Search Captions & Ask AI

Brandon Swanson /// Part 3 /// 334

November 21, 2022 / 41:31

This episode covers the case of Brandon Swanson, discussing theories surrounding his disappearance, including possible accidents and search efforts. The hosts, Nick and Captain, analyze the details of Brandon's last known movements and the challenges faced during the search.

Brandon Swanson went missing in 2008 after calling his parents for help. The hosts highlight that he was lost and frustrated, having gotten his car stuck in a ditch. They discuss the possibility that he may have perished in an accident, emphasizing the lack of evidence found in the area.

Key discussions include the terrain of the area where Brandon went missing, the challenges faced by search teams, and the theories regarding his phone call with his father. The hosts mention that Brandon's phone call ended abruptly after he said, "oh [__]," leading to speculation about what may have happened.

The episode also touches on the impact of Brandon's disappearance on his family, including the enactment of Brandon's Law in Minnesota, which mandates immediate searches for missing adults under 21. The hosts express their hope that the Swanson family will eventually find answers.

Overall, the episode provides a detailed examination of the Brandon Swanson case, the search efforts, and the emotional toll on his family.

TLDR

Nick and Captain analyze Brandon Swanson's disappearance, discussing search efforts and theories about his fate after a mysterious phone call.

Episode

41:31
00:00:12
[Music] thank you foreign garage wherever you are whatever you are doing thanks for listening I'm your host
00:00:51
Nick and with me of course as always from behind the glass is the man steering the ship he is the captain and
00:00:58
together we would like to point out that only a total psychotic would listen to this show at two times the speed welcome
00:01:06
to the show cam thank you thank you thank you it's good to be seen it's good to see you thanks for listening thanks
00:01:10
for telling a friend [Music] this week we are drinking anheuser-busch's Budweiser in American
00:01:20
lager and an American classic the one-time king of beers garage grade three bottle caps out of five and this
00:01:29
week our fridge is full thank you to all of you out there but specifically first
00:01:34
up thanks to Laura p and Washington and a big shout out to Emily and Osage Minnesota next up we have Brian in
00:01:43
Highlands Ranch Colorado and in Birmingham Alabama we have Andrea she is mate and next up we have our friend
00:01:51
Randy in Federal Way Washington and last but certainly not least we have a long distance cheers way out to Lauren in
00:01:59
Port Talbot Wales thank you to everybody for helping us out with this week's show
00:02:04
if you want to contribute to Future shows go to truecrime garage.com and click on the Donate button and if you'd
00:02:11
like to check out our old episodes download the Stitcher app and we have a weekly show called off the Record so get
00:02:18
hip to that it's hip to be square and that's enough of the business all right Captain
00:02:23
everybody gather round grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some true crime all right we're back with part three of
00:02:43
Brandon Swanson it's like we never left yeah some people cover this case in 10 minutes we covered in 10 hours
00:02:50
10 episodes so going through these theories here Captain we talked about how thinking
00:02:57
sideways said it's impossible for alien abduction you said No Time Warp no Sasquatch
00:03:04
um there are people and I find this a little strange but it is something that you do have to consider anytime you have
00:03:11
a missing person's case is that the individual chooses to be missing that they decide to walk away
00:03:18
from their life yeah and we both agree in this case the fact that Brandon seemed to be lost at some point so he's
00:03:25
calling for help from friends they don't answer so then he calls and gets a hold
00:03:29
of his parents and he's asking for help basically right and we agree that he didn't walk away from his life based off
00:03:37
of his actions leading up to his last known whereabouts right and there's also it would make zero sense to call Mom and
00:03:44
Dad and then decide to walk away that same night yeah and on top of that there is no nothing of his past or anything
00:03:51
that his family is pointing to that this is a possibility one of the more plausible theories and this kind of
00:03:59
branches into a couple different options here is that Brandon perished in some type of accident somewhere out there in
00:04:06
that night this Theory seems to be again one of the more likely ones although it's
00:04:13
the problem here in this case will continue to be that they've not ever found Brandon they've never found any
00:04:21
evidence of him clothing a jacket shoes anything of his glasses his phone anything like that but let's get into
00:04:30
this Theory let's break it down right Brandon was disoriented and confused about where he was that is not a
00:04:38
question he was 20 miles from where he thought he was we know he got his car stuck in a
00:04:45
ditch we know he was frustrated based off of what his parents were saying he decided to abandon the vehicle he
