MN MN - Brandon Swanson, 19, Marshall, 14 May 2008

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neesaki said:
I actually had someone tell me they knew someone who knew what happened, and that he was buried in someone’s basement. I suggested they report it to authorities, who knows if they did.
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???? I am new to this thread and spent over 2 hours reading every post, clicking every link, etc. Neesaki, you have been an avid writer and responder in this thread....and you are just now saying that you have a second hand account of what happened????? WHAT HAPPENED THEN? What did they say, who's basement, how did he get there, was he already dead, did they kill him, etc.. Did your friend report it to police????
 
I think that the most logical idea is that Brandon's phone died, which made him exclaim, "Oh Sh--" since he knew that his phone was the only way he would be able to contact his father or anyone else again. Now, he was on his own. Glasses or not ( I understand he was nearly blind in his left eye) he would have had no idea where to go or where he was. I think he just stumbled upon a creek/river/sinkhole/etc etc that made him fall or caused him to get hypothermia. It, unfortunately, is very possible that even after countless searches with LE and search teams, his remains or his items (hat, hoodie, glasses, keys, phone) were not found. But, it does seem like at least SOMETHING has to show up. Which is why I have devoted so much of my time reading this...

I was surprised to see that not ONE post in here mentioned aliens/supernatural.

I also want to comment on the pipe found in his car (? if I am not mistaken)...do we know if this is a meth pipe, or is it a weed pipe? Was the pipe ever put in a lab for a residue scan or to know if it was his or not?

HOW HAVE NONE OF HIS FRIENDS TALKED ABOUT THIS!!! SPOKEN OUT ABOUT THIS!!!! WHERE IS BRANDON!!!!! WE WILL KNOW SOON!!!!! You all are amazing people for taking time and researching this. I know I am about 13 years late, but at least it is being discussed.
 
punkoffprincess said:
???? I am new to this thread and spent over 2 hours reading every post, clicking every link, etc. Neesaki, you have been an avid writer and responder in this thread....and you are just now saying that you have a second hand account of what happened????? WHAT HAPPENED THEN? What did they say, who's basement, how did he get there, was he already dead, did they kill him, etc.. Did your friend report it to police????
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The OP sent this to me via PM, and didn’t give anymore details, so that’s all I know. Who knows if it’s true. I encouraged them to report it but don’t know if they ever did so. If it was true they sure should have. I don’t think I saw them here on the thread after that, which was several years ago now.
 
punkoffprincess said:
I think that the most logical idea is that Brandon's phone died, which made him exclaim, "Oh Sh--" since he knew that his phone was the only way he would be able to contact his father or anyone else again. Now, he was on his own. Glasses or not ( I understand he was nearly blind in his left eye) he would have had no idea where to go or where he was. I think he just stumbled upon a creek/river/sinkhole/etc etc that made him fall or caused him to get hypothermia. It, unfortunately, is very possible that even after countless searches with LE and search teams, his remains or his items (hat, hoodie, glasses, keys, phone) were not found. But, it does seem like at least SOMETHING has to show up. Which is why I have devoted so much of my time reading this...

I was surprised to see that not ONE post in here mentioned aliens/supernatural.

I also want to comment on the pipe found in his car (? if I am not mistaken)...do we know if this is a meth pipe, or is it a weed pipe? Was the pipe ever put in a lab for a residue scan or to know if it was his or not?

HOW HAVE NONE OF HIS FRIENDS TALKED ABOUT THIS!!! SPOKEN OUT ABOUT THIS!!!! WHERE IS BRANDON!!!!! WE WILL KNOW SOON!!!!! You all are amazing people for taking time and researching this. I know I am about 13 years late, but at least it is being discussed.
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I, like you, read through everything on Brandon and more than once. I really get frustrated by the misinformation that every case seems to carry. Between article misprints, inaccurate news reporting, rumors, etc., it seems so hard to get the real facts of a case. This is probably the #1 case I think about. There’s a lot of good info out there. I was under the impression it was a weed pipe but I think I had the same question as you originally. I’ll have to look back and see if I can find the answer to that one.

Also, the part about none or his belongings being found leads me to believe he either fell into something or someone harmed him and disposed of his property. I also remember reading his car door was left open which to me seemed very odd unless perhaps someone stopped to dig through the car and we’re in a rush to get out of there to avoid being caught.

