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Dakota Valkyrie
June 5th, 2008, 02:08 AM
Searching for Brandon Swanson
http://i26.tinypic.com/2gwdywz.jpg
Missing since May 14th.

A man from our area is leading the search for a missing 19-year-old near Marshall.

Gary Peterson of Spring Valley was working with Brandon Swanson's family this weekend. The teen went missing in southwestern Minnesota nearly three weeks ago after his car went into a ditch.

The last contact with his family was a phone call that ended abruptly on May 14th.

Peterson says they are zeroing in on an area where he believes Brandon might be. "Right now we're going from the point where his car was located at, we're going southeast in the Taunton in the river area and then we're going to be expanding the search around Taunton as well because I believe he's in the water out north of Taunton somewhere.”

Previous searchers have focused on areas near the Yellow Medicine River.http://kaaltv.com/article/stories/S465049.shtml?cat=10219

Father: Son seemed fine during call

Swanson has been missing since early Wednesday morning after he called his parents to tell them he drove his car into a ditch. It was later learned Swanson had run into the ditch near the Yellow Medicine River.

Brandon Swanson is a 2007 graduate of Marshall High School and student at Minnesota West college in Canby.

Brandon Swanson was apparently returning home to Marshall from Canby on Wednesday morning when he was on a field road and ran into the ditch on the county border road.

Brian Swanson said his son was not impaired at the time when he used his cell phone to call his parents.

“I talked to him for 47 minutes on the cell phone,” Brian Swanson said. “I think in that time I could tell if my son was impaired or not. He seemed perfectly fine until the last words I heard him say and the phone went dead.”

Lyon County Sheriff Joel Dahl said officers have learned that Swanson had been drinking alcohol before the accident, but there is no information to indicate Swanson was impaired or how much he drank.

Officials also found a pipe that apparently could be used for drugs, but it has not yet been tested for drugs and it is not known if the pipe was Swanson’s or if it was used for drugs, Dahl said.

“There was no blood in the car, there were no beer cans...” Dahl said. There was nothing to indicate Swanson had been impaired, Dahl said.

Dahl said cellular telephone records said that Swanson called his parents at about 1:54 a.m. Wednesday and his parents called him back at about 2:23 a.m.

“That (2:23) phone call was at least 47 minutes,” Dahl said.

At some point during the conversation, Brandon Swanson was walking and describing a fence line and water to his father, Dahl said. The phone call ended abruptly, Dahl said.

The parents contacted the Lyon County Sheriff’s Department at about 6:30 a.m. Wednesday, Dahl said. The initial search started near Lynd where Swanson told his parents his car was, Dahl said.

Dahl said the cellular telephone company was able to trace the cell phone calls to about five miles within a tower near Minneota. Law enforcement used that information later on Wednesday to find Swanson’s car near Taunton, Dahl said.

Dahl said law enforcement expected Brandon Swanson’s cell phone to not work but when they made calls to it during the day on Wednesday and Thursday, the phone rang and eventually calls were directed to his voice mail.

Later Thursday, calls were immediately directed to Brandon Swanson’s voicemail, which likely meant the phone’s battery needed to be charged, Dahl said.

Brandon Swanson did not not call 911, Dahl said.

Brian Swanson said his son would not have staged a disappearance and caused a search.

“Brandon and I and his mother (and family) are very close,” Brian Swanson said. “We get along. We have a very open relationship.”

His son would not have harmed himself, Brian Swanson said. “He still has plans,” he said. “That’s why he wouldn’t do that.”http://www.marshallindependent.com/page/content.detail/id/501860.html?nav=5015

Did he fall into the river? Did he stage this? Either way it's bad news for someone.

michelle
June 5th, 2008, 10:00 AM
I sure hope they find him and he is okay.

w8ng4msrgt
June 5th, 2008, 10:20 AM
I didn't realize he has been missing for weeks. Not good.

michelle
June 5th, 2008, 10:22 AM
I didn't realize he has been missing for weeks. Not good.

Me either, doesn't sound good.

Dakota Valkyrie
June 5th, 2008, 10:37 AM
Sorry folks! Ithought I had that in there and have now put it in.

I only put this up because there is talk around that he planned to disappear in is not dead. While I don't know that I believe it, stranger things have happened.

Unamused Cat
June 7th, 2008, 06:27 PM
Why didn't Brandon just go to the road and flag somebody down? I don't see why he would just wander off to a river or woods unless he was impaired.

Unamused Cat
June 7th, 2008, 07:21 PM
I can't help but be reminded on this case. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,145128,00.html

Dakota Valkyrie
June 9th, 2008, 11:17 AM
Why didn't Brandon just go to the road and flag somebody down? I don't see why he would just wander off to a river or woods unless he was impaired.

Probably was impaired. Road traffic would be little to none at that time of night in that area. Why he would leave the road is a question... maybe saw farmstead lights and headed cross-country towards them??

So far, all public and private searches called off. If he's in the river, there are flood warnings in the area, they will probably search the river again later.

He seems to have dropped off the face of the planet.

Dakota Valkyrie
February 9th, 2010, 12:06 AM
it will be 2 years in May. Brandon is still missing. CNN reports:

[...]
"At the time, the dogs indicated, and it was believed, that he must have fallen in the river in that area," he added. "So we searched that area, on the premise that he'd be washed downstream."

But investigators are not convinced that the teen fell into the river. Vizecky said Swanson should have been found in the river or downstream, had he fallen in.

Annette Swanson said she is not convinced her son drowned, either.

"There really is nothing to indicate that he's in the river," she said. According to her, one bloodhound followed a scent from the stranded car down a gravel road to an abandoned farm.

"It was a long trail ... about three miles," she added. The new trail path also led to the Yellow Medicine River. "The dog actually jumped in the river, jumped back out, worked the trail up to another gravel road and then lost the scent," she said.

Vizecky leaves open the possibility of foul play.

"The only thing would have been if someone was in the shadows, and they got him that way," he said. "I can't say there wasn't someone else there, but I can't find any evidence of it."

Cadaver dogs and searchers, he explained, should have found a body or some evidence if Swanson had succumbed to the elements.

"I can't explain why clothing, belongings wouldn't surface," Vizecky said. "I can't explain why after searching for three weeks, [the dogs] could not smell anything."

The Swansons want to know what happened to their son.

"You know people don't vanish into thin air, but it sure seems like he did," Annette Swanson said.

The couple is responsible for the enactment of Brandon's Law, which became effective in Minnesota on July 1, 2009.

The law requires authorities to conduct a preliminary investigation without delay when a missing persons report is received.
[...]
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/01/18/grace.coldcase.swanson/index.html

I think he's in the river. Maybe washed to an usual spot during flooding then and further "buried" in the floods of 2009.

OMalley
February 9th, 2010, 12:12 AM
I saw this story a few days ago. It's very strange, how he disappeared. Called the parents to come get him, apparently didn't know where he was (drunk?), then just...gone. Very sad.

Aslan
February 9th, 2010, 01:00 AM
This is bizarre.
43 minutes is a long time to be by yourself walking and describing stuff. They said he 'had' been drinking so maybe he was disoriented. Couldn't give an accurate description and too scared to call the cops?
Shit, he should have taken the DUI, if that's what it came down to.
Damn, Hindsight. She's a bitch.

RIP Brandon