00:04:52
started started walking he took what he referred to as a more direct route across Fields Farmland
00:04:59
off-road areas terrain he was not familiar with well not initially he was staying on the road initially and then
00:05:06
he went off path correct he's walking along fences and he states to his father he can hear running water
00:05:14
meanwhile what else do we know he it's very dark that night Brandon is blind in one eye his father heard him exclaim oh
00:05:23
[ __ ] and then the phone on Brandon's side goes dead so what happened here well no it's let's
00:05:32
be clear it doesn't go dead from our knowledge there's a disconnection the call drops is what I meant sorry about
00:05:39
that uh and and you it's just words but you're right it we need to clear that up
00:05:45
because there is a hot debate about if his phone went dead or if it was still active yes after
00:05:52
he says oh [ __ ] the call ends on Brandon's end from here a lot of people say Brandon
00:06:01
could have fallen or could have walked into something this would be the river a well a sinkhole or some
00:06:10
other type of obstacle let's go through this because I think we can very quickly
00:06:15
eliminate some of these possibilities and this is based off of information that has come out
00:06:21
and it's pretty wild you know readily available [Music] the sinkhole theories have basically
00:06:29
been debunked by Jeff Hassey remember he's the search manager that we spoke about who methodically and
00:06:37
meticulously was searching for Brandon all these years he stated that the radius where he calculated that Brandon
00:06:45
could have possibly walked from his car and this is even after the call went dead according to the blog that he
00:06:53
maintained that we referenced yesterday the the site's details in the searches conducted for Brandon provide you know
00:07:01
making these public he states that sinkholes form and karst or cave geology now he also says that the only
00:07:10
karscheology in Minnesota is in the Southeastern part of the state the area where Brandon went missing is
00:07:18
in the southwestern part of Minnesota basically he's saying he couldn't have fallen into a sinkhole because they're
00:07:25
not there right the other thing he points out too regarding like Wells open Wells and things of that nature on
00:07:31
Farmland he points out that the Farmland in this area of the country is extremely
00:07:36
valuable and that all old Wells have been capped off or replaced per Minnesota law
00:07:44
so the days of large Wells with buckets that people could fall into he's saying are long gone right they
00:07:52
could be capped off and also in this area these farmers and these people who live in the area would hear about this
00:07:58
kid going missing and they'd probably check their property for any um signs of Brandon yes he's stating
00:08:07
that all the water sources on these industrial Farms were quote unquote high tech by 2008.
00:08:15
now old cisterns could exist but again if they do the Searchers have never found one
00:08:23
[Music] that could leave us with the river so we have a local woman who participated in the searches for Brandon
00:08:31
she posted that the terrain out there is riddled with swamps bogs caves six foot
00:08:37
tall grasslands wooded areas and ponds Cattails along the Riverbanks are eight feet tall
00:08:46
at this time of year Brandon could have walked or fallen into you know the River or the swamps or the
00:08:54
bogs at any point along this way his father says after Brandon says oh [ __ ] that he heard some
00:09:03
type of what he describes as a slipping sound and we know that the scent dogs tracked Brandon to the actual River and
00:09:12
then seemed to indicate that he got back out of the river so that this is goes into what you were talking about earlier
00:09:18
Captain where you have to wonder is it possible that Brandon fall into the yellow Medicine River
00:09:24
and did something happen to his phone that he that he even maybe he didn't drown in the river or maybe he did maybe
00:09:33
he hit his head and drowned in the river but you also have this theory that maybe
00:09:36
he he slipped into the river he gets out but his phone does not then the question is would his phone
00:09:45
continue to ring for a few days even after submerged Jeff Hassey says yes this is a possibility that the the sound
00:09:54
that the caller hears has nothing to do with the condition of the actual phone so this makes this a a very possible
00:10:03
thing here right yeah and sometimes when you're trying to call somebody if you don't have great service your phone will
00:10:09
ring multiple times before it actually tries to connect to them right right so the idea being here that maybe something
00:10:17
happened to the phone here's here's the the thing that you really got to consider right
00:10:24
if he did fall into the river even if he got out he very likely could be soaking wet then we he's staggering
00:10:33
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
00:10:41
Barn he could have died of hypothermia temperatures dropped to 39 degrees that night we both agreed that he was wearing
00:10:51
