Hello, all, this is my first time posting here. I was first attracted to the Brandon Swanson case through cracked.com. Cold-case mysteries have always interested me and I one day want to go off into the world and do some of my own sleuthing.
I came to this site looking up more information on Brandon, and there are many more details than I originally thought - so forgive me if I still haven't gone through some because there's a lot of pages to cover.
At this point in time, I believe it is useful to be as holistic as possible. It appears that we have been focusing a lot on the actual event in the woods but not enough on outside circumstances. I'll go over them in a minute.
I first have two questions:
Brandon said "Oh, ****" before he was cut off. How did he say it?
There are many ways one could say "Oh, ****" based on what's going on. If he fell into the water, it would have definitely been spoken more animated. He could have dragged on a syllable like "Oh, shiiiit." Was it cut and dry? Just a simple "Oh ****" without pausing in between Oh and ****? Did it sound like he spotted something? All this could be moot at this point since so much time has passed, but it's still a thought.
Did it sound like he fell?
The cellphone bit bothers me for numerous reasons. If the phone had fallen, you would have definitely heard it. Cellphones are sensitive to sudden impacts or wind motions, especially since this was back in 08. Brandon could not have fallen into the river at that point because the dialtone was still going on for some time from his father calling him. This means that the call was intentionally ended and it was still in tact some time after.
Now for my theories.
1. Brandon ran into someone from the party or someone he knew with possible malicious intent.
If I were lost in the woods and found my girlfriend, I'd probably start with "Oh ****!" It's a surprising moment, you know? But this doesn't answer why he would end the call. This is where I think we should be looking elsewhere. I don't intend to paint a bad picture on Brandon, but let's say he did something at the party he was embarrassed for his parents to find out. Underage drinking, smoking, etc. He could have hung up in sudden fear of them saying something to compromise his activites from the party. Maybe this was a person he knew whom his parents did not like him seeing? It is possible then that this person would have then had some malicious intent for whatever reason - maybe stemming from the party. I know very little about if the police asked questions at the party and any details from that.
2. Brandon ran into a stranger who threatened him.
This stranger maybe already had a gun out and motioned Brandon to hush. Brandon would have still had time to say his expletive but then hung up immediately for fear of being hurt.
But if this was the case, then is there some other criminal activity like this that's prevalent in the area?
3. Brandon passed out/fell asleep and he was taken by strangers
Let's say he did fall and his phone slipped out (but this bothers me because if his father called he would be less likely to have it on vibrate or silent BUT anyway). He couldn't find his phone anymore in the dark. So he continued onward anyway. The bloodhounds jumped into the river after all during the search so maybe he either accidentally fell in or intentionally tried to cross the river. At some point, Brandon could have hit his head or tumbled down again and passed out for some time. Or heck - maybe he got tired of waiting and actually fell asleep. Then someone came down the road, saw his car, stepped off and found him and took him and his cellphone.
This all leaves me with many questions and further investigation tips. Like I said - at this point in time, be holistic.
Is there any remaining surveillance footage from nearby stores and traffic lights? Maybe you could ask if anyone there had seen him. Also footage from nearby toll booths on the highways. But again - I don't know if those things are even still archived or thrown away. Was Brandon familiar with the area or the particular road? A good idea at the time would have been to try to track the phone through the company or something. See if the signal was moving. Assuming it had a GPS like most phones now (was it a fliphone? iPhone?) Because what also bothers me is that nobody found the cellphone. What is the local criminal activity like there? Is there any journal or diary of Brandon's that could house some clue? Who were the friends who left the party right after he did? He must have had a wallet on him since he was driving - did he also have any credit cards and if so did they check any activity?
Cracked.com can be a little sensational so there are a couple things I want to make sure. One is that he was in reality far away from where he said he was, suggesting he was really lost. Two is that he said he saw lights and that he was heading for them, but in reality you cannot see any lights at night where he was. This led me to think he saw the headlights of a parked car or van in the woods, and then when he got closer a situation like my second theory unfolded.
