01: The Brandon Swanson Case

In this maiden voyage of Prevailing Theory, we dive into the Brandon Swanson case. What happened? What evidence is there? What is supported and what isn't?

Our story takes place in Marshall, MN, amidst the uncertain times of the Great Recession. Our protagonist is 19 year old Brandon Swanson, who was out celebrating the end of his first year at Minnesota West Community and Technical College.

MWCTC is located in Canby, MN, which is about thirty miles away from Brandon’s hometown, Marshall, MN. The two are connected by Highway 68, and the drive takes about 40 minutes to complete. Brandon was familiar with this drive as he made it nearly everyday for the full year.

On the day after classes ended, Brandon was out with some friends at a party in Canby. This was his second party of the night, first attending one in Lynd, MN, about ten minutes from Marshall.

Around midnight, Brandon left the party in Canby to head back to his parents’ home in Marshall, MN. Again, this was a very common drive for Brandon to make.

At 1:54 AM, Brandon makes a phone call to his parents and tells them his car slid off the road. He goes on to tell them he isn’t hurt or anything, but that his car is sitting on an incline, and he can’t get all the wheels down to help him get out.

Brandon tells his parents that he is on the road between Lynd and Marshall.

On the map above, you can see that Lynd is actually south of Marshall, and not on the way back from Canby.

Both of Brandon’s parents, Brian and Annette, get in their car and start driving up and down that road between Lynd and Marshall looking for Brandon and his Chevy Lumina. They are on the phone with him the entire time they’re searching, but they don’t see his car or him.

Brian and Annette are worried that Brandon’s directions aren’t correct but Brandon assures them he knows where he is. His parents start flashing their lights and honking their horn while asking Brandon if he hears or sees them.

Brandon says he cannot, and in fact, they must be mixed up with where they are.

After a heated exchange, Brandon hangs up the phone in frustration, but almost immediately, calls back.

He’s made the decision now to start walking. He can see some lights off in the distance, and thinks he’s looking at the town of Lynd. Brandon tells his dad to meet him at a bar there in town, and that he’ll stay on the phone until he gets there.

Brian agrees and takes Annette home before heading to the bar to wait for Brandon.

One thing you should know, Brandon is blind in his left eye. This affliction makes it difficult for Brandon to see at night.

While Brian and Brandon are on the phone, Brandon is narrating his journey. He tells his dad about walking through a field, and how he can hear water nearby.

At around 2:30AM, Brandon abruptly shouts out his final words.

“Oh, shit!”

His phone cuts off. Immediately, and frantically, Brian calls his son back. Straight to voicemail. Brian repeats this five or six times and he gets Brandon’s voicemail immediately each time.

Brian races home to get Annette and the two of them head to the Lynd police station to report their son missing. Annette remembers the Lynd Police being skeptical and slow to take it seriously. One officer even insisted that Brandon “had a right” to go missing, since he was an adult and it was the night after classes were over.

Even after explaining the context, the LPD didn’t start their search until the next morning,

LPD called in the Yellow Medicine County Sheriff’s Department to cover any jurisdiction gaps, and the search began in earnest.

They found Brandon’s car off the road near Taunton, MN, which lies along the route between Canby and Marshall. The same one Brandon drove each day for classes. The way the grass and rocks were, the Sheriff’s Department were unable to see any tracks that might indicate in which direction Brandon started walking.

They brought in dog units that picked up on Brandon’s scent and followed it to the Yellow Medicine River, where the trail seemed to stop. It’s worth noting, some of the dogs indicated the trail stopped in or at the river, however, one dog jumped in, swam across, and began working on the other side of the river. The dog’s handlers seemed to think this meant Brandon might’ve fallen in, and continued with wet clothes on the other side.

None of the searches turned up even one indicator of where Brandon might’ve ended up. To this day, his body’s never been found. They’ve never found any clothing or items from that night that belonged to him.

In total, the volunteers and law enforcement have searched 122 square miles surrounding the highway where Brandon’s car was found. They’ve walked the Yellow Medicine River searching for something that might tell them it was Brandon’s final resting place.

Nothing has ever turned up.

Now that we have all the facts, let’s dive into the theories.

#1. Brandon fell into the Yellow Medicine River and drowned.

This one seems to make the most logical sense. Brandon mentioned running water, he shouted an expletive before his phone cut off, and the dogs all stopped their sniffing at the River.

Admittedly, the final two facts could be red herrings. Cell Phones in 2008 would’ve stopped working if they had gotten wet, meaning Brandon could’ve fallen in without drowning, and still been unable to communicate with his parents. The dogs support this red herring by stopping at the river, which really means they lost the scent, not that Brandon definitively stopped there.

