Brandon Swanson /// Missing /// Part 2 | Forensic Files

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promo. [music] [music] Welcome to True Crime Garage. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, thanks
for listening. I'm your host, Nick, and with me as always is the music man, the host, and taco [music] connoisseur. He
is the captain. >> It is Taco Tuesday, [ __ ] It's [music] good to be seen and it's good to
see you. Thanks for listening. Thanks for telling a friend. [music] This week we are drinking Annheiser
Bush's Budweiser, an American logger and an American classic. This may seem like
an odd pick, but hear me out. We've been discussing the disappearance of Brandon
Swanson. and Brandon loved the Minnesota Twins and was known to always be wearing
a Twins hat. Anyone that has been to a Twins baseball game knows you can grab a beer at the Budweiser roof deck located
in the left field corner of the ballpark. It's the ultimate Minnesota Twins outdoor experience.
>> It's the king of beers. >> That's right. So, to all the listeners tuning in from the great state of
Minnesota, we say this buds for you. Garage grade three big bottle caps. And we would also like to thank and send a
big cheers to Jill in Columbus, Ohio. >> And a big shout out to DZ in Forny, Texas.
>> Next up, we have a shout out to Michelle in San Juan Capistrano, California. >> And a big shout out to Tiffany in
Buford, Georgia. >> And next, a big long-distance cheers. And big thank you to Tim from Seattle.
And last, but certainly not least, we [music] have Stevie in Bay City, Michigan. Everybody we just mentioned
went to trimegar.com and donated to this week's [music] beer fund. And for that, we give you a big
thanks. >> Yeah. Make sure after you donate to be calm and be patient cuz we're going to
get to you. It might take a [music] little time, but when you hear your name, >> cool yourself. Chill yourself. Chill
yourself out. It's going to take a little bit of time, but once you hear your name, you're
going to get excited. So excited that you we in your pants. And that is enough of the business.
>> All right, everybody, gather around. Grab a chair. Grab a beer. Let's talk some true crime.
[music] [music] We covered the details and some of the speculation regarding the night and
early morning hours of 19-year-old Brandon Swanson's last known whereabouts last week. Now, we need to cover the
search that ensued for Brandon after the discovery of his abandoned green Chevy Luminina, which was found hung up in a
ditch on the side of a gravel road. And reminder, this was approximately 20 m from where Brandon thought he was. The
searches have been exhaustive, thorough, and in my humble garage opinion, highly
professional. Investigators brought in search dogs, which started at the vehicle. The dogs led investigators up
and down some country roads and then to a woods by the banks of the Yellow Medicine River. The descriptions of this
river are really all over the shop here, Captain. While the depths of the river range from anywhere from just knee deep
up to 15 feet in certain areas, this particular area, meaning parts of the Yellow Medicine River within walking
distance of where Brandon's vehicle was found, several people have stated that this part of the river is much more like
a creeksized waterway. But we should also keep in mind that like with most waterways, the Yellow Medicine River's
depth can vary greatly depending on the time of year. At the time Brandon disappeared, it's reported that the
river was flowing high and fast with spring runoff still impacting the flow. So by most reports, we are talking about
a very strong current at the time. According to Sheriff Vizki, quote, "There are two miles of the river in
that area and it took six hours for deputies to walk it." He said he personally walked the river every day
for 30 days. Quote, "At the time, the dogs indicated and it was believed that he must have fallen in the river in that
area." End quote. The sheriff then added, "So, we searched that area on the premise that he had been washed
downstream, but the dogs didn't just track Brandon scent to the river's edge." According to Brandon's mother,
Annette Swanson, one blood hound followed a scent from the stranded car down a gravel road to a farm. She said
this was a long trail. It was about 3 miles. This long trail is what led to the Yellow Medicine River. Annette says,
"When the dog walked them up to the river's edge, the dog jumped in the river, but then jumped back out." After
jumping out of the water, the dog continued to walk, following a trail up to another gravel road. This was a road
that separates Lion and Lincoln counties. >> And then at some point, the dog loses
the scent, she says. Now, because the dog actively jumped into and then back out of the river and then continued
along a scent path that ended into nothingness. Investigators are not convinced that Brandon drowned in the
river. Sheriff Vizki pointed out that had Brandon fallen into the river, he should have been found in the river or
downstream somewhere. No trace of Brandon has been found anywhere, but if he was washed away in the Yellow
Medicine River, you'd think that something like a, you know, a shoe, his jacket, anything would have been found.
As the river dried up later in the season, this exposed more of the land along its banks. More searches were done
during this time, but still again, nothing turned up. The area of the river that is in question that was searched,
it was searched over 50 times. All with no results. Absolutely no evidence other
than the dog leading them to the river that Brandon, you know, that he was ever even in the river that he drowned in the
river or remains in the river to this day. >> Were there multiple dogs? Because sometimes they'll have multiple dogs and
sometimes they have one dog and they do multiple tests with that one dog. So throughout the years, what gets a
little difficult with in this case when we're reporting on it, there have been so many searches, and I'm certain that
throughout the years, there's probably been a search or two that only contained one dog, but a lot of the stuff that I
was reviewing, they're referring to dogs plural. So I believe that we're talking
about multiple dogs. Now, I don't know that using the searcher's words and the sheriff's words, it's a little
conflicting because at times they say the dog led us to the river's edge and then other times they say the dogs led
investigators to the river. So, I don't know if in this exact point if it was just one dog or multiple dogs. The other
thing we need to keep in mind, too, is sometimes we're dealing with different kind of tracking dogs. dogs that are
trained to look for different things, >> right? >> You know, sometimes when you're looking
for search and rescue, you're you're tracing a scent and other times they're they've actually brought in cadaavver
dogs, dogs that are looking for human remains, >> right? The problem here is again, Captain, the
the Yellow Medicine River, I think, could hold some secrets, but the problem with that is other than
the dog or the dogs leading the investigators to the river, there's never been any other evidence that
Brandon went into the river or drowned or, you know, and remains in the river to this day.
