This story is strange to say the least. Right in the heart of so-called Smiley Face Killer country a male student goes missing under X file like circumstances. He drives his car into a ditch. Talks coherently over his cell phone to his dad. Cuts off abruptly: police find the car; no student.
Story 1...a week after he disappears May 21
Sheriff Running Out of Answers
Volunteers continued to search Tuesday for a Marshall teen who hasn't been seen since driving his car in the ditch overnight a week ago.
Lyon County Sheriff Joel Dahl says a cadaver dog from South Dakota will join the search tomorrow for 19-year-old Brandon Swanson. Said Dahl, "There's still that hope he could call his parents and say 'here, I am,'" but authorities now consider that unlikely. "I'm running out of answers," said Dahl.
Investigators have learned Swanson was drinking earlier in the evening on the night he disappeared, but Dahl says there isn't evidence he was impaired.Swanson's father says his son seemed fine when he called from his cell phone to tell his parents he had driven into the ditch.
Searchers are concentrating their efforts on a branch of the Yellow Medicine River near Taunton, about a quarter mile from where Swanson's car was found.
"We're looking in the water again today," said Stella Swanson, Brandon's Grandmother. "We just hope it doesn't turn out to be foul play, because it just seems like we can't find him."
Story 2 ...two weeks after he disappeared with police no longer looking for Brandon May 29
MARSHALL — Brian and Annette Swanson are getting help from parents who know what it’s like to have a missing son.
The Swansons of Marshall are still searching for their son Brandon, below left, 19, who has been missing since May 14. Swanson has not been heard from since he lost cell phone contact with his father about an hour after he first called to say his car was in a ditch. Swanson’s car was found in a ditch along the Lincoln and Lyon County road line, between Taunton and Porter.
David and Linda Francis were with the Swansons this week and offered the help of their foundation, the Jon Francis Foundation. Jon Francis disappeared in the Sawtooth Mountains in Idaho.
“We ran out of places to go,” Brian Swanson said of the family’s search for Swanson. “We’ve exhausted everything. “(The Foundation) is able to get us in contact with people certified in search and rescue, professionals who volunteer.”
Law enforcement officers are searching for a 19-year-old Marshall man whose car was found abandoned in a ditch northwest of Taunton.
The Lyon County Sheriff's Office says Brandon Swanson's Chevrolet Lumina was found shortly after noon Wednesday at the Lyon-Lincoln county line in southwestern Minnesota.
Swanson's parents called the sheriff about 6:30 a.m. Wednesday to say they had gotten a cell phone call from their son, who said he had gone into a ditch.
He told them he went off the road between Marshall and Lynd, but his car wasn't there. The cell call was traced to a tower near Minneota, and the car was found soon after.
A search of the area Wednesday by officers, a police dog and a State Patrol airplane turned up nothing. Taunton is about 15 miles northwest of Marshall.
More than two weeks since their son called, he is still missing. Swanson’s parents will talk of their son in the present and past tense. And because he hasn’t been found yet, there is still some hope he’s alive.
But that optimism is surrounded by a more likely reality, they said.“Of course we dream he’s alive, anybody would do that,” Brian Swanson said.
But if he’s not, “we still want to bring him home,” Annette Swanson said. “We want to bring him home.”
That’s why the help from the Francises and the Foundation has been welcomed, the Swansons said.
Not only are the Francises providing search help through the Foundation, they are also providing support, Annette Swanson said.
“This is a family who knows what it’s like to have a missing child,” Annette Swanson said. “They understand what it’s like to search for their child.”
The Swansons said local volunteers, their family members, and law enforcement and emergency personnel in Lyon and Lincoln counties have worked hard to find their son.
“We know law enforcement is still searching, but they can’t continue to invest personnel and resources like they did (early in the search),” Annette Swanson said.
The Francises understand what it’s like to search when law enforcement must scale back its efforts, the Swansons said.
The two counties continue to cooperate in the search for Swanson, officials said.
Lincoln County Sheriff Jack Vizecky said this week he and deputies continue to search along the Yellow Medicine River, near where Swanson’s car was found, as time and staff allow.
The Foundation will provide another “set of eyes” in the search, Lyon County Deputy Mark Mather said. “There is nothing wrong with it. We are glad to see (people) are continuing to search. We’ll continue with our own investigation and follow up on leads. The goal is to find him.”
Many times, the leads aren’t fruitful.
“We turn up new leads. A lot of them are (not successful),” Mather said. “Our main focus is the immediate area of the vehicle and where the (search and rescue) dogs led us,” Mather said. “We have to follow our instincts. We believe we are on base there.”
