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I have been listening to the Martha's Vineyard Beach and Book Club, which actually Elena recommended to me.
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My mochi is only around 70 calories per piece, which like, hello, that's amazing.
My mochi is gluten free and each box has six perfectly portioned mochi snacks. do i eat two a night yeah yeah i do because they're that good and guess what my mochi is the number one mochi ice cream in the u.s of a The strawberry flavor is bursting with fresh picked fruit flavor that tastes incredibly refreshing.
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If you have any information on Brandon Swanson, his disappearance, or where he might be literally any information you can contact the lincoln county sheriff's office in minnesota at 1-507-694-1664
You can also contact Agent Derek Woodford of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension That's at 651-793-7000. or you can contact the FBI VICAP at 1-800-634 or vicap, V-I-C-A-P, at leo, L-E-O, dot gov. hey weirdos i'm ash and i'm elena and this is morbid I apologize because I might sound a little congested.
Oh, no, what's wrong with you? I do not have...
The Rona. Already had that and don't have it right now.
But I think it's that the kids went back to school and they bring things home that they don't necessarily get infected by, but they just pass it on. to me yeah they're like little freaking carriers very nice it's a nice part of parenting that i'm enjoying right now yeah kids are really gross i haven't had like just a random cold in a long time because we haven't gone anywhere because yeah we're not going anywhere But alas, we can't escape any of this, apparently.
We're all just going to be incubuses of viral plague.
Delicious. Yeah, you know what? Shout out to Miranda Priestly for that line.
Love you. Love you mean it. I think... One of the only things we really wanted to talk about before we dive into this two-parter is i know uh is we wanted to mention that the fbi has officially closed The Gabby Petito, Brian Laundrie investigation.
They said that they know exactly what happened.
There's no... Reason to investigate it further, Brian Laundrie is a horrible murderer. who got to escape the justice that he should have faced.
And instead just confessed in a notebook.
Yeah, he just confessed in a notebook that they found that none of us have seen.
Mm-hmm. He apparently took his own life with a single gunshot. and never has to face the consequences of his actions.
So that's horrific. I feel so bad for Gabby Petito's loved ones and her family.
Absolutely. I think that... You know, Brian Laundrie's parents should be talked to.
Yeah. There's an obstruction of justice charge in there somewhere, I feel like.
Maybe a few. I think we need to look into that timeline a little bit and what they knew and what they didn't know.
That's just me, though. I am not the FBI, so I cannot make that happen.
I think they just want to tie it up in a quick bow and let that be the end of it.
Put a bow on it and that be that. But yeah, so we just wanted to mention that because we had mentioned as that was all ongoing, but Again, Gabby Petito deserved to live a long life. happy life she deserves so much without that piece of absolute garbage garbage exactly Rest in distress to him.
Rest in peace to Gabby. Don't even rest, Brian.
Yeah, you shouldn't be resting, but unfortunately, that's the way the cookie crumbled here.
But I hope her family is doing well. They're amazing people.
And I hope that they are able to find some kind of peace in this.
But we will move on from that and we will start this episode because This is something I'm excited to talk about just because it's a scary case.
Yeah. But there's just a lot to get into here.
I initially had a serial killer case that I will be doing probably next week.
Okay. And I was into it and I'm like, I'm like, oh, this is going to be a multiple parter.
And then I happened to just like like it happens all the time.
I saw this case on the side of a website and I was like, Huh.
And I just clicked on it. I was like, oh, I remember this case.
You have like case ADD. I really do. It's just like something else draws me in and I have to do it.
I just have regular ADD. I just have very specific focused ADD, which is weird. uh very much an oxymoron but i i realized i haven't done like a missing person in a long time yeah i've done a lot of murders a lot of like spooky phenomenon but i have not done a missing person all right And so I was like, I gotta do this one.
So I'm going to cover Brandon Swanson. And a lot of people might know this name.
They might know this case a little bit. fascinating one it's a really sad one his parents were on the phone when he went missing that's so crazy which is something you don't find in any other case.
Well, in other cases, but it's not a very common occurrence.
And this one just has so many like unanswered questions. that I would like to discuss.
That's why this is going to be a two-parter.
I want to get into the nitty gritty here.
And then the second part I want to talk about some theories, what could have happened, some things that are said in a lot of sources that turned out to be a little different than what the people who were actually there claim to happen there's just a lot so i think the second one we can really get into theories and such but we are going to start at the beginning here, which is a good place to start.
I think I know some of the details in this case, but I definitely haven't heard it told in a while, so I'm excited to hear your telling.
I got... real into this you did i that's so crazy for you you never get into anything the Why don't you ever get into things?
No, I never get into anything. It's just, it's wild.
This is the one. i and you know i call i was calling john in to look at like the monitor And I had, like, Google Maps, like, very, like, just, I was Google mapping this very rural part of Minnesota. and john was like what's happening like what where and you said what don't you know and i i was like you got to come here.
And I was like, look at this place. Now look at this place.
What road would you take to get to this place.
And he's like, I don't know. I've never been to Minnesota.
I don't know. Like, what are you doing? Then I'd call him back and be like, let me tell you this part.
This is where this was found What do you think of that?
And he's like, I don't know. I don't know this guy he's like please I'll wait for the episode I guess you and I both do that and it's always the same reaction from the both of them like I'll call Drew and And I'll be like, do you see like the look in his eyes?
Like clearly he's guilty. Or like, I'll be like, do you see the look in his eyes?
Like that guy is innocent. And he's like, yeah. whatever you say he's like totally i have no fucking idea 100 my my that's what i see he's like i feel how you feel Exactly.
So we are going to get into this. So this case is from 2008.
Wow. Upon hearing at first, if you were like me, you're like, that was a few years ago.