>> Right. But the the problem is we have >> we have no evidence of >> we have no evidence of a lot of things.
>> So I I do want to go to a comment that I saw by his mother Annette Swanson and
this seems to be backed up or at least a shared feeling by other family members.
They don't seem to be 100% convinced that Brandon drowned that night. And then I think you have to go back to
this because if in fact if you believe the search dog's accuracy Brandon entered and then exited the river.
>> Yeah. >> So look, I want to try a little exercise if you will, Captain. This >> But hold on a second. It's it's
difficult because we don't know how the dog tracked. Let's say the dog jumped into the river, jumped out of the river,
and then walked the the river's edge for, you know, a/4 mile or whatever, and then veered off into this other path.
That would make me believe more likely that he went into the river and went down the river for a time period enough
for the dog to follow the scent. The problem with some of these reports is that we don't have this great detailed
report or we don't have video footage of what actually happened. So to speculate
too much either way, you might as well pull out your crystal ball and and make a guess because you don't know.
>> Well, of course, nobody knows. And that's why this is a an interesting case and that's why it's still talked about
so much to this day. But okay, so you say detailed description, detailed report. I I want to try a little
exercise here. Okay. And this will be quite helpful, I believe, especially to those who are either familiar with the
area or for those who did look up a map of this area. Like we mentioned last week, I want to go through a detailed
description of the part of this search. Okay, there's a lot of searches throughout the years, but I want to go
through this one in in very good detail here because again, I believe with with the dog information, the dog tracking
information, if we believe the accuracy of the dogs, this is really one of very few pieces of possible
evidence that we have to go on. Right. >> Mhm. >> So, okay, here's what we do know. Dogs
tracked Brandon from his abandoned car. Remember, his car was found in Lion Lincoln County Road, 1 and a half miles
north of Route 68. So on the map, if you're looking at it, go north of Route 68 and continue north past 390th Street.
On my map, I placed a pin on Lion Lincoln Road at the halfway mark right between 390th Street and 160th Avenue.
So, we know from the conversation he had with his folks, Brandon thinks he is near Lind and he eventually comes up
with the idea to meet them in Lind via him walking there. He says he sees the town of Lind or the
Lind town lights from his car, >> right? >> And he's going to walk towards the light. So, there are two things we can
deduce from his statements here. One, Brandon is basically heading in a northwest walking direction. So, he
believes he is souththeast of Lind. Well, northwest of Brandon's car is the town of Porter. So, he is very likely
seeing the lights coming from the town of Porter. So, number two, he thinks he is
southeast of Lind. >> So, again, if the dogs are right from his car, Brandon walked half a mile south on Lion
Lincoln Road and then turned right onto 390th Street. He walked on 390th westbound for about a mile. Then he
makes another right onto County Road 16, walking northbound. He walks for about a
half a mile. And then he decides to go off of the road and make a left, now walking westbound on a private driveway
of what has been described by at least three sources that I could find. This is a driveway belonging to a an abandoned
farm. >> Right. He continues westbound for approximately a quarter of a mile and
then veers off the driveway and continues on roughly following the course of the Yellow Medicine River
traveling northwest. >> Well, again, we also have to be clear about these driveways because a lot of
these back roads are rough, right? They're not not every single one is paved nicely.
>> A lot of them are gravel roads. Yes. So, you have to you you can't um assume at
this point that >> that he knows if he's going on a road or a driveway, >> right?
>> Would that be safe to say, >> right? And and again, he may not even care as long as he believes that he's
making his way in that direction that he wants to go. >> So, now he's he's he's kind of very
roughly following the course of the Yellow Medicine River traveling northwest. But but how how much is the
distance between the car and and the river? Like if you had to guess. >> Well, it's difficult because there it's
very different between where the you know how the crow flies to the route that he is taking because he's taking a
very roundabout way of getting there. He's he's going we see him going south and then he's going west and then he's
going north and then he's going northwest, >> right? >> So, he's traveled a few miles once you
add this all up. But again, he's he's not taking a direct cut right to where we have him now. Oh, well, and I think
this is important be because we do have a little bit of a time gap um from when his when his father decides to
take his mom home to come back out and we have a time gap and then they're back on the phone and and do and I know that
time gap is kind of blurry, but I I think the key thing here is what I'm what I want to point out to everybody if
they are following along on the map, you can you can really see where about he would be based off of the information of
the dogs. And it's once he starts doing this this route that that roughly follows the yellow medicine river there
traveling northwest. This is approximately where the blood hound jumped into the river and then jumped
back out. Now the the handler, as we said, interpreted this behavior as possibly indicating that Brandon might
have fallen into the river at that point. But then Brandon traveled onward walking heading north toward a gravel
road. It is here that the trail ends. The dog or dogs lose the scent. Really any number of things could have happened
here to to make this trail end. The the scent vanishes. He starts off in a very roundabout way of walking northwest with
the idea that he is walking into town. this obviously regardless of what town it may actually be or what town he
thinks he's walking into. I want to point out some things here too that are kind of working against Brandon if that
is his exact movements. Remember we talked about this is a route, you know, route 68 would be a route that he would
have taken from school to his house. I think rather than assuming that he knows the area well, I would debate that
quite heavily, I question that that off of anything off of Route 68, he may not know at all. You know, he may just take
the simplest way to and from school and to his house day after day after day and
never veering off of that Route 68, which he is clearly off of at this point. >> Right. And anybody that knows these
country roads or not not exactly these country roads, but country roads in general, you might be able to go, well,
I I go down this main path and then I head down one country road and that gets me to another town, right? And then
that's your path. But once you jump onto these, you know, other country roads that you're not familiar with, they
could take you anywhere. You wouldn't know, >> right? >> You know what I mean? So, and again,
so I think there's also evidence that backs up that he doesn't know the this area so
well because we have evidence that he's not where he thinks he is. >> 100%. We we know he's not where he
thinks he is. And and what I think's working against him here in this situation,
>> alcohol. >> No, I think that there are things there are indicators that to to tell him that
he is where he thinks he is. Meaning if I if I'm looking around and I go, "Oh, northwest of me there's the lights
coming from >> Lind, right? >> Should be Lind. Oh, but it's not Lind. It's Porter.