fairly warmth clothing for that evening the river was only 55 degrees could Brandon have succumbed to the cold
00:11:00
especially if he was wet his body having not been found yet could be because it was either too obscured
00:11:10
or has been scattered by animals plowed under and broken up by heavy farm equipment
00:11:18
we have to remember that Searchers were not able to access all of the Farmland in the area
00:11:24
some of which were covered thickly with high tight crops there's some interesting things that Jeff Hassey
00:11:33
States in his information that he's made public when he's talking about you know
00:11:38
we reference how many dogs they used in the search for Brandon over the years the problem is at certain times of the
00:11:45
years the the crops are at different heights and he says that the height of crops can make it extremely difficult if
00:11:53
not impossible for a dog to find the scent right and it's just hard to search in general when you have obstacles like
00:12:01
that you see that in a case like the Long Island serial killer case Jeff Hassey also states that this region
00:12:08
receives nearly constant winds which can come from any direction these winds move
00:12:14
sent from the source and deposit it into what he refers to as scent pools this can throw off the cadaver dogs meaning
00:12:23
they they won't be able to settle on an exact location of the remains the other possibility to
00:12:31
that he points out is that the remains may have been scattered over a wide area and this could be by Predators you know
00:12:38
such as animals or that they were moved by human activity such as Farmers tilling their
00:12:44
fields or bailing hay or corn stalks something like that then again we also have these access
00:12:51
issues they've not been able to search everywhere that they would like to search
00:12:56
they have been very careful to protect landowners property over the years generally avoiding searching Fields with
00:13:03
crops in them even though he States there's a very likely chance that Brandon ended up in a field right he
00:13:10
states that this yeah this only leaves spring and fall available for them to search
00:13:15
[Music] and then we have the difficulty of how much land there is to search remember he
00:13:22
pointed out that you're prioritizing 98.5 square miles yeah he says yeah he says to effectively
00:13:32
search a single 160 acre field a team a whole team of people must walk in excess
00:13:39
of 10 miles and what he says is difficult footing along these same lines here Captain he
00:13:46
points out that not all of the private and along these same lines here Captain Jeff
00:13:53
points out that not all of these private land owners have agreed to searches because
00:13:58
let's say Brandon attempted to seek Shelter From the wind or from the cold right at some point along his journey
00:14:05
maybe he crawls into an out building or under some old machinery and then passes
00:14:12
there he says that they've not searched all of the farmsteads in fact they've only
00:14:19
searched very few of the farmsteads in the area well you said there was that radius that
00:14:25
they had to search and there's a what was the percentage like they've only been able to search about 60 60 of the
00:14:33
area that they've prioritized yes well and to go back to the cadaver dogs too if you have like a a small pond of water
00:14:41
but it has a drains into something that the cadaver dogs normally do not hit inside the pond like the body could be
00:14:49
in the middle of the pond the cadaver dogs normally hit where the water is draining because that's where
00:14:56
the SAT is um more dominant he also points out the conditions in Minnesota at that time of year and by
00:15:06
his all of his knowledge and all of his experience it's his opinion that a body could
00:15:12
become fully skeletonized within a week so that's very quick out there even calculating that Brandon's body was
00:15:20
likely fully disarticulated by mid-july of 2008 and he says this would be very likely at the latest one of the things
00:15:30
that makes this case so much more fascinating is like you've been talking about is the documentation of the search
00:15:38
yeah it really changes everything with as far as like the Brandon Lawson case or or like even like Mara Murray like we
00:15:45
don't have um as detailed records of the searches that happen and and in those cases right
00:15:53
and so what is fascinating here in really educating at the same time is all the information about the searches
00:16:01
throughout the years detailed information where we have a complete understanding of
00:16:08
look so many so many shows and so many news articles and so many website forums and message boards they keep coming back
00:16:17
to the idea that something weird had to have happened because they've not found Brandon right the problem here is we
00:16:25
have the the search manager the guy in charge and his team that is very publicly stating we had this huge area
00:16:33
to search we went over the difficulties of the search or what could have happened
00:16:39
throughout the the years wherever Brandon may be that adds to the difficulty level of the search
00:16:46
and yet we have them saying there's still almost 40 percent of the prioritized area that we have not been