Yep. It was a lot of years ago. so and it's very like when you when you finally like count the years you're like oh Okay, that's not like five years ago.
What's that going on, like 15? It's a lot.
Yeah, that's fucked. We are going to talk about May 14th, 2008 in Marshall, Minnesota.
This is 19-year-old Brandon Victor Swanson and he calls his mother and father that evening.
His mother and father are Brian and Annette Swanson.
He called them at 1.54 a.m. and tells them everything's fine.
Which I'm sure is like the first thing you want to hear from your kid when they call you at 154 in the morning is like everything's fine.
And he tells them he's totally fine. He's not hurt.
But he did accidentally drive his green Chevy Lumina off. the road on his way home and he just couldn't get it out of the stitch and it become wedged in the stitch and I think what had happened is it like It like kind of, I think he was trying to turn around in a dirt road, like a rural dirt road.
And he went off the side and then his wheels couldn't catch the dirt.
So they were just spinning in the air. So he literally just couldn't move the car.
Oh, that's terrifying. At 2 o'clock in the morning in the middle of nowhere.
So it's not really that he got in like a car accident.
It's that he just like made a mistake turning around.
Sure. Yeah. Now again, he calmed them by telling them he was completely unhurt but just needed some help with his car and none of his friends were answering the phone.
So they, of course, told him, stay where you are and we're going to be there in minutes.
We're coming. And he was calm. He explained exactly where he was located so that they could find him.
He was on the phone with them. And off they went into the night. never to see their son again.
What happened? So let's rewind a bit. That was May 14th.
We're talking about May 13th, 2008, the day before.
Classes at Minnesota West Community and Technical College had just let out and students decided to blow off some steam that evening to celebrate.
Yeah, of course. As we all do. Freaking party.
Now, one of these students was 19 year old Brandon Swanson, who we just talked about.
Brandon was born January 30th, 1989 to Annette and Brian Swanson. and aquarius there you go i have that right i know it boom he oh yeah because actually is it It's Aquarius season right now.
Yeah, there you go. Now he lived with them in Marshall, Minnesota while he attended school at the technical college.
He had one younger sister. Now everyone says, everything I could find about him is that he was a good kid Everyone said he was very smart.
He loved to read. He loved to research. He was a true scientist at heart, but also had kind of like a philosopher way about him because he loved discussing complex theories and ideas.
It's a very Aquarius tendency. There you go.
He seemed very cool to be around and like he was someone who would kind of constantly keep you on your toes and thinking about things.
I love that. That's like a great person to hang out with.
Yeah, it seems like a cool person to hang with.
He was a good student. He had a lot of friends.
He got along with his parents. He was close to his sibling.
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Rules and restrictions apply. Now, he was studying wind turbines and wind energy in school.
That's cool. Which is... I'm like, I've literally, I know that they exist.
I've never heard of somebody studying them.
So I'm like, cool. I'm glad somebody is studying them because we need that.
This was super important. to him because he was also very dedicated to renewable energy and the environment.
So that's why he wanted to go into this.
He was someone that we kind of need more of in the world in that sense.
He had just received his credits for his degree and he was going to be starting another program at a technical school, I believe in the Iowa at the end of that summer.
And then he was going to try to transfer to a four year college and like keep going.
Good for him. And I think he wanted to major in like science, like really keep this engineering, this whole wind turbine, renewable energy career going. so he was gonna like stack those degrees which like get it yeah like let's go so he had plans he was doing things to make them happen.
He wasn't just saying, I want to do these things.
He had plans in motion. Now, according to the FBI VICAP website, he had brown hair, blue eyes, and was about 5'6 and 120 pounds.
Okay. He was like a smaller guy. Yeah. He's my height.
Yeah. And he's not like, he doesn't weigh a ton.
Yeah. He's less than me. So he left his parents' house that evening, and the party he attended first was in Lynn, Minnesota.
It was close to his home, only about seven miles, and he stayed for a bit without incident.
Witnesses saw him throughout the evening wearing baggy jeans, a blue striped polo shirt, A dark sweatshirt that zipped up the front and a white Minnesota Twins baseball hat.
His favorite team. All right. He was also wearing his glasses, which he always wore, and a silver chain and had his ears pierced.
Love it. Like very 2008. Yes. At some point during the night, around 1030-ish, he left that party in Lind and he went to one in Canby, which is in the opposite direction.
Trust me, I studied these maps like crazy.
I was gonna say you were on the Google Maps.
Because when you start reading this, I don't know anything about Minnesota.
Of course not. I don't know anything about Minnesota.
So like Camby, Lind, Marshall. I'm like, I literally.
Yeah, it's all Greek to me. You could not like. you could have me like hanging off a cliff and be like you have to point to that on a map and I'd be like well just drop me right And so when I looked at this, not now, not now, now I know everything about Minnesota.
I'm coming for you. Don't you know? Don't you know?
So, Basically, it's like Marshall is kind of in the middle here and Lind is one side and Canby is way the other.
Okay. And obviously there's ways to get to both, but you should, you know, you could go through Marshall to get back to Canby.
And it's an easier way. Exactly. So this location, the Canby location, was about 40 minutes away and was where his college was actually located.
That's where the technical school was. So it makes sense why he's headed that way.
Knew this area very well. It was about 30 minutes from his parents' home in Marshall because that extra 10 minutes that I tack on is because he was coming from Lynn.
Yeah. direction a different party lind is about 10 minutes from marshall about 40 minutes from camby Minutes.
Minutes and miles. Minutes and miles all over here.
Now, he stayed there in Canby for a while at this party, and it was, like, kids from school.
He partied, but not, like, too hardy a...
