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GameChanger [Music] welcome to True Crime garage wherever you are whatever you are doing thanks
00:01:44
for listening I'm your host Nick and with me of course as always from behind the glass is the man steering the ship
00:01:51
he is the captain and together we would like to point out that only a total psychotic would listen to this show at
00:01:58
two times the speed welcome to the show Captain thank you thank you thank you it's good to be seeing it's good to see
00:02:03
you thanks for listening and thanks for telling a [Music] friend this week we are drinking
00:02:11
anheiser Bush's Budweiser an American logger and an American classic the onetime king of beers garage grade three
00:02:20
bottle caps out of five and this week our fridge is full thank you to all of you out there but specifically first up
00:02:29
thanks to l p in Washington and a big shout out to Emily in O Sage Minnesota next up we have Brian in Highlands Ranch
00:02:39
Colorado and in Birmingham Alabama we have Andrea cheers mate and next up we have our friend Randy in Federal Way
00:02:47
Washington and last but certainly not least we have a longdistance cheers way out to Lauren in Port talit Wales thank
00:02:56
you to everybody for helping us out with this week's show if you want to contribute to Future shows go to True
00:03:02
Crime garage.com and click on the Donate button and if you'd like to check out our old episodes download the Stitcher
00:03:09
app and we have a weekly show called off the Record so get hip to that it's hip to be square and that's enough of the
00:03:16
business all right Captain everybody gather around grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some true
00:03:28
crime all right we're back with part three of Brandon Swanson it's like we never left
00:03:40
yeah some people cover this case in 10 minutes we cover it in 10 hours 10 episodes so going through these theories
00:03:48
here Captain we talked about how thinking sideways said it's impossible for alien abduction you said No Time
00:03:55
Warp no Sasquatch um there are people and I find this a little strange but it is
00:04:02
something that you do have to consider anytime you have a missing person's case is that the individual chooses to be
00:04:11
missing that they decide to walk away from their life yeah and we both agree in this case the fact that Brandon
00:04:17
seemed to be lost at some point so he's calling for help from friends they don't
00:04:21
answer so then he calls and gets a hold of the his parents and he's asking for help basically right and we agree that
00:04:29
he didn't walk away from his life based off of his actions leading up to his last known whereabouts right and there's
00:04:36
also it would make zero sense to call Mom and Dad and then decide to walk away that same night yeah and on top of that
00:04:42
there is no nothing of his past or anything that his family is pointing to that this is a possibility mhm one of
00:04:50
the more plausible theories and this kind of branches into a couple different options here is that Brandon perished in
00:04:57
some type of accident somewhere out out there in that night this Theory seems to
00:05:02
be again one of the more likely ones although it's the problem here in this case will continue to be that they've
00:05:12
not ever found Brandon they've never found any evidence of him clothing a jacket shoes anything of his glasses his
00:05:21
phone anything like that but let's get into this Theory let's break it down right Brandon was disoriented and
00:05:30
confused about where he was that is not a question he was 20 mil from where he thought he was mhm we know he got his
00:05:38
car stuck in a ditch we know he was frustrated based off of what his parents were saying he decided to abandon the
00:05:45
vehicle he start started walking he took what he referred to as a more direct route across Fields Farmland off-road
00:05:55
areas terrain he was not familiar with well not initially he was staying on the the road initially and then he went off
00:06:01
path correct he's walking along fences and he states to his father he can hear running water meanwhile what else do we
00:06:10
know he it's very dark that night Brandon is blind in one eye his father heard him exclaim oh [ __ ] and then the
00:06:19
phone on Brandon's side goes dead so what happened here well no it let's be clear it doesn't go dead from our
00:06:28
knowledge there's a disconnection the call drops is what what I meant sorry about that uh and and it's just words
00:06:37
but you're right it we need to clear that up because there is a hot debate about if his phone went dead or if it
00:06:44
was still active yes after he says oh [ __ ] the call ends on Brandon's end from here a lot of people say
00:06:54
Brandon could have fallen or could have walked into something this would be the river a well a sinkhole or some
00:07:05
other type of obstacle let's go through this because I think we can very quickly
00:07:10
eliminate some of these possibilities and this is based off of information that has come out and is pretty wild you
