vehicle was located approximately 25 miles from Lynd, the town he erroneously thought he was outside of. Another point of question that I cant help but wonder about is that phone call. They use GPS technology to track the dogs and handlers, which provides great detail of where theyve searched. She writes about missing persons, unsolved murders, and human rights. The search for Brandon Swanson will resume this spring if they can get resources together and permission from land owners. He was seen drinking at both parties, but according to his friends, he didn't drink enough to become intoxicated, at least not overtly. As his parents were on their way to help, the cell phone connection went dead at 3:10 a.m. 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. Lyon County Sheriff Jeff Vizecky described the car as on sort of a sharp incline, nothing major but enough that the car would get hung up so the wheels are too high off the ground to get any traction (Weed, 2010, p. 2). The disappearance. At around 2 a.m. on the morning of May 14th, Swanson called his parents . As of 2021, Brandon Swanson is still a missing person. Brandons evening started in the nearby town of Lynd, about 7 miles southwest of his home in Marshall. She was witnessed that night by several motorists walking along the highway, but when one of them tried to talk to her, she ran into the nearby woods. "And when one goes as long as this, you know the family has put their hopes on your shoulders. Despite circumstantial evidence pointing to his stepmother, the case remains unsolved. The Strange DISAPPEARANCE of Brandon Swanson Join Steve Stockton in this special episode as Steve discusses The Strange DISAPPEARANCE of Brandon Swanson S. "But I believe all our physical clues are probably located within a 15 foot radius, said Hasse. (Photo: AP). . His body would have been discovered in the wide, open fields. Brandon did not call to report being stuck in a ditch until nearly 2am. Brandon grew impatient while waiting for his parents to find the right spot. Additionally, there are many unmarked cisterns in the area and its possible that he could have fallen into one of them. He hasn t been heard from since. He had a love for learning, especially science, so when he graduated from Marshall high school in 2007 he chose to stay home with his parents for a year, and get a certificate in renewable energy and wind turbines from Minnesota West Community and Technical College. A college boy not coming home after a night out is not unusual, they told them. He told his parents he was walking toward the small town and made plans to meet them at a local business. Brandon had been partying and drinking that night, but many witnesses have confirmed that he was not visibly intoxicated or incoherent in any way. With the river dried up due to drought, Wallen said the excavation crew went to work and still came up with nothing. MARSHALL Ten years have gone by and Brandon Swanson is still missing. 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. Brandon was only 19 years old when he went missing. We would take that opportunity very, very quickly, Anderson said. The temperature at the time of his disappearance was 46 F, or 8 degrees Celsius, and dropped to 39 F, or 4 degrees Celsius. So what happened in the time that is unaccounted for? This particular night however was May 13th 2008 and it was the LAST day of classes at Minnesota West, meaning that Brandon was officially DONE with his certificate program. Despite being surrounded by wide open fields, they see nothing at all, which does not add up. Darrin E. Delzer, a volunteer firefighter at the time, brought up his own theory that perhaps Brandon slipped and fell into an unmarked well or reservoir. February 17, 2022. KSTP was there in May of 2008 as several agencies looked for Brandon. We also need to remember that underage drinkers lie about what substances and how much theyve consumed, and theyre also not the most trustworthy judges to tell how impaired someone is. Eliminating those roadblocks for other families was the goal behind Brandons Law, a Minnesota law passed in 2009 that requires law enforcement to immediately take a missing persons report and begin an investigation for all situations, regardless of the age of the person believed to be at risk. And the law makes it clear who has jurisdiction. 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. The dogs were unable to pick his trail back up on the other side. (LogOut/ As his parents left their home to lend him a hand, Brandon directed them to exactly where he was: about midway between Lynd and Marshall. 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. Numerous searches have been conducted of the area and bodies of water surrounding the location where Brandons car was found. Brian called Brandon back 6 times in a row, and each time the phone went straight to voicemail. He has not been seen or heard from since this incident. What makes even less sense is the timing of it all. 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