>> But it's something." Yeah. >> Yeah. It's it's an indicator to him that he's he's right, even though he's
clearly wrong. >> And then on top of that, the direction he's taking from his vehicle to walk
into town traveling northwest, >> let's pretend he does know the area very well. This would work against him even
more because to walk into Porter, he would need to cross a major road and there's a river that runs into Porter.
Okay, that's the red wood I'm sorry, the the north branch of the yellow medicine
river runs into Porter. Now, if he were to walk northwest into Lind again, he would have to cross a major road, 23
instead of 68. >> Mhm. >> There's another river that runs that direction into the town of Lind. That's
the Redwood River, >> right? That's if he knew the area so well. >> Yeah. If he knows this area really well,
he's going, "Well, >> still going to be confused." >> He's going, "Shit, I'm right.
>> There's the town of Lind. I know it because here's the river backing my feelings up and here's the road that I
have to cross backing my feelings up as well. >> I still think he's impaired. >> He could be. He could be and and I think
we can we can debate that here in a little bit, but I want to go through some of the search
>> now. >> I want to go through some of the search efforts here, Captain, but to to go
through all of them would be ridiculous. if you want to to [clears throat] dive into that even further, that stuff is
available online. And specifically, I want to point out um some of the sources for our research here. We have
footprints at the river's edge blogspot.com. >> That site has been raising awareness for
specifically for missing young adult males since 2002. >> And then there's a really interesting
thing regarding this case. We have Jeff Hassie who has really been the one that's led these these uh searches
and there is a website the search for Brandon.blogpot.com this website. >> But who's this guy?
>> He he's in charge. We'll get into him in a minute. But okay. Uh one thing I want
to point out while I'm telling people if you want to look into it yourself, >> check out that the search for
brandon.blogspot.com blogspot.com. That is basically a website that reads like individual journal entries for each
search that took place and they have journal entries listed for searches that were conducted over a three-year time
period. >> Right. >> So, very detailed information there. The areas around Brandon's car where his car
was found, they were searched using ground searchers, ATVs, horses, and helicopters.
>> Yeah. >> A company that we've talked about many, many times, Texas Equ did come in to
help bringing in underwater sonar devices, a remote controlled plane, and other high-tech equipment to help the
search efforts. And still nothing was found. Before you'd have to raise a bunch of money to get somebody to go up
in a helicopter. Now with technology, we can use these these drones to cover so much area and detail.
>> Right. And then by July of the year that he went missing, the Lincoln County Sheriff acknowledged that he personally
believed that Brandon Swanson was likely deceased by this time. And they're still
searching at this. And this is where we have the if you review the the sheriff's
statements throughout the years, I think he's just really kind of perplexed by this whole situation because you will
see statements where they say he can't be in the river. We've searched it so many times, but then here in July of the
year that we went he went missing, we have the sheriff saying we believe he's deceased and and he likely fell into the
river. >> Yeah. Now, within a few months after the quote unquote official search for Brandon
stopped, which was actually about 10 days after he went missing, a new private search company took over the
search for Brandon. This was, and this is going to answer your question, this was Search Rescue, and Recovery
Resources of Minnesota, which was headed up by a man named Jeff Hassie. >> Mhm. Hassie is not your amateur civilian
search organizer. He uses scientific methods and mathematical calculations such as theoretical maximum distance
traveled equations, probability studies, and statistics to come up with the search areas and likely scenarios.
Besides his work for the SRRM, [laughter] that's that's a handful there. >> That's what we should call the show.
>> Yeah. Hassie is the founder of Midwest Technical Rescue Training Associates, a
nonprofit organization that teaches technical rescue skills to public safety providers. Well, they're going to do
some kind of scientific and mathematic equations as far as, you know, the average human can walk a mile in in 15
minutes, things like that >> to kind of narrow down the search a little more. >> Thank you, Captain. And and I I want to
talk about this because we talk so much about criminal profiling on this show. Well, when you think about it, Jeff and
his team are using similar techniques to try and find and rescue or return lost persons. Basically taking whatever
evidence they have here. We got the car. The scent trail, the phone call with dad
saying, "Oh shit." And then the car call drops. They're going to take that information and layering layering that
with information and statistics collected from previous search efforts. You throw that algebra equation into a
blender and boom, now you have prioritized search areas. You have a game plan. One of these statistics is quite
interesting. Hassie says, and and this was to the Independent where he said this. He says, quote, "Retrospective
studies based on the International Search and Rescue Incident database found that in these circumstances
involving abandoned vehicles, the subjects were found within 5.6 miles from the last known position. This is
95% of the time. This yielding a total search area of 98.5 square miles. The median distance is 1.3
miles." So 5.3 square miles search area. There's one statistic used to help prioritize the search areas. And also
you might use this equation as well. The average person as you pointed out and this is what they're going to use in
Brandon situation walks 1 to 3 miles hour yielding a 1 to three mile search ring or 3.1 to 28.3 square miles. This
is based off of he's in the car, he's walking for 47 minutes while talking on the phone to his father,
>> right? >> And then he says old [ __ ] and the call drops. You would use this information in
regards to what you know by the information provided by Brandon's mother and father. What time he started walking
from where he left his car and ending with the old [ __ ] moment. that's the indicator for his disappearance or
demise if that's the thinking. Now, I think that that's some fascinating stuff and we will get back into that in a bit
when when we get to the theories and our thoughts, but that's what they're kind of working with here. Look, he points
out 98 what do we say six square miles. So, roughly 100 square miles. That's a huge
area to try to search. And anybody that knows this area, we're dealing with farmland.
