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>> [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Welcome to True Crime Garage. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, [music]
00:01:41
thanks for listening. I'm your host, Nick, and with me as always from behind the glass. He's a modern-day warrior
00:01:47
with a mean mean stride, he is the captain. >> All right, slapping the bass. Play the
00:01:52
bass big time. [music] Big time, man. It's good to be seen and it's good to see you. Thanks for listening. Thanks
00:01:59
for telling a friend. Today we are drinking Hazy Jane by well I was going to say our friends but the
00:02:12
truth of the matter is we are in love with them. Hazy Jane is by the king of craft beers and that of course is Brew
00:02:19
Dog in Scotland and of course from right here in Ohio as well. Garage grade four
00:02:25
out of five bottle caps. Hazy Jane is a juicy Vermont style IPA that features pineapple, stone fruit, mango, and hints
00:02:34
of lime peel. And just like the both of us here in the garage, it's fullbodied, baby. And today's beer was brought to us
00:02:40
and to you by these great garage guys and gals right here. First up, super cheers to our boy Doc Holiday. That's
00:02:47
right, the outlaw Doc Holiday up in Pal, Ohio. And a big shout out to Mindy in Green Bay, Wisconsin. And here's some
00:02:55
more of our friends. We have Kirsten and her good friend Taylor D in St. John, Canada.
00:03:00
>> And a big we like your jib to Ferguson in Toronto. Let's give a cheers to Brian
00:03:05
in Bloomington, Illinois. And last, but certainly not least, we have armchair detective Kathy all the way over in
00:03:11
Melbourne, Australia. [music] Everybody we just mentioned went to our website, true crimegar.com, and they contributed
00:03:18
to [music] this week's beer fund. And for that, we thank you, and you are super, super awesome. Well, it's
00:03:24
pronounced Melbourne. [music] The Borne is silent. As you're over at true crimegar.com, [music] make sure you
00:03:30
check out the store page. Make sure you check out the blog. And that is enough of the business.
00:03:37
>> All right, everybody, gather around, grab a chair, grab a beer. Let's talk some true crime.
00:03:51
[music] According [music] [music] [music] [music] to fbi.gov, gov. VCAP stands for the
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violent criminal apprehension program. This database maintains the largest investigative repository of major
00:04:34
violent crime cases in the US. It is designed to collect and analyze information about homicides, sexual
00:04:42
assaults, missing persons, and other violent crimes involving unidentified human remains. This week we are
00:04:50
reviewing a missing person's case listed on the VCAP page. Brandon Victor Swanson
00:04:58
was last seen on May 14th, 2008 in Cani, Minnesota. His car, a green Chevy Luminina, was
00:05:07
found abandoned near Taton, Minnesota. According to the FBI's website, the vehicle was in a ditch with the doors
00:05:15
open and the keys missing. At the time of his disappearance, Brandon was just 19 years old.
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He is Caucasian, 5'5 in to 5'6 in tall and approximately 120 to 130 lb with brown hair and blue eyes. He was last
00:05:35
seen wearing baggy blue jeans, a blue striped polo shirt, a black hooded zip front sweatshirt with emblem on back, a
00:05:44
white Minnesota Twins baseball cap, glasses, and his sterling silver chain. He was carrying a black Motorola SLVR
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cell phone, his wallet with identification, and his keys. If you have any information regarding Brandon
00:06:02
Swanson's whereabouts or the circumstances of his disappearance, please call the Minnesota Bureau of
00:06:09
Criminal Apprehension at 6517937000 or call the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office at 507-6941664.
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This is True Crime Garage. >> [music] [music] >> May 13th, [music] 2008. Brandon Victor Swanson, age 19. He
00:06:46
just finished his last [music] class of his one-year program of study at Minnesota West Community and Technical
00:06:53
College in Cani, Minnesota. Brandon was studying wind energy and he was already enrolled in a second technical school in
00:07:01
Iowa. This was going to start in August of 2008. After that, he planned to transfer to a 4-year college to get his
00:07:09
degree in science. So, after a year of hard work, it's miday. School's out for the summer. It's time to go out, meet up
00:07:17
with some friends, and have a lot of fun. And that's just what the plan was for Brandon on the night of May 13th.
00:07:24
Now, before we get into the details of that night, let's review a little background information about Brandon.
00:07:32
Brandon was born January 30th, 1989. He lived with his parents, Brian and Annette, and his younger sister. They
00:07:41
lived in Marshall, Minnesota, a town in Lion County. The population at the time was about 13,500.
00:07:50
Brandon was close with his family. They describe him as a sweet, good kid who loved reading and debating. He was very
00:07:58
intelligent and he liked to read and ponder complicated topics like string theory. Brandon worked at a local
00:08:06
grocery store for four years. The last two years working in the bakery. So, not just a smart kid, but seems like quite a
00:08:14
reliable young man as well. >> Yeah. And Brandon was similar to you. uh cuz he's dedicated to the environment,
00:08:21
>> particularly renewable resources. >> Mhm. >> And he loved politics, history, and
00:08:26
music. He also loved the Minnesota Twins. Brandon was not a big dude. He was just about 5'5, 5'6 in tall and only
00:08:35
about 125 lbs. And one thing that may be quite important as we move through this,
00:08:41
Brandon wore glasses and he was legally blind in his left eye. On the night he went out and didn't come home, he was
00:08:49
wearing baggy blue jeans, a blue striped polo sweatshirt over a white t-shirt, a
00:08:54
black zip front jacket, a white Minnesota Twins baseball hat. He tended to wear this hat sideways.