According to everybody. Because he was driving.
Yeah. And he had left around midnight. Okay.
Now, witnesses said he was not drunk. that he didn't slam down drinks all night but he definitely drank okay that is something everybody said yeah Everyone agreed that he was not intoxicated to like an impaired point when he left.
OK, but no one can really say exactly how much he drank.
Cause nobody's like counting or no one's watching everybody else's drinks.
And he had just come from another party.
So nobody can really be like, I don't know if he had... some drinks there and then he had drinks here.
So I don't know. Well, and I can't imagine he drank too much at the first party cause then he drove 40
40 minutes. And he showed up and he seemed like he was fine.
Exactly. And in a lot of sources, I found that he... may have had a DUI at some point and had just come off of dealing with that.
And like a probation period and all that.
So there is thoughts that like he was being a little careful here.
Yeah. Because he had already had a little bit of issues like 19 years old.
Of course. Because again, he's not of legal drinking age either.
So yeah. You don't really want to be caught that.
But what we do know for sure is that multiple people said at the can be party he did have one shot at least of whiskey okay so that is something everybody can say because they saw it fucking other than that they were like i think he was just kind of like having a drink all night yeah like just whatever having some beers no Before that, like I said, he maybe had another drink or two, but no one can say for absolute certain.
What we do know. is when he left that party, he left alone, and it was around midnight.
No one thought he was drunk or was concerned about him driving.
That's a big thing. No one felt like they needed to stop him or say, do you need somebody? him a ride nothing they knew he was going 30 minutes back home to marshall and no one was like you're not okay to drive again this is also a party of 18 19 year olds and like 20 year olds yeah so of course it might be difficult for them to discern what is the correct way to go about that.
You know what I mean? Like it might be, They didn't think he was bad to drive, but who knows?
It's hard when you're not in the body of the person that's going to get in the car.
It's also a very different thing to and I'm not saying this is the case for him, but it's different. when you're leaving a party.
Like I've left a party with somebody before and been like, oh, they're totally fine to drive.
Like, I think they're fine. And then gotten in the car with them and been a little more concerned about being in a car with somebody.
Exactly. Because I think when you're in the party atmosphere, everything gets kind of muffled a little bit because the party kind of take like there's a lot of people you're talking you're in this adrenaline thing and then you get in the car and it's like reality kind of hits so who knows yeah But we'll get to that because his parents also have a say in this because they talked to him on the phone.
They obviously have known him since birth.
They know him very well and they have something to say about whether they believed he was intoxicated or impaired.
Okay. Now, the road home to Marshall where his parents lived was a straight road, Route 68.
It's just a straight road that connects Canby to Marshall.
And so just driving straight 30 minutes would have brought him home.
He didn't need to pull off. It's literally Route 68.
Just go straight to Marshall. And it was on this drive home that he somehow ran his car into a ditch on the side of the road turning around.
Which, why would he be turning around if he's just going straight?
Exactly. And again, according to him, he was unhurt and it wasn't even a bad accident or anything like that.
The car was okay. stuck so after trying a bunch of friends he tried to call a bunch of his friends because you would Yeah especially now it's like late and you don't want to wake your parents up.
You really don't want to wake your parents up in the middle of the night at 19 after you've been to two parties and have had anything to drink.
He finally decided, though, that they're the only ones who would probably answer and come to his rescue.
So I got a call. He just couldn't. get this car moving.
And it's like I've been with people in that position before of like, I don't understand how fucking tires or anything like that work, but where you're just like so stuck.
Not connected to the road. They were just hovering over the road.
They couldn't grip, so it was just spinning in there. he's not a huge guy like he can't push his car exactly he's not a big guy and you don't want to do that alone anyway because then you could fall underneath the car and that could be yeah And it's like he's probably tired.
He's been hanging out all night. He's had school.
It's like he's probably like, oh, whatever.
I'm just going to call my parents. So at 1.54 AM, he calls and tells them what happened. and they left immediately with directions he gave them to find him in the car.
Now what he told them, he said, I'm actually only like 10 minutes from home.
He's like, I'm very close. He was saying he was somewhere between his home in Marshall and Lind.
Now, if you remember, it's Marshall and you go straight up Route 68 to Canby.
Along the way is like Taunton, I think, a place called Mineota.
But then the other way outside of Marshall is Lindt. the 10 minutes away now he was at lind first yeah and he went to canby and then was coming home from Canby.
So he shouldn't even be anywhere near Lynn.
So why is he saying he's in between Lynn and Marshall?
Like, that's strange. But they didn't know that.
He's telling them that's where he is. Okay.
Now... And again, it's like, there's literally, I was trying to figure out any way that this made sense.
Any route. But it's a real head scratcher for me.
He went... If he was there, which we're going to say whether he was or not, it would be... unbelievably out of the way.
Well, and he would have had to pass through his hometown.
Well, he would have to if he went down Route 68.
There are like back roads, which I'll get into in a second.
If he went backroads from Canby, he would technically go through Lind, but it would be an unbelievably long route to take.
And it would almost be like a hook. Yeah, it would loop around... and it would go through and back around.
You'd be coming into Marshall from like the backside instead of just coming straight into Marshall.
And I might be getting like way ahead of myself here, but is there any reason why he would have needed to stop back in Lind or like any?
Does anybody think that's a possibility?
That's what we'll get into in the second part is like whether that's a... a thing yeah because again it doesn't make sense but but we'll get to it don't worry so it should be noted Like I said before, his parents had something to say about whether he was inebriated or or not what did they think it should be noted that his parents maintain that he did not sound inebriated or incapacitated in any way shape or form to them okay they said your parents know and they have not wavered on this yeah your parents his father was on the phone with him a lot that night in particular his father was and his mom was too but his dad was on the phone with him literally the entire night And he said he did not believe he sounded drunk, high or anything of the like.
