Brandon Swanson /// Missing /// Part 1 | Forensic Files

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>> [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Welcome to True Crime Garage. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, [music]
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>> All right, everybody, gather around, grab a chair, grab a beer. Let's talk some true crime.
[music] According [music] [music] [music] [music] to fbi.gov, gov. VCAP stands for the
violent criminal apprehension program. This database maintains the largest investigative repository of major
violent crime cases in the US. It is designed to collect and analyze information about homicides, sexual
assaults, missing persons, and other violent crimes involving unidentified human remains. This week we are
reviewing a missing person's case listed on the VCAP page. Brandon Victor Swanson
was last seen on May 14th, 2008 in Cani, Minnesota. His car, a green Chevy Luminina, was
found abandoned near Taton, Minnesota. According to the FBI's website, the vehicle was in a ditch with the doors
open and the keys missing. At the time of his disappearance, Brandon was just 19 years old.
He is Caucasian, 5'5 in to 5'6 in tall and approximately 120 to 130 lb with brown hair and blue eyes. He was last
seen wearing baggy blue jeans, a blue striped polo shirt, a black hooded zip front sweatshirt with emblem on back, a
white Minnesota Twins baseball cap, glasses, and his sterling silver chain. He was carrying a black Motorola SLVR
cell phone, his wallet with identification, and his keys. If you have any information regarding Brandon
Swanson's whereabouts or the circumstances of his disappearance, please call the Minnesota Bureau of
Criminal Apprehension at 6517937000 or call the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office at 507-6941664.
This is True Crime Garage. >> [music] [music] >> May 13th, [music] 2008. Brandon Victor Swanson, age 19. He
just finished his last [music] class of his one-year program of study at Minnesota West Community and Technical
College in Cani, Minnesota. Brandon was studying wind energy and he was already enrolled in a second technical school in
Iowa. This was going to start in August of 2008. After that, he planned to transfer to a 4-year college to get his
degree in science. So, after a year of hard work, it's miday. School's out for the summer. It's time to go out, meet up
with some friends, and have a lot of fun. And that's just what the plan was for Brandon on the night of May 13th.
Now, before we get into the details of that night, let's review a little background information about Brandon.
Brandon was born January 30th, 1989. He lived with his parents, Brian and Annette, and his younger sister. They
lived in Marshall, Minnesota, a town in Lion County. The population at the time was about 13,500.
Brandon was close with his family. They describe him as a sweet, good kid who loved reading and debating. He was very
intelligent and he liked to read and ponder complicated topics like string theory. Brandon worked at a local
grocery store for four years. The last two years working in the bakery. So, not just a smart kid, but seems like quite a
reliable young man as well. >> Yeah. And Brandon was similar to you. uh cuz he's dedicated to the environment,
>> particularly renewable resources. >> Mhm. >> And he loved politics, history, and
music. He also loved the Minnesota Twins. Brandon was not a big dude. He was just about 5'5, 5'6 in tall and only
about 125 lbs. And one thing that may be quite important as we move through this,
Brandon wore glasses and he was legally blind in his left eye. On the night he went out and didn't come home, he was
wearing baggy blue jeans, a blue striped polo sweatshirt over a white t-shirt, a
black zip front jacket, a white Minnesota Twins baseball hat. He tended to wear this hat sideways.
>> Mhm. >> And he wore his white sneakers as well. Now, I point that out again, Captain,
because even though it's going to get quite chilly that night, he was wearing fairly warm clothing,
>> right? He had a one stud earring in each ear and his wire rimmed glasses on. Now
with him, he had his black Motorola SLVR cell phone. As always, he drove his green Chevy Lumina that evening. He left
his parents' place around 6:00 p.m. Brandon went to a graduation party in Lind. Lind is a small town near
Marshall, so not far from where Brandon lives. In fact, Lynn is just about an 11minute drive southwest down Route 23
from Marshall. This graduation party was really just a small gathering of only five or so people,
>> right? >> These are all people that Brandon was friends with from school. And to be
clear, it sounds to me like these were all high school buddies. Remember, Brandon's only 19, so just having
graduated from Marshall High School just the year earlier. At the small party, Brandon was
drinking. This is not in question. What is the question is how much as the general report from all leaves us with
this broad statement that he was said to have consumed an unknown amount of alcohol, but he was not overly
intoxicated according to the people who were at this party. >> Well, think about how many parties
you've been to. If I asked you how many beers your buddy was on, would you know how many beers he drank?
>> No. Only if I had like some extreme indicator, right? Like if somebody shows up with a six-pack and then there's none
of that beer left, right? >> Then you're like, "Well, he probably had six." When you're hanging out and you're
you're really you're catching up with your buddies. There's a lot of talking going on. There's multiple people there.