00:09:01
>> Mhm. >> And he wore his white sneakers as well. Now, I point that out again, Captain,
00:09:06
because even though it's going to get quite chilly that night, he was wearing fairly warm clothing,
00:09:14
>> right? He had a one stud earring in each ear and his wire rimmed glasses on. Now
00:09:21
with him, he had his black Motorola SLVR cell phone. As always, he drove his green Chevy Lumina that evening. He left
00:09:30
his parents' place around 6:00 p.m. Brandon went to a graduation party in Lind. Lind is a small town near
00:09:38
Marshall, so not far from where Brandon lives. In fact, Lynn is just about an 11minute drive southwest down Route 23
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from Marshall. This graduation party was really just a small gathering of only five or so people,
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>> right? >> These are all people that Brandon was friends with from school. And to be
00:10:00
clear, it sounds to me like these were all high school buddies. Remember, Brandon's only 19, so just having
00:10:07
graduated from Marshall High School just the year earlier. At the small party, Brandon was
00:10:13
drinking. This is not in question. What is the question is how much as the general report from all leaves us with
00:10:22
this broad statement that he was said to have consumed an unknown amount of alcohol, but he was not overly
00:10:29
intoxicated according to the people who were at this party. >> Well, think about how many parties
00:10:34
you've been to. If I asked you how many beers your buddy was on, would you know how many beers he drank?
00:10:41
>> No. Only if I had like some extreme indicator, right? Like if somebody shows up with a six-pack and then there's none
00:10:47
of that beer left, right? >> Then you're like, "Well, he probably had six." When you're hanging out and you're
00:10:52
you're really you're catching up with your buddies. There's a lot of talking going on. There's multiple people there.
00:10:59
You're not really counting anybody's drinks. one and then on top of that too, everybody knows this. You're not really
00:11:06
checking the time either, you know? So, there's there's a lot that you're not really keeping up on because of the
00:11:12
conversations and stuff like that. However, if these people knew him for a fair amount of time, I think that they
00:11:18
would reasonably be able to judge if he was drunk or not. >> Right. >> Right. Now, of course, there's varying
00:11:26
degrees of being buzzed, but Brandon left this gathering alone around 10:30 or 11 p.m. From there, he
00:11:36
drove to another friend's party. This was like a house party. This for the purpose of saying goodbye to one of his
00:11:43
former classmates. Now, I do not know exactly who this person is, but the party was in Cani, where Minnesota West
00:11:51
Community and Technical College is located. So, Brandon is quite familiar with this area. The party was attended
00:12:00
by other college kids who were friends with Brandon. Here, Brandon was noted to have one shot of whiskey. He left this
00:12:08
party alone and was going to head home back to his parents' place in Marshall sometime between midnight and 1:30. Now,
00:12:16
the this seems like a huge window of time. Reports vary wildly. I want to bring this up because I I don't know how
00:12:24
important this is later. So much so because we have some time accounted for Brandon's whereabouts later,
00:12:30
>> right? I think the thing in question here is depending on what time he left means [snorts] there could be some
00:12:37
unaccounted time. >> The reason why these reports vary is as we just mentioned, you're not really
00:12:44
counting people's drinks. You're not really counting the time, looking at your clock, looking at your watch. They
00:12:48
said that he had one shot of whiskey. I don't know if he consumed any other alcohol at the time, but that is what
00:12:56
the general report is. See, I don't remember what they said about the first party, if he was just drinking beer or
00:13:02
if possibly he was drinking a mixed drink because I did hear on several accounts that he was drinking like like
00:13:10
a rum and coke or, you know, whiskey and coke. So, you just go, was he do doing that at the first party or the second
00:13:18
party? >> Sounds more likely he would do it at the second party if if they said, "Well, we
00:13:23
know he had a shot of whiskey." and me and some others, we found reports that state that he left as early as midnight
00:13:30
and some reports that left as late as 1:30 in the morning. >> Yeah. >> Again, normally we would take umbrage
00:13:36
with that statement, it wouldn't fly here in the garage. But this time, we're going to let it fly because we have a
00:13:42
lot to get to and because of the details that we have not got to yet, it will be
00:13:47
clear that the exact time that Brandon left the party while in dispute may not be so important. All right, let's get
00:13:55
into the geography of this whole situation. This is super important to this case. The last party Brandon
00:14:02
attends the night in question is in Cani. This is about 30 miles from his hometown of Marshall. It's a 30 to 35
00:14:11
minute drive that is a straight diagonal shot along a two-lane road, which is Route 68. Route 68 is a highway that
00:14:21
runs between Cani and Marshall. In Cami, you hop on Route 68 heading southeast and you will go straight to Marshall.
00:14:31
This drive should have taken him no more than 30 to 35 minutes, assuming he took
00:14:37
the most direct route, Highway 68, which connects the two towns. Brandon drove this route daily for the entire school
00:14:47
year and again would have been very familiar with this. But for some reason that we can only speculate, Brandon does
00:14:56
not appear to have taken the highway to get home. He took a different route. >> Yeah, I believe he took the back roads
00:15:03
because he had been drinking at least a little bit. So, I found some reports that state that Brandon had a DUI
00:15:12
in the past >> and that he had successfully completed a year's probation because of the charge.
00:15:18
So, what we do know is Brandon was under the legal drinking age on this night. He's only 19 years old,
00:15:26
>> right? >> And we do know, again, it's not in question if he had been drinking or not.