Wow. Okay. He said he sounded... made like frustrated because he couldn't because his car was trying to find them but he was like He didn't sound like he was slurring or like mixing up words or anything like that.
Okay. So Brian and Annette get to the 10 minute mark near Lindh.
Where Brandon had described, and he's nowhere to be found.
So they're like, okay. So he said he was on the left side of the road off a gravel road off Highway 23.
Now this highway is one that is really out of the way of Route 68, which is that straight shot from Canby to Marshall.
Looking at Google Maps makes you even more confused, but that he didn't just take that straight shot.
Because the only way taking major routes he could have connected with Lind from Canby without actually going through Marshall like we said, would be to take route 75. which that goes through a place called like Ivanhoe, Minnesota, all the way up to Lake Benton. before turning onto Route 14 and then taking it to Highway 23 where then you would make it to Lind and find yourself in between Lind and Marshall.
But you would likely be on the road known as Hiawatha Pioneer Trail.
Now, looking at the map along this particular crazy route, there's a lot of farmland and mills and campgrounds, a lot of areas really get lost in the middle of the night and there's a black rush lake waterfowl production area, which is listed as a nature preserve.
And it's huge right off of that. After passing that on the right, you come to a Camden State Park with a historic mill site on your left. to huge areas to get in a lot of trouble if you're lost.
Now I can only imagine He had a reason for taking that kind of crazy way? out of the way, because again, not a straight shot at all.
Like you have that straight shot right in front of you.
And it's just Highway 68. You can just take it.
But instead, he's taking this, like... Route 75 through all these towns and rural back roads, and then he's having to turn onto Route 14.
And then he's got to take that to another highway.
And then you're at Lind on the backside of Marshall.
It's just... And there's no way that this was faster at all.
To me, I don't see it at all. The only thing that I can say is, and you've driven with me before, I've been like, why the fuck are you taking this way?
I think. like I have shortcuts for everything and you and Drew are like this is the longest way possible like why are you going this way Except that he goes to school in Canby every single day.
Oh, yeah, but I live in this town. But he takes Route 68 every single day.
Okay. There's literally no reason he should have gotten himself lost in these back roads.
And he's lived in Minnesota his whole life.
And he takes this route every day to school.
He takes this route every single day. This is his route.
Like, why? Why? Like, why would he do that?
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I mean, if he left the party around midnight, there's a possibility he went through to Marshall on that straight shot. which would take about 30 minutes, bringing us to only about 1230, 1245.
And maybe he went to Linde again to see someone.
Well, that's the other thing that I was confused about, because you said he left this party at midnight and he didn't call his parents until almost two o'clock in the morning.
And even if he went to Lind, that would only take us to a round one, not even.
And then he may have went to go back to Marshall from Lind again.
And actually did crash there, but we find out later that's not the truth.
But even going from Lynn to Marshall wouldn't have, would only... like it's supposed to take 10 minutes yeah the timeline doesn't make sense either no So they called him again and they told him we're in the area between Lyndon Marshall where you said you were.
We don't see you. And he was like, what the fuck?
I'm right here. But I don't see you either.
It's like a parallel fucking universe. Exactly.
So both parties see nothing. They're both like, what the fuck?
And Annette and Brian decided to flash their headlights and honk their horn.
And we're like, do you hear that? Like, do you see any lights? brandon's like no i don't see anything i don't hear anything oh this is freaking now he's insistent he's like i told you the right location that's where i am I am between Linda and they're like, you're not.
We're right here. So they ask him, they're like, can you flash your headlights?
Because maybe we're just not seeing your car on these. said I don't know so they were like maybe we'll see you in the ditch so he said he was doing it and his mom said I heard the clicking sound of him flicking his lights yeah saw nothing but he is still insisting i know exactly where i am this is where i am So they started searching for him, keeping him on the phone.
And they're like, dude, you're not anywhere.
We're going up and down this road. We don't see you.
And they just couldn't see him anywhere.
And they're telling him like... Are you sure this is the location?
Like, let's go over this one more time. And he's like, I am.
I told you. And he's getting frustrated. basically thinking his parents are like tired and just not understanding where he was.
So he ended up hanging up on his mom. at one point, which I was like, that's not great when you need them to find you, but 19.
Uh, and she called him right back and she's like, I calmed him down and I told him, you know, like, I'm sorry, but I'm like trying. here i know you're frustrated you're it's cold out here it was like 40 degrees that night oh man So she's like, I know you're cold.
I know you're frustrated. You're probably a little scared out here.
So let's work on this together. But she's like, I'm really trying to help you here. like i want to find you down she's like we're frustrated too yeah everybody take a chill and she's probably like listen i want to find you as much as you want me to find she's like i'm more about you.
Like, I want to find you. You're my baby.
So after trying some more with no luck, Brandon said, you know what? maybe we should just meet somewhere specific that we both can go to.
Not just like side of the road, not any of that.
Okay. So he says, you know what? I see lights from like a town.
So he's like, I see Lind. like the town of lind that's where the lights are coming from so he's like you know what i'm gonna walk to lind because it's not far he's like it's 10 minutes up there okay And he's like, and you know what?
Why don't I meet you in the parking lot of this bar called the Lindwood and Trev's Kitchen?
And he's like, why don't I meet you in the parking lot there?
That way we both know where we're going.
We can't mix this up. This stresses me out.
So this is one of the first, I was like, I got to find this tavern.
I need to know where this is. Uh-huh. So I looked, this is one of the first Lind landmarks off that Hiawatha Pioneer Trail off of Highway 23.
So he was smart to say that because he's saying there's Lind.