00:07:18
know readily available the sinkhole theories have basically been debunked by Jeff hassie
00:07:27
remember he's the search manager that we spoke about who methodically and meticulously was searching for Brandon
00:07:34
all these years he stated that the radius where he calculated that Brandon could have possibly walked from his car
00:07:42
and this is even after the call went dead according to the blog that he maintained that we referenced yesterday
00:07:49
that that cites details in the searches conducted for Brandon provide you know making these public he states that
00:07:57
sinkholes form and cars or cave geology now he also says that the only car geology in Minnesota is in the
00:08:08
Southeastern part of the state the area where Brandon went missing is in the southwestern part of Minnesota mhm
00:08:16
basically he's saying he couldn't have fallen into a sinkhole because they're not there right the other thing he
00:08:21
points out too regarding like Wells open Wells and things of that nature on Farmland he points out that the Farmland
00:08:28
in this area the country is extremely valuable and that all old Wells have been capped off or replaced per
00:08:36
Minnesota law so the days of large Wells with buckets that people could fall into he's
00:08:44
saying are long gone right they could be capped off and also in this area these farmers and these people that live in
00:08:51
the area would hear about this kid going missing and they'd probably check their
00:08:55
property for any um signs of Brandon yes he's stating that all the water sources
00:09:02
on these industrial Farms were quote unquote high tech by 2008 now old sisters could
00:09:12
exist but again if they do the Searchers have never found one mhm that could leave us with the river so we have a
00:09:22
local woman who participated in the searches for Brandon she posted that the terrain out there is fed with swamps
00:09:30
bogs caves 6ot tall grasslands wooded areas and ponds Cattails along the river banks are
00:09:39
8 ft tall at this time of year Brandon could have walked or fallen into you know the River or the swamps or the bogs
00:09:49
at any point along this way his father says after Brandon says oh [ __ ] that he heard some type of what
00:09:58
he describes as a slipping sound mhm and we know that the scent dogs tracked Brandon to the actual River and then
00:10:06
seem to indicate that he got back out of the river so th this is goes into what you were talking about earlier Captain
00:10:13
where you have to wonder is it possible did Brandon fall into the yellow Medicine
00:10:18
River and did something happen to his phone that he that he even maybe he didn't drown in the river or maybe he
00:10:27
did maybe he hit his head and drowned in the river but you also have this theory
00:10:30
that maybe he he slipped into the river he gets out but his phone does not MH then the question is would his phone
00:10:39
continue to ring for a few days even after submerged Jeff hassie says yes this is a possibility that the the sound
00:10:49
that the caller hears has nothing to do with the condition of the actual phone so this makes this a a very
00:10:57
possible thing here right yeah sometimes when you're trying to call somebody if you don't have great service your phone
00:11:03
will ring multiple times before it actually tries to connect to them right right so the idea being here that maybe
00:11:11
something happened to the phone here's here's the the thing that you really got to consider
00:11:18
right if he did fall into the river even if he got out he very likely could be soaking wet then we he's staggering
00:11:27
along the road until he decides to stop and rest somewhere maybe this is a hole a field or in the woods or an abandoned
00:11:36
Barn he could have died of hypothermia temperatures dropped to 39° that night we both agreed that he was
00:11:45
wearing fairly warmth clothing for that evening the river was only 55° could Brandon have succumbed to the
00:11:54
cold especially if he was wet his body having not been found yet could be because it was either too
00:12:03
obscured or has been scattered by animals plowed under and broken up by heavy farm
00:12:11
equipment we have to remember that Searchers were not able to access all of the Farmland in the area some of which
00:12:21
were covered thickly with high tight crops there's some interesting things that Jeff hassie States in his
00:12:29
information that he's made public when he's talking about you know we we reference how many dogs they used in the
00:12:35
search for Brandon over the years the problem is at certain times of the years the the crops are at different heights
00:12:42
and he says that the height of crops can make it extremely difficult if not impossible for a dog to find the scent
00:12:51
right and it's just hard to search in general when you have obstacles like that you see that in a case like the
00:12:58
Long Island serial killer case Jeff hassie also states that this region receives nearly constant winds which can
00:13:06