00:15:32
The question was how much had he been drinking, >> right? regardless of how much. All reports say
00:15:37
that he did consume some alcohol that night. So, if he were concerned about maybe a DUI checkpoint on something like
00:15:46
Highway 68 or getting on or off of Highway 68. Well, again, this take highway 68. We have different roads,
00:15:55
different highways, different uh interstates that you don't want to travel on because they're notorious for
00:16:02
just pulling people over in general. So maybe that's the case here. >> Yeah, he he wants to fly under the
00:16:09
radar, so to speak. He wants to take a less direct, less populated route to get home. That's all we can assume by what
00:16:17
we know that was going on that night. We can't say exactly what occurred between
00:16:22
the time that Brandon left the party in Cami and the next known contact with him. Reports are that during this time
00:16:30
frame, Brandon tried to contact two or three of his friends by phone, but he couldn't reach them. So, at 1:54 a.m.,
00:16:40
so this is technically now May 14th, Brandon called his parents. He told them he got his car stuck in a ditch. He was
00:16:49
okay, though. This ditch was, as he said, on a gravel road just off of Highway 23. This is the road that runs
00:16:58
between Lind, the town where he went to the first party, and Marshall, where he lived. According to Brandon, he was
00:17:06
somewhere between Marshall and Lind, just off the highway. Now, as we said, it wouldn't make much sense for Brandon
00:17:14
to be between Marshall and Lind if he were coming from a party in Cami. Cami is a straight shot to Marshall down
00:17:22
Route 68. Lind is out of the way and not along Route 68 at all. But we believe that Brandon was intending to take back
00:17:31
roads, as the captain said, avoiding the highway. And it's possible he could have
00:17:36
been deliberately off of Route 68. Now, you said that he tried to call some of his friends. Do we know the sex of those
00:17:43
friends? Were they just all male friends? Do we have any contact of female friends?
00:17:49
>> No. And and here's here's my actual belief here. >> As far as gender goes, I believe that
00:17:57
it's possible that those phone calls were not made while he was traveling or before he chose his destination as home.
00:18:05
Part of me wonders if he got his vehicle stuck in that ditch, >> right? Called his
00:18:11
>> tried to call friends before calling mom and dad and admitting, "Hey, I got the
00:18:15
car stuck." >> You've been drinking a little bit, so there's that fear that they come to help
00:18:20
you and at least smell something on your breath and then after having the DUI, then the repercussions of that.
00:18:27
>> Right. Right. And yeah, it could just be a whole bad situation for him if he's
00:18:31
able to get a hold of somebody else instead. He's an adult. Maybe he could find somewhere, somebody to pick him up
00:18:37
at least. >> Well, the location just seems funny to me. That's why I wondered if there was
00:18:41
any contact that he had with a a female that he was going to like meet up after the party.
00:18:46
>> Yeah. I don't know what the what the nature of that call those the intent of those calls were, right?
00:18:53
>> Because he never connected with them. >> But I agree with you. It's it's kind of
00:18:56
fair to say chances are he he um got stuck in this ditch, called his friends for help before he called his parents.
00:19:03
Especially, and I don't want to hang on this too long, Captain, but but keep in mind where he says that he is
00:19:11
with the car stuck in the ditch. He says he's he's near the town of Lind. Well, he was at a party just earlier that
00:19:19
night with high school buddies. So, maybe he thought it'd be very easy, very convenient for somebody near him to come
00:19:25
and offer some type of assistance. Right. The major major problem here is it's not where he was. Where wherever he
00:19:33
believed that he was is not really even close to his actual location. >> Right. And this is where it gets
00:19:40
confusing for me in this case because the claim is that Brandon knew his whereabouts and knew these roads well.
00:19:48
>> Yeah. Yes, he did. It he may have had some things working against him though.
00:19:53
Uh if you look at a if you look at Line County, Minnesota on Google Maps, first you'll see that it's incredibly rural,
00:20:01
flat, and the roads are almost laid out in a grid-like pattern. >> Mhm. >> So basically the farmland is broken up
00:20:08
into squares by country roads named things like 150th Avenue, 300th Street for example.
00:20:15
>> Basically everything looks the same. The crops >> really clever names. >> The Yeah, the crops are high. There is
00:20:21
virtually nothing delineating one area from the next. And the street and avenue names are all confusing because they're
00:20:29
they're just numbers, right? The landscape is dotted with streams, ponds, and lots of drainage ditches serving the
00:20:36
agricultural fields. Now, on the night of the 13th 14th, it was dark. The moon was only half full. We also have this
00:20:45
situation of Brandon had been drinking and was possibly even fatigued at this late hour and he's blind in one eye.
00:20:53
>> Right? >> All this simply is to say that that Brandon might have been confused about
00:20:58
where he was. He left a party and then he called his parents at 1:54 a.m. >> Let's just bring into the question that
00:21:05
this could be evidence of how intoxicated he might have been. Well, and the thing too is having called his
00:21:13
parents at 1:54 a.m. in the interim, even though we don't know what time he left, we know that Brandon had not
00:21:20
actually traveled nearly as far as he thought, or at least he didn't end up as far along in his journey as he thought.
00:21:28
So, after this initial phone call at 1:54 a.m., both his parents, Brian and Annette, they got in their pickup truck
00:21:36
and they set out to find him. Brandon said he's going to wait in his car. He's talking to them on the phone
00:21:43
periodically to give them directions to where he believes he is. He told them he
00:21:50
was on the left side of the road just off of Highway 23. His father, Brian, told CNN that Brandon
00:21:58
quote was absolutely positive he knew where he was end quote. It was only about 10 minutes from the Swanson home.
00:22:07
His parents drove to this area that he was describing, but they couldn't see him or his car. After several interim
00:22:15
phone calls in which everyone was getting frustrated, and Brandon even hung up on them at some point, his
00:22:22
mother called him back. This is at 2:17 a.m. saying that they were sorry, but they just they just couldn't find him.