You're not really counting anybody's drinks. one and then on top of that too, everybody knows this. You're not really
checking the time either, you know? So, there's there's a lot that you're not really keeping up on because of the
conversations and stuff like that. However, if these people knew him for a fair amount of time, I think that they
would reasonably be able to judge if he was drunk or not. >> Right. >> Right. Now, of course, there's varying
degrees of being buzzed, but Brandon left this gathering alone around 10:30 or 11 p.m. From there, he
drove to another friend's party. This was like a house party. This for the purpose of saying goodbye to one of his
former classmates. Now, I do not know exactly who this person is, but the party was in Cani, where Minnesota West
Community and Technical College is located. So, Brandon is quite familiar with this area. The party was attended
by other college kids who were friends with Brandon. Here, Brandon was noted to have one shot of whiskey. He left this
party alone and was going to head home back to his parents' place in Marshall sometime between midnight and 1:30. Now,
the this seems like a huge window of time. Reports vary wildly. I want to bring this up because I I don't know how
important this is later. So much so because we have some time accounted for Brandon's whereabouts later,
>> right? I think the thing in question here is depending on what time he left means [snorts] there could be some
unaccounted time. >> The reason why these reports vary is as we just mentioned, you're not really
counting people's drinks. You're not really counting the time, looking at your clock, looking at your watch. They
said that he had one shot of whiskey. I don't know if he consumed any other alcohol at the time, but that is what
the general report is. See, I don't remember what they said about the first party, if he was just drinking beer or
if possibly he was drinking a mixed drink because I did hear on several accounts that he was drinking like like
a rum and coke or, you know, whiskey and coke. So, you just go, was he do doing that at the first party or the second
party? >> Sounds more likely he would do it at the second party if if they said, "Well, we
know he had a shot of whiskey." and me and some others, we found reports that state that he left as early as midnight
and some reports that left as late as 1:30 in the morning. >> Yeah. >> Again, normally we would take umbrage
with that statement, it wouldn't fly here in the garage. But this time, we're going to let it fly because we have a
lot to get to and because of the details that we have not got to yet, it will be
clear that the exact time that Brandon left the party while in dispute may not be so important. All right, let's get
into the geography of this whole situation. This is super important to this case. The last party Brandon
attends the night in question is in Cani. This is about 30 miles from his hometown of Marshall. It's a 30 to 35
minute drive that is a straight diagonal shot along a two-lane road, which is Route 68. Route 68 is a highway that
runs between Cani and Marshall. In Cami, you hop on Route 68 heading southeast and you will go straight to Marshall.
This drive should have taken him no more than 30 to 35 minutes, assuming he took
the most direct route, Highway 68, which connects the two towns. Brandon drove this route daily for the entire school
year and again would have been very familiar with this. But for some reason that we can only speculate, Brandon does
not appear to have taken the highway to get home. He took a different route. >> Yeah, I believe he took the back roads
because he had been drinking at least a little bit. So, I found some reports that state that Brandon had a DUI
in the past >> and that he had successfully completed a year's probation because of the charge.
So, what we do know is Brandon was under the legal drinking age on this night. He's only 19 years old,
>> right? >> And we do know, again, it's not in question if he had been drinking or not.
The question was how much had he been drinking, >> right? regardless of how much. All reports say
that he did consume some alcohol that night. So, if he were concerned about maybe a DUI checkpoint on something like
Highway 68 or getting on or off of Highway 68. Well, again, this take highway 68. We have different roads,
different highways, different uh interstates that you don't want to travel on because they're notorious for
just pulling people over in general. So maybe that's the case here. >> Yeah, he he wants to fly under the
radar, so to speak. He wants to take a less direct, less populated route to get home. That's all we can assume by what
we know that was going on that night. We can't say exactly what occurred between
the time that Brandon left the party in Cami and the next known contact with him. Reports are that during this time
frame, Brandon tried to contact two or three of his friends by phone, but he couldn't reach them. So, at 1:54 a.m.,
so this is technically now May 14th, Brandon called his parents. He told them he got his car stuck in a ditch. He was
okay, though. This ditch was, as he said, on a gravel road just off of Highway 23. This is the road that runs
between Lind, the town where he went to the first party, and Marshall, where he lived. According to Brandon, he was
somewhere between Marshall and Lind, just off the highway. Now, as we said, it wouldn't make much sense for Brandon
to be between Marshall and Lind if he were coming from a party in Cami. Cami is a straight shot to Marshall down
Route 68. Lind is out of the way and not along Route 68 at all. But we believe that Brandon was intending to take back
roads, as the captain said, avoiding the highway. And it's possible he could have
been deliberately off of Route 68. Now, you said that he tried to call some of his friends. Do we know the sex of those
friends? Were they just all male friends? Do we have any contact of female friends?
>> No. And and here's here's my actual belief here. >> As far as gender goes, I believe that
it's possible that those phone calls were not made while he was traveling or before he chose his destination as home.