The Swansons said they know there are many theories about where their son could be, or how he may have disappeared or the circumstances leading to his being missing.
They don’t pay much attention to them unless they hear it from law enforcement.
In response to questions from the Independent on theories of circumstances of the incident, Mather said most are highly unlikely, specifically, that someone is hiding him, foul play involving another person or another person being in the car.
“We’ve heard different rumors,” Mather said.
Swanson told his parents his car was in the ditch near Lynd, but it was really in a ditch northwest of Taunton, law enforcement said. Lynd is located along Minnesota Highway 23 between Marshall and Russell, while Taunton is on Minnesota Highway 68 between Canby and Marshall.
Swanson was apparently on his way home from Canby to Marshall on May 14, law enforcement said.
“To be honest, I was kind of confused, too, until I went out there at one o’clock in the morning,” Brian Swanson said of where his son’s car was found.
At that time of the day the light pattern near Taunton is similar to the light pattern near Lynd, Brian Swanson said.
“Other people have looked at the two spots and they see how similar they are,” Brian Swanson said.
Brian Swanson said he had a 47-minute cell phone conversation with his son, and his son sounded coherent and did not sound intoxicated or impaired. There is no way his son could fake that for 47 minutes, Brian Swanson said.
Their son was looking forward to starting college in Council Bluffs, Iowa, this fall. He wanted a four-year degree and a career in science, his parents said.
Swanson was in the wind turbine program at Minnesota West, but his year in college helped convince him he should get his four-year degree, his parents said.
“He was focused on the environment,” Brian Swanson said.
When watching TV, he was usually watching the Discovery Channel, the History Channel or something similar, they said.
A Minnesota Twins fan, Swanson was wearing a white Twins baseball cap on May 14.
That hat, his cell phone and other personal items he may have had with him have not been found.
The Swansons have been searching for their son each day and said they couldn’t cope without the support of family and friends.
Their daughter Jamine is scheduled to graduate this weekend. A graduation reception has been postponed until the family can fully celebrate, Annette Swanson said.
“We are very proud of her and her accomplishments,” Annette Swanson said. “A celebration should be about her successes and accomplishments and (be) her time. Given where we are at right now, I talked to her, she agreed to put it off until it can be about her.”
“She is (very mature),” Annette Swanson said.
Annette Swanson has returned to work on a part-time basis, trying to “test the waters.”
Friends and family still encourage them to eat, to rest and offer other support.
“It’s tough. That’s all I can say, it’s tough,” Brian Swanson said.
“We want to continue to remind people that Brandon is still missing. Brandon is not at home,” Annette Swanson said. “We are still working on bringing Brandon home.”
When that happens, the Swansons will be able to turn off the porch light they turned on on May 14.
Clarification 1
Sounds like Brandon was already on foot when he made the call to his dadBrandon Swanson, 19, Missing
19 year-old Brandon Swanson from Marshall, Minnesota has been missing for nearly one week. His
parents last heard from him on May 13th. He called them around 2 am from his cell phone, told them his car was in the ditch close to Lynd, Minnesota, which is about two miles from Marshall, and that he was stuck and needed help.
A twist in the case? The calls were made nowhere close to Lynd. Searchers found Swanson’s car in a ditch near Taunton. That’s northwest of Marshall off a highway Swanson traveled all the time.
“He was on the phone with his parents for one time at 45 minutes, explaining to them he was walking,” Lyon County Sherriff Joel Dahl says.
The best the searchers can do is assume Swanson was walking toward Taunton. So they’re searching all nearby streams.
“We’ve done ground searches, walkers, atvs, horseback, airplanes, today we have the state helicopter up,” Dahl says.
Eight days later, Swanson remains missing.
“I wish we could do more. I wish we could give them answers. But I just don’t know.”
According to information received second-hand and third-hand from sources, Swanson was drinking on the night he disappeared, which could explain why he was confused about his location.
Monday’s search from the air did not turn up anything new.
He was wearing jeans a dress shirt with a black hooded sweatshirt over it. Anyone who may have seen him or has information should call the Lyon County Sheriff.
Clarification 2 from Websleuths
"Dahl (LE) said law enforcement expected Brandon Swanson’s cell phone to not work but when they made calls to it during the day on Wednesday and Thursday, the phone rang and eventually calls were directed to his voice mail.
Later Thursday, calls were immediately directed to Brandon Swanson’s voicemail, which likely meant the phone’s battery needed to be charged, Dahl said."
I had originally thought his phone must have cut off bc he fell into water or something... If there are cell towers nearby, I don't think it cut off due to lack of service. Strange.
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