00:16:52
able to get to yeah which is sad because this is somebody's child this is people's friends you know
00:16:59
and I understand why some of the places haven't been searched but it's kind of sad yes I mean there's
00:17:06
there's a multitude of reasons why certain areas have not been searched and some of it is just happenstance some of
00:17:13
it is just the lay of the land itself what do we think happened here Captain we we could spin our tires all day long
00:17:20
on the possibilities and the searches and what has taken place over the course of 11 years or almost you know 11 years
00:17:29
now what do we think happened well well let's take a quick beer break so we can gather our thoughts and gather some
00:17:38
beers [Music] all right got that king of beer king of beer Kings that was king of beers
00:18:06
sorry what did I say I don't know uh I'm looking at my notes and trying to talk at the same time I'm doing the same
00:18:13
thing I'm moving some things around would you like to go first my friend yeah I can I think um
00:18:21
to me it's where does the evidence take us I think one with this search we we will find
00:18:29
you know with a the abandoned car we're gonna find him within this area I think where the the initial scent dogs hit
00:18:37
into the river that's the yellow Medicine River correct um where they hit there and then came
00:18:46
out of the river I think they should have just probably stayed in the river um that's what my what my gut is telling
00:18:55
me is that oh [ __ ] again when he was talking to his father he's saying well I'm along this fence line I can hear
00:19:02
water and then boom oh [ __ ] um we have no signs of Foul Play but that does not mean that further down
00:19:12
the line you know uh if the scent dogs just stop that further down the line there wouldn't be maybe something but
00:19:20
we have had no reports of that so I think where the car was with possibly being tired I think with
00:19:29
um possibly being you know let's say buzzed I think there's some evidence that he
00:19:35
you know had a few drinks he was frustrated he was tired he was walking uh he was trying to get help he was
00:19:45
definitely lost or not in the area that he thought he was I think that area is very easy to be confused and I think
00:19:52
you're going to dive into that more but I think like I said the dogs take us to that area I think his conversation
00:20:01
with his father on the phone points to being in that area and to be be around that that River we have not found his
00:20:10
body now I think that is a leap like you said maybe 60 of this area has been searched 40 hasn't so could you find his
00:20:20
body somewhere else yes and I understand that they also searched this River I think it'd be a lot harder to find his
00:20:26
body in water in general so I I I just think that kind of leads to it and I know like I said I know
00:20:33
that's a leap to say well we haven't found his body on land so therefore it puts him into water
00:20:38
but I think there's other like I said those other pieces of evidence kind of points Us in the
00:20:44
direction that there could have been an accident that happened uh along that that water line
00:20:50
[Music] I want to address a few different things that I think are confusing this whole situation from all
00:21:00
of the armchair detectives all the people on the outside looking in I think first I want to address the
00:21:06
issue of I'm not totally discrediting or discounting the possibility of Foul Play
00:21:11
but what I do want to discredit is the thought that because his name is on vicap
00:21:18
means that he met with Foul Play and people keep going back to that well law enforcement must know something that
00:21:26
we don't know because they put him on vicap that that is a possibility that they
00:21:32
know something that we don't it's definitely a possibility but looking into that specific situation
00:21:38
what I gathered from the database is that VI cap was alerted of Brandon Swanson's situation on March 5th of 2010
00:21:47
and then it was released to the public as being part of the vi cap database on April 7th of 2010. now remember what we
00:21:57
reported earlier that back in March of 2010 the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal apprehension became the lead
00:22:04
investigating Agency on the case new eyes looking at a Cold Case what I'm getting to here Captain is it's
00:22:14
my thought that the reason that Brandon is on vicap is not because there is evidence of Foul Play or that he was met
00:22:22
with violence it's simply because a new agency took over his case and decided to
00:22:30
ask it to be applied to vicap as something that it can't hurt to put him on the database right the only thing
00:22:38
that could hurt is the rumor mill I also want to address the issue of him being disoriented or you know why he
00:22:49
got lost that whole situation first of all I question one how well he would have known any of
00:22:57
these areas outside of Route 68 and Route 23. I I seriously question that first of all how experienced of a driver
00:23:06
is he he's only 19 years old and we have some stories that may indicate that he might have even lost his license at one
00:23:14