I see it. Yeah. The lights. I'm going to hit that first landmark that you, you enter that town.
It's right there. Okay. So he's like, we can't, we can't fuck this up.
Fuck this up. And again, like I said, it's 40 degrees by this point and it's dropping lower.
It's cold in Minnesota. So Brian dropped a net off at home first, Because he was like, I'm going to go meet him.
Because he's like, he's going to take a minute to walk there.
So I'm going to drop you off at home. just so we have somebody at a home base you know like i'm getting freaked out here yep drop you off at home i'm gonna meet him at the bar and we'll We'll figure that out.
Okay. So he's like, okay. Now this entire time, his dad was like, stay on the phone with me.
Yeah, because you're walking. in the middle and he's like i'm dropping your mom off like you're gonna keep me on the phone but i'm gonna keep you company while you're walking sure like this was smart Oh, God, I'm freaking out.
So he's on the phone. They never hung up.
He was walking to what he thought was Lind.
And he said he and he was on the phone letting them know every step of the way what he was seeing.
I have this feeling that he's not walking to Liz.
So he was walking along the road telling his father each step, and at some point he told his dad, you know what?
I'm going to get off this road. I'm going to cut through this field because he said it's going to be quicker. than following the road the entire way and i'm a little it feels dangerous to be on the road Okay.
So I couldn't figure out what field he was talking about or where it would have been quicker to cut through a field off of the road, And it proved to me that he definitely had no idea where he was and he was not in that space between Lynd and Marshall.
As I was reading this case, I didn't look ahead.
So I was like, okay, I'm going to see if I can figure out if he was within... that area first before I find out the real truth of whether he was he's not And when I was looking at it, I'm like, there's no field that you can cut through that would be quicker than walking directly along the road.
It just doesn't make sense. He told them he could hear running water nearby.
And I was like, where? Where are you hearing running water?
What the fuck is going on right now? And he also tells his dad he had come across like he's like, oh, my God, I just hit another fence line and I have to hop that fence.
Like a field fence. Okay. And he was frustrated having to cross them.
And I'm looking and I'm like, no, you didn't. like no you didn't if you are where you think you are so as this is all happening like many, many minutes pass with his father talking to him on the phone,
Brandon just told him where he was walking and what he was seeing or hearing and then all of a sudden Brandon just yells.
Oh shit. Oh And the call goes off. That's the other thing.
In a lot of sources, it says the call goes dead.
That's not what happened. His mom confirmed later that the call did not go dead, that he just stopped talking.
He said, oh shit, the call was still going and he was, they were yelling. for Brian on the phone, like trying to get his attention.
For Brandon. Oh, excuse me. Yeah. Brian is his father.
Brian and Annette were yelling on the phone for Brandon, trying to get his attention, but they couldn't hear anything.
And they said they thought they heard him fall maybe.
Okay. But then they were like, what do we do? so they said they they hung up the phone they got the call dead because then they called back okay because they said they thought maybe the um the vibration or the sound of the phone and the light from the phone would either wake him up if he hit something or if he had just dropped the phone, maybe it would let him see where it was.
But they kept calling and it kept ringing, ringing, ringing, then going to voicemail.
So the last thing they heard him say was, oh, shit.
Oh, God. And there's also no, cause I was like, it doesn't say he yelled.
Oh shit. It doesn't say like exactly how he said, oh shit.
And I know it seems like a small thing to think about.
No, but it's really not. But I'm like, has anyone asked them like, did he go like, oh shit.
Or did he say like, oh, shit. Or like, oh, shit.
You know, like, was it... There's many different ways in which you would say that.
And it's different ways, different situations that would elicit a different, oh, shit.
Yeah. You know, like if somebody is coming up to you, you're going to go, oh shit.
Like, what the fuck is that? Yeah. But if you just like tripped over something, you're like, oh, shit.
Yeah. But if you drop your phone off, shit.
Like, you know, it's just so many different ones.
So there's little things in here that you're just like, I don't know. so initially their thoughts were he fell something happened and he fell okay and So to me, that says he's he's saying it more like, oh, shit.
Like, oh, shit. Yeah, that's what I like.
Oh, shit. Like a trip to fall. The amount of times we've said oh shit.
I know, I feel like it's like losing meaning.
But frantically, Brian drove all over that road searching again for... but nothing i can't imagine how they were feeling in this moment so he gets a net again They call all of Brandon's friends, but no one has heard from him.
Luckily, all his friends joined them and were like, we'll help look for him.
Yeah, of course. And so they searched all night, but they found nothing.
No Brandon, no car. No trace. Nothing. So 6.30am, Annette and Brian called the police and reported Brandon missing at the Lyon County Sheriff's Department.
And they actually went down there. And the police weren't concerned.
Great. They just weren't concerned about this.
Yeah, they basically told them to chill out and Brandon was 19 years old and an adult.
And one even said he had the quote right to go missing.
He's 19 years old. He can do what he wants.
You're like, yeah, but the last thing he said to me was, oh shit.
So I'm a little bit concerned and ran his car off the road.
Like. Well, they basically were like, well, don't all 19 year olds disappear after calling their parents for help?
Like what? I'm like, he called for help.
So time was wasted. Time was lost here. Right.
Thanks a lot. They ignored these frantic parents and completely didn't listen to the fact that this kid didn't just disappear.
He was on the phone with his parents after calling his parents for help.
Right. Like he wanted to be found. Yeah, like this was not like he left one day and like we can't find him.
And he just never came back or he just like. parked his car and left and that was it.
It's like he literally initiated the phone call to get help from his parents.
I also can't imagine the feeling of just being so desperate for help from the people that are literally put in place to help you.
