Brandon Swanson

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1:13Voices for Justice is a podcast that uses adult language and discusses sensitive and potentially triggering topics, including violence, abuse, and murder. This podcast may not be appropriate for younger audiences. All parties are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Some names have been changed or omitted per their request or for safety purposes. Listener discretion is advised. My name is Sarah Turney and this is Voices for Justice.

1:45Today I'm discussing the case of Brandon Swanson. Brandon's case has been immortalized across true crime entertainment, specifically on podcasts and YouTube. It's one of those cases where the circumstances are just extremely odd. A 19-year-old crashes his car while driving home from a party. He thinks he knows where he is. He calls his parents, and they jump in their truck to go get him. But before they can get there, Brandon's already gone. Theories about what may have happened to Brandon range from foul play to an alien encounter and everything in between. So let's cut through the noise, focus on the facts, including the most recent updates in the case, and see what we can do to help.

2:29This is the case of Brandon Swanson. Brandon was born on January 30, 1989, in Marshall, Minnesota, to his parents Brian and Annette Swanson. His sister was born a few years later, making them a family of four. They stayed in Marshall. It's a relatively small town in Lyon County. and about 150 miles southwest of Minneapolis. At the time that Brandon went missing, it had a population of about 13 ,000, and they haven't grown much since then. It's really known for being home to the Schwan Food Company, which employs about 10 % of the town, but from what I could find, it's just a really rural area with a lot of farmland.

3:13Brandon got a job at a local food store at an early age, and graduated from Marshall High School in 2007. He then enrolled at Minnesota West Community and Technical College in nearby Canby, where he studied wind energy for one year. But Brandon made a big decision, probably the biggest one of his entire life. He decided to leave Marshall and transfer to Western Community College in Council Bluffs, Iowa. There, he'd continue his studies in science. While this new school was only about four hours away, it would be the first time he'd ever lived outside of Minnesota. It was a big deal, and he wanted to celebrate.

3:53After Brandon finished up his last classes for the year on Tuesday, May 13, 2008, he decided to go out and make sure that he was able to say goodbye to some friends before making the move. It's unclear exactly what time he leaves his house, but he tells his mom goodbye, and he heads to nearby Linde, Minnesota, which is about 7 miles away. Now, despite being only 19 years old, he does have some drinks and visits some friends before leaving for another party in Canby. This is 35 miles northwest of his home. Here, he again has some drinks and says goodbye to a friend from school. This is really a long day for Brandon, even for a 19-year-old.

4:33He had classes that morning, and by 1am he's kind of ready to call it a night. He heads back home to Marshall. We do know that he'd been drinking, but his friends report that he was not intoxicated. So take that for what you will. For whatever reason, possibly to stay off the main roads because he'd been drinking, Brandon decides to take the back roads home instead of his regular commute along Highway 68. That's usually how he'd get from Canby where he went to school to his home in Marshall. But along the way, Brandon veers off the gravel road and gets his Chevy Lumina stuck in a ditch. Now, he does have a cell phone, and according to some reporting I found, he tries to call his friends for help, but they don't answer.

5:18So he calls his parents at 1.54 a.m. He tells them that he's fine, but his car is stuck in a ditch and he's going to need some help, either to get it out or at least get a ride home until he can call a tow truck later in the day. We are now into the early hours of Wednesday He tells his parents that he's near Lind, about 10 minutes from their home in Marshall So they hop in their truck to help while staying on the phone with him But when they get to where Brandon says he is, they don't see him or his car anywhere This is a very rural area without lights, and really without a lot of traffic So Brian and Annette Swanson turn around and begin flashing the lights on their truck and ask Brandon if he can see them.

6:02He says no, so Brandon tries flashing the headlights on his car. His mom can hear the clicking of the lights over the phone, but they don't see him either. Brandon's father Brian says that his son was extremely confident that he knew exactly where he was, so his parents assume that they're in the wrong spot. And really at this point, everyone is getting frustrated. Brandon even hangs up on them, but his mom calls right back and apologizes and just tries to figure out where he is. So really at this point, Brandon just says, you know what, I can see the city lights of Lind, I'm just gonna start walking towards town and I'll meet you there.