point and then people point out that well he traveled this route for a full school
00:23:21
year to and from Marshall and Camby where his school was I take I take a little issue with that
00:23:29
too because the typical school year at this school is late August to mid-may it's not really a full year one and they
00:23:38
take about a month-long break in the middle of the winter so it's not a full year first of all and
00:23:45
then second of all why would he know the areas off of Route 68. Route 68 takes him to and from
00:23:52
school so I really question how well he knew this area then on top of that we have some
00:23:59
confusion confusing things going on regarding the lay of the land so anybody that has seen this area on a map will
00:24:08
know that the the streets and the roads the country roads out there are laid out
00:24:13
basically like a square grid yeah I believe there's a simple version of this map on Wikipedia yeah I would I
00:24:21
would encourage anybody to look up that simple version of the map and then use your own map app to really zoom in on
00:24:30
some areas and go through that trail that we discussed in detail regarding the dogs movements when they were
00:24:38
following or believed to be following Brandon's movements now what you will see here is
00:24:46
regarding this map okay so picture a square if you're not looking at it picture Square
00:24:52
Route 68 runs diagonally from the northwest corner of that square to the south east corner of that square
00:25:01
above Route 68 and Below Route 68 you have Country Roads that are laid out in a grid
00:25:09
now north of 68 we have street names and Avenue names such as they're all kind of numbers
00:25:17
there are some that are named but the overwhelming majority of them are just numbers meaning like
00:25:24
360th Street 280th Avenue 110th Street 150th Avenue so on and so forth you get what I'm talking about
00:25:36
now north of route 68. all of the numbered roads if they're going east to west they are an Avenue if they're going
00:25:49
north to south or south to North they are streets if you get south of 68 it flip-flops
00:25:58
where all of the numbered country roads going north to south are Avenues and east to west are streets what I'm
00:26:07
getting at here is you would only have to take one wrong turn to end up going the wrong way if you
00:26:16
let's say you are somewhat familiar with the area and you are aware that oh Avenues run east to west Streets Run
00:26:25
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
00:26:31
to well if you make one wrong turn basically take that whole Square map that I just described and turn it on its
00:26:38
side because now the streets are going east to west and the Avenues are going north to south
00:26:43
it's a very tricky area so I completely understand why somebody anyone regardless of their
00:26:51
situation how much they've had to drink how little they've had to drink what they've ingested or not
00:26:57
would get turned around and Confused in this situation and again as we pointed out there are indicators to him that he
00:27:05
is right in his statement where he sees I gotta go across a major road there is a river that runs into that town I must
00:27:12
be where I think I am right in the simple fact of the matter is the people that say well he knew this area well he
00:27:18
didn't because where he told his family he was he was not and that's all the proof that you need that he didn't know
00:27:27
where he was at maybe he does know that area well but that night um no he didn't know where he was at the
00:27:35
other thing too that I think gets in the way of really sorting through all of this is the oh [ __ ] moment right so this
00:27:44
this case oddly enough made me think back to my childhood okay I'm a child of the 90s
00:27:52
and what I'm talking about here Captain is the song the things that make you go hmm by CNC Music Factory this was a 1990
00:28:02
release things that make you go what hmm don't bother looking up the song it's as
00:28:08
bad as you expect it to be okay now look this case of course this is a tragic case here of this young man
00:28:15
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
00:28:23
mark now if you look at the lyrics for that song the things that make you go hmm the lyrics in that song is listing
00:28:32
out very simply the things that make you go hmm now there are a lot of questions
00:28:37
in this case but what I was really looking at regarding the phone call he says oh [ __ ] and then the phone call
00:28:44
ends I was really thinking to myself what are the things that would make me go oh [ __ ]
00:28:51
right and so we're going to put ourselves in Brandon's shoes here so to speak now that could have been any number of
00:28:59
things it could have been some type of accident he could have hurt himself you know people people say a car stepped
00:29:06
in a pile of [ __ ] right whatever but the the problem is the call ends after this
00:29:13
takes place so you can't you can't just look at this and go oh what would make me say oh [ __ ]
00:29:20
what would make me say oh [ __ ] and then the phone and the phone call ends you have to put those two things together
00:29:26
because that's what took place now of course it could have been some type of accident he could have fallen