And have them tell you like, I don't know what to tell you.
I can't imagine how frustrated that would be.
They're saying, well, he's an adult. He can do whatever he wants.
And it's like, yeah, I don't give a shit what you're saying.
This 19 year old is still my child. And it's my child who he literally said, oh, shit, and then didn't answer the phone again.
But they still didn't care. It took hours for them to convince them.
I don't know how they did. To finally get them to put him as a missing person and actually put some search into it.
Wow. That's sad that they had to. You should not have to convince the police to do their job.
No. And of course, time was wasted here again.
Precious time. Like the beginning of an investigation is the most important. have you seen 48 hours?
And it's like Annette and Brian, like they did everything they were supposed to do.
Exactly. I can't imagine how helpless they felt.
No. Now, the search in Lind turned up nothing.
They found him nowhere around Lind. or the car the parents searched again the friends searched with them the sheriff did finally get his ass in gear and they got the cell phone records from his cell phone.
Now, the ping showed that he was never near Lind.
Okay. In fact, he was so far away. The ping showed that he was near Taunton, Minnesota, at the beginning, which was on the same route home from Canby, on that Route 68.
Okay. But it was farther away from where like where Lind would have been from the other direction.
Yeah. Now, the weird part of this is the timeframes, like we were talking about before.
Taunton was only about 13 miles away from Canby, where he would have started his journey.
This would only take about 15 minutes. He left the party in Canby at midnight and didn't make that call about his car until close to 2 a.m.
So what was happening in those almost two hours in a 13-mile stretch of road that That should have taken about 15 minutes to drive.
That's a lot of time unaccounted for. So what was going on? do you know?
We don't know. So now they go to the Taunton area to search around noon and like they further find out through the later cell phone records that the phone actually later in that call series had pinged off a tower in Mineota, which was another town off of Route 68.
Mineota, Minnesota. Mineota, Minnesota. And it's on that long stretch towards Marshall.
Yeah. likely that is the town lights that he saw when he thought he was seeing lint miniota miniota okay This makes more sense for the fields and fences and running water he was seeing. and saying that it wouldn't be, it seemed like it would be a quicker way to that town because he could cross several fields off the road And actually the yellow medicine river crosses right between them.
Okay. So at 1230 PM, they searched this new area.
And boom, they find his car. Okay. So they found his car.
It was indeed in a ditch. somewhere in that area between Taunton and Minyota.
It was off the major routes, so it wasn't right on Route 68.
It was off. He had gone off that route.
And it was down a gravel road called Lyon Lincoln Road.
I truly wonder where he was going or coming from.
It still doesn't make sense because he still got off of Route 68 and there was no reason.
And there's just no reason. Because again...
I also just don't understand where he thought he was, like how he thought he was.
Because he's lived in this place his whole life.
Yeah. And they've... So... They found the car in this weird area off the beaten path, not making sense for coming from Canby to Marshall and not anywhere near Lind.
When they looked inside of it, there's no blood, no real evidence of any kind of injury. would have come from arriving in that ditch.
And in fact, there was no damage to the car itself at all.
No tracks also to see which way he walked from the car.
Hmm. And apparently the reason for this was the roads had been graded that morning before the car was found.
And grading a road is using a big motor machine called a grader to restore the surface of a road. and like the drainage attributes of said road, basically it fucked up any evidence of where he had walked.
And inside the car, they did find one interesting thing though.
They found Brandon's glasses. Oh. Uh, he always wore them.
He was legally blind in one eye. Oh. Why wasn't he wearing his glasses?
What? He would never take them out. What?
Yeah. And according to the FBI website, his car was found abandoned in a ditch with the car doors open and keys missing.
Interesting. Two doors open. It just says car doors open.
Okay. Does this mean open as in unlocked or open as in wide open?
No one is clarifying this. Because those are two different scenarios to me.
Well, yeah, because it really, if the...
If it's saying doors open and they're meaning like a jar.
Yeah. Only one should be open. exactly but if they're saying like unlocked then it makes sense that all of the door It would make sense that the car doors are unlocked because you're not necessarily going to think to lock all your car doors when you're trying to just figure out where you are.
But if they're wide fucking open, that's weird.
What's that about? And why the fuck are your glasses in there?
Yeah. It's like that's, and I know his parents, and his parents maintain he was not sounding inebriated or... and nobody and everybody everybody seemed to and it's like say that but why would he leave his glasses it's dark You're on a country road.
And I'm not even legally blind in one eye.
And if I took my glasses off and left them in the car, I would have no fucking idea where I was going.
That's the thing. It's like I... You think of these country roads and I'll make sure to... I'm going to make little... like i'll take pictures of the google maps so you guys can just get a better idea yeah we'll post the the photos with this episode like right away so you can look at them while you're while you're listening just so you can have a better idea.
Yeah. But if you look at it, it's like these are very rural roads, like not lights.
No way, Jose. And it's like, but I wouldn't even be able to see.
I have pretty good eyesight. And it's like, I would be...
I would not be able to see in this darkness.
And it's like he's legally blind in one eye and literally wears glasses 24-7.
Right. He never took them off. It's like, one, why would he take them off and go walking?
And two, was he driving without them? Well, that was my next question.
And is that why he got so lost? Exactly.
It's like, is that why? But like, why would he not drive with them?
But it doesn't make sense. Because they're not saying that they're broken.
They weren't like nothing like that. So it's like, what what is that about?
And like, honestly, he probably would have Is that why he crashed?
Excuse me, not crashed, but is that why he ended up off the road?
I don't know. To me, it seems like he went off the road because...
He had turned down this gravel road. and it's like not a paved road.