Part of me wonders if he got his vehicle stuck in that ditch, >> right? Called his
>> tried to call friends before calling mom and dad and admitting, "Hey, I got the
car stuck." >> You've been drinking a little bit, so there's that fear that they come to help
you and at least smell something on your breath and then after having the DUI, then the repercussions of that.
>> Right. Right. And yeah, it could just be a whole bad situation for him if he's
able to get a hold of somebody else instead. He's an adult. Maybe he could find somewhere, somebody to pick him up
at least. >> Well, the location just seems funny to me. That's why I wondered if there was
any contact that he had with a a female that he was going to like meet up after the party.
>> Yeah. I don't know what the what the nature of that call those the intent of those calls were, right?
>> Because he never connected with them. >> But I agree with you. It's it's kind of
fair to say chances are he he um got stuck in this ditch, called his friends for help before he called his parents.
Especially, and I don't want to hang on this too long, Captain, but but keep in mind where he says that he is
with the car stuck in the ditch. He says he's he's near the town of Lind. Well, he was at a party just earlier that
night with high school buddies. So, maybe he thought it'd be very easy, very convenient for somebody near him to come
and offer some type of assistance. Right. The major major problem here is it's not where he was. Where wherever he
believed that he was is not really even close to his actual location. >> Right. And this is where it gets
confusing for me in this case because the claim is that Brandon knew his whereabouts and knew these roads well.
>> Yeah. Yes, he did. It he may have had some things working against him though.
Uh if you look at a if you look at Line County, Minnesota on Google Maps, first you'll see that it's incredibly rural,
flat, and the roads are almost laid out in a grid-like pattern. >> Mhm. >> So basically the farmland is broken up
into squares by country roads named things like 150th Avenue, 300th Street for example.
>> Basically everything looks the same. The crops >> really clever names. >> The Yeah, the crops are high. There is
virtually nothing delineating one area from the next. And the street and avenue names are all confusing because they're
they're just numbers, right? The landscape is dotted with streams, ponds, and lots of drainage ditches serving the
agricultural fields. Now, on the night of the 13th 14th, it was dark. The moon was only half full. We also have this
situation of Brandon had been drinking and was possibly even fatigued at this late hour and he's blind in one eye.
>> Right? >> All this simply is to say that that Brandon might have been confused about
where he was. He left a party and then he called his parents at 1:54 a.m. >> Let's just bring into the question that
this could be evidence of how intoxicated he might have been. Well, and the thing too is having called his
parents at 1:54 a.m. in the interim, even though we don't know what time he left, we know that Brandon had not
actually traveled nearly as far as he thought, or at least he didn't end up as far along in his journey as he thought.
So, after this initial phone call at 1:54 a.m., both his parents, Brian and Annette, they got in their pickup truck
and they set out to find him. Brandon said he's going to wait in his car. He's talking to them on the phone
periodically to give them directions to where he believes he is. He told them he
was on the left side of the road just off of Highway 23. His father, Brian, told CNN that Brandon
quote was absolutely positive he knew where he was end quote. It was only about 10 minutes from the Swanson home.
His parents drove to this area that he was describing, but they couldn't see him or his car. After several interim
phone calls in which everyone was getting frustrated, and Brandon even hung up on them at some point, his
mother called him back. This is at 2:17 a.m. saying that they were sorry, but they just they just couldn't find him.
They couldn't see him. >> Could be wrong about this, but I heard at one point that they were flashing
their lights at him. Yes, this is this takes [clears throat] place from this phone call 217.
>> Okay. >> So, when they couldn't find each other, his mother came up with the idea of
let's flash our headlights. >> You know, let's This is a flat area and there's not a lot of lights out there.
So, this might be something that your eye will pick up on fairly quickly if it's taking place in this general area.
Right. >> Right. So Brandon's parents, they're flashing their headlights over and over
again, turning them on and off, on and off. Brandon's mother says that not only does he say that he's doing the same
thing, but she says that she could hear the actual the switch being flipped on and flipped off
>> through the phone. >> Through the phone. Cuz you know how it some of them will make a little click
noise. >> Yeah. The problem with this is this is a great idea, but Brandon's he's in his car on the
phone flipping the lights and saying, "Don't you see me?" And they couldn't see him.
>> Well, again, how far away is he from where he's claiming he is? >> He's he's actually quite far. And we'll
go through the the very detailed description of where they end up >> finding his car.
>> Correct. Yeah. So again, Brandon is getting frustrated and >> I'd be pissed. >> Well, I mean I mean
>> I'm flashing my lights. Don't you see me? No, I don't see anything. It's dark
out here. >> Well, I think I think the whole reason why he's probably pissed is that he's
giving them fairly detailed instructions on where he believes he is, >> right? >> They go to where he's telling them to go
and they're like, "Look, we're right here." and he's probably, you know how it is when you're 19. You're probably on
the phone going, "My parents are idiots. I told him where to find me, >> right? >> That I I just want to get home. It's
late." And they can't figure out how to find me. But as it turns out, he's nowhere near he's telling them to to
find him. >> Well, and you also wonder, hey, as you're flashing these lights, if they
don't come find me first, does a police officer find me? So, that's one. you have that fear because you have that
that DUI in the past. But this this is weird because to me it points to two things. One, it points to
evidence that he's intoxicated because he's giving somebody directions to a place that he's not at.
