MN MN - Brandon Swanson, 19, Marshall, 14 May 2008

[Piknik]

Very interesting analysis. A few things I have trouble with:

Brandon mistaking Taunton for Marshall - This one is tough for me to understand. Marshall is almost 100 times larger in terms of population. It is a regional hub with box stores, traffic lights, a college, and even a regional airport (visible on your map). I can see mistaking Porter for Lynd though.

How Brandon could've possibly thought he was anywhere near Lynd - He grew up in this area, and would've at least been familiar with the main highways going out of Marshall, and general direction of neighboring towns. It's impossible to get from Canby to anywhere near Lynd without crossing Highway 19 at some point. And if he started his final route by going east out of Canby, which he presumably did, it is also impossible to get near Lynd without crossing Highway 68. If he crossed neither...it's just so puzzling that he wouldn't have realized that.

Being familiar with something doesn't mean much when you're drunk. One night, myself and two other friends all left a party house we've been at 300 times before. The drive for each of us home was about 2.5 miles and all in the same direction. I made it home, but each of my two friends ended up taking two different ways home, each taking over 2 hours to get home. Familiarity goes out the window when you're impaired.

 

[Dnp2be]

I have a hard time believing someone happened to be out in the woods at the exact same time Brandon was lost and killed him. Sure, it's possible, but that generally tends to be limited to movies. In reality, it's extremely rare. I had read there was an abandoned farm nearby, was this the only farm in the immediate area? (my memory is foggy on this case and I couldn't find much info about farms except for the abandoned one)



IMO I don't think his phone battery dying was the reason he said "Oh, s***!" If he had the phone up to his ear, he wouldn't have known it had died until it had actually powered down, so his father wouldn't have heard that exclamation because the phone would have shut off immediately and not given Brandon enough time to be heard. Essentially they would just be talking as normal and then suddenly silence. Does that make sense?? (probably not!) I guess it might be possible if he was using the speaker or his phone produced a loud noise to indicate the battery was low, but he never mentioned this to his father on the phone, did he? (No "I probably won't be able to talk for long, my battery is low" or anything like that)

More importantly however, his phone didn't actually disconnect after that exclamation, he just went silent and wouldn't respond. His father decided to hang up and call back several times but the phone wasn't being answered, so it was still turned on and receiving calls but no longer within Brandon's reach.

I'm going to go with the cliché theory and say I think he fell into the river (or had some kind of bad fall, at least) causing him to say "Oh, s***!" on the phone, but I don't think he drowned in there. The search dogs jumped into the river and then back out at a different point, so IMO he fell in, dropped his phone in the process, managed to get out and - with soaking wet clothes in cold weather - tried looking for somewhere he could keep warm as he began to succumb to hypothermia. Why he hasn't been found is a mystery, but with it being a rural area it's not unheard of to have someone go missing for years before they're eventually found; sometimes the dense undergrowth or overgrown grass can conceal a body well, even more so skeletonised remains.

I like your theory. And if it’s on private property that could also explain the reason he hasn’t been found yet.

 

[Piknik]

I like your theory. And if it’s on private property that could also explain the reason he hasn’t been found yet.

The dogs lost his scent on that property. Though the technically lost it at the river that runs behind the property.

 

[Piknik]

It looks like the low temperature for May 14th, 2008 in Marshall, MN was 36 degrees F. If wet, this would be very difficult to survive.

 

[linds1393]

Brandon's story is something that I've always gone down and have been haunted by. Where is Brandon Swanson? I don't believe that he intentionally ran away because of the fact that he called his friends and parents for help getting home after getting stuck. I don't believe that he got swept away into the Yellow Medicine River because of the efforts of the searches and the fact that the river recently dried up and police were able to search that area yet again. I am leaning more toward him actually crossing the river and coming out on the other side leaving his body susceptible to hypothermia. But, if that is the case and he did pass away from the elements why haven't police or anybody found any trace of Brandon? His clothing, phone or any other personal possessions he may have had on him that night. I know it's a very large search area but you would imagine someone would have found any trace of him. It just boggles me and I keep coming back here. Where is Brandon Swanson?

 

[Piknik]

Brandon's story is something that I've always gone down and have been haunted by. Where is Brandon Swanson? I don't believe that he intentionally ran away because of the fact that he called his friends and parents for help getting home after getting stuck. I don't believe that he got swept away into the Yellow Medicine River because of the efforts of the searches and the fact that the river recently dried up and police were able to search that area yet again. I am leaning more toward him actually crossing the river and coming out on the other side leaving his body susceptible to hypothermia. But, if that is the case and he did pass away from the elements why haven't police or anybody found any trace of Brandon? His clothing, phone or any other personal possessions he may have had on him that night. I know it's a very large search area but you would imagine someone would have found any trace of him. It just boggles me and I keep coming back here. Where is Brandon Swanson?

I would imagine that if he was wet, he would have tried to burrow himself in tall grass or a low lying area to stay out of the elements.

 

[Gizmonic]

I have often wondered about just how much private property in the vicinity hasn't been searched. If he was indeed seeking shelter after falling in water could he have found an abandoned shed or barn that contained hay? If he burrowed into a hay loft in a structure that was in a state of disuse on private property his remains could be hidden there to this day.