That's difficult, especially when you we're talking about when the the crops are high.
>> Yeah. Very much so. And then also, like you said, there's multiple water sources.
>> Yeah. Yeah. So, you you have to use this information to profile where you think
he may be to prioritize your search areas and your search efforts. >> [music] >> Busy work weeks can leave you feeling
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promo. [music] [music] >> All right, we're back. Cheers, Mims. >> Cheers to you, Captain. Oh, I want to
give a another cheers here. I got a fantastic message from a very longtime friend of the show. Remember Gina,
private investigator down in Texas who helped us out with the dark past episodes?
>> Yeah. >> Uh >> Gina Gina Badass. >> Yeah. Regarding serial killer Felix Veil. So she had some kind of thing to
go to at one of her children's uh schools or one of their classes. She wore the ban the van t-shirt to the
school. She said that the teachers loved it and the kids were very confused. >> [laughter]
>> So, she's hoping it's a life lesson for for I guess that class. >> Well, we're going to start uh sponsoring
police um police departments to go into the schools just like the DARE program. We're starting the ban the van program.
>> Ban the van program. >> So, regarding the searches, Captain, there there were multiple searches, as
we said, over a number of years. Parts of the river were even drained. Now, on the 5year anniversary of Brandon's
disappearance, twin cities.com discussed the scale of the search for Brandon, saying more than 500 volunteers,
including 34 dog handlers from nine different states, spent more than 120 days, searching for Brandon and covered
part of 120 square miles. We have Jeff Hassie who says it's by far the biggest search that he has ever been
involved in in terms of length of time, number of missions, and number of searchers involved. Remember, he's the
search manager. >> A search in October of 2013 focused on the Mud Creek area. This is a few miles
northwest of the town of Porter. The cadaavver dogs consistently hit on the creek, leading searchers to believe that
the waters from wherever Brandon's body is located somewhere in the watershed were possibly washing into this creek.
And that's why the dogs are hitting on this area. Again in 2015, searchers searched farm fields northwest
of Porter where the dogs were hitting on a scent. This included an area that they
had not been able to search for several years. And this is because of harvest schedules and bad weather.
Ken Anderson, president of Emergency Support Services in Minneapolis, who partnered with Jeff Hassie, said
concentrated on the area northwest of Porter because search dogs were quote still getting the scent that says there
are remains of a human in this area. End quote. >> So, we're again, we're assuming those
are cadaver dogs and not scent dogs that they used before. >> Correct. Yes. This is according to
cadaavver dogs. They are hitting on areas northwest of the town of Porter. So it may be likely that Brandon's
remains are somewhere in that area. Again, this is a large area, >> right? >> And it's my understanding that these
dogs when they hit on this scent because of winds and such, they can be hitting on this even for miles away.
>> Mhm. Now, another search was conducted just last year in May of 2018, and this
was um just another search where they really they found nothing. Now, I do want to
point out here too, something that I think is important to this case is that back in March of 2010, the Minnesota
Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the BCA, they became the lead investigating agency on this case. The BCA has said
that the case remains open and leads continue to trickle in. In fact, last year in 2018, Derek Woodford, BCA
special agent, said, quote, "The case is open, and just last week, I got another
lead or two. Sometimes you need a break in the case. All it takes sometimes is one thing. So, we're not giving up." End
quote. And we talked about this a little bit on Off the Record uh recently where
if if if you are working a case and the trail has gone cold for you, you may trade it off to another investigator.
You may hand it off to somebody else. Put some new eyes on this thing to see if I missed anything. And we also see
situations with these cases where they will hand it over to a whole another agency completely. And that's what
happened here in 2010, March of 2010. Let's start to get into some of the theories here, Captain.
>> There's a lot of them, right? Because Brandon's disappearance is it's very frustrating and it's mysterious. He was
on the phone with his dad and then he wasn't. And now no trace of him has ever been found.
>> Well, not just that. I mean, he says, "Oh shit." And then the phone gets disconnected.
>> Right. Right. And and so the internet is just rife with rumors and theories about
what could have happened to Brandon, >> right? >> Uh I think we >> it's a big topic on Reddit.
>> Yeah. And and there's so many so much so out there that we can't list all of them.
>> Uh but we're going to try to go through some of them. >> Yeah. You could read stuff about, you
know, possible abducted by aliens. Um >> that was first on my list. alien or some
other strange abduction or disappearance, >> possible Sasquatch, >> right? I think I think if that were to
be the case, it would be better recognized on some other show, right? >> Yeah. >> Um, unless you feel different.
