College Student Crashes into Ditch and Disappears Without a Trace
Sometimes loved ones disappear. And that’s scary. Most times you’re nowhere near when it happens, and you can’t do anything about it, but imagine the devastation of them disappearing while in communication, when you’re so close.
Out of Sight, Not So Out of Mind:
Marshall Minnesota native Brandon Swanson graduated from Marshall High School in 2007 and went to study wind turbines for a year at the Minnesota West Community and Technical College in Canby. Classes ended on May 13 of 2008, and Swanson stayed the evening to attend a couple of parties with friends. At both, he was seen to have had drinks, but not enough to be visibly intoxicated.
Later that night, Swanson started the 30-mile drive home. Everything went fine until around 2:00 am when he drove his car, a Chevrolet Lumina, into a ditch he could not then get out of. Unharmed, he got out of the car and made a phone call to his parents who left to pick him up. 47 minutes into the ongoing call, Swanson was abruptly interrupted, causing him to cry out and drop his phone. His parents have been unable to reestablish contact, and that’s the last anyone has heard from him.
The Search for Brandon:
At 6:30 that morning, Brandon’s parents reported him missing to the police. This report was brushed off by police who claimed it was not uncommon for young men to stay out late after their last night of college classes, and one of the officers told Brandon’s mother it was Brandon’s “right to be missing”. Police began on a search later that day, searching in and around the town, but found no traces. They in turn asked for assistance from Joel Dahl, Lyon County Sheriff, who pulled up Brandon’s cell phone records in order to narrow down the search. The records indicated that he had been calling from near Taunton, along state route 68, northwest of Marshall.
Police soon discovered Swanson’s abandoned car in a ditch off a gravel road a mile off the highway, along the Lincoln county line; which dragged Sheriff Jack Vizecky into the case investigation. Apparently, the way the car had hung off the road wasn’t enough to severely damage the car, but enough that the tires couldn’t touch the ground. Nothing else about the scene stood out, and the presence of grass and gravel made finding tracks impossible.
Aerial flyovers accompanied the ground efforts, which included the use of bloodhounds brought in from both Tanton and Lynd, the nearest towns. The dogs located a trail that followed 3 miles away to an old barn, and from there to the Yellow Medicine River, where the trail entered the stream. Brandon’s father recalled Brandon telling him he’d seen fences and heard water, which along with the trail, prompted the theory that Swanson might have drowned. As a result of this theory, resources began spreading along the river, and gates were installed. Dahl noted that the water level seemed to have gone down since the morning of the disappearance when some sections of the river were around 10 feet deep.
Most efforts were discontinued when the initial search turned up with no results. Sheriff Vizecky continued to make the two-mile walk along the river every day for a month, and the Swanson’s kept a light on at their porch hoping that Brandon would one day return or be found, and they supposedly still do. The searches continued through autumn and the next spring after snowmelt, in a cycle that continued until 2011. In 2010, the case was picked up by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which set up a tip line. By 2015, over 90 tips had come in, and the search had been moved to Mud Creek, a tributary of Yellow Medicine.
Despite the running theory of Brandon’s drowning and his known last words, Mrs. Swanson does not believe that he drowned. According to her, after the dog followed Brandon’s scent to the river, the dog continued up the other bank to another gravel road and continued north toward the Yellow Medicine County line where it stopped. She claims there is no indication of him being in the river. There are other possibilities, but they are widely considered by police to be more of a stretch, though police have not ruled out foul play. Brandon’s father told police that despite Brandon having drunk that night, he did not seem in any way intoxicated or incoherent throughout the 47-minute phone call.
The statement made by the officer who claimed it was Brandon’s “right to be missing” when his mother reported his age, still affected her greatly years later. She met with Marty Seifert, then minority leader of the state House of Representatives, and discussed the problems she faced with police, knowing it wouldn’t help her case but could help others in the future. Seifert soon after introduced a bill she called “Brandon’s Law” which would affect change by amending the law governing the state's existing Missing Child Program, changing the word "child" to "person". There was a great deal of resistance from the law enforcement community, largely revolving around the privacy of cell phones and similar emerging technology. The introduction of a companion bill to the state senate by Dennis Fredrickson passed both houses, and in 2009, Governor Tim Pawlenty signed the bills into law.
What Do You Think?
What is your opinion on that police officer’s response? To us, it sounds both callous and irresponsible, as well as criminal. Should the police have taken the missing person report more seriously? Do you think Brandon drowned in the river or do you think someone got to him in the night? There is currently not enough evidence to suggest either, but perhaps we might get some more information in the future.