00:29:32
into the river the river kills his phone but the other thing just as simple could
00:29:38
be his phone is going to die right the phone is losing its charge it has no battery life left his phone according to
00:29:49
what you can the specs that you can find online has 400 minutes of call time of talk time
00:29:56
we know that this one phone call the last phone call took up 47 minutes of talk time that's 1 8 of the whole
00:30:05
battery life right there now on top of that that wasn't a good phone on top of that he's had multiple calls
00:30:12
with Mom and Dad before this last one he's also gone to two parties that night I mean this phone is basically a rock
00:30:20
with an antenna he left his home by all accounts around 6 p.m that night so he's been gone it's
00:30:27
now three in the morning he's been gone like nine hours so what I'm getting at here is car
00:30:34
charger though that's very possible but what I'm getting at here is it's very likely that he could have been talking
00:30:41
and talking and talking pulled the phone away looked at the screen and went oh [ __ ] or got some kind of notification
00:30:48
that he heard on his end but his father didn't hear and goes oh [ __ ] and then the phone goes dead simply because the
00:30:56
battery life ran out the thing here is that doesn't get us any closer to what happened to Brandon
00:31:02
but what I'm getting at is what I think is is so polarizing about that case this
00:31:07
case is that phone call where I think it's just kind of confusing and it's really clouding the whole situation
00:31:15
the phone call and him saying oh [ __ ] May mean nothing at all could be something super small something as
00:31:21
simple as his phone dying and then whatever took place took place after he no longer had the use of his phone I do
00:31:31
think that there's some type of accident that took place out there that led to his demise that he probably did succumb
00:31:39
to the elements at some point that evening and I think it's very likely that he is
00:31:46
somewhere in that area that they've been unable to search for any number of reasons that's 40 of the area
00:31:54
I think that's I think that's what what happened here I think everything that the people that are closest to this case
00:32:01
are saying is probably exactly what happened he wasn't that messed up he just he got disoriented because the area
00:32:10
itself is confusing yeah it's late at night it's not well marked it would be confusing for anybody
00:32:17
traveling in that area right he tried to turn around because he knew how to go an
00:32:22
extra mile or two to get to the next intersection and he was frustrated and upset that he wasn't home already and he
00:32:28
just wanted to turn around as quickly as possible and he ran into the bad luck of
00:32:33
getting his car hung up in the ditch and then he ran into further bad luck of having indicators pointing out to him
00:32:39
that he may in fact be where he thinks he is I think this is just one of those tragic
00:32:45
cases and unfortunately I've heard statements from his mother and from his sister that are just
00:32:52
heartbreaking where his mother says I'm kind of come to the conclusion that we won't find Brandon in my lifetime
00:33:01
and then his sister adds to that by going I'm starting to think we won't find him in my lifetime yeah and because
00:33:08
even if you take like I said my theory I lean more towards the idea that he ended
00:33:14
up in that River well we know what what the water can do to bodies and and speed
00:33:21
up the composition you know decomposition of the body not to mention the weather out there being a little
00:33:27
more extreme and and Colder Weather and then and then also if you're right that he is
00:33:37
somewhere in this 40 percent that they haven't been able to search like you talked about yeah farm equipment you
00:33:44
have you know a lot of this Machinery that's going to be coming through you have animals you you have the the
00:33:51
weather uh you have all these things stacked up against you to actually find his remains
00:33:58
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
00:34:07
there listening to this and going well whatever happened to Brandon would never happen to me I have GPS on my phone I
00:34:14
have a much different phone than what Brandon had to carry back in 2008 let's let's be smarter than that let's
00:34:22
take this a step further put some things in your vehicle put some safety precautions in your vehicle
00:34:30
flashlights yeah and he might have had some he may he may have but it was a young kid this I think this is just a
00:34:37
this was a friendly reminder to me or an unfriendly reminder however you want to
00:34:41
look at it a reminder to me that it's a good idea to have things like a flashlight first aid kit flares
00:34:49
however far you want to take this thing blankets some people put bottles of water in their vehicle this can happen
00:34:56
to any of us and if you're better prepared you might have a different outcome yeah and even though I I really think my
00:35:06
my gut feeling is correct and then even if it's not correct then I'd lean more towards the idea okay well maybe he made
00:35:14