>> No, I don't think there's any evidence of that. I'm not saying I'd rule that out as out
as a possibility on a case. If if there was like some sightings that night, oh well, we we had 300 sightings of a UFO
and then this kid went missing, right? >> Maybe I'd have a little more weight to
it. But I think sometimes in these missing person case, they go, "He was probably walking down the road and and
Bigfoot got him, you know, or the aliens took him or um the Moth Man or he he went into a time portal." Uh, you know,
just have some kind of evidence of this. >> I You know what? I thought there were a
ton of theories out there. I think you just added two more to to the possible theories,
>> but there's no evidence of those, so they're not >> Well, and you know what it I one sad
thing. Well, I mean, this this whole case is tragic and sad, but when I was doing research for Brandon's case,
our old friend's Thinking Sideways covered the case. >> Oh, yeah. >> And it brought a tear to my eye. Devon,
>> I listened to the thinking sideways and and basically what they said in Brandon's case regarding alien
abduction. This was kind of funny. Uh they were saying >> Devon Joe and Steve >> there was no crop circles.
If if he were abducted by aliens, there would have been crop circles. And I obviously I don't know that to be true,
but I found I found that to be funny on their show. And I miss their show and I miss those
>> th the the those guys. >> Yeah. So, let's get into some of the much more likely theories.
Here's one that that that is constantly in this case. It says Brandon tried and and some of this is ripped straight off
of the internet. Brandon tried some bad meth that night and had a bad reaction to drugs andor alcohol that he have he
consumed and he got so disoriented enough so that he got totally lost. >> Mhm. Well, we know he was lost. We have
evidence of that. So, this >> Well, no, they mean lost for good, >> right? >> So,
>> phone gets disconnected. He says, "Oh, shit." Maybe the old [ __ ] isn't that big
of a deal. He keeps walking. He goes further, gets even more lost. That's a possibility.
>> Mhm. I think the difficult thing here is I I don't think he'd be so impaired or
so unhealthy that by the time um and yes, this is a rural area, but by the time that the the sun would come up up,
I would think that Brandon would get to a road and at least see somebody um pass him by and possibly could get
help. >> Mhm. So that's the only reason that's the only problem I have with this
theory, >> you know, and this theory in itself almost seems cut and pasted from Brandon
Lawson's case, right? Brandon, same first name, tried some bad meth that night. >> Mhm.
>> That's that's a theory in both of those cases. And what I want to just like scream from from the top of the mountain
is this shouldn't be any news flash for anybody. It's all bad meth. >> [laughter]
>> Yeah, there is no there is no good meth. All right, just don't do meth. >> That's what we should call our ban. Good
math. >> Well, here here's All right. Ban the van campaign was uh was this year. Maybe
next year's campaign is don't do meth. >> Bad math. >> Right. So, again, this is ripped
straight off of the internet. Um it it's total speculation, but here's some things here. It's been thrown out there
that Brandon maybe tried drugs that night, possibly meth, >> and then behaved just as Brandon Lawson
did, disoriented and confused, possibly even seeing things. Now, we referenced a
pipe that was found in Brandon Swanson's car. The pipe found in his car is of unknown origin. These are the words of
Sheriff Doll. That I hope I'm saying that right. It's D A HL. Mhm. >> He said that it is not known whether the
pipe even belonged to Brandon. Police, in my opinion, must not have given it much weight because they have publicly
stated that they do not believe that Brandon was impaired that night. The problem here though, meth is a real
possibility. Apparently, this area of Minnesota is so it's no stranger to meth troubles. In fact, the Minnesota Bureau
of Criminal Apprehension website contains two options for public access. One, search public criminal history. The
other one is search methamphetamine offender registry. It's there's so much of it that they have to give a whole
category to it on its website. So clearly there there is a problem in that area.
>> Well, it's 2019. There's a problem in this whole country. So, >> correct. >> So, yeah, we don't have to worry about
that. That's that's a possibility. And again, you could have done something um at one of these parties cuz we assume
that he went to two different parties. So, there's two different accounts of possibly where he was at and is in, you
know, and his partyiness of his his level of partiness that that that night. >> But we have a situation where he's a
little lost. He's a little confused. Tries to call some of his friends. They don't answer.
I think if he is on something, he wasn't so messed up that he wasn't afraid to call it his parents,
>> right? [clears throat] >> Or so messed up that that there's no there's nobody inside.
There's nobody involved in this case that is saying >> we believe he was so messed up that
that's what led to his demise. >> Yeah. And think about the brain. >> Everybody on the outside is going,
"Well, he probably just did some meth and and ended up hallucinating." But we have the father, we have the mother, we
have the sheriff, we have friends. None of none of them are going, "Yeah, he was
so effed up that that he ended up >> God knows where." >> And we can get into that right now
because like I said, we have these two accounts of these parties. Yes, maybe the first 60 days or so or or maybe even
less than that. But what was he drinking? Not really for sure. Uh I don't think he was drinking too much.
Maybe he didn't want to get him trouble. Maybe he smoked some weed. Maybe they did some more than that. I think if they
would have done more than that as time uh would have went on, I think his friends would have came out and said,
"You know what? Uh we didn't want to get him in trouble at first, but it's important for us to let you know that he
he he smoked meth that night." Right. >> Right. >> Uh that has not happened. Uh, and then I
think the other thing that has not happened is with the Brandon Lawson case, for example, we have a 911 call
that makes zero sense, >> right? >> And that and we have a um we have a situation here with Brandon Swanson
where he's talking not only to his father but also to his mother >> and both of them are saying that he
sounded fine. >> Right. Now, he now that could be he sounded fine for um it being that late
at night and being a little confused on where he was at, >> but I don't think there's really any any
indication that he was on some psychotic >> um >> well that he's hallucinating and he's
totally off his rocker here, >> right? It's not like he's >> cuz he talked to his father for 47
minutes. That's after other phone calls with his mom and dad, >> right? >> 47 minutes. That's a tough time to try
to play the sober game, >> right? >> And look, I think you and I could agree that he's probably somewhat impaired. I
mean, it's late at night. We know he's had a couple of drinks, >> but it the the thing I want to really
point out here, >> I I would say, and I'm just going to put this out there, I would say he's as
impaired from the alcohol as he is from uh just being tired. And well, and here here's one thing that I want to I want
to really go into and maybe not stay on it too long, but one thing that I really
looked at when looking at this case was, okay, I go into a lot of these with with
the idea that there may be foul play. So, let's at least look at that angle. Okay, if there was foul play, who had
the means and the opportunity to be involved in that foul play? Well, in this situation, we have mom and dad who
are saying they spoke to this boy, their their boy shortly before he vanished forever. So, one thing I did, and I I
apologize to the family, but when I went into this case looking into it, I wanted
to know as much as I could find out about mom and dad and their search efforts and what took place the night
that he went missing and and since then regarding mom and dad. >> Yeah. Yeah. I mean, but that that's what
you have to do, >> right? And what I can tell you from from what I've spent two weeks on looking at
mom and dad, I can tell you they only have one agenda in this entire huge story, and that is to find their son.