But then the parents would know if he sounded intoxicated or not. And they don't make any claims that say that he
sounded hammered or anything, >> right? And so while you're trying these different tactics to locate one another
first which is giving simple directions, now we're both sitting parked flashing lights on and off trying to see each
other in the distance. Now that's not working. So now your next strategy is going to be well maybe we could meet up
at some type of landmark that we both believe that we can easily get to. So now Brandon's very frustrated with his
parents. He comes up with the idea that he's going to get out of the car and he's going to walk to Lind. Now
remember, Lind is the town that he was at at one point in the evening and he says he could see lights from a town in
the distance and he's going to walk in that direction. He believes that he's seeing
lights from the town of Lind. He says, "Hey, let's go and let's meet in a parking lot of the Lynwood Tavern." This
is a bar in Lind. Meanwhile, his dad drove Brandon's mother home. After dropping her off, he set back out to
meet Brandon at the spot that [music] Brandon suggested. [music] [music] This show is sponsored by BetterHelp.
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Switch now at mintmobile.com/tcg. All right, [music] we're back. Cheers, mates. >> Cheers. Cheers. Cheers, Captain.
>> It's just going to get more interesting from this point on. >> Okay. Well, you're absolutely right
about that. And the thing is here, Captain. Now, where we left off, we have Annette, Brandon's mother. Brian, his
father, drove her back home. The the whole trying to find Brandon thing is not really working out. People are
getting frustrated. And we also have Brandon who says, "Look, I see lights in the distance." And I believe that's the
town of Lind. Meet me in the Lindwood Tavern parking lot. >> So, his dad's driving to find him. He's
going to call his son and get back on the phone with Brandon. >> This call started at 2:23 a.m. Brandon
said he's walking along a gravel road away from Marshall in the direction of Lind. After a bit, Brandon tells his dad
that he was leaving the gravel road to cut across the land because he said, quote, "It will be quicker than
following the road." Brandon then told his dad that he had encountered two fence lines and he could
hear running water nearby. Shortly after that, Brandon said, quote, "Oh shit." And Brandon's dad says he
heard a sound like something slipping. Then at 3:10 a.m., the line went dead on Brandon's end. Brandon's dad attempted
to call his son back repeatedly, calling five or six times. But while the phone rang before going to voicemail, no one
ever picked up. Yeah. Now, this is another little sticky situation. Normally, we have situations where you
call a phone, it rings, rings, rings, and that means that there's still battery life left on the phone. It
doesn't go straight to voicemail. So, that's something that you might want to assume here. But with this model of
phone with um this early technology it it and it varies. So it's not as simple as well it was ringing so we
believe his phone was still working. >> It could have been dead at this point or
submerged in water or whatever. >> Yeah. And I think that's a general misconception regarding these phones is
that if it is ringing that it means that the phone is still live, still active and then going to voicemail and that
once the phone goes to voicemail immediately that the phone is dead. That may be that may be the situation for
certain phones for certain models, >> right? >> But or maybe even a higher percentage of
phones do that. But I've had plenty of times where people try to call me and I I'll get a joke text like, "Oh, you sent
me straight to voicemail." And I go, "Send straight to voicemail." The phone didn't even ring. You know,
>> right? Or, you know, in this situation, we have expert opinion, experts who have
weighed in on this exact situation. so kind of you to call me an expert >> and say that look when when you hear
that ring that that's not indicative of activity on that actual phone. >> Yeah. It's
>> it's just a noise that you hear when you're calling. >> Well, it's proven that you have activity
on your end. >> Correct. >> It doesn't prove that they have activity on their end.
>> Well said, my friend. So he calls Brandon's dad, unable to find his son, calls friends of Brandon's for help.
They come out. They agree to drive along these country roads all around Route 23
between Lind and Marshall looking for Brandon frantically. There is no sign of Brandon, and there's
also no sign of his car. At 6:30 a.m., Annette called the Lion County Sheriff's Office and reported
Brandon missing. All right, this this is a bit of an uncomfortable part here for me, Captain,
but look, it it is certainly police protocol in regards to taking a missing person's report when we are talking
about a missing adult. >> Mhm. But I like the cases and the stories we tell here in the garage where
someone jumps into action immediately. You know, hey, these people are concerned. We're going to see if we can
help. >> Unfortunately, that was not the case in this in this story. Yeah. >> Seems like there was a little push back
from police. The police pointed out that >> look, and I agree with this statement.
It's not unusual for a 19-year-old to not come home, right? And but one >> okay >> one officer even points out that it is
the young man's right to be out that if if he doesn't want to come home. >> Yeah. But
the argument is pretty simple. The this young man was on the phone with his parents asking for help.