6:42And really as he's walking, he begins describing his surroundings to his parents. He's near fencing and he can hear water. But then Brandon yells, oh shit, and the phone goes silent. His parents stay on the line calling out his name, but Brandon never responds. They eventually hang up and try calling back. It's the middle of the night, about 3 a.m. now. It's dark out. They're hoping that Brandon just dropped his phone, and that he'll be able to see the lights when they keep calling him back. But they call, and they call, about five or six times. And the phone does ring, but there's no answer. They get his voicemail every time.

7:29Annette and Brian Swanson figure that he must have just gotten lost in the dark, so they call up his friends to help look for him. They spend about three hours driving up and down every road in the area, driving through farmland, but they don't see Brandon or his car anywhere. So at 6.30am, they decide that they've done all they can do and that it's time to call it in and report Brandon missing. This message is sponsored by Greenlight. Money is this invisible thread that ties us all together. It's something everyone has to deal with. That's why teaching kids about money isn't just smart, it's essential.

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10:03Terms apply. When Brian and Annette Swanson report their son Brandon missing to the Lind Police Department, the responding officer isn't exactly concerned. They say, listen, he's 19. It's the end of the school year. he was out drinking, he's probably just out partying, or maybe he fell asleep somewhere. They also say something that Annette Swanson says stuck with her, that Brandon had a right to be missing. But his parents push back. They say there's just no way. Yes, Brandon was drinking underage, but he called them for a reason. He wasn't trying to hide anything. He was asking for help. They also say that he sounded completely coherent.

10:48Not to mention, really the most important factor in my opinion, the way their phone call ended was extremely concerning. Obviously something happened, and Brandon could be in really serious trouble. After a little bit of back and forth, the LEND PD does begin to help search the area for Brandon. But just like his parents and just like his friends, they don't find anything. But they do get help from the Lyon County Sheriff's Office, who's able to get records of Brandon's last call pretty quickly. They discover that his phone pinged off a cell tower 20 minutes from where he told his parents he was.

11:26Using that information, by the afternoon, they find Brandon's car. It's stuck in a ditch, just like he described. There's no damage to the vehicle, but the doors were open and his keys were gone. But none of this really surprised investigators or Brandon's parents. They figure someone must have just come along to investigate the vehicle and left the doors open. Though of course, we can't say for sure. What was surprising though was its location. It was nowhere near where Brandon says he was when he was on the phone with his parents. He wasn't near Lind. His green Chevy Lumina was found along the 3900 block of Lyon-Lincoln Road, closer to a city called Taunton, about 25 miles from where he thought he was.

12:13Lyon County Sheriff Eric Wallen told the Grand Forks Herald, quote, They searched the immediate area, but don't find any trace of Brandon anywhere. No tracks in the gravel, no tracks in the grass in the ditch, Not a piece of clothing, his cell phone. There's nothing. So they do the only thing they really can do at this point. They begin organizing a larger search. But that turns up empty too. So law enforcement and Brandon's family begin organizing more searches using more equipment and resources. They bring out hundreds of volunteers. There are people on horseback and ATVs. They get aerial support.

13:08they bring out teams of dogs to try to track Brandon's scent. And they do. According to reporting by Alexis Weed for CNN, a team of dogs brought investigators to the woods near the bank of Yellow Medicine River, about three miles from where Brandon's car was found. At the time, the river was about 15 feet deep and moving very quickly. So investigators narrow their focus on the river. They figure maybe he just got lost and fell in. That maybe when he screamed, oh shit, that was his phone falling in the river. Maybe Brandon fell in trying to retrieve it. I mean, obviously everything right now is really just a shot in the dark.

13:51They're exploring any possibility they can to find him. So they sweep the river, they install gates, they use underwater sonar, and Lincoln County Sheriff Jack Viziecki personally walked it every single day for 30 days. And I hate that I keep having to say it, but there was absolutely no trace of Brandon. Not even a scrap of clothing. But that's not the only location that the dogs tracked his scent to. Annette Swanson says that one bloodhound followed his scent from Brandon's car to an abandoned farm as well. She also told Weed, quote, It was a long trail, about three miles. The dog actually jumped in the river, jumped back out, worked the trail up to another gravel road, and then lost the scent.