They have at no point I don't I've never got the feeling at any point that these
are parents that are going, "Well, yeah, he was really messed up, but we don't want the memory of Brandon to be that.
We want the memory of him to be good and wholesome. No, no, no, no. I'm telling you his parents, the vibe I get,
Captain, is that if whatever would help them find their son, they will say it. They will do it.
>> Right. >> They don't care about public opinion. These people have spent years, they've
spent time, they've spent money, lots of money. Some of these searchers were volunteers. And a lot of this stuff they
they spent their own hardearned money trying to find their son. >> And we all know somebody
that has struggled with addiction of some level and you know their parents and most of the time those parents do
not shy away from their kids' problems. Mhm. >> So, I don't think it's like you said,
you're going to have these overly concerned parents on trying to find their kid, but they're not willing to
tell the truth. It just doesn't make a lot of sense. >> Right. And the other thing too, which
is, you know, people compare this case to Brandon Lawson, but they also the the meth believers or the people that state
that he did some bad drugs on this night, they often point to the case of Michael Whamsley and Janelle Hornicle.
This was this was a very famous case in Nebraska. >> The two were very high on meth. Again, all meth is
bad meth. They suffered delusions and they were calling 911 multiple times reporting that their truck was stuck in
some snow. They ended up freezing to death just within 2 miles of their truck. Again though, this kind of points back
to me that mom and dad don't think he's messed up. The sheriff doesn't think that he's messed up. The friends don't
think that Brandon's messed up. And what happened in this other case that everybody keeps pointing to? They found
the bodies. They don't find Brandon. We don't know where Brandon Swanson is. >> I have an issue though with with the
whole car thing. And again, I don't know the road that well. And so getting to the point where your car is stuck.
That concerns me. And again, I think that leads to being impaired somewhat with um just tiredness and then also
being somewhat impaired by the the alcohol. Um maybe enough to just go I don't I can't get out of this mess right
now. So I got to I got to start walking take off on foot. >> Mhm. >> Um but again, I don't know the road that
well. So it could be just, you know, happen stance where here's this kid that went to turn around or went to do
something with his car and it just so happened to be the wrong place to do that at. And that even even if you're
sober, you're gonna get hung up on it. >> Yes, I I would think so. And looking at
pictures that I found of the site and of the area, that's what it looks like to me. That Okay, so these are these are
long country roads where there's not much turnoff. You there's not like a spot where you're like, "Oh, I'll just
pull in here and back out and turn around." >> Right. >> This is and especially >> not a lot not a lot of houses on these
on these roads. And especially think of think of yourselves out there, right? Okay, we've all been in a situation
where >> man, I'm handsome. >> where we're frustrated, where we might be in a hurry or we're lost or turned
around or whatever and we're frustrated and and we do something out of haste that in the end we realized was just a
dumb, stupid move, >> right? >> And the thing that I think here is looking at these pictures, it appears to
me there's not any turnoffs. And he's like, you know what? I got to turn around. I think he just made a bad turn.
I think I think there's ditches on both sides of this road >> and maybe a little pissed off and so he
he was a little too aggressive. >> Yeah, it's a a narrow road and I think he thought he could make the turn but he
didn't. >> And also if your drive is taking you a little bit longer or that it's such a
frustrating thing to to be going, am I going the right way? What the hell's going on? like you said that that maybe
just a little too aggressive and and that stops you from um being able to drive your car.
We rolling. Another theory, Captain, is that Brandon could have been hit by a car.
>> Mhm. >> Many people like this theory and believe that possibly the oh [ __ ] that he
uttered was in response to an approaching vehicle. for this to be the case. Obviously,
whoever hit Brandon had to take his body and the body was taken away to hide after this accidental death.
Okay. So, the the reason why I like this is that we have evidence that the dog goes to the river, gets gets out of the
river, goes down another path, kind of in um ends its search or ends the scent kind of in the road.
>> Mhm. So that would make you lead, you know, that's evidence to show that this
theory makes some sense. >> Correct. I, you know, I've heard this, I found this to be quite strange. Some of
the searchers were saying, you know, the the dogs can only follow the scent for so long.