So your cars are gonna be slipping and having trouble gripping anyways, especially like, you know, like a chevy lumina i'm sure it was like you know it's not like an atv vehicle yeah is that a sedan Yeah.
And so I think it's like, in fact, a friend of ours used to have a Lumina growing up and we named all our cars and we named it Bumina the Lumina.
That was my... Fun little fact. That was my first thought, actually.
Bumina the Lumina. But this Lumina, I'm assuming...
He probably figured out like, okay, I'm going down the wrong road here.
Yeah. And he went to do like a three point turn. and it's probably pretty narrow.
I'm assuming what it looks like in the pictures is like the sides of the road kind of dip.
A little bit like, you know, like gravel roads tend to.
And so when you want to do that three point turn, one part of the car just slipped and couldn't grip the road anymore.
So he was just kind of stuck in that weird position.
But it's like, I was looking at Luminous.
Why was he... down there? Like, why did he turn off of Route 68?
That's what doesn't make sense to me. I don't know why he would come around the back way.
No. All right, so keep going because I need to know more.
So there was a huge search. Now that they found the car, they're like, holy shit, like he's in this area. yeah and where is he so let's go find him so now the search went really like crazy I hate that I know that he's still a missing person because I'm like still a missing person and they found him here No, they did not.
They used ATVs, they used helicopters, bloodhounds.
The bloodhounds actually picked up a scent. and followed it for three miles into fields and through an abandoned farm. an abandoned farm no fucking thank you they went towards the yellow medicine river and indicated that Brandon hadn't entered the river This could have meant that he fell in, but it also could have meant that he crossed it or went in accidentally and still survived.
Also, those same bloodhounds picked up that scent that went into the river, but then they picked it up again coming out of the river.
So it seems like he did not end up in that river and that was the end of the scent.
Seems like he crossed through. So they search the river now, though, because obviously they have to.
No body. They searched the whole thing and not one piece of evidence that he drowned.
Right. An investigator said there was almost no way he was in this river, like ended up in the river. because he would have washed up by now and they searched it extensively right and again the dogs picked up another scent Coming out of it.
Coming out of it. Now, I think in part two we're going to get a little more into this too because there's a couple of... places that they might have hit that people have like theories about.
But the fact that the way that this river goes, he definitely would have washed up.
Like, that's for sure. He would have washed up somewhere.
They would have found evidence of him going into that river.
They found nothing. And then the fact that the dogs... picked up a scent coming out of the river like did he did he fall in the river and then he got out of the river And it's 40 and below degrees outside.
And elements... But if that's the case, where the fuck is he?
Yeah, where's his body? He had to have fallen. somewhere he had to go but then you're like did he crawl somewhere and like hide somewhere to like but that doesn't make sense either like where's his phone yeah we never found the phone they never found they never found the phone It's like, where is all this shit?
And why didn't he have his fucking glasses?
I'm just like- That's the main question of why didn't you have your glasses?
That to me is like the weirdest indication that's something.
Illegally blind. yeah legally blind again like I can't go anywhere without contacts or glasses in and I'm not legally blind I think I have like negative three negative four That's the thing.
So they did use cadaver dogs who indicated that human remains were near Mud Creek.
But they never found anything. Okay. And then they officially searched for about a week.
This was like a hardcore search. search like the ATVs, the helicopters, the bloodhounds, the cadaver dogs.
Then they had to stop the official search and family and friends continued though. and they continued for a long time, they found nothing.
Nothing indicating he was anywhere. And the official search started again in the fall because they were kind of, I don't know why they were waiting, but... um cadaver dogs were brought in again and they got a scent uh into northwest of porter like his scent, and then they lost it.
What? So it's like, what? So they suspended it again in the winter because it's going to be hard to search in the winter, especially in Minnesota.
Which also sucks because it's like evidence is just getting fucking washed away.
Exactly. And they ended up searching about 122 square miles between everything.
Nothing, not a shred of evidence. There were 500 volunteers.
I mean, there were like, dogs from several states coming in to do this work.
I mean, Everybody was going ham on this and that family did not rest.
His friends did not rest. Nothing. In 2010, two years later, it was handed over to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
And they became the leads on the case from there on out. they still they they kind of tried to focus on certain areas more like well you know like those river areas the abandoned farm all all that police, nothing.
They were getting scents and then it would just die out.
It's like, was he moving around? What was going on?
Like, where is he? and the fact that they searched immediately after this happened right it's not like this is like he went missing two years ago and now we're gonna try to find him yeah it was like within a matter of hours he wasn't decomposed like he was there somewhere if something happened and he had passed away that night His body is there somewhere.
Which leads me to believe that he did not pass away that night.
That's what I think. I'm like, what is happening?
I can't wrap my brain around it. In that, I think we're going to leave the actual case there and we're going to pick everything back up in part two so we can really get into these theories because I want to take our time and, like, really... You're gonna leave me hanging with all of that.
But I think... So... the things that have you know there's been things that come out about this case that like you know There was questions about whether Annette was dropped off at home. like between all this and all that because in one interview she said like no i was like on the phone when that happened yeah And I tend to believe her more than reports that probably got it wrong.
Yep. And I think that's what's happening in a lot of these, in these cases that tends to happen a lot is rumors or hearsay get put into official reports or people take them. as that's really what happened.
From Annette's mouth, and I don't know if she's misremembering or that's what it is, she said she was on the phone when the oh shit happened.
So maybe they were just like on the way to drop her off and then that happened.
And that's the thing What I think is, like, that was a very frantic night, I'm sure.
A very stressful night. Bits and pieces get lost.
A lot of shit happened and maybe... just timelines got threw off a little bit, but I just wanted to mention that because a lot of things like, you know, how she said, and she said it, she was like, the line didn't go dead after he said, oh shit.