14:41End quote. So it seems that there are a few different areas where these dogs seem to be losing Brandon's scent. Which, as much as we love dogs, we know that it's just not a perfect science. In the end, Annette outright says that there's nothing to say that Brandon fell in the river, and neither she nor law enforcement are convinced that he drowned, especially considering the massive efforts to search the river. In fact, they don't really understand why literally nothing of Brandon's has ever been recovered, or why when they brought the dogs back, they couldn't pick up Brandon's scent again. By fall, emergency support services took over the search efforts for Brandon, and they say that their largest issue is landowner permission.

15:30Like I said earlier, there's a lot of farmland in this area, and not everyone was on board with letting hundreds of volunteers search their land, or just taking the risk of harming their crops. But it's fall now, and most of the crops like corn and soybeans have been harvested. they search more, but again come up with nothing. After numerous searches over several years encompassing a 140 square mile area, not a single trace of Brandon Swanson has ever been found. Now, this is usually the part of the episode where I talk about search efforts ending and the investigation ramping up. But there's just not much there.

16:14Investigators haven't ruled out foul play, but there's nothing to really point them in that direction either. The Grand Forks Herald briefly mentions a possible argument that Brandon may have gotten into on the night he went missing, but that doesn't seem to be confirmed. Or if it was, it didn't go anywhere. Law enforcement is pretty vague on this one, but Lyon County Sheriff Eric Wallen said, quote, It seems that every tip we receive, we investigate, and we run into a dead end. It was either false or the information wasn't accurate. They all seemed to run into a dead end. End quote.

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17:51So what happened to Brandon Swanson? Well, like I said at the top of this episode, the number of theories that have been presented are seemingly endless. Brandon's case got a lot of attention during the golden age of conspiracy theories on YouTube. And while many of those videos have since been removed, I remember seeing basically everything under the sun suggested. Bigfoot, aliens, Brandon driving through a portal to another dimension. So let's stick with what we know. Brandon's parents believe it's very likely that he got confused while trying to make his way to what he thought was the city of Lind that morning.

18:31It was extremely dark, and I think it's worth noting that Brandon is legally blind in one eye. They've said a few times that they think his remains are likely somewhere along the river and just haven't been found. Again, foul play is an option, which again opens us up to endless theories. Could he have trespassed on someone's land? Could he have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time? Maybe he did make it to whatever lights he was seeing. But authorities say that there's no evidence of foul play. They also say that there's no evidence that he left on his own accord. I think the largest loose end in Brandon's case is that not all of the land in the area has been searched.

19:15In my opinion, the theory that Brandon died as the result of a tragic accident makes a lot of sense. He could have fallen into the river, gotten himself out, and then succumbed to hypothermia. He could have gotten injured somehow, he could have been attacked by an animal. Again, like the other theories, I think the accident theory has a seemingly endless amount of possibilities. Again, especially given that there are still areas that have not been searched. In 2021, Emergency Support Services said exactly this. There are still areas that they'd like to search if they can get permission from local cattle farmers, and they're dedicated to continuing to work on a solution to make searching agreeable for these landowners.

20:01However, they don't really seem to have a lot of support with this initiative Yellow Medicine County Sheriff Bill Flatton says that these people know their land And that they've searched independently He says there's just no probable cause for law enforcement to get search warrants So unfortunately, that pretty much is where Brandon's case is today In 2009, Brandon's parents fought to pass Brandon's law This requires law enforcement in Minnesota to immediately take a missing persons report and investigate regardless of the person's age if they're reported missing under suspicious circumstances.

20:41This law directly led to the recovery of a man named Leroy Smith, who went missing from Winona, Minnesota in 2009. Investigators began searching immediately, and he was found a week later. While this is a bright shining light in Brandon's case, his family admits that they have little hope that Brandon will be found. While speaking with her daughter, Annette Swanson said that she wasn't sure Brandon would be found in her lifetime, and Brandon's sister responded that she wasn't sure he'd be found in her lifetime either. Regardless, as of 2015, they still keep their porch light on for Brandon, just like they did on the night he went missing.

21:24And Annette Swanson doesn't want Brandon to be forgotten Quote I want people to remember Brandon Talk about Brandon Brandon is a real person He touched a lot of lives And don't forget him End quote That brings me right to our call to action In a lot of episodes, I've asked you to have hope for answers Because the family has hope for answers But I can tell you firsthand that sometimes that hope is extremely difficult to hold in your heart, especially after so much time has passed. So I thought maybe we could be the hope. In the fall of 2021, the Yellow Medicine River dried up due to drought. The Lyon County Sheriff's Office brought out excavators to search for anything related to Brandon's case.