>> Yeah, I believe that. >> I believe that, too. But I don't fully comprehend it. And and what I'm getting
at is so so what they're pointing out is that at this spot on the road where the
dog lose the scent or the dogs lose the scent, >> right? >> Is because they've been following it for
so long, they they point out that that doesn't actually mean that the scent went away or right
>> that they that Brandon that something happened to Brandon in that spot. The problem with with Look, there are
several holes in this theory. I like this theory too >> at first, but when I really started
thinking about it, I I I I distanced myself from this theory because because of the holes. One, if something happened
to Brandon at that spot, it's not like they can't find that spot. They were led to that spot by the dogs. There should
be some You would think there would be some indication that something happened there. Possibly blood or or anything
else, >> right? and and we know like let's just we can assume that these people search
and go okay well here's roughly where the scent stops we're going to look you know before that and after that again we
have no blood evidence we have no we also have no evidence of him telling his father oh there's this car coming up on
me there's none of that there's >> that's where that's where the theory falls apart okay he's saying to his
father just before he says oh [ __ ] he's describing that he's walking along a fence line, that he's off of the road,
he's going through a field and that he can hear water. So, this doesn't sound like an area that you're going that that
a car would be driving through. The car would be on the road. If this is was an accident, this car is not driving in the
middle of the field between >> driving on top of a fence, >> right? So, so if if that in fact is
true, then that part that makes the theory impossible. Now, let's pretend go back to what you were saying. Let's
pretend that Brandon was walking on the road. Uh if here's the problem with that.
His father is driving around looking for him. There is no way in hell that Brandon does not say to his father, "Oh,
I see you. you just turned. I'm right up here. Do you see me? I see your headlights. He would if he saw a car, he
would very likely assume it to be his father first. >> Or even if he didn't assume it to be his
father, he would say, "Wait, there's somebody coming." Or he would these are these are things he would say to his
father. >> We could have evidence of that. The same scenario is that we have evidence that
he's telling his father, "I'm I'm walking along this fence line. I hear water. Oh shit." And maybe that old [ __ ]
is I fell into water. I get out of the water. I keep going down the path. I'm not on the phone with my father. That's
where I get hit by a car. That's a that's very likely, too. The reason why I don't like this theory is we have no
evidence of of tire treads, no like uh sign of a vehicle trying to stop. Uh no sign of a vehicle trying to speed up. Um
no blood evidence. And this would be dark. So >> yeah, >> to to be able to clean up that blood
evidence uh would be nearly impossible. The other thing I don't like is we know that he had a cell phone on him.
We don't have, you know, a broken cell phone somewhere. Well, and some people regarding this theory even point out
what would be the probability that if you hit a total stranger in the middle of the night of on an accident
that that you even decide to take the body with you and clean up the the scene, >> right? You would just drive away,
>> right? A lot of people point out that that there is a certain percentage that
would just continue along their way. So I it's an interesting theory to ponder, but I I put the probability level not
very high because of like you said, >> right? Right. I think as a armchair detective or even just a law enforcement
has to put this on the list of things that we have to dive into and and rabbit holes we need to go down. It's with any
missing person case when we have nothing at the end of the day, you have to go, did this person run away? Did this uh
did this, you know, did this person want to start a new life? We these are questions that we have to keep asking
ourselves over and over and and and I think this is an important question to ask. I think that there's just zero
evidence of this. >> The other another theory is that Brandon met with foul play. Now, this theory
encompasses several possibilities, but but most likely two possibilities. >> Mhm. one, Brandon fell victim to a
random killer or that someone who knew him followed him and there was some type of confrontation or ambush and Brandon
was killed. Let's address these in turn. Okay, first the random killer. This theory is that Brandon was unlucky
enough to stumble upon a opportunistic killer who murdered him and disposed of his body.
We have to consider what are the chances that Brandon would encounter some random
psycho killer in rural Minnesota on farmland in unused roads in the middle of the night. Right? This is remote
desolate area with rugged terrain at 3 in the morning. Now, an offshoot of this theory of the
random killer theory is that, and this is probably well definitely more plausible in my opinion, is that Brandon
was on private land and maybe stumbled upon >> a pissed-off farmer. >> Yeah. >> You know, someone shot and killed him
and hid his body, >> right? Or this is an area that you shouldn't be out in. It's like it's like
my neighborhood, right? at 3:00 in the morning. I know all my neighbors. You shouldn't be driving down my road,
right? >> Yeah. >> It's It's not good. So, in this case, you got a kid that's lost. Maybe the
farmer doesn't know he's lost. >> Mhm. >> But you're on my property. If you're on
my property at this time uh of the day, >> I think you're a bad person. >> It's nothing but bad. Right. So
therefore, uh, you know, you're going to be met with my shotgun, >> right? The farmer doesn't have to be a
psycho. The the farmer might be scared and assume that you are a psycho. >> You're you're you're outside of my house
creeping around in the middle of the night. Now, >> the the thing here is this this is a
>> another offshoot of this theory that I have seen um very rarely discussed. So,
I do want to point this out as well. This is an interesting one that possibly Brandon fell into an illegal booby trap
intended for poachers or for thieves or for, you know, any number of reasons, >> right?
>> And then eventually was was killed trapped there or was killed by the person that set the trap.
>> Yeah. Again, you would think illegal booby trap. I I don't know how that works. Well,
>> booty track. Yeah. >> What the what they're what this is suggesting is that somebody has set some
type of traps on their property. These could be for animals. They could be for against people, anything. Um it's I
wouldn't throw it out of the realm of possibility. It does lead to the idea of why they've not found any evidence
because this theory would suggest that somebody then later covered up whatever took place.