it out of the water and now uh we just haven't found him in that that 40 that hasn't been searched
00:35:22
I I can go with that that one of the things that really makes me Ponder this case more
00:35:29
is the vehicles left and both doors are open that doesn't make a lot of sense to me
00:35:37
it seems one super strange to me and a bit creepy and scary at the same time that's the only indicator throughout
00:35:46
this whole story that whatever Brandon was telling his father and his mother that something totally different could
00:35:52
have been going on that's the only indicator to me one one way that I've tried to apply some just
00:36:00
very basic logic to why the the car doors would be open obviously if somebody came along and tried to wanted
00:36:07
to steal something or look for something of value in the car that's an obvious thing right but I also wondered if look
00:36:14
they were trying to use lights earlier in in this whole thing as a way of finding one another by flashing the
00:36:23
lights part of me wonders if Brandon look we know he was a smart guy there's nobody
00:36:28
disputing that I wonder if while he's troubleshoot shooting his problem here if he thought you know what I'm going to
00:36:35
head off on foot walking Northwest towards this town yes I'm going to meet my father there but he's still under the
00:36:42
belief at that time that he is in the area of where his father is searching right so is it possible that he thought
00:36:50
I'll take this a step further and leave the car door open or doors open this leaving on the light inside of the car
00:36:59
that my father might see so if he doesn't find me at least he finds the car and I can we can use that as a land
00:37:07
marker to meet up so I I kind of thought that the only thing that that makes that punches a
00:37:14
hole in that thought in theory is that you think this might have been discussed between Brandon and his father and it
00:37:21
wasn't as far as we know yeah it see that detail to me seems like something that's going to keep this Mister around
00:37:28
for a while right and his father and mother not only led the search that night and really pushed to get law
00:37:36
enforcement involved as quickly as possible but they've continued to lead the search for all these years yeah and
00:37:44
all missing children cases are difficult I think there's an element of the fact that you both were get getting up that
00:37:52
night to go help him makes it even more difficult well and I hope and pray that his mother and sister are wrong
00:38:02
in their thought and their belief that they've kind of come to the idea that they may never know what happened to
00:38:07
Brandon in throughout their the course of their lifetime I hope that they're wrong with that the
00:38:13
the family this has got to be haunting for them and they've already kind of come to the idea and somewhat accepted
00:38:22
the idea that Brandon's very likely no longer with us but to have some answers would would be
00:38:30
very big for them in this situation now there is a thing today called Brandon's law and this is because of
00:38:39
Brandon's parents Annette and Brian Swanson are responsible for the enactment of
00:38:46
Brandon's law which became effective in Minnesota on July 1st 2009 this law requires Minnesota police to begin an
00:38:56
immediate search for missing adults under 21 as well as older adults who are missing under suspicious circumstances
00:39:05
and Brandon's situation certainly falls into that regardless of what theory you favor or believe the Swansons have kept
00:39:15
the porch light on for their son they have burned through many light bulbs in the 11 years he has been missing
00:39:21
Brian Swanson has acknowledged that the family likely won't find Brandon alive but they still want to find him there
00:39:29
has never been a memorial service for Brandon Brandon's sister is now married and Brandon now has two nephews which he
00:39:37
has never met the Swansons want to know what happened to their son they say quote you know people don't
00:39:44
just vanish Into Thin Air but it sure seems like he did [Music] all right Captain before we wrap things
00:39:56
up this week how about a little recommended reading we have one from our good friend good friend of the show
00:40:02
Billy Jensen his new book called Chase Darkness with me Captain you and I hung out with Billy at crime con and he was
00:40:10
kind enough to send a couple of copies of Chase Darkness with me to the garage we can't wait to read it that's by Billy
00:40:18
Jensen you don't have to write that title down though because you can go to truecrimegarage.com click on the
00:40:24
recommended page and we will have that title there for you along with other recommendations yeah and I think he owed
00:40:31
us the book because he thought that uh Bob Ruff was gonna out drink me but uh but like we know like everybody knows
00:40:40
Bob Ruff said good night therefore disqualifying himself and making me the winner of the drinking contest at crime
00:40:48
con so thank you Billy and thank you Bob for quitting on the drinking contest that's right all
00:40:55
right until next week everybody out there be good be kind and don't let him [Music]
00:41:15
[Applause] thank you [Music]

