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.

 

[sony12]

It's easy to get discombobulated out in the middle of nowhere at night. It can be easy for even a sober individual to get turned around let alone someone who was under the influence a bit.

It sounds like Brandon may have fallen into a body of water and either drowned or found a way out of the water and died from hypothermia.

If that's the case I'm honestly not surprised his body hasn't been found yet. There are a lot of wild animals out there in the middle of nowhere who would get to a dead body very quickly.

 

[GXP Sleuther]

wait, how could he think he was between Marshall and Lynd when he was on his way home from Canby? Did he forget he left the Lynd party and drove up to Canby? Did he really think he was only driving from Lynd back to Marshall? this doesn't make any sense

Also-- was there even cell service in any of these isolated farmlands? His cars location does not seem like a place that would have ANY CELLULAR SERVICE IN 2008. JMO.

 

[george14]

It's worth mentioning Brandon Lawson's body was found 9 years later......1 mile from his car. If I had to place a bet, I would say Brandon Swanson's body is in a field somewhere, possibly where landowners have not allowed a search due to farming.

The killed/murdered angle is interesting. I'll be honest, I'm too lazy to read through all the comments but I have seen people say he owed debts, there was another voice heard on the phone call with his dad, a farmer killed him, etc. These are very intriguing but I place this theory second behind the first theory. The dogs may have lost him because he crossed over the river or for other reasons.

 

[elframo]

A new podcast series called The Unsolved Podcast covers Branson's case..

Ep 3: "The Disappearance of Brandon Swanson"

Podcast Episode · The Unsolved Podcast · 21/07/2025 · 22m

podcasts.apple.com

 

[BethAnn777]

A new podcast series called The Unsolved Podcast covers Branson's case..

Ep 3: "The Disappearance of Brandon Swanson"

Podcast Episode · The Unsolved Podcast · 21/07/2025 · 22m

podcasts.apple.com

Thanks for letting us know about the podcast. I was hoping for some new information, but no, unfortunately not.

 

[Gordon_]

It's a shame there is no detailed map of the areas and properties they have searched over the years. I would love to have a rough idea.

 

[crcap]

It’s a shame if there really were landowners who wouldn’t let police search their property to find a missing person. I don’t think being worried about your crops for a couple days is a good enough reason to let parents go almost 20 years wondering.

 

[BethAnn777]

It’s a shame if there really were landowners who wouldn’t let police search their property to find a missing person. I don’t think being worried about your crops for a couple days is a good enough reason to let parents go almost 20 years wondering.

After all these years, I wonder if any of the landowners regret that decision. I would feel awful if that was the decision I made. I wonder if LE offered to not harm their crops in the process or if that would even be possible? I mean, when farmers are on their land and moving about, they aren’t ruining their own crops.

I’m sure the suspected area where he likely went missing from was many miles worth of land. Hard to know where to search, but how are landowners allowed to decline a search? If it were a missing child could they have declined? Could a warrant to search not have been granted? I get not allowing access to buildings and whatnot, but a walk around your property while looking on the ground seems reasonable.

 

[crcap]

After all these years, I wonder if any of the landowners regret that decision. I would feel awful if that was the decision I made. I wonder if LE offered to not harm their crops in the process or if that would even be possible? I mean, when farmers are on their land and moving about, they aren’t ruining their own crops.

I’m sure the suspected area where he likely went missing from was many miles worth of land. Hard to know where to search, but how are landowners allowed to decline a search? If it were a missing child could they have declined? Could a warrant to search not have been granted? I get not allowing access to buildings and whatnot, but a walk around your property while looking on the ground seems reasonable.

If they still own that land I would think there’s nothing stopping them from letting police search

 

[elframo]

Thanks for letting us know about the podcast. I was hoping for some new information, but no, unfortunately not.

Thanks for saying that , I hadn't come across Brandon's case before and now I have so it did help me .

 

[Valiant]

Searching farmland where crops are growing could be very destructive, who would reimburse the farmer for crop damage? A missing Iowa truck driver (Davis Shultz) was hidden in a corn field that had been harvested. You could not search corn fields or bean fields throughly without crop destruction, just my opinion.

 

[BethAnn777]

Searching farmland where crops are growing could be very destructive, who would reimburse the farmer for crop damage? A missing Iowa truck driver (Davis Shultz) was hidden in a corn field that had been harvested. You could not search corn fields or bean fields throughly without crop destruction, just my opinion.

Darn. I figured that could be the case, but farmers walk around their own farmland surely. I just can’t see why they wouldn’t say, “You are welcome to take a look around, but I do not authorize you to walk on the crops.” I get that would be a lot of the land not searched, but I wish they would have at least tried to help.