>> Yeah. But again, it doesn't have to be illegal. It could be, you know, if somebody's coming through this field,
it's nothing but bad, right? Um so he gets hurt by one of these things. They go out there, they go again, the only
reason why you'd be out here is bad. They take care of uh Brandon. They kill Brandon and then find out later it was
just a lost kid. >> And then Right. And >> but you have to be kind of psycho to to
come up with those uh to want to do that. >> Mhm. The the other thought here, Captain, is hunters. Maybe somebody's
out there hunting out of season. Yeah. We talked about on Boys of Boys on the Tracks,
>> they're out spotting for animals. So yeah, but you should know that this I mean if it's an accidental shoot
shooting, you should know it's not an animal because this person was talking to somebody on the phone. See, that's
where I I think an intruder thought uh you know, like protecting your land makes a little more sense because you
you would hear this kid talking >> and so maybe you would start assuming that he's talking to somebody else
that's with him. Mhm. >> Uh which would get you, you know, you you'd raise um your suspicions a lot higher. You know,
>> I do want to go back to the idea that maybe this wasn't a stranger, that it wasn't that there was foul play, but the
offender is not a stranger. because we really should address that. There are several message boards online containing
post where they're talking about local rumors regarding what took place in this case and people suggesting that Brandon
either owed some people money for vehicles or drugs. It varies depending on the posts that you see and that he
was actually targeted and killed as a result of these debts. Yeah, it's an interesting theory and an interesting
rumor, but do we have evidence that he owed anybody money? >> Other than those rumors, no. There
doesn't seem to be anything that's backing that up. And again, what's confusing about those rumors and why I
think they may just be rumors is they're citing two different things that he has
a debt for. Right. >> Right. It's not like, you know, in some of the posts they're stating that he had
a debt because of drugs. Other posts they're stating he had a debt because of vehicles. I think the vehicle thing
would be if there was any truth to that, it seems like mom and dad would be like,
"Yeah, he always had all these different vehicles and all these strange trucks and cars and whatnot." So, and the other
problem with that too is if you in fact believe that he's he's going, "Oh, shit." because he sees somebody that
he's afraid of, then you have to believe why wouldn't he say anything to his father about seeing headlights, seeing a
vehicle coming toward him. That did not take place. So again, that doesn't it it
makes it not ring true. I don't think either of those rumors are true. I think it's just people trying to come up with
some rationale of what happened. And and even if he could prove that he owed somebody, you know, bought a little weed
from somebody and owed them 20 bucks or something like that, I don't think there's any evidence of Brandon, you
know, being a hardcore drug user. Uh but again, >> usually you have to rack up quite a bit
of debt before somebody wants to kill you. >> Yeah. Not so >> not if you're buying from the captain.
You owe me 10 bucks. That's 10 bucks. I'm coming after you. Um no, I just don't think there's a lot of evidence of
that. And again, like how how much money would you have to owe somebody on a car?
It seems like it's almost like somebody came up with this idea. And yes, it's possible, but it's also possible that
you owe somebody money. You you owe your buddy a,000 bucks and he didn't come after you and and you just happened to
go missing. >> Mhm. Well, there are two things that I believe do tend to point to Brandon
being the victim of foul play. One, Brandon is listed in VCAP as a missing person. As we brought up in episode one,
VCAP stands for the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program. There is not a long list of missing
persons on VCAP. Last time I checked VCAP, there were 64 missing persons listed on there.
And what people will point to in this case is that they believe that there is a reason why he would be on there on
this short list, >> right? >> Meaning that someone, whoever put him on there, believes that violence was
involved in his disappearance. People point to this because they wonder if the FBI in fact has reason to believe
that Brandon was the victim of a violent crime. The other thing regarding this too is that the VCAP entry for Brandon
contains one interesting tidbit of information that we did mention earlier. His vehicle, the Chevy Luminina, was
found with the doors open and the keys missing. We can presume that Brandon took his keys, but then why would he
leave the doors open? That seems very strange to me. Was somebody else actually in the vehicle or did someone
come along later perhaps the following day and open up the car, you know, looking for things to steal or or for
whatever reason? We also have Sheriff Viski who definitely considered and left open the possibility of foul play,
saying, quote, "The only thing would have been if someone was in the shadows and they got him that way." He said, he
said he can't say that there wasn't someone else out there, but adding that he can't find any evidence of it,
stating that cadaavver dogs and searchers, he explained, should have found a body or some evidence if Swanson
had succumbed to the elements. Adding, I can't explain why clothing, belongings wouldn't surface after all these
searches and after all this time. Now, in episode three, Captain, we will tear through some of these theories, get into
some more. But before we go, I want to leave you with Brandon's mother, Annette Swanson, what she told the St. Cloud
Times. She said her greatest fear is that people will forget Brandon. She says, "Talk about Brandon. Brandon is a
real person. He touched a lot of lives, and don't forget him. He has a smile that lights up his whole face. He is
big-hearted and kind and he really believed in doing the right [music] thing. [music]
So much more to get to. Stick around for part three tomorrow in the garage. Thanks for listening. Thanks for telling
your mother. Thanks for telling your brother. Thanks for telling your sister. Thanks for sharing on social media.
>> All right. And everybody, make sure you be good, be kind, and don't live. [music]
[music]

Brandon Swanson /// Missing /// Part 2

Part 2 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.

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Brief Summary

Brandon Swanson's disappearance is examined through search efforts and various theories, highlighting the ongoing mystery surrounding his case.

Key points

Valentine's Day Reminder. Don't wait for Valentine's! Order fresh flowers today at 1800flowers.com.
True Crime Garage Introduction. Welcome to True Crime Garage! Join hosts Nick and the Captain for a beer and crime discussion.
Brandon Swanson's Disappearance. Exploring the search efforts for Brandon Swanson after his car was found abandoned.
Search Dog's Behavior. A bloodhound's actions raise questions about Brandon's fate near the river.
Lack of Evidence. Despite extensive searches, no trace of Brandon has been found.
New Search Techniques. A private search company utilized scientific methods to narrow down search areas for Brandon.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

The dog jumped in the river, but then jumped back out.

A key moment in the search for Brandon

6:25WatchFeb 5, 2026

Tension

60/ 100Some tension

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