00:22:29
They couldn't see him. >> Could be wrong about this, but I heard at one point that they were flashing
00:22:34
their lights at him. Yes, this is this takes [clears throat] place from this phone call 217.
00:22:39
>> Okay. >> So, when they couldn't find each other, his mother came up with the idea of
00:22:44
let's flash our headlights. >> You know, let's This is a flat area and there's not a lot of lights out there.
00:22:52
So, this might be something that your eye will pick up on fairly quickly if it's taking place in this general area.
00:22:58
Right. >> Right. So Brandon's parents, they're flashing their headlights over and over
00:23:03
again, turning them on and off, on and off. Brandon's mother says that not only does he say that he's doing the same
00:23:10
thing, but she says that she could hear the actual the switch being flipped on and flipped off
00:23:17
>> through the phone. >> Through the phone. Cuz you know how it some of them will make a little click
00:23:21
noise. >> Yeah. The problem with this is this is a great idea, but Brandon's he's in his car on the
00:23:28
phone flipping the lights and saying, "Don't you see me?" And they couldn't see him.
00:23:34
>> Well, again, how far away is he from where he's claiming he is? >> He's he's actually quite far. And we'll
00:23:41
go through the the very detailed description of where they end up >> finding his car.
00:23:47
>> Correct. Yeah. So again, Brandon is getting frustrated and >> I'd be pissed. >> Well, I mean I mean
00:23:55
>> I'm flashing my lights. Don't you see me? No, I don't see anything. It's dark
00:23:58
out here. >> Well, I think I think the whole reason why he's probably pissed is that he's
00:24:05
giving them fairly detailed instructions on where he believes he is, >> right? >> They go to where he's telling them to go
00:24:14
and they're like, "Look, we're right here." and he's probably, you know how it is when you're 19. You're probably on
00:24:20
the phone going, "My parents are idiots. I told him where to find me, >> right? >> That I I just want to get home. It's
00:24:26
late." And they can't figure out how to find me. But as it turns out, he's nowhere near he's telling them to to
00:24:35
find him. >> Well, and you also wonder, hey, as you're flashing these lights, if they
00:24:39
don't come find me first, does a police officer find me? So, that's one. you have that fear because you have that
00:24:45
that DUI in the past. But this this is weird because to me it points to two things. One, it points to
00:24:55
evidence that he's intoxicated because he's giving somebody directions to a place that he's not at.
00:25:02
But then the parents would know if he sounded intoxicated or not. And they don't make any claims that say that he
00:25:10
sounded hammered or anything, >> right? And so while you're trying these different tactics to locate one another
00:25:18
first which is giving simple directions, now we're both sitting parked flashing lights on and off trying to see each
00:25:25
other in the distance. Now that's not working. So now your next strategy is going to be well maybe we could meet up
00:25:32
at some type of landmark that we both believe that we can easily get to. So now Brandon's very frustrated with his
00:25:38
parents. He comes up with the idea that he's going to get out of the car and he's going to walk to Lind. Now
00:25:45
remember, Lind is the town that he was at at one point in the evening and he says he could see lights from a town in
00:25:53
the distance and he's going to walk in that direction. He believes that he's seeing
00:25:58
lights from the town of Lind. He says, "Hey, let's go and let's meet in a parking lot of the Lynwood Tavern." This
00:26:06
is a bar in Lind. Meanwhile, his dad drove Brandon's mother home. After dropping her off, he set back out to
00:26:14
meet Brandon at the spot that [music] Brandon suggested. [music] [music] This show is sponsored by BetterHelp.
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Switch now at mintmobile.com/tcg. All right, [music] we're back. Cheers, mates. >> Cheers. Cheers. Cheers, Captain.
00:32:26
>> It's just going to get more interesting from this point on. >> Okay. Well, you're absolutely right
00:32:31
about that. And the thing is here, Captain. Now, where we left off, we have Annette, Brandon's mother. Brian, his
00:32:40
father, drove her back home. The the whole trying to find Brandon thing is not really working out. People are
00:32:47
getting frustrated. And we also have Brandon who says, "Look, I see lights in the distance." And I believe that's the
00:32:53
town of Lind. Meet me in the Lindwood Tavern parking lot. >> So, his dad's driving to find him. He's
00:33:01
going to call his son and get back on the phone with Brandon. >> This call started at 2:23 a.m. Brandon
00:33:09
said he's walking along a gravel road away from Marshall in the direction of Lind. After a bit, Brandon tells his dad
00:33:19
that he was leaving the gravel road to cut across the land because he said, quote, "It will be quicker than
00:33:25
following the road." Brandon then told his dad that he had encountered two fence lines and he could
00:33:33
hear running water nearby. Shortly after that, Brandon said, quote, "Oh shit." And Brandon's dad says he
00:33:42
heard a sound like something slipping. Then at 3:10 a.m., the line went dead on Brandon's end. Brandon's dad attempted
00:33:52
to call his son back repeatedly, calling five or six times. But while the phone rang before going to voicemail, no one
00:34:00
ever picked up. Yeah. Now, this is another little sticky situation. Normally, we have situations where you
00:34:07
call a phone, it rings, rings, rings, and that means that there's still battery life left on the phone. It
00:34:14
doesn't go straight to voicemail. So, that's something that you might want to assume here. But with this model of
00:34:21
phone with um this early technology it it and it varies. So it's not as simple as well it was ringing so we
00:34:32
believe his phone was still working. >> It could have been dead at this point or
00:34:37
submerged in water or whatever. >> Yeah. And I think that's a general misconception regarding these phones is
00:34:45
that if it is ringing that it means that the phone is still live, still active and then going to voicemail and that
00:34:52
once the phone goes to voicemail immediately that the phone is dead. That may be that may be the situation for
00:35:01
certain phones for certain models, >> right? >> But or maybe even a higher percentage of
00:35:06
phones do that. But I've had plenty of times where people try to call me and I I'll get a joke text like, "Oh, you sent
00:35:12
me straight to voicemail." And I go, "Send straight to voicemail." The phone didn't even ring. You know,
00:35:18
>> right? Or, you know, in this situation, we have expert opinion, experts who have
00:35:24
weighed in on this exact situation. so kind of you to call me an expert >> and say that look when when you hear
00:35:31
that ring that that's not indicative of activity on that actual phone. >> Yeah. It's
00:35:38
>> it's just a noise that you hear when you're calling. >> Well, it's proven that you have activity
00:35:43
on your end. >> Correct. >> It doesn't prove that they have activity on their end.