come from any direction these winds move scent from the source and deposit it into what he refers to as scent pools
00:13:14
mhm this can throw off the kadav dogs meaning they they won't be able to settle on an exact location of The
00:13:22
Remains the other possibility too that he points out is that the remains may have been scattered over a wide area and
00:13:30
this could be by Predators you know such as animals or that they were moved by human
00:13:37
activity such as Farmers tilling their fields or bailing hay or cornstock something like that MH then again we
00:13:44
also have these access issues they've not been able to search everywhere that they would like to
00:13:49
search they have been very careful to protect land owners property over the years generally avoiding searching
00:13:57
Fields with crops in them even though he States there's a very likely chance that
00:14:01
Brandon ended up in a field right he states that this yeah this only leaves spring and fall available for them to
00:14:10
search and then we have the difficulty of how much land there is to search remember he pointed out that you're
00:14:17
prioritizing 98.5 square miles yeah he says a lot of land yeah he says to effectively search
00:14:26
a single 60 acre field a team a whole team of people must walk in excess of 10 miles in what he says is difficult
00:14:37
footing along these same lines here Captain he points out that not all of the private landowner along these same
00:14:45
lines here Captain Jeff points out that not all of these private land owners have agreed to searches because let's
00:14:53
say Brandon attempted to seek Shelter From the wind or from the cold right at some point along his journey maybe he
00:15:00
crawls into an out building or under some old machinery and then passes there he he says that theyve not
00:15:11
searched all of the farmsteads in fact they've only searched very few of the farmsteads in the area well you said
00:15:18
there was that radius that they had to search and there's a what was the percentage like they've only been able
00:15:24
to search about 60% 60% of the area that they've prior przed yes well and to go back to the cadav dogs too if you have
00:15:32
like a a small pond of water but it has a drains into something mhm that the cadaver dogs normally do not hit inside
00:15:41
the pond like the body could be in the middle of the pond the cadav dogs normally hit where the water is draining
00:15:49
because that's where the scent is um more dominant he also points out the conditions in Minnesota at that time of
00:15:59
year and by his all of his knowledge and all of his experience it's his opinion that a body could become fully
00:16:07
skeletonized within a week so that's very quick out there even calculating that Brandon's body was likely fully
00:16:15
disarticulated by mid July of 2008 and he says this would be very likely at the latest and one of the things that makes
00:16:25
this case so much more fascinating is like you been talking about is the documentation of the search that really
00:16:33
changes everything with as far as like the Brandon Lawson case or or like even like Mara Murray like we don't have um
00:16:42
as detailed records of the searches that happen and in those cases right and so what is fascinating here and really
00:16:51
educating at the same time is all the information about the searches throughout the years detailed
00:16:58
information where we have a complete understanding of look so many so many shows and so
00:17:05
many news articles and so many website forums and message boards they keep coming back to the idea that something
00:17:14
weird had to have happened because they've not found Brandon right the problem here is we have the the search
00:17:21
manager the guy in charge in his team that is very publicly stating we had this huge area to search
00:17:29
we went over the difficulties of the search or what could have happened throughout the the the years wherever
00:17:36
Brandon may be that adds to the difficulty level of the search and yet we have them saying
00:17:42
they's still almost 40% of the prioritized area that we have not been able to get to yeah which is sad because
00:17:50
this is somebody's child this is people's friends the you know and I understand why some of the places
00:17:56
haven't been searched but it's kind of sad yes I mean there's there's a a multitude of reasons why certain areas
00:18:03
have not been searched and some of it is just happen stance some of it is just the lay of the land itself what do we
00:18:11
think happened here Captain we we could spin our tires all day long on the possibilities and the searches and what
00:18:18
has taken place over the course of 11 years or almost you know 11 years now what do we think happened and well well
00:18:26
let's take a quick beer break so we can gather our thoughts and gather some beers this show is sponsored by better
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to answer call us at 1888 [Music] Freedom all right got that king of beer king of beer
00:20:55
Kings King of beers what did I say I don't know I'm looking at my notes and trying