22:16Unfortunately, like the countless searches conducted before this one, they didn't find anything. but Brandon's case is still active and open. As of recording this episode, it's been 16 years since he went missing and they're still searching, still trying to find solutions to searching these areas they've never had access to. Please share Brandon's story. It could reach the next generation of landowners or someone who happens to be in the area as the land and river continues to change. Let's try to be the hope. Please share.

23:00As a reminder, Brandon Swanson was 19 years old when he went missing from Marshall, Minnesota on May 14, 2008. He is white, with brown hair and blue eyes. At the time of his disappearance, he was 5 '6 and weighed 120 pounds. He was last seen wearing baggy blue jeans, a blue striped polo shirt, a black hooded zip front sweatshirt with an emblem on the back, and a white Minnesota Twins baseball cap. He was also wearing glasses and a sterling silver chain. Both of his ears are pierced. His keys, clothing, cell phone, and eyeglasses have yet to be recovered. Anyone with information about Brandon's case is asked to call the Lincoln County Sheriff's Department at 507-694-1664.

23:53But, as always, thank you, I love you, and I'll talk to you next time.

24:00Voices for Justice is hosted and produced by me, Sarah Turney, and is a Voices for Justice media original. If you love what we do here, please don't forget to follow, rate, and review the show in your podcast player. It's an easy and free way to help us and help more people find these cases in need of justice.

25:08Welcome to the Secret After Show. the studio door is open and our emotional support puppy is in the room. As far as what's going on with me, I did upload a new episode of Dark Truth, The Death of Edgar Allan Poe. So if you're interested in learning about the extremely weird circumstances around his death, not so much about his life, I think that, you know, most of us have a pretty good understanding of his life. I go much more into his death and all the craziness that surrounded that over on Patreon. I also want to give you a little sneak preview of what I'm working on over the holidays for Dark Truth.

25:48I want to dive deep into Boeing. Right during the holiday travel season, I am a paranoid traveler and I've been hearing the stories about Boeing, so I decided to begin researching it. And you guys, it's scary. It's probably going to be one of the scariest Dark Truths I put out there, but I think it's important for people to know. And I'm sorry to scare you. I really am. But what is going on with Boeing? I'm going to figure it out. Other than that, two weeks in a row at WOW, I'm on a streak, you guys. I have another documentary recommendation for you. And it touches on true crime. But I watched Martha, the documentary about Martha Stewart.

26:32And I thought it was fantastic. It actually was extremely inspiring to me like business-wise and boss lady-wise and how unapologetic she really is and was it seems throughout her entire life for focusing on her career and wanting to grow. Of course she is not a perfect human. Nobody is saying that by any stretch of the word including herself including her daughter who's featured in the documentary but I found it quite interesting and inspiring. um and if you guys don't know i actually worked when i worked for usa today and i did events in marketing i worked on the martha stewart wine and food tour so i've actually met martha stewart at one point she came and was very upset because the music in our tent was too loud so um i've seen her chastise her employees i have had some exposure to miss stewart mrs stewart i think it's well, she's not married anymore.

27:32I've had some exposure to Martha Stewart. I have eaten her food backstage. So I have kind of like a vested interest in this documentary. And I have to say that the vibes that we all felt on that tour are exactly what you see in that documentary. I'll never, ever forget. I had a chance because during the tour, like, of course, I'm working, right? But I had the chance on one of the stops to do her class. It's been so long. I think it was like 2018. It was like her wine class where she talks about wine and food. And they were like, hey, like, we have an extra seat. There's not much going on. Do you want to go sit in?

28:08And I was like, absolutely. And I do. And I remember almost nothing of this experience other than she pulls up, I believe it was her assistant, and she had messed up a brown sugar turkey. It was like putting brown sugar into like a mold of a turkey just for like aesthetics to have on your table. And she pulls up this assistant and I forget her name. She's like, this is Paige, my assistant who doesn't know how to stuff a brown sugar turkey. And yeah, I was like mortified for her. Like her assistant was like nervously laughing. It was an experience. It was definitely an experience. But again, everything I experienced on that tour when I met her, it was all right along there.