00:35:47
>> Well said, my friend. So he calls Brandon's dad, unable to find his son, calls friends of Brandon's for help.
00:35:57
They come out. They agree to drive along these country roads all around Route 23
00:36:02
between Lind and Marshall looking for Brandon frantically. There is no sign of Brandon, and there's
00:36:09
also no sign of his car. At 6:30 a.m., Annette called the Lion County Sheriff's Office and reported
00:36:18
Brandon missing. All right, this this is a bit of an uncomfortable part here for me, Captain,
00:36:25
but look, it it is certainly police protocol in regards to taking a missing person's report when we are talking
00:36:33
about a missing adult. >> Mhm. But I like the cases and the stories we tell here in the garage where
00:36:40
someone jumps into action immediately. You know, hey, these people are concerned. We're going to see if we can
00:36:47
help. >> Unfortunately, that was not the case in this in this story. Yeah. >> Seems like there was a little push back
00:36:53
from police. The police pointed out that >> look, and I agree with this statement.
00:36:59
It's not unusual for a 19-year-old to not come home, right? And but one >> okay >> one officer even points out that it is
00:37:08
the young man's right to be out that if if he doesn't want to come home. >> Yeah. But
00:37:15
the argument is pretty simple. The this young man was on the phone with his parents asking for help.
00:37:21
>> Right. >> And so >> and therefore that makes this situation immediately different than all those
00:37:28
other possible situations. >> Right. this idea of well, you know, there's many uh teenagers that just
00:37:33
don't come home. Yeah. But did they call in the middle of the night asking for help
00:37:37
>> saying I'm walking around in the dark? >> Yeah. I mean, this is ridiculous. And
00:37:41
and they should be able to find his car pretty quickly. And there's evidence that uh we have a situation.
00:37:50
>> See, this is I mean, it's just unfortunate. >> That's pathetic, really. It's unfortunate for a number of reasons,
00:37:57
but here's here's at the very least, play along, play the game, right? You you could send an officer out in a car
00:38:05
to just do a little driving around, and you chalk it up to patrolling the area anyway, which serve and protect,
00:38:12
>> which you're supposed to be doing anyway. Why not just send a car to this general area where this concerned mother
00:38:17
and father are saying their young man son 19 years old is wandering around in the dark?
00:38:24
>> Well, it's absolutely pathetic because like I said, you serve and protect and
00:38:27
these these are taxpayers. These are good people in your community and they're just asking you to look into
00:38:34
their missing son. And like you said, just send out a cruiser. >> Yeah. >> Just say, "Hey, look, uh, we're sending
00:38:39
out a cruiser. We let's see what we can do." And here's the thing. If you end up
00:38:44
finding the kid, you're the hero of the day, man. You're the hero of the day. So, what ends up happening though,
00:38:51
Captain, is the Swanson's, they are obviously convinced that something bad has happened to their son. I'm not
00:38:58
really certain how, but it seems that they were able to push the sheriff enough to actually get them involved.
00:39:06
So, the sheriff's deputies join in on the search and a countywide request was made to expand the search area for this
00:39:15
young man. Now, in a brilliant move, this is where I do give some credit. The sheriff quickly obtained the cell phone
00:39:21
records for Brandon's phone. >> Good. >> And what those records showed changed everything.
00:39:28
Brandon's phone. The last activity on his phone caused the phone to ping on a cell phone tower that was nowhere near
00:39:36
where he told his father that he was. So Brandon thought he was near Lind, saying
00:39:43
he would meet him in the parking lot of the Lynwood Tavern. So instead of Lind, his phone hit off of a tower 20 miles
00:39:52
away in the town of Mota. So now they need to go search this area, the area that was covered by that cell
00:40:01
tower. Sure enough, it is during this search at 12:30 p.m. on the 14th of May that
00:40:09
officers found Brandon's Chevy Luminina in a ditch off a gravel road, as he described it to his parents. This is
00:40:17
several miles from Canby, where Brandon started off, and 25 miles from Lind. The
00:40:25
car was in a ditch alongside a minimum maintenance road off of Lion Lincoln County Road, which runs north to south
00:40:33
and separates the two counties just west of Taton and east of Porter. If you're looking for this location on a map, it's
00:40:42
about a mile and a half north of the intersection of Lion Lincoln County Road and Highway 68. So, so you're saying
00:40:50
Brandon's about 25 minutes away from where he claimed to be, >> correct? >> And this is where it does, this is where
00:40:58
the case gets me, cuz again, >> well, this is where it makes absolutely no sense.