00:21:04
to talk at the same time I'm doing the same thing I'm moving some things around would you like to go first my friend
00:21:10
yeah I can I think um to me it's where does the evidence take us I think one with this search we
00:21:20
we will find you know with the the abandoned car we're going to find him within this area
00:21:27
I think where the the initial scent dogs hit into the river that's the yellow Medicine River correct um where they hit
00:21:38
there and then came out of the river I think they should have just probably stayed in the river um that's what my
00:21:47
what my gut is telling me is the old [ __ ] again when he was talking to his father he's saying well I'm along this
00:21:53
fence line I can hear water and then boom oh [ __ ] um we have no signs of Foul Play but that does not mean that further
00:22:05
down the line you know uh if the scent dogs just stopped that further down the line there wouldn't be maybe something
00:22:12
but we have had no reports of that so I think where the car was with possibly being tired I think with um possibly
00:22:23
being you know let's say buzzed I think there's some evidence that he you had a few
00:22:31
drinks he was frustrated he was tired he was walking uh he was trying to get help he
00:22:37
was definitely lost uh or not in the area that he thought he was I think that area is very easy to be confused and I
00:22:45
think you're going to dive into that more but I think like I said the dogs take us to that area I think his
00:22:53
conversation with his father uh on the phone points to being in that area area and to be be around that that River mhm
00:23:02
we have not found his body now I think that is a leap like you said maybe 60% of this area has been searched 40 hasn't
00:23:11
so could you find his body somewhere else yes and I understand that they also search this River I think it' be a lot
00:23:18
harder to find his body in water in general so I I I I just think that kind of leads to it and I know like I said I
00:23:25
know that's a leap to say well we haven't found his body on land so therefore it puts him into water but I
00:23:31
think there's other like I said those other pieces of evidence kind of points Us in the direction that there could
00:23:38
have been an accident that happened uh along that that water line mhm mhm I want to address a few different
00:23:47
things that I think are confusing this whole situation from all of the armchair detectives all the
00:23:54
people on the outside looking in I think first I want to address the issue of I'm not totally discrediting or
00:24:01
discounting the possibility of Foul Play but what I do want to discredit is the thought that because his name is on
00:24:10
vicap means that he met with Foul Play and people keep going back to that well law enforcement must know something that
00:24:19
we don't know because they put him on vicap that that that is a possibility that they know something that we don't
00:24:26
it's definitely a possibility but looking into that specific situation what I gathered from the
00:24:33
database is that vicap was alerted of Brandon Swanson's situation on March 5th of
00:24:40
2010 and then it was released to the public as being part of the vicap database on April 7th of 2010 now
00:24:49
remember what we reported earlier that back in March of 2010 the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal apprehension became
00:24:56
the lead invest investigating Agency on the case new eyes looking at a Cold Case
00:25:04
what I'm getting to here Captain is it's my thought that the reason that Brandon
00:25:09
is on vicap is not because there is evidence of Foul Play or that he was met with violence it's simply because a new
00:25:18
agency took over his case and decided to ask it to be applied to vicap as something that it it can't hurt to put
00:25:28
him on the database right the only thing that can hurt is the rumor mill mhm and
00:25:34
then I also want to address the issue of him being disoriented or you know why he got lost that whole situation first
00:25:45
of all I question one how well he would have known any of these areas outside of
00:25:52
Route 68 and Route 23 I I seriously question that first of all how experienced of a driver is he he's only
00:26:00
19 years old and we have some stories that may indicate that he might have even lost his license at one
00:26:08
point and then people point out that well he traveled this route for a full school year to and from Marshall and
00:26:17
cambi where his school was I take I take a little issue with that too because this the typical school
00:26:24
year at this school is late August to miday it's not really a full year one and they take about a monthlong break in
00:26:33
the middle of the winter so it's not a full year first of all and then second of all why would he know the areas off
00:26:41
of Route 68 Route 68 takes him to and from school so I really question how well he knew this area then on top of
00:26:51
that we have some confusion confusing things going on regarding the lay of the land MH so any anybody that has seen
00:26:58