And that's reported widely. I mean, I think even if you look at like, um, like the official, like, like the Wikipedia page for this, which I'm like, can someone edit that?
We need to edit that. uh but if you look at anything for this case they say like he said oh shit and then the line and then the line went dead but that's not what happened and then some of them say that that you know the father called they called back and over and over and over and it just went straight to voicemail like the phone was dead, that's not true either.
They said, both the parents said, nope. The phone, when we called back, the phone rang and rang and rang and then went to voicemail like it was still functioning.
Yeah. Yeah. And it's like we know now that if you call a phone that is dead, like the battery's dead or it's turned off, it goes straight to voicemail.
Yeah. But if it's on and working, it rings and rings and rings.
Which to me... has says something at least about like, because if the phone just went dead, you're like, OK, did the phone die?
And was he saying, oh, shit, because he realized the battery was dying?
But that doesn't seem to be the case. But that doesn't seem to be the case because it's like.
Did he fall and the phone fell? That would make more sense, I guess.
But they were calling, so... Like they had the right idea, like let's call so like the vibration wakes them up or the lights or whatever.
Yeah. So it's like eventually he would see the lights if he was unconscious.
Like you would see because they said they called like five or six times over and over again in like quick succession to.
Oh, God, I cannot imagine. The panic. I can't fathom that.
That must have been the worst. That's a nightmare.
I really, like, as for anybody. Horrific nightmare.
And then also, if he fell into the river, and the phone went with him, you would have heard that on the phone.
Yep, definitely. Like the phone would have been like...
Like if it was underwater, that's exactly what it would sound like.
It would have been like our first episodes.
It would have been exactly like our first episodes where everybody's underwater. but they didn't hear that.
No. They said they, I think they said they could like like it was a normal line, like there was no chaos ensuing.
They didn't hear a struggle. And had he dropped the phone? and like never picked it up again, they would have found the phone in that area.
Why didn't they find the phone? because it doesn't sound like the phone went into the water because I feel like Brian and Annette would have been like yeah I heard some like static-y like watery kind of you would hear it yeah or you would hear like you know like you would hear that sound like Something would have indicated that it was muffled or under something, but it seems like it was out in the open.
And it seems like he got out of the water.
Yeah. So where's the fucking phone? How deep is the water?
I don't know how deep that water. You know what?
I'm going to look it up right now. Okay, cool.
So according to Minnesota's Unsolved Missing Persons, it's a really good website for this.
I'll link it because they're awesome. uh let's see the yellows yellow medicine river is knee deep in some areas and up to 15 feet deep in others Okay, so it would make sense that he could have waded through it.
He definitely could have waded through it in some way. in some places because that was my question of like would he have to like full-blown swim or could he wade yeah so and then i guess in other areas he would have had to to swim yeah okay so it's all a matter of where he entered it really is and that's the thing we have no fucking clue what the fuck all we have and it's what's weird too is all we have in this case is what he has told us and what he told what he was telling his parents because he doesn't he didn't even actually know where he was he didn't even have his glasses on which also why we'll harp on that forever Why didn't he know where he was?
That's the thing. Why did he think... And it's not like he was... a little off, like he was so off.
Miles and miles and miles. He was so off.
And then I'm like, what happened in those two hours?
Right. Because it's like, did you think you were...
Driving that far because you were just tooting around all these back roads and you said but like what were you doing?
And how did you get that turned around? And you knew that like you... you would have been lost because you drive this road all the time.
I'm... so confused right now. It's very confusing.
Do people have theories for the lost time?
Uh, people do, like, kind of, yeah. There are theories for the lost time, but... it's really a mystery it truly is because yeah we can sit here and we will posture as like you know what what could have happened in the next episode but like we don't know so spooky and the fact that there's he has never been found is in This isn't like, you know, because I think of like Bryce lost Pisa.
Yep. And that's a crazy one, but that one almost has like so many more possibilities to it.
And this one it's like it's one area. Right.
And we can't find him. Right. His car was left.
Like where did he go? Yeah. yeah like it was 40 degrees that night where was he going he didn't have a jacket on It's just, I don't, where did he go?
I just need to know where he went. It's just so bizarre.
And his poor family just have no clue. And for them still to not have closure on it.
It's like, I am done. Now I'm like, I want to go to Minnesota. to search this area like i want to find him just to give them some kind of it's so crazy and the fact that they were on the phone with him just makes it so much worse yeah I can't imagine having that sitting in your brain for the rest of your life.
Like, that's tough. But they did everything they could.
They were They were good parents. They were coming to his rescue in the middle of the night.
They did everything they could. but wow but yeah so we're gonna talk about the theories uh next episode if If you have any theories yourself, if you've looked into this case and you've read anything or have your own theory, feel free to shoot them. our way, you can send it to morbidpodcast.com. morbidpodcast.com wow I was like you can't honeys I'm on cough medicine morbid podcast at gmail.com big big part of that Big part of that missing.
Morbid podcast at gmail.com says the old.
And just make sure you put in the subject line, like, you know, Brandon Swanson disappearance.
Boom. There you go. If you have any information on Brandon Swanson, his disappearance or where he might be literally any information you can contact the lincoln county sheriff's office in minnesota at 1-507-694-1664
You can also contact Agent Derek Woodford of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension That's at 651-793-7000. or you can contact the FBI VICAP at 1-800-634 or vicap, V-I-C-A-P, at leoleo.gov.
All right. Well, we hope that you keep listening and we hope you keep it.
Weird. But not so weird that you end up in the middle of nowhere and you think that you're one place and you're really not in that place and not so weird that nobody can ever find you again because they really want to find you.
I do too. Bye. Thank you. If you like Morbid, you can listen early and ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
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