00:41:03
>> Well, you're right. Because the claim is that this kid knows his way around these
00:41:08
roads, that he knows the directions around there. And and that's not always a claim that that uh fathers would make
00:41:15
about their sons when it comes to driving. Right. >> Right. >> And they're making these claims that he
00:41:20
knows these roads. He he he knows his whereabouts and he's 25 minutes away from where he said he was. That's that's
00:41:29
bizarre. So there I mean there's so many things bizarre about where he he ended up. I
00:41:35
mean I I was sitting there the other night and I thought that to to put together the the description of where
00:41:42
everything is and where he ends up where he thinks he is. I mean you're left there sitting looking at a map going
00:41:51
this just doesn't make any sense. >> And he's not that far away from the party. >> He's much closer to the party than where
00:41:57
he was supposed to end up at his parents house. So I mean basically if you take if you take Cami and draw a diagonal
00:42:05
line on a piece of paper souththeast to Marshall it'd be a straight shot. Right.
00:42:10
>> Right. >> South of that south of Marshall where he lived where he's trying to get to is
00:42:16
Lind. So he goes way, he believes that he is near Marshall, near Lind, which is technically out of the way, but where he
00:42:28
ends up is somewhere along that diagonal line. Basically, he's he's north of Lind
00:42:34
in Minota. >> Mhm. >> Which is much closer to Cani and very and 20 25 minutes away from Marshall and
00:42:42
Lind. Well, it seems like, you know, somehow he gets confused and gets on on a road that he thinks is familiar, but
00:42:51
is not correct. >> Well, and that's where I think the trouble lies with this case is
00:42:57
I think you could be pretty sober and get turned around even if you do know the area fairly well because again,
00:43:05
everything kind of looks the same. The roads are all just basically numbers. when I I also question are any of these
00:43:12
phone calls that he's making to his friends. Look, we've we can assume that he's not calling anybody until the car
00:43:20
he he veers off and goes in the ditch, right? >> But I'm telling you, it was a a bad
00:43:26
habit. I would get on the road when I'm playing gigs and every time I was on the
00:43:31
damn phone, I'd miss an exit. And it was always an exit that I that I knew from I
00:43:38
was familiar with. Mhm. >> And I'd be going a again, you know. So that's why I also wonder, was he talking
00:43:44
to somebody on the phone where just by being on that phone, he gets on the wrong road and then he, you know,
00:43:53
travels. >> I think it would have been incredibly easy to make a wrong turn, >> right?
00:43:58
>> And but but what that's not so hard to believe. What's really hard to believe
00:44:04
is that he he clearly hasn't traveled much of a distance and and he hasn't traveled as
00:44:12
far as he believes that he has traveled. So then you start to wonder, >> not necessarily. And the reason why is
00:44:18
cuz he could have been heading one direction and then once he makes the wrong turn or or or gets confused, he
00:44:27
could have actually been heading back the other direction. >> No. And that's what I mean. We we don't
00:44:31
know. >> He he could have been driving for as long as he anticipated. Right. >> Right. And that's where I think the
00:44:38
problem lies. And I think that that might be where I think that might be why he thinks he
00:44:44
was >> was where he thought he was, which is a weird statement to say, but he knows
00:44:50
generally how long of a drive it would be from Canby to Marshall or Cani to Lind. And I think he probably drove
00:44:57
around about that amount of time and says, "Well, that's where I must be, right, is Lind." Where as you pointed
00:45:04
out, and I think what's probably correct here, is that he's made several wrong turns, turned around a couple times,
00:45:10
tried to correct himself, and ultimately he's just getting more and more lost, more and more confused about where he
00:45:18
where he is actually located. >> Right. And again, this becomes an issue because we don't know how intoxicated he
00:45:23
is or like you said, just, you know, being exhausted, you know, right? We don't know.
00:45:30
>> So, Lincoln County Sheriff Jack Viski offered a description of Brandon's car.
00:45:37
He said the car was found on the Lincoln County side of the county line. Quote, "It was off the side of a field approach
00:45:46
and the vehicle was hung up. It's sort of a sharp incline, nothing major, but enough that the car would get hung up so
00:45:54
the wheels are too high off the ground to get any traction. End quote. Brandon's car, while immobilized,
00:46:03
was technically fine. >> You know, it was operating just fine. There was no real damage to it. And this
00:46:10
is further backed up by Brandon's mother, Annette. >> Right. >> There's no evidence that he had been
00:46:15
hurt in this incident. And furthermore, he tells his parents he's fine from the incident. And there was no evidence that
00:46:23
anyone else was involved in the accident as well. >> Right. So basically saying that we don't
00:46:29
think he hit his head or anything and that he was conscious of what was happening.
00:46:34
>> From my understanding, Brandon told his parents this accident happened as he was
00:46:40
trying to turn off of an unpaved road. If you if you want to try to picture this scenario, basically it's like he
00:46:49
he's trying to turn around in the middle of the road and and and maybe go the opposite direction,
00:46:56
>> right? >> And because these are country roads that that typically are not wide lanes,
00:47:03
he got hung up in in the ditch. And when they say hung up, they just mean that the the tires are not touching the
00:47:09
ground, therefore you cannot move the car. It was We've had another case that was very similar to this vehicle type
00:47:17
situation. I think it was uh Briana Maitlin, >> right? >> Where the car was it worked just fine
00:47:23
and that's what confused people so much. But but if if those if the tires that move when you hit the accelerator do not
00:47:30
touch the ground, your car doesn't move. >> No traction. >> That's right. Furthermore,
00:47:36
many reports say that nothing else unusual was found at the actual site. However, one very important source that
00:47:44
we will get into later and we've already touched upon says the car doors were found open. If that is true, to me,
00:47:53
Captain, that would be incredibly strange. >> Mhm. >> In any event, Sheriff Viski said that
00:48:01
officers could not determine which direction Brandon was heading after he left the vehicle, which direction he was
00:48:08
heading on foot. He says, quote, "There's grass in the ditch and gravel on the road, so it is possible to leave
00:48:16
that vehicle and not leave any tracks." One thing the sheriff failed to mention was an unfortunate coincidence. The
00:48:25
roads were graded on the morning of May 14th before the vehicle was actually found and located by deputies. this
00:48:34
destroying any possible footprint or other evidence that they may have found on the gravel roads.