this area on a map will know that the the streets and the roads the country roads out there are laid out basically
00:27:06
like a square grid yeah I believe there's a simple version of this map on Wikipedia yeah I would I would encourage
00:27:15
anybody to look up that simple version of the map and then use your own map app to really zoom in on some areas and go
00:27:25
through that trail that we discussed in detail regarding the dogs movements when
00:27:31
they were following or believed to be following Brandon's movements M now what you will see here
00:27:38
is regarding this map okay so picture a square if you're not looking at it picture Square Route 68 runs diagonally
00:27:48
from the northwest corner of that square to the southeast corner of that square mhm above Route 68 and Below rout about
00:27:57
68 you have Country Roads that are laid out in a grid now north of 68 we have street names and Avenue names
00:28:08
such as they're all kind of numbers there are some that are named but the overwhelming majority of them are just
00:28:14
numbers meaning like 360th Street 280th Avenue 110th Street 150th Avenue so on and so forth you get what I'm talking
00:28:28
about now north of Route 68 all of the numbered roads if they're going east to west M
00:28:39
they are an Avenue if they're going north to south or south to North there are streets if you get south of 68 it
00:28:50
flip-flops where all of the numbered country roads going north to south are Avenues and east to west are streets
00:29:00
what I'm getting at here is you would only have to take one wrong turn to end up going the wrong way if
00:29:09
you let's say you are somewhat familiar with the area and you are aware that oh Avenues run east to west Streets Run
00:29:18
north to south even though I'm lost I'm going to use that information to guide me back to where I think I need to get
00:29:24
to well if you make one wrong turn basically take that whole Square map that I just described and turn it on its
00:29:30
side because now the streets are going east to west and the Avenues are going north the South it's a very tricky area
00:29:37
so I completely understand why somebody anyone regardless of their situation how much
00:29:45
they've had to drink how little they've had to drink what they've ingested or not would get turned around and Confused
00:29:52
in the situation and again as we pointed out there are indicators to him that he
00:29:57
is right in his statement where he sees I got to go across a major road there is
00:30:02
a river that runs into that town I must be where I think I am right and the simple fact of the matter is the people
00:30:08
that say well he knew this area well he didn't because where he told his family he was he was not mhm and that's all the
00:30:18
proof that you need that he didn't know where he was at maybe he does know that area well but that
00:30:24
night um no he didn't know where he was that the other thing too that I think gets in the way of really sorting
00:30:32
through all of this is the oh [ __ ] moment right so this this case oddly enough made me think back to my
00:30:42
childhood okay I'm a child of the 90s and what I'm talking about here Captain is the song the things that make
00:30:50
you go hm by CNC Music Factory this was a 1990 release things that make you go what M mhm don't bother looking up the
00:31:00
song it's as bad as you expect it to be mhm okay now look this case of course this is a tragic case here of this young
00:31:07
man but it's truly a big question mark and why so many people are fascinated by this case is that it's a big question
00:31:16
mark now if you look at the lyrics for that song the things that make you go H the lyrics in that song is listing out
00:31:25
very simply the things that make you go hm now there are a lot of questions in this case but what I was really looking
00:31:32
at regarding the phone call he says oh [ __ ] and then the phone call ends I was
00:31:39
really thinking to myself what are the things that would make me go oh [ __ ] right and so we're going to put
00:31:46
ourselves in Brandon's shoes here so to speak now that could have been any number of things it could have been some
00:31:53
type of accident he could have hurt himself you know people people say a car stepped in a pile of [ __ ] right whatever
00:32:01
but the the problem is the call ends after this takes place so you can't you can't just look at this and go oh what
00:32:11
would make me say oh [ __ ] what would make me say oh [ __ ] and then the phone the phone call ends you have to put
00:32:18
those two things together because that's what took place now of course it could have been some type of accident he could
00:32:24
have fallen into the river the river kills his phone but the other thing just as simple
00:32:31
could be his phone is going to die right the phone is losing its charged it has no battery life left his phone according
00:32:41
to what you can the specs that you can find online has 400 minutes of call time of talk time M we know that this one
00:32:51