>> Right. >> And so >> and therefore that makes this situation immediately different than all those
other possible situations. >> Right. this idea of well, you know, there's many uh teenagers that just
don't come home. Yeah. But did they call in the middle of the night asking for help
>> saying I'm walking around in the dark? >> Yeah. I mean, this is ridiculous. And
and they should be able to find his car pretty quickly. And there's evidence that uh we have a situation.
>> See, this is I mean, it's just unfortunate. >> That's pathetic, really. It's unfortunate for a number of reasons,
but here's here's at the very least, play along, play the game, right? You you could send an officer out in a car
to just do a little driving around, and you chalk it up to patrolling the area anyway, which serve and protect,
>> which you're supposed to be doing anyway. Why not just send a car to this general area where this concerned mother
and father are saying their young man son 19 years old is wandering around in the dark?
>> Well, it's absolutely pathetic because like I said, you serve and protect and
these these are taxpayers. These are good people in your community and they're just asking you to look into
their missing son. And like you said, just send out a cruiser. >> Yeah. >> Just say, "Hey, look, uh, we're sending
out a cruiser. We let's see what we can do." And here's the thing. If you end up
finding the kid, you're the hero of the day, man. You're the hero of the day. So, what ends up happening though,
Captain, is the Swanson's, they are obviously convinced that something bad has happened to their son. I'm not
really certain how, but it seems that they were able to push the sheriff enough to actually get them involved.
So, the sheriff's deputies join in on the search and a countywide request was made to expand the search area for this
young man. Now, in a brilliant move, this is where I do give some credit. The sheriff quickly obtained the cell phone
records for Brandon's phone. >> Good. >> And what those records showed changed everything.
Brandon's phone. The last activity on his phone caused the phone to ping on a cell phone tower that was nowhere near
where he told his father that he was. So Brandon thought he was near Lind, saying
he would meet him in the parking lot of the Lynwood Tavern. So instead of Lind, his phone hit off of a tower 20 miles
away in the town of Mota. So now they need to go search this area, the area that was covered by that cell
tower. Sure enough, it is during this search at 12:30 p.m. on the 14th of May that
officers found Brandon's Chevy Luminina in a ditch off a gravel road, as he described it to his parents. This is
several miles from Canby, where Brandon started off, and 25 miles from Lind. The
car was in a ditch alongside a minimum maintenance road off of Lion Lincoln County Road, which runs north to south
and separates the two counties just west of Taton and east of Porter. If you're looking for this location on a map, it's
about a mile and a half north of the intersection of Lion Lincoln County Road and Highway 68. So, so you're saying
Brandon's about 25 minutes away from where he claimed to be, >> correct? >> And this is where it does, this is where
the case gets me, cuz again, >> well, this is where it makes absolutely no sense.
>> Well, you're right. Because the claim is that this kid knows his way around these
roads, that he knows the directions around there. And and that's not always a claim that that uh fathers would make
about their sons when it comes to driving. Right. >> Right. >> And they're making these claims that he
knows these roads. He he he knows his whereabouts and he's 25 minutes away from where he said he was. That's that's
bizarre. So there I mean there's so many things bizarre about where he he ended up. I
mean I I was sitting there the other night and I thought that to to put together the the description of where
everything is and where he ends up where he thinks he is. I mean you're left there sitting looking at a map going
this just doesn't make any sense. >> And he's not that far away from the party. >> He's much closer to the party than where
he was supposed to end up at his parents house. So I mean basically if you take if you take Cami and draw a diagonal
line on a piece of paper souththeast to Marshall it'd be a straight shot. Right.
>> Right. >> South of that south of Marshall where he lived where he's trying to get to is
Lind. So he goes way, he believes that he is near Marshall, near Lind, which is technically out of the way, but where he
ends up is somewhere along that diagonal line. Basically, he's he's north of Lind
in Minota. >> Mhm. >> Which is much closer to Cani and very and 20 25 minutes away from Marshall and
Lind. Well, it seems like, you know, somehow he gets confused and gets on on a road that he thinks is familiar, but
is not correct. >> Well, and that's where I think the trouble lies with this case is
I think you could be pretty sober and get turned around even if you do know the area fairly well because again,
everything kind of looks the same. The roads are all just basically numbers. when I I also question are any of these
phone calls that he's making to his friends. Look, we've we can assume that he's not calling anybody until the car
he he veers off and goes in the ditch, right? >> But I'm telling you, it was a a bad
habit. I would get on the road when I'm playing gigs and every time I was on the
damn phone, I'd miss an exit. And it was always an exit that I that I knew from I
was familiar with. Mhm. >> And I'd be going a again, you know. So that's why I also wonder, was he talking
to somebody on the phone where just by being on that phone, he gets on the wrong road and then he, you know,
travels. >> I think it would have been incredibly easy to make a wrong turn, >> right?