00:48:42
Let's discuss the scene where the car was found. We know there were no prints of use and that one source indicates
00:48:49
that the doors were open and keys were gone. There was nothing unusual found in, near, or on the vehicle. We have
00:48:56
seen a few reports that a pipe was found in the car. To be perfectly clear, there's no
00:49:04
indication of what kind of pipe, >> right? It could be a tobacco pipe, it could be a marijuana pipe, crack pipe,
00:49:11
>> could be a lead pipe. I have no idea. But the >> I I think the general idea here is if in
00:49:18
fact a pipe was found in the vehicle, then it's possible Brandon could have been high before he set off on foot that
00:49:26
night. >> Right. >> I don't know, Captain. In in my opinion, I want to throw this out there. I feel
00:49:32
like the the pipe being found in the car might just be some bad information. >> Yes. And I and I say that because there
00:49:41
is one newspaper article that references this pipe, but they give no indication of what it was used for, what kind of
00:49:48
pipe it was. And then where I see other reports that that contain that say that there was a pipe in the car, they appear
00:49:57
to me to be reports and articles that were written using that first article, >> right?
00:50:02
>> You you know what I mean? >> Bad information that people are passing on as a rumor.
00:50:06
>> That's what my gut tells me. also could be a small little pipe. You know, I worked at a hardware store. I could see
00:50:12
somebody carrying around a little piece of lead pipe, you know, as protection. >> So, that's something, too. The the the
00:50:20
thing that I keep going now that we're on this uh smoke in the pipe, right? >> Mhm. and the whole intoxicated level.
00:50:29
One of the things that has really got me about this case is yes, we know that he
00:50:33
was at these two parties hanging out with his friends and yes, they say, "Well, yeah, we think he was drinking at
00:50:38
the first one and uh he might have been drinking on the second one. We don't know how much." We know that he had a
00:50:43
shot of Jack Daniels. What I wonder was was there any um smoking of the of weed? Um, was there
00:50:54
any usage of like mushrooms? >> You almost sounded like a really old person there first. Smoking of the weed.
00:51:01
>> I almost said smoking the weed. >> Boy, you high on the weed. >> He was out there smoking the weed. Um,
00:51:08
so because I'm just trying to think of my friend's early days of college. If if something
00:51:16
happened to one of our buddies, we'd probably start off with yes, we were drinking. If it was one of the days that
00:51:22
we were experimenting with shrooms, I don't think we would have told the parents that we were experimenting with
00:51:28
shrooms, >> right? >> But I think I get where you're going with this. >> Yeah. >> I think what you're trying to say is as
00:51:34
time passes >> and as the concern for your friend who is lost and continues to be lost,
00:51:43
are you saying that at some point you you just >> go into more maybe maybe be a little
00:51:48
more upfront about some things? >> I think you would. So, so I think we would hear rumors about that and I we
00:51:53
just don't hear rumors about that, >> right? >> Um, >> and of course >> marijuana, drinking, all of that is
00:52:01
totally believable because that's very common at the age of 19, you know, early college, just out of
00:52:08
high school, very common. So, it's totally believable. But to me, it feels like if the suspicion was strong enough
00:52:18
for that that the suspicion would have stood the test of time and and it really has not because what you have here in
00:52:25
this case is you have Brian Swanson, Brandon's father, >> right, >> who has said for 11 years now that he
00:52:33
does not believe that his son was in any way incapacitated that evening, saying that Brandon sounded totally normal,
00:52:41
lucid, and coherent on the phone, >> right? But there's just so much evidence against that. I mean, one, the, you
00:52:49
know, he has to call for help because of his car, like you said, turning around on a a country road.
00:52:57
It's I think that's evidence that there's an an impairment there. Uh the fact that, you know, if it's true that
00:53:03
they found two doors open, that doesn't make a lot of sense. To me, that shows a
00:53:08
sign of an impairment. The fact that he doesn't know where he's at, sign of impairment. The fact that um then he
00:53:17
claims where he's going to start walking toward towards again another sign of impairment. So, you know, I'm I'm glad
00:53:23
that his you know, you know, I I I don't I'm not saying that his father's a liar.
00:53:29
I'm just saying that there's a lot of evidence against the fact that he you know, that he was completely coherent.
00:53:37
Well, I mean, he he wouldn't be a li liar if he believed what he's saying. And meaning, you know, Brian Swanson
00:53:45
does not believe that his son could basically he's saying, "Look, I was on the phone with him for 47 minutes. It
00:53:51
wasn't a a two-minute phone call. It wasn't a five minute phone call." Right. Right.
00:53:55
>> He's saying, "I don't think my son could fake it through a very lengthy phone
00:54:00
call." >> No. No. I agree with that. and and Brandon's friends have not said that he
00:54:05
was drunk or high, although if they were, like you said, underage or they were doing illegal activities, they
00:54:12
might not admit to this, especially right away. We know that there have been there was quite of of a bit of time
00:54:20
unaccounted for. It seems to be that way depending on which timeline you follow for that evening,
00:54:26
>> right? But one thing that I find that's that's super interesting is the police investigators have also said
00:54:36
repeatedly that they do not believe Brandon was impaired that evening. Now, of course, it's totally unclear on how
00:54:44
they would know this or how they were able to come to this conclusion, right? And the impairment doesn't have to be
00:54:51
drugs. It could again be uh exhaust, you know, exhaustion, >> right? And and the the police coming to
00:54:59
this conclusion may just be because all of his friends and his dad says that he wasn't, you know, intoxicated.