phone call the last phone call took up 47 minutes of talk time that's of the whole battery life right there now on
00:33:00
top of that he's had that wasn't a good phone on top of that he's had multiple calls with Mom and Dad before this last
00:33:07
one MH he's also gone to two parties that night I mean this phone is basically a rock with an
00:33:14
antenna he left his home by all accounts around 6:00 p.m. that night so he's been
00:33:20
gone it's now 3 in the morning he's been gone like 9 hours so what I'm getting at
00:33:25
here is car charger though could that's very possible but what I'm getting at here is it's very likely that he could
00:33:32
have been talking and talking and talking pulled the phone away looked at the screen and went oh [ __ ] or got some
00:33:40
kind of notification that he heard on his end but his father didn't hear mhm and goes oh [ __ ] and then the phone goes
00:33:47
dead simply because the battery life ran out the thing here is that doesn't get us any closer to what happened to
00:33:55
Brandon but what I'm getting at is what I think is is so polarizing about that case this case is that phone call where
00:34:02
I think it's just kind of confusing and it's really clouding the whole situation the phone call and him saying
00:34:10
old [ __ ] May mean nothing at all could be something super small something as simple as his phone dying and then
00:34:18
whatever took place took place after he no longer had the use of his phone I do think that there's some type of accident
00:34:25
that took place out there that led to his demise M that he probably did succumb to the elements at some point
00:34:34
that evening and I think it's very likely that he is somewhere in that area that
00:34:40
they've been unable to search for any number of reasons that's 40% of the area I think that's I think that's what
00:34:49
what happened here I think everything that the people that are closest to this case are saying is probably exactly what
00:34:57
happened he wasn't that messed up he just he got disoriented because the area itself is
00:35:04
confusing yeah it's late at night it's not well marked it's it would be confusing for anybody traveling in that
00:35:10
area right he he tried to turn around because he knew had to go an extra mile or two to get to the next intersection
00:35:18
and he was frustrated and upset that he wasn't home already and he just wanted to turn around as quickly as possible
00:35:23
and he ran into the bad luck of getting his car hung up in the ditch and then he
00:35:28
ran into further bad luck of having indicators pointing out to him that he may in fact be where he thinks he
00:35:35
is I think this is just one of those tragic cases and and unfortunately I've heard statements from
00:35:42
his mother and from his sister that are just heartbreaking where his mother says
00:35:48
I'm kind of come to the conclusion that we won't find Brandon in my lifetime and then his sister adds to
00:35:56
that by going I'm starting to think we won't find him in my lifetime yeah and because even if
00:36:02
you take like I said my theory I lean more towards the idea that he ended up in that River well we know what what the
00:36:11
water can do to to bodies and and speed up the composition you know decomposition of the body not to mention
00:36:19
the weather out there being a little more extreme and and um Colder Weather and then it and then also if if you're
00:36:27
right that he is somewhere in this 40% that they haven't been able to search like you talked about you have
00:36:35
farm equipment you have you know a lot of this Machinery that's going to be coming through you have animals you you
00:36:43
have the the weather uh you have all these things stacked up against you to actually find
00:36:49
his remains right and I the thing I want to point out here too Captain is look I'm sure there's a lot of us out
00:37:00
there listening to this and going well whatever happened to Brandon would never happen to me I have GPS on my phone I
00:37:06
have a much different phone than what Brandon had to carry back in 2008 let's let's be smarter than that
00:37:14
let's take this a step further put some things in your vehicle put some safety precautions in your
00:37:22
vehicle flashlights yeah he he might have had some he he may he have but it was a young kid this I think this is
00:37:29
just a this was a friendly reminder to me or an unfriendly reminder however you want to look at it a reminder to me that
00:37:36
it's a good idea to have things like a flashlight first aid kit flares however far you want to take this
00:37:43
thing blankets some people put bottles of water in their vehicle this can happen to any of us and if you're better
00:37:51
prepared you might have a different outcome yeah and even though I I really think my my gut feeling is correct and
00:38:01
then even if it's not correct then I I'd lean more towards the idea okay well maybe he made it out of the water and
00:38:08
now uh we just haven't found him in that that 40% that hasn't been searched I can go with that the one of
00:38:17
the things that really makes me Ponder this case more is the vehicle is left and both