>> And but but what that's not so hard to believe. What's really hard to believe
is that he he clearly hasn't traveled much of a distance and and he hasn't traveled as
far as he believes that he has traveled. So then you start to wonder, >> not necessarily. And the reason why is
cuz he could have been heading one direction and then once he makes the wrong turn or or or gets confused, he
could have actually been heading back the other direction. >> No. And that's what I mean. We we don't
know. >> He he could have been driving for as long as he anticipated. Right. >> Right. And that's where I think the
problem lies. And I think that that might be where I think that might be why he thinks he
was >> was where he thought he was, which is a weird statement to say, but he knows
generally how long of a drive it would be from Canby to Marshall or Cani to Lind. And I think he probably drove
around about that amount of time and says, "Well, that's where I must be, right, is Lind." Where as you pointed
out, and I think what's probably correct here, is that he's made several wrong turns, turned around a couple times,
tried to correct himself, and ultimately he's just getting more and more lost, more and more confused about where he
where he is actually located. >> Right. And again, this becomes an issue because we don't know how intoxicated he
is or like you said, just, you know, being exhausted, you know, right? We don't know.
>> So, Lincoln County Sheriff Jack Viski offered a description of Brandon's car.
He said the car was found on the Lincoln County side of the county line. Quote, "It was off the side of a field approach
and the vehicle was hung up. It's 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. End quote. Brandon's car, while immobilized,
was technically fine. >> You know, it was operating just fine. There was no real damage to it. And this
is further backed up by Brandon's mother, Annette. >> Right. >> There's no evidence that he had been
hurt in this incident. And furthermore, he tells his parents he's fine from the incident. And there was no evidence that
anyone else was involved in the accident as well. >> Right. So basically saying that we don't
think he hit his head or anything and that he was conscious of what was happening.
>> From my understanding, Brandon told his parents this accident happened as he was
trying to turn off of an unpaved road. If you if you want to try to picture this scenario, basically it's like he
he's trying to turn around in the middle of the road and and and maybe go the opposite direction,
>> right? >> And because these are country roads that that typically are not wide lanes,
he got hung up in in the ditch. And when they say hung up, they just mean that the the tires are not touching the
ground, therefore you cannot move the car. It was We've had another case that was very similar to this vehicle type
situation. I think it was uh Briana Maitlin, >> right? >> Where the car was it worked just fine
and that's what confused people so much. But but if if those if the tires that move when you hit the accelerator do not
touch the ground, your car doesn't move. >> No traction. >> That's right. Furthermore,
many reports say that nothing else unusual was found at the actual site. However, one very important source that
we will get into later and we've already touched upon says the car doors were found open. If that is true, to me,
Captain, that would be incredibly strange. >> Mhm. >> In any event, Sheriff Viski said that
officers could not determine which direction Brandon was heading after he left the vehicle, which direction he was
heading on foot. He says, quote, "There's grass in the ditch and gravel on the road, so it is possible to leave
that vehicle and not leave any tracks." One thing the sheriff failed to mention was an unfortunate coincidence. The
roads were graded on the morning of May 14th before the vehicle was actually found and located by deputies. this
destroying any possible footprint or other evidence that they may have found on the gravel roads.
Let's discuss the scene where the car was found. We know there were no prints of use and that one source indicates
that the doors were open and keys were gone. There was nothing unusual found in, near, or on the vehicle. We have
seen a few reports that a pipe was found in the car. To be perfectly clear, there's no
indication of what kind of pipe, >> right? It could be a tobacco pipe, it could be a marijuana pipe, crack pipe,
>> could be a lead pipe. I have no idea. But the >> I I think the general idea here is if in
fact a pipe was found in the vehicle, then it's possible Brandon could have been high before he set off on foot that
night. >> Right. >> I don't know, Captain. In in my opinion, I want to throw this out there. I feel
like the the pipe being found in the car might just be some bad information. >> Yes. And I and I say that because there
is one newspaper article that references this pipe, but they give no indication of what it was used for, what kind of
pipe it was. And then where I see other reports that that contain that say that there was a pipe in the car, they appear
to me to be reports and articles that were written using that first article, >> right?
>> You you know what I mean? >> Bad information that people are passing on as a rumor.
>> That's what my gut tells me. also could be a small little pipe. You know, I worked at a hardware store. I could see
somebody carrying around a little piece of lead pipe, you know, as protection. >> So, that's something, too. The the the
thing that I keep going now that we're on this uh smoke in the pipe, right? >> Mhm. and the whole intoxicated level.
One of the things that has really got me about this case is yes, we know that he
was at these two parties hanging out with his friends and yes, they say, "Well, yeah, we think he was drinking at
the first one and uh he might have been drinking on the second one. We don't know how much." We know that he had a
shot of Jack Daniels. What I wonder was was there any um smoking of the of weed? Um, was there
any usage of like mushrooms? >> You almost sounded like a really old person there first. Smoking of the weed.
>> I almost said smoking the weed. >> Boy, you high on the weed. >> He was out there smoking the weed. Um,
so because I'm just trying to think of my friend's early days of college. If if something
happened to one of our buddies, we'd probably start off with yes, we were drinking. If it was one of the days that
we were experimenting with shrooms, I don't think we would have told the parents that we were experimenting with
shrooms, >> right? >> But I think I get where you're going with this. >> Yeah. >> I think what you're trying to say is as
time passes >> and as the concern for your friend who is lost and continues to be lost,
are you saying that at some point you you just >> go into more maybe maybe be a little
more upfront about some things? >> I think you would. So, so I think we would hear rumors about that and I we
just don't hear rumors about that, >> right? >> Um, >> and of course >> marijuana, drinking, all of that is
totally believable because that's very common at the age of 19, you know, early college, just out of
high school, very common. So, it's totally believable. But to me, it feels like if the suspicion was strong enough
for that that the suspicion would have stood the test of time and and it really has not because what you have here in
this case is you have Brian Swanson, Brandon's father, >> right, >> who has said for 11 years now that he
does not believe that his son was in any way incapacitated that evening, saying that Brandon sounded totally normal,
lucid, and coherent on the phone, >> right? But there's just so much evidence against that. I mean, one, the, you
know, he has to call for help because of his car, like you said, turning around on a a country road.
It's I think that's evidence that there's an an impairment there. Uh the fact that, you know, if it's true that
they found two doors open, that doesn't make a lot of sense. To me, that shows a
sign of an impairment. The fact that he doesn't know where he's at, sign of impairment. The fact that um then he
claims where he's going to start walking toward towards again another sign of impairment. So, you know, I'm I'm glad
that his you know, you know, I I I don't I'm not saying that his father's a liar.
I'm just saying that there's a lot of evidence against the fact that he you know, that he was completely coherent.
Well, I mean, he he wouldn't be a li liar if he believed what he's saying. And meaning, you know, Brian Swanson
does not believe that his son could basically he's saying, "Look, I was on the phone with him for 47 minutes. It
wasn't a a two-minute phone call. It wasn't a five minute phone call." Right. Right.
>> He's saying, "I don't think my son could fake it through a very lengthy phone
call." >> No. No. I agree with that. and and Brandon's friends have not said that he
was drunk or high, although if they were, like you said, underage or they were doing illegal activities, they
might not admit to this, especially right away. We know that there have been there was quite of of a bit of time
unaccounted for. It seems to be that way depending on which timeline you follow for that evening,
>> right? But one thing that I find that's that's super interesting is the police investigators have also said
repeatedly that they do not believe Brandon was impaired that evening. Now, of course, it's totally unclear on how
they would know this or how they were able to come to this conclusion, right? And the impairment doesn't have to be
drugs. It could again be uh exhaust, you know, exhaustion, >> right? And and the the police coming to
this conclusion may just be because all of his friends and his dad says that he wasn't, you know, intoxicated.
Basically, and all reports are telling us he was he was sober kind of thing. >> Yeah.
But what does seem clear to me more so than if he was impaired or intoxicated in any way, it's 100% that Brandon was
very very confused about where he was that evening. >> Well, the other evidence that he
possibly was impaired is that he's taking these back roads and instead of taking the more traveled, you know,
well-lit roads, you're taking back roads. That that's another sign to me. >> And I'm not saying that he's like drunk
to the point where he can't walk. I'm just saying that maybe he's, you know, buzzed enough where, you know, can't get
his car unstuck, leaves the door open, doesn't know exactly where he's at, has to take the back roads.
Right. But I think I think a big problem with this case is and there's some debate and I don't know having you know
I don't live in this area or never have visited this area. There is some debate online about how well the roads he would
have been traveling were actually marked if they were even marked >> at the time in 2008.
>> Yeah. Again, if if if the farms look the same, the farmland looks the same, the
streets and roads look the same, you know, I I I don't I don't know that it it we gain much value out of debating
if he was impaired or not, but I can see a situation where somebody would be maybe even sober as a judge and
perfectly fine and still get turned around in this situation. Yeah, >> he's he's in the end. What we do know is
he's 20 miles from where he thought he was. And the lights that he could see, remember, he thinks that they're coming
from the town of Lind. They are not. We We know that uh from where his vehicle is found.
>> Now, you said that they had his phone records. They got the phone records pretty quickly, but do we know I mean it
was 2008, so did they have any text mess any text messages? Um any records of that?
>> I looked up his phone and I actually thought that it was another phone before
I looked it up. I thought it was like the the Razor Remember the Motorola had like a silver Razor flip type phone.