And I couldn’t agree more, someone knows what’s happened. I could see someone who is very introverted living out in the country maybe having some dark secret(s). In that case, I suppose I would believe it’s possible no one really knows what happened. But most people talk to much and this is something you know people are going to talk about. Like hey did you hear what a happened to Brandon? There’s prob plenty of theories out their amongst his friends and locals but really how much of that is only rumor as well. So sad for all those who love and care about him. I wish the right people would come forward and give them some something. I do believe the not knowing is the worst. Because you live with that little piece of hope that you can ever give up without knowing.

Think I’m gonna dig around a little to see if I can find anything new.
 
I still think the most bizarre thing about this case is not the fact that he hasn't been found but the fact he was 25 miles away from where he said he was. I just dont think there was any chance he was sober at all and that his friends and family were covering it up to protect him if he was found alive.
 
Bmgallit said:
I have a really simple question. I have done a lot of reading about this case, and one thing that never has come up is street signs. After the initial call to the parents where Brandon thought he was in lynd why didn't Brandon try to find one st sign to tell him where he was? I get it was dark and he was partially blind but I'd he just found one sign he would of been found. Like if I'm lost and on the phone with someone trying to find me I think the first thing I'm looking for is a street sign. Just makes no sense to me why Brandon or his dad didn't have him try and find one at an intersection. I looked at Google maps st views and anywhere where I could look that had street view in the area of an intersection had a sign.
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what area were you looking at just out of curiosity? google maps is probably going to bring you to an area with intersections and street signs, but there can be long stretches of road with no signs. Although I don't know for sure, and don't know if his dad ever confirmed, i was always under the impression that the reason he was supposedly walking towards Lynd was because he didn't notice anything else (like signs) that would indicate where he was. Not sure. You bring up a good point.
 
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)

punkoffprincess said:
I think that the most logical idea is that Brandon's phone died, which made him exclaim, "Oh Sh--" since he knew that his phone was the only way he would be able to contact his father or anyone else again.
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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.
 
MesquiteO21 said:
what area were you looking at just out of curiosity? google maps is probably going to bring you to an area with intersections and street signs, but there can be long stretches of road with no signs. Although I don't know for sure, and don't know if his dad ever confirmed, i was always under the impression that the reason he was supposedly walking towards Lynd was because he didn't notice anything else (like signs) that would indicate where he was. Not sure. You bring up a good point.
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I was looking at the area very near where his car was found and where the dogs search went. There are definitely st signs out there he could of found. It sounds like both Brandon and his dad were really bad at trying to find eachother. I still think Brandon was either really drunk or on drugs or both
 
It's no surprise that ever since reading Maureen Callahan's book about IK, i've felt pretty strongly and been vocal about the possibility of Brandon being a Keyes' victim. I know a lot of people (most, i think) don't agree and that's fine. I could be wrong. I do feel like there's a decent amount that adds up, but I'm still open to the possibility of being wrong about it.

So... just throwing it out there: not sure if anyone listens to the True Crime Bullsh** podcast, Josh Hallmark's investigation into Israel Keyes, but recent episodes have mentioned 2 small but still somewhat interesting points that can fit in with Brandon's case. Both of which i was completely unaware of when i started formulating my theory that Brandon was an IK victim:

1. Josh discovered that IK was VERY into gambling and it appears committed crimes near, or in the radius of, casinos. There are about a dozen casinos near Lynd and/or Marshall.
2. IK was familiar with and frequently used County Route 3. Brandon's call had been routed through a tower at the intersection of County Routes 3 and 10.

Obviously not smoking gun evidence, but i'll tell you i felt a bit sick when i heard Josh talking about these points and realized they could be added to the circumstantial points that lined up with Brandon. You can poke holes in the theory of IK being responsible, sure, i won't deny that. But as of yet, until/if anything is ever discovered, it can't be ruled out either and i think there are fair points in favor of it.

(Also just a reminder that Brandon is listed on ViCAP. From what i've been able to find and read about ViCAP, it's a tool for law enforcement to share information about serial offenders and crimes. It's also my understanding that this system is only available to LE, so it's not possible for some random armchair detective civilian (AKA me :D) to be like "oh yeah he could've been a serial killer victim so let's put him in this database just in case." It's operated by LE with their access to information, and not just a database for possible theories. )
 
This case has been bothering me for months. I’ve spent many sleepless nights thinking about it. After researching for days and days, I’m particularly disturbed because this case should’ve been solved. Based on the case facts, the answer to what happened to Brandon should be right in front of everyone.

Not only does this case bother me, but it breaks my heart. I saw that Brandon was becoming a windmill scientist. I read that he had a love for learning and books. Apparently he enjoyed researching things like The String Theory. How can something so terrible happen to someone who had so much potential in this world? This mixed with his cute, dorky (don’t mean this in a bad way) little pictures has literally made me cry.