00:38:25
doors are open mhm that doesn't make a lot of sense to me it seems one super strange to me and a bit creepy and scary
00:38:34
at the same time that's the only indicator throughout this whole story that whatever Brandon was telling his father
00:38:41
and his mother that something totally different could have been going on that's the only indicator to me one one
00:38:49
way that I've tried to apply some just very basic logic to why the the car doors would be open obviously if
00:38:57
somebody came along and tried to wanted to steal something or look for something
00:39:02
of value in the car that's an obvious thing right but I also wondered if look they were trying to use lights earlier
00:39:10
in in this whole thing as a way of finding one another by flashing the lights part of me wonders if Brandon
00:39:19
look we know he was a smart guy there's nobody disputing that I wonder if while he's troubl shooting his problem here if
00:39:27
he thought you know what I'm going to head off on foot walking Northwest towards this town yes I'm going to meet
00:39:33
my father there but he's still under the belief at that time that he is in the area of where his father is searching
00:39:40
right so is it possible that he thought I'll take this a step further and leave the car door open or doors open this
00:39:49
leaving on the light inside of the car MH that my father might see so if he doesn't find me at least he finds the
00:39:57
car and I can we can use that as a landmarker to meet up so I I kind of thought that the only thing that that
00:40:05
that makes that punches a hole in that thought and theory is that you think this might have been discussed between
00:40:12
Brandon and his father and it wasn't as far as we know yeah it see that detail to me seems like something that's going
00:40:19
to keep this mystery around for a while right and his father and mother not only
00:40:25
led the search that night and really push to get law enforcement involved as quickly as possible but they've
00:40:32
continued to lead the search for all these years yeah and all missing children cases are difficult I think
00:40:40
there's an element of the fact that you both were get getting up that night to go help him makes it even more difficult
00:40:49
MH well and I hope and pray that his mother and sister are wrong in their thought and their their belief that
00:40:57
they've kind of come to the idea that they may never know what happened to Brandon in throughout their the course
00:41:02
of their lifetime I hope that they're wrong with that the the family this has got to be haunting for them and they've
00:41:10
already kind of come to the idea and somewhat accepted the idea that Brandon's very likely no longer with us
00:41:20
but to have some answers would would be very big for them in this situation now there is a thing today called Brandon's
00:41:30
law and this is because of Brandon's parents Annette and Brian Swanson are responsible for the enactment of
00:41:39
Brandon's law which became effective in Minnesota on July 1st 2009 this law requires Minnesota police
00:41:48
to begin an immediate search for missing adults under 21 as well as older adults
00:41:55
who are missing under suspicious circumstances and Brandon's situation certainly falls into that regardless of
00:42:03
what theory you favor or believe the Swanson have kept the porch light on for their son they have burned through many
00:42:10
light bulbs and the 11 years he has been missing Brian Swanson has acknowledged that the family likely won't find
00:42:18
Brandon alive but they still want to find him there has never been a memorial service for Brandon Brandon's sister is
00:42:26
now married and Brandon now has two nephews which he has never met the Swanson want to know what happened to
00:42:33
their son they say quote you know people don't just vanish Into Thin Air but it sure seems like he
00:42:43
[Music] did all right Captain before we wrap things up this week how about a little
00:42:51
recommended reading we have one from our good friend good friend of the show Billy Jen son his new book called Chase
00:42:58
Darkness with me Captain you and I hung out with Billy at crime con and he was kind enough to send a couple of copies
00:43:05
of Chase Darkness with me to the garage we can't wait to read it that's by Billy
00:43:11
Jensen you don't have to write that title down though because you can go to truecrime garage.com click on the
00:43:16
recommended page and we will have that title there for you along with other recommendations yeah and I think he owed
00:43:24
us the book because he thought that uh Bob Ruff was going to out drink me but um but like we know like everybody knows
00:43:33
Bob Ruff said good night therefore disqualifying himself and making me the winner of the drinking contest at
00:43:41
crimecon so thank you Billy and thank you Bob for quitting on the drinking contest that's right all right until
00:43:49
next week everybody out there be good be kind and don't litter [Music] [Applause]
00:44:16
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