>> Yeah, >> that's the phone that I thought it was. And when I when I looked up the phone
online, it it showed me clearly a different model. But what I can say from what I can view regarding that phone is
it did have texting. I believe it to have texting capabilities, >> right? >> Um it his regarding what kind of service
he had might play into that somehow. Remember right remember back in the day it wasn't like like today you sign up
>> get it. Yeah. >> Yeah. Today you sign up for a plan and they're like, "Well, you get
everything." You know, back then it was uh quite different. So >> I I >> And I can't remember exactly when the
change happened. >> The the days when you'd have to like >> monitor how much you text.
>> Well, yeah, that but also like you'd also text by like you'd have to hit, you
know, three a couple times for C, you know. Uh, and judging by the the the picture, the image I saw of the phones
that that were brought up in my Google search, he he very likely would have been if he was texting, it would have
been that deal where you're like, tap the number one three times for the letter C,
>> right? >> Type of thing, >> right? >> And again, it it might have been a new enough time, 2008, where where the
texting was fine. I don't have any detailed reports regarding his his phone logs. for that night. But what what I
what I believe to be a fair statement to say about his phone log would be that nothing
there doesn't seem to be anything that that is outstanding as weird or unusual because we would have that information.
you know, we would we that would be included in the narrative of this story that that there
>> not only does was there this strange situation of he's on the actual phone. I
mean, and and that's the way that this story plays out in the way that it's told on the internet and told from
person to person is Brandon is on the phone at the time that he vanishes, which is so incredibly weird. We've had
so many other cases that we've covered that there are there's a strange phone call involved in a missing person's
case, but to be actually on the phone with one's father when when it's believed that he went missing.
>> Yeah. I mean, this is and it's weird, too, cuz you got Brandon Swanson and then you have the Brandon Lawson case,
which is kind of similar. >> Yeah. Both involve phone calls. Strange phone calls.
>> Yeah. Two family members. >> Yeah. both Brandons. >> Yeah. So, it's it's one of those
situations where I see what you're getting at and I wish we knew that information. I think that the reason why
it's not reported is that it it may just have no real bearing on the case. It may
be in fact exactly as we just said that from the call records we know that he tried he attempted to call a couple of
friends. We know that he called his parents when his parents say that he's on the phone with them. And we know that
his father tried to call his phone several times after after the call goes dead on Brandon's end. [music]
[music] There's so much more to get to in this incredibly fascinating case of missing
person Brandon Swanson. Still left, Captain. We have the search for Brandon. We have the theories about what could
have happened to him, plus our thoughts and the conclusion. Only one episode this week due to the holiday. If you
need more garage, download the Stitcher app and check out all of our old shows. And also we have a weekly bonus show on
Stitcher Premium called Off thereord. There's now over 70 episodes available. So check that out and make sure you go
to true crimegar.com and leave us your theories and thoughts on the Brandon Swanson case. And until
next week everybody, be good, be kind, and don't live. >> [music] [music] [music]

Brandon Swanson /// Missing /// Part 1

Part 1 of 3

Original Release: 9-2-2019

In May 2008, 19-year-old college student Brandon Swanson vanished without a trace after a late-night drive through rural Minnesota. In True Crime Garage Episode 332, Nic and the Captain dive deep into one of the most haunting and perplexing missing person cases in modern true crime history.

After attending a small gathering with friends, Brandon called his parents in the early morning hours to report that he had accidentally driven his car into a ditch. Believing he was near the town of Lynd, Minnesota, Brandon stayed on the phone with his father while attempting to walk toward distant town lights for help. What followed was a chilling and unforgettable moment. During the call, Brandon suddenly exclaimed, “Oh, shit!” before the line abruptly went silent. He was never heard from again.

In this episode, True Crime Garage carefully examines the timeline of Brandon Swanson’s final movements, the extensive search efforts across treacherous farmland and waterways, and the investigative challenges that have left this case unsolved for nearly two decades. Nic and the Captain also discuss the lasting impact Brandon’s disappearance has had on his family and how the case led to the creation of Brandon’s Law, which changed missing persons reporting procedures in Minnesota.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com (https://pcm.adswizz.com) for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Brief Summary

Brandon Swanson disappeared in 2008 after calling his parents for help while stuck in a ditch, leading to a complex investigation.

Key points

Brandon Victor Swanson's Disappearance. Brandon went missing after a night out with friends, leaving behind an abandoned car.
The Last Night of Brandon Swanson. On May 13, 2008, Brandon attended parties before disappearing without a trace.
Confusion Over Location. Brandon believed he was near Lind, but was actually lost in rural Minnesota.
Brandon's Frustration. Brandon struggles to communicate his location to his parents while they search for him.
The Call Ends Abruptly. Brandon's call with his father ends suddenly, raising concerns.
Police Response to Missing Person. The police are hesitant to act quickly on Brandon's disappearance.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

He is Caucasian, 5'5 in to 5'6 in tall and approximately 120 to 130 lb.

Describing Brandon's physical appearance.

5:23WatchFeb 5, 2026

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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