I’ve never felt this way about a missing person’s case before. Sure, I’ve followed and Googled things about other cases before but not like this. He’s out there in those fields and he needs to be returned to his family! Bumping because we can’t stop talking about Brandon. This case cannot go cold. There has to be more that can be done.
 
e_grace said:
This case has been bothering me for months. I’ve spent many sleepless nights thinking about it. After researching for days and days, I’m particularly disturbed because this case should’ve been solved. Based on the case facts, the answer to what happened to Brandon should be right in front of everyone.
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Feel free to enlighten us.
 
By posting this I mean absolutely no disrespect to the family. I read on Facebook that they are not a fan of people speculating, especially when they’re not from the area. However, they said they don’t want people to stop talking about Brandon. That is definitely understandable. All of the information I am using comes from factual sources.

Here is a map I created based on what I interpreted from sources like the case study done by Jeff Hasse and The Search for Brandon Blog. The features on the map are a little bit blurry because it is a screenshot from Google Earth. If you’re interested in looking more closely at the landmarks, you should refer to actual Google Earth and follow along with the map I made.

Links to these sources:
User:Jeff Hasse/Missing Person Case Study -- Brandon Swanson - Wikiversity

The Search for Brandon Swanson

Of course we don’t know exactly what happened to Brandon. But we do know that out of the 1,900 canine searches that took place over the years, the scent of human remains have been detected. So we know 100% that HR are in the area. We don’t know for sure that they are Brandon’s, but by using Occam’s Razor we can safetly assume that they are.

We also know that scent dogs tracked where Brandon walked the night he went missing while he was on the phone with his father. They tracked his scent all the way to an abandoned farm.

According to my sources, in October of 2010, HRD dogs gave alerts that a scent was found in Mud Creek. The creek was dammed up and searched. No human remains were found. It is believed that Mud Creek is a scent pool.

We all know about how several dogs picked up and used their highest alert signals on a farming cultivator on the side of a field.

If those are his remains that the HRD dogs have been picking up on, he is probably in those fields in between The Yellow Medicine River and Mud Creek.
 

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e_grace said:
If those are his remains that the HRD dogs have been picking up on, he is probably in those fields in between The Yellow Medicine River and Mud Creek.
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Ah I see. I had assumed from the tone of your post that you were suggesting a nefarious fate befell Brandon.
 
Is it possible he took shelter in a bridge and wearing dark clothing, he is hidden? Maybe he got back to Hwy 68, the road he is most familiar with. Could he reach a small town and everything is closed? Maybe he hides somewhere in a bridge or another structure. Maybe he thinks a gas station or restaurant opens early in the morning and he could use their phone. I don't know how often bridges get inspected, or if he's hidden a bridge inspector could see him. Could he climb into a bridge, drop something in the water that floats down to this mud creek area? Maybe that's why the farmers can't find his belongings in their fields? Homeless people live under bridges all the time, so maybe that was his thinking.
 
Does anyone know if he had a second pair of glasses? For someone with -4.00 on a clear night you can’t tell if it’s a full moon or a crescent moon because it’s all just a blur. When he said he saw lights I wonder about that.
When he was flashing his headlights did any farmers report seeing or being wakened by it? Did anyone report hearing anything that night?
He did many of the right things to do in the situation. He was solution based in his thinking. When something didn’t work they tried something else. Imo if he had an accident he would have survived because he had a problem solving mindset. The lack of any physical evidence after all these years is another reason to consider the possibility that it was a crime.
Prayers and compassion for him and his family.
 
"If I remember correctly he went out at night and his car broke down in the middle of nowhere so he called his dad to come and find him. Eventually, during the call he yelled out, 'Oh *advertiser censored*!' and that was the last time anyone ever heard from him."
—idk_man_idk
HLN / Via youtube.comLess

What happened:​

Swanson was a 19-year-old college student in Marshall, Minnesota last seen leaving a friend’s house on May 14, 2008. After apparently driving into a ditch, he called his parents to pick him up. However, even after talking to him several times on the way, they were never able to find him. His car was later found abandoned in a ditch with the car doors open and keys missing, roughly 25 miles from where he had said he was.
www.yahoo.com

People Are Sharing Unsolved Mysteries That Shook Them To Their Core, And Yeah, You're Not Sleeping Tonight

"Brandon Swanson went out at night and his car broke down in the middle of nowhere, so he called his dad to come and find him. Eventually, during the call he yelled out, 'Oh sh-t!' and that was the last time anyone ever heard from him."
www.yahoo.com www.yahoo.com
 
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