00:55:07
Basically, and all reports are telling us he was he was sober kind of thing. >> Yeah.
00:55:12
But what does seem clear to me more so than if he was impaired or intoxicated in any way, it's 100% that Brandon was
00:55:23
very very confused about where he was that evening. >> Well, the other evidence that he
00:55:28
possibly was impaired is that he's taking these back roads and instead of taking the more traveled, you know,
00:55:37
well-lit roads, you're taking back roads. That that's another sign to me. >> And I'm not saying that he's like drunk
00:55:44
to the point where he can't walk. I'm just saying that maybe he's, you know, buzzed enough where, you know, can't get
00:55:52
his car unstuck, leaves the door open, doesn't know exactly where he's at, has to take the back roads.
00:56:00
Right. But I think I think a big problem with this case is and there's some debate and I don't know having you know
00:56:06
I don't live in this area or never have visited this area. There is some debate online about how well the roads he would
00:56:15
have been traveling were actually marked if they were even marked >> at the time in 2008.
00:56:23
>> Yeah. Again, if if if the farms look the same, the farmland looks the same, the
00:56:28
streets and roads look the same, you know, I I I don't I don't know that it it we gain much value out of debating
00:56:35
if he was impaired or not, but I can see a situation where somebody would be maybe even sober as a judge and
00:56:43
perfectly fine and still get turned around in this situation. Yeah, >> he's he's in the end. What we do know is
00:56:52
he's 20 miles from where he thought he was. And the lights that he could see, remember, he thinks that they're coming
00:56:58
from the town of Lind. They are not. We We know that uh from where his vehicle is found.
00:57:04
>> Now, you said that they had his phone records. They got the phone records pretty quickly, but do we know I mean it
00:57:11
was 2008, so did they have any text mess any text messages? Um any records of that?
00:57:20
>> I looked up his phone and I actually thought that it was another phone before
00:57:25
I looked it up. I thought it was like the the Razor Remember the Motorola had like a silver Razor flip type phone.
00:57:32
>> Yeah, >> that's the phone that I thought it was. And when I when I looked up the phone
00:57:36
online, it it showed me clearly a different model. But what I can say from what I can view regarding that phone is
00:57:44
it did have texting. I believe it to have texting capabilities, >> right? >> Um it his regarding what kind of service
00:57:54
he had might play into that somehow. Remember right remember back in the day it wasn't like like today you sign up
00:58:01
>> get it. Yeah. >> Yeah. Today you sign up for a plan and they're like, "Well, you get
00:58:04
everything." You know, back then it was uh quite different. So >> I I >> And I can't remember exactly when the
00:58:11
change happened. >> The the days when you'd have to like >> monitor how much you text.
00:58:16
>> Well, yeah, that but also like you'd also text by like you'd have to hit, you
00:58:21
know, three a couple times for C, you know. Uh, and judging by the the the picture, the image I saw of the phones
00:58:29
that that were brought up in my Google search, he he very likely would have been if he was texting, it would have
00:58:35
been that deal where you're like, tap the number one three times for the letter C,
00:58:40
>> right? >> Type of thing, >> right? >> And again, it it might have been a new enough time, 2008, where where the
00:58:48
texting was fine. I don't have any detailed reports regarding his his phone logs. for that night. But what what I
00:58:57
what I believe to be a fair statement to say about his phone log would be that nothing
00:59:06
there doesn't seem to be anything that that is outstanding as weird or unusual because we would have that information.
00:59:14
you know, we would we that would be included in the narrative of this story that that there
00:59:21
>> not only does was there this strange situation of he's on the actual phone. I
00:59:26
mean, and and that's the way that this story plays out in the way that it's told on the internet and told from
00:59:31
person to person is Brandon is on the phone at the time that he vanishes, which is so incredibly weird. We've had
00:59:39
so many other cases that we've covered that there are there's a strange phone call involved in a missing person's
00:59:44
case, but to be actually on the phone with one's father when when it's believed that he went missing.
00:59:51
>> Yeah. I mean, this is and it's weird, too, cuz you got Brandon Swanson and then you have the Brandon Lawson case,
00:59:58
which is kind of similar. >> Yeah. Both involve phone calls. Strange phone calls.
01:00:04
>> Yeah. Two family members. >> Yeah. both Brandons. >> Yeah. So, it's it's one of those
01:00:10
situations where I see what you're getting at and I wish we knew that information. I think that the reason why
01:00:16
it's not reported is that it it may just have no real bearing on the case. It may
01:00:23
be in fact exactly as we just said that from the call records we know that he tried he attempted to call a couple of
01:00:31
friends. We know that he called his parents when his parents say that he's on the phone with them. And we know that
01:00:38
his father tried to call his phone several times after after the call goes dead on Brandon's end. [music]
01:00:54
[music] There's so much more to get to in this incredibly fascinating case of missing
01:01:01
person Brandon Swanson. Still left, Captain. We have the search for Brandon. We have the theories about what could
01:01:10
have happened to him, plus our thoughts and the conclusion. Only one episode this week due to the holiday. If you
01:01:17
need more garage, download the Stitcher app and check out all of our old shows. And also we have a weekly bonus show on
01:01:24
Stitcher Premium called Off thereord. There's now over 70 episodes available. So check that out and make sure you go
01:01:33
to true crimegar.com and leave us your theories and thoughts on the Brandon Swanson case. And until
01:01:40
next week everybody, be good, be kind, and don't live. >> [music] [music] [music]