Lastly, where is the body? Throughout the year, the Yellow Medicine River can be as deep as fifteen feet, or as shallow as four, meaning Brandon’s body, if he’d drowned, would’ve washed up on the banks. Or at the very least, floated and come to a stop somewhere along the river’s snaking route.

So while this theory makes the most logical sense, the evidence doesn’t support it too well.

#2. Brandon fell into the river, didn’t drown, and eventually succumbed to hypothermia.

This one is a different take on the first theory using the same facts.

He could’ve fallen in and soiled his phone and clothes, but not drowned. His scent would’ve still been compromised, but in this theory he continues on.

According to this website, the weather in Minnesota in May of 2008 hovered in the mid 40s and high 50s. Fahrenheit, that is. Which makes it entirely possible that Brandon fell in, got his clothes soaking wet and then tried to continue on in temperatures cold enough to induce hypothermia.

Two of the symptoms of hypothermia are disorientation and impaired judgement. Either of which could’ve impacted Brandon’s thinking and reasoning skills as he continued on his trek.

The problem with this theory is that hypothermia can take a while to settle in. He wouldn’t have fallen into the River and immediately began suffering severe hypothermia symptoms. It would have been gradual. The other problem is that we still don’t have a body.

Sometimes people experiencing severe hypothermia will lay down in the elements to sleep, and they can die that way. But why haven’t we found Brandon’s body yet? If he laid down to sleep, and passed away, his body isn’t moving. Which means that he would’ve been stationary over the time law enforcement was searching for him, and even after combing 122 square miles, no remains or evidence have ever turned up.

#3. Brandon’s still alive.

This one seems to add up because of the lack of evidence supporting anything else, and yet, this one doesn’t add up either.

There’s never been a body found. No evidence of injury, foul play, or anything else indicating malice. In other words, there’s at least a minor chance that Brandon’s still alive, leading a different life now.

He could’ve fallen into the river, found safety, and wanted to stay missing. Started over somewhere else.

But why would he do this? Brandon was going to attend a different school in the Fall where he could continue to study wind turbines. He ran off the road and called his parents to come help. Neither of those facts seem to indicate someone who wanted to start over. Couple that with the fact he would’ve been starting over entirely, with no money, no car, only the sopping wet clothes on his back and the well-worn Twins hat on his head.

Or maybe he didn’t run away, but then why not seek out your parents? Couple that with the thought that Brandon’s case was nightly news in 2008 in Minnesota, so you think he would’ve been recognized by someone if he had popped up.

Like I said, it adds up and it doesn’t.

#4. Brandon was a victim of foul play.

This one has two parts.

One, that Brandon was harmed by another human being and his body hidden. This theory doesn’t address the cell phone not working fact. It also would be an astounding coincidence. This plays out like so.

Brandon runs off the road. He stays near his car without another car passing by. Then after getting frustrated with his parents, he decides to walk to what he thinks is Lynd. At some point, he comes across someone else, and this someone wants to hurt him. This person would’ve had to know where Brandon was in the total darkness of rural Minnesota, known which direction he was headed, overpowered a full grown adult male, and disposed of the body without leaving any evidence of foul play. And the attack would’ve had to have happened after Brandon’s phone stopped working.

Too many things have to go right for this to be the prevailing theory. It’s not impossible, but it’s not entirely probable either. Law enforcement has noted more than once that the farmers surrounding the area where Brandon went missing have been extremely cooperative and helpful in aiding the investigation.

Part Two is that Brandon was attacked by a wild animal.

This one is more far fetched than the human centric theory. Black bears are known to be in the area where Brandon went missing, but according to this website, black bears aren’t particularly aggressive to humans. They are curious animals, but not agitating or loud or domineering. Chances are, if Brandon had been near a black bear, he wouldn’t have known it. Black bears have an amazing sense of smell and and equally good hearing, so they would’ve noticed Brandon long before he noticed them.

And there’s no evidence of an attack. A bear attack is not subtle or quick, and there would’ve been some evidence. Bears can’t eat everything Brandon was wearing or using (cell phone, hat, clothing, bones, etc) so this theory doesn’t add up either.

CONCLUSION

If you ask me, none of these fit cleanly without some degree of speculation. The facts don’t singularly support one theory, nor do they completely contradict one.

For the sake of having a prevailing theory, though, I would think my first theory is the most logical one. Brandon could’ve fallen in, knocked his head on a rock and drowned. We still don’t have a body in this scenario, but we do have some supporting facts, and we have an answer to an accidental tragedy that continues to occupy some portion of Yellow Medicine County Sheriff’s Department resources to this day.