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 75
    Most heartbreaking
  • 70
    Most emotional
  • 65
    Most intense
  • 60
    Most shocking

Episode Highlights

  • Brandon Swanson Case Overview
    Exploring the mysterious disappearance of Brandon Swanson and the theories surrounding it.
    “Some people cover this case in 10 minutes; we covered it in 10 hours.”
    @ 02m 48s
    November 21, 2022
  • Theories on Brandon's Disappearance
    Analyzing various theories about what might have happened to Brandon.
    “Could Brandon have succumbed to the cold, especially if he was wet?”
    @ 11m 00s
    November 21, 2022
  • The Search Challenges
    Discussing the difficulties faced by search teams in locating Brandon.
    “They've not been able to search everywhere that they would like to search.”
    @ 12m 55s
    November 21, 2022
  • The Mystery of Brandon's Disappearance
    Brandon's case raises many questions and remains unsolved, leaving his family in anguish.
    “This case is a tragic case of a young man, but it's truly a big question mark.”
    @ 28m 15s
    November 21, 2022
  • Heartbreaking Acceptance
    Brandon's family has come to terms with the likelihood of never finding him.
    “Brandon's mother says, "I won't find Brandon in my lifetime."”
    @ 32m 58s
    November 21, 2022
  • Brandon's Law
    Brandon's parents enacted a law requiring immediate searches for missing adults under 21.
    “Brandon's law became effective in Minnesota on July 1st, 2009.”
    @ 38m 49s
    November 21, 2022

Episode Quotes

  • Only a total psychotic would listen to this show at two times the speed.
    Brandon Swanson /// Part 3 /// 334
  • It's good to be seen, it's good to see you.
    Brandon Swanson /// Part 3 /// 334
  • We covered in 10 hours, 10 episodes.
    Brandon Swanson /// Part 3 /// 334
  • This is somebody's child, this is people's friends.
    Brandon Swanson /// Part 3 /// 334
  • I'm kind of come to the conclusion that we won't find Brandon in my lifetime.
    Brandon Swanson /// Part 3 /// 334

Key Moments

  • Thank You00:24
  • Beer Review01:15
  • Brandon's Last Call03:32
  • Theories Explored03:59
  • Search Challenges12:55
  • Mysterious Disappearance28:15
  • Heartbreaking Acceptance32:58
  • Brandon's Law38:49

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown