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1:02

Two sisters. One, a respected

1:05

TV producer. The other was disabled,

1:08

nearly blind and deaf. Jill and Wendy Blackstone

1:10

lived together, rescued dogs together.

1:13

Jill was her best friend, her sister,

1:15

her everything. But the sister bond

1:18

was broken the day Wendy and three

1:20

rescue dogs were found dead in

1:22

a garage next to a toppled over barbecue

1:25

grill. Jill said accidental carbon

1:27

monoxide poisoning killed her sister and the dogs.

1:30

Detectives don't believe her.

1:31

Police arrested Jill Blackstone for

1:33

the murder of her sister. Investigators think it

1:35

was staged to look like an accident.

1:37

So what happened? A source

1:39

has come forward with evidence never made public

1:42

before, revealing the dark story

1:45

of why Wendy Blackstone really

1:47

died. Jill was a good producer. There's

1:49

no doubt about that. But would she produce

1:52

murder

1:52

is the question. Season 2

1:55

of Bad, Bad Thing, The Blackstone Sisters,

1:58

available October 4th. wherever you

2:00

get your podcasts. Hello

2:36

everyone and welcome to episode 332

2:39

of the true crime all the time Unsolved podcast.

2:42

I'm Mike Ferguson and with me as always

2:44

is my partner in true crime Mike

2:46

Gibson. Jimmy, how are you? Hey man, I'm doing

2:48

good about yourself. I'm doing pretty good, you

2:51

know decompressing a little bit from

2:53

crime con. It was a lot of

2:55

fun. It was a blast. The

2:57

hotel was freaking huge.

3:00

Yeah, there was a lot of people there but

3:03

we got to meet a lot of friends that

3:05

we've known for a long time and a lot of new

3:08

friends. Yeah, it was amazing. Yeah, it

3:10

was. It was and you know

3:12

before we give our shout outs I just saw

3:15

where the remains of Suzanne

3:18

Morphew have been found and identified.

3:21

So great news. Well you

3:23

know it gives the family some information

3:25

but also hopefully it's the

3:28

the kickstart of

3:31

leading the investigation to where

3:33

it needs to get to. Yeah, let's hope it

3:35

gets there. Yeah, let's go ahead and give our patreon

3:38

shout outs. We had Robin Bueller. Bueller,

3:41

anybody? Anyone? Tanya

3:43

Collett. Hey, Collett. Brandi

3:46

Garcia. What's going on Garcia? Addicted

3:48

to Ferrets. Hey Ferrets. Christy

3:50

Kemp. What's going on Kemp? Celine

3:53

de Monte. Ah Celine.

3:55

Lachlan. Hey Lachlan. Amanda

3:58

Kirby. What's going on Amanda? Granny

4:01

pammi jumped out our highest level. Everybody

4:03

needs some granny. I Don't

4:06

know if that came out Exactly

4:08

the way you thought it was going to but

4:11

I'm leaving that in cuz it it is

4:14

cracked me up Yeah, Pamela Geary jumped

4:16

out there. I just love them.

4:18

It's still cracking me up. I pay him

4:20

a lot Ron Steele, they

4:22

run Susanna joy. What's going on

4:24

joy Savannah Thomas? Hey Savannah,

4:27

Kaylin Serra's Well, thank you

4:29

set us Joyce. What's up, Joyce

4:32

and Laura Andrews. Well, thank

4:34

you Laura All right, and if we go

4:36

back into the vault This

4:39

week we selected Melissa Duke.

4:41

Hey appreciate that Melissa Yeah, I appreciate the new support

4:44

to continued support on patreon and

4:46

on PayPal We had some great donations

4:48

from Elizabeth Massey a Massey

4:51

and braid Oh Cabrilla is

4:54

shouting out. Happy birthday rue

4:56

from Tigger. All right, Cabrilla. Happy

4:58

birthday rue That

5:01

was a mouthful wasn't it for me? Yep

5:04

for you and granny Yes, we

5:06

have a lot out right now on Saturday night We

5:08

dropped a brand new patreon episode on the

5:10

murder of 18 year old Stacy Hannah

5:13

and this case involves a love Triangle

5:17

and some girls who said they were trying to

5:19

teach Stacy a lesson

5:21

and and it went horribly wrong way

5:24

too far should never even started

5:26

No, yeah, and it's sickening.

5:29

It's it was rough. It was a very rough

5:31

murder and then on T cat

5:33

we're talking about Tia

5:36

Skinner and the murder of Paul

5:38

Skinner and the attempted

5:40

murder on Mara Skinner Inside

5:43

their home in Michigan by two men

5:46

the thing that that really struck

5:48

me about this one was that the attack

5:50

was Orchestrated by their adopted

5:53

daughter Tia. Yeah, this

5:55

shows you that you never know you

5:57

never do who's in the next room Are

6:00

you ready to get into this episode of True

6:02

Crime All The Time Unsolved? I'm ready. We're

6:04

talking about the disappearance of Brandon

6:07

Swanson. Brandon Swanson went

6:09

missing. After he crashed his car

6:11

into a ditch on his way home from a

6:13

party, he called his parents for

6:15

help, but the phone call ended suddenly

6:18

when something seemed to surprise

6:21

or frighten

6:22

Brandon.

6:23

15 years later, he's not been found.

6:25

The authorities are unable to rule out

6:28

an accident or foul play due

6:30

to a lack of evidence in his case. And

6:33

I'm sure we'll talk about it more, but just

6:36

think about his parents getting

6:39

this call. He's obviously going

6:41

to be in distress. He's asking for

6:44

help. And then all of a sudden

6:46

the call ends. I mean, what

6:48

parent can't put themselves

6:50

in that position and think how

6:53

horrifying that would be? Certainly

6:55

devastating. Brandon Swanson

6:58

was born on January 30th, 1989. He

7:01

was 19 years old when he went missing.

7:04

His parents are Brian and Annette Swanson,

7:07

and he has a younger sister. Brandon

7:10

lived with his parents in Marshall, Minnesota.

7:13

He graduated high school in 2007. He

7:16

spent a year studying wind energy

7:18

at Minnesota West Community College in

7:20

Canby. Brandon had a part-time

7:23

job at the Hy-Vee food store, and

7:25

he wanted to transfer to Iowa Western

7:28

Community College to study science.

7:31

Wind energy is pretty interesting. Well, it

7:33

seems like it'd be a really good field

7:35

to go into even

7:37

now, but especially back

7:40

when you think 2007. Yeah.

7:43

It sounds to me like he was a bright guy. Wanted

7:46

to go into science. That

7:49

was never really my forte. Science?

7:52

Science. No. I

7:54

was more of a history,

7:56

political science, social studies.

8:00

That was more my bag. I mean, I excelled

8:02

in science, like excelled in

8:04

everything. Sure. So sure. At

8:06

a young age. And still do. And

8:09

still do. I mean, you

8:11

have the vocabulary of a 242 year old man. Exactly.

8:16

Doesn't, it's funny that you thought that was a compliment.

8:19

No, I'm just kidding. No. And that

8:21

Swanson told the St. Cloud times

8:23

that Brandon was a kind person

8:26

who believed in doing the right thing. As

8:28

far as anyone knows. He was a good person,

8:31

wasn't involved in any criminal activity,

8:34

and he didn't associate with dangerous

8:36

people. So why is it

8:39

important that we talk about things

8:41

like this? Is it important

8:43

that he was a good person? Maybe

8:46

not so much. You know, if you're

8:49

doing some things that you shouldn't be and

8:51

you go missing, right, it's still

8:53

a tragedy. Sure it is. It's still

8:55

heartbreaking. But I do think it's

8:57

important when you talk about

8:59

a disappearance case, you

9:02

know, was this person in a dangerous

9:04

line of work? Did they associate

9:07

themselves with dangerous types of individuals

9:09

because that could

9:12

potentially lead you down a certain

9:14

path? Absolutely. It could. If

9:16

it's known that those elements

9:18

exist, you know, we're saying

9:21

if he did, nobody knew

9:23

about it. So it kind

9:25

of takes some of that off the

9:27

table, unless some evidence were

9:29

to come out that, you know, he

9:31

was buying drugs from someone or he

9:33

was associating with this person or that

9:36

person that that could have got him caught

9:38

up in some type of trouble. I

9:40

mean, if I went missing. I would know, I would

9:43

have nowhere to start because

9:46

there's a myriad of people who've

9:48

been looking for you under all

9:50

of your assumed names, some

9:53

for reasons of legitimate business,

9:55

some for your three letter agency type

9:58

stuff. Who knows who.

9:59

could be

10:00

if somebody abducted you.

10:03

Did you find it interesting when we were at CrimeCon how

10:05

I checked into the hotel? You mean

10:07

the name you use? Yes. Yeah. I

10:10

thought it was pretty interesting. It came up with

10:12

that pretty quickly. Yeah. Well, it's not the

10:14

fact that you came up with it quickly. It's the fact that

10:16

you had all the documents to back it up.

10:18

That's the part that scared me. Anybody

10:21

can make up a name, but when you produce

10:23

a passport, a valid driver's

10:25

license in that name, that

10:28

scared me a little. That portable printer.

10:31

It does a lot. Brandon went to

10:33

class on May 13th, 2008. It

10:35

was actually the last day of classes for

10:38

that semester. He drove home after

10:40

school and spoke with his mother. Brian

10:43

was in St. Cloud taking a class. So

10:45

he didn't see Brandon before he left

10:48

home again. Annette said

10:50

that Brandon came in to say goodbye to her.

10:52

She told the St. Cloud Times, I said the

10:54

things I normally say to him, see you later,

10:57

be safe. And how many times have we talked

10:59

about on Unsolved,

11:01

these

11:02

routine everyday conversations

11:05

that a person has with a family member?

11:07

Right. Everyday conversation.

11:10

Yes. But it ultimately

11:12

turns out to be either

11:15

the last or one of the last conversations

11:18

that they ever have. And so

11:20

you know, that gets ingrained. You

11:23

know that they're going to remember those

11:26

words they said forever.

11:27

But when you

11:29

don't think about it, because you have

11:31

no idea what's going to happen. You

11:33

say the things you always say. Yeah.

11:35

In this case, see you later, be safe.

11:39

Brandon went out with friends that evening

11:41

to celebrate the end of the semester. He

11:43

also attended a farewell party for

11:46

a friend. He was driving his Chevy

11:48

Lumina that night. Did you ever have

11:50

a Chevy Lumina? I never had a Chevy

11:53

Lumina. You know, at one time the Lumina

11:55

was like the NASCAR car.

11:58

Yeah. You know how they change models. over

12:00

the years and I

12:02

think my mother-in-law had one. It was a pretty good

12:04

car. One of the cars he uses,

12:07

the Pacer? No, no. What the actual

12:10

race cars are based

12:12

on? Like if you run a Chevy,

12:14

it's based on some model. If

12:16

you run a Toyota, it's based on something.

12:18

Did it have a 442 in it? No,

12:21

I'm sure it had something much bigger

12:23

than that. I don't know what NASCAR

12:25

cars have in it. Brandon first

12:28

went to a party in Lind, which was about

12:30

seven miles from his home. He drove

12:32

to Canby for another party. Now

12:34

there was alcohol at both parties, but

12:37

Brandon's friends told the police he didn't

12:39

seem drunk when he left the second party

12:41

in Canby. According to local news

12:44

outlet KSTP TV, some

12:46

witnesses said Brandon had a

12:48

shot of whiskey. Well, a shot

12:50

of whiskey. I don't think it's gonna compare

12:53

you to bad to drive.

12:55

What shot? Well, it all depends

12:58

on when you have the shot, how many

13:00

hours, you know, what there's a formula,

13:02

right? What kind of food you had, what kind of how much food

13:04

you've had. I mean, you shouldn't drink and

13:06

drive. We all know that, but

13:08

you can you have a shot

13:11

of whiskey when you get there and then drive

13:13

home three hours later. I would

13:15

say most people can and their blood alcohol

13:17

level would be below

13:20

the limit. Now I'm no expert because

13:22

I don't drink. Well, that's true. You do. Makes

13:24

it tough on me. Brandon left

13:26

the party after midnight on

13:28

May 14th, 2008, with the intention

13:31

to head home. The news site in

13:33

forum described the route from Canby

13:36

to Brandon's home in Marshall as

13:38

a 35 mile straight shot

13:41

on Minnesota State Highway 68. Brandon

13:44

had made this drive many times because

13:47

he commuted to school. And you

13:49

think about this term, straight

13:52

shot. You know, your drive from

13:54

your place to mine is what I

13:56

would call is pretty straight shot. Yeah, pretty

13:59

much a straight shot. Right down the highway. About 30

14:01

miles. For unknown reasons, Brandon

14:04

did not take Highway 68 that night. He

14:07

chose to drive down back roads

14:09

instead, some of which

14:11

were unpaved gravel roads.

14:14

Annette later told KSTP-TV

14:17

that she didn't know why Brandon

14:19

would choose to do this. Now, I

14:21

don't know why he would choose to do this either.

14:24

One thing that did enter

14:26

my mind is if he was

14:29

impaired, would he want to stay

14:31

maybe on the back roads where

14:34

potentially there would be less police?

14:37

Yeah, I think that's a reasonable

14:40

statement. I'm not saying he was impaired,

14:42

I'm just saying if someone was,

14:44

they might make that decision. Sure.

14:47

To avoid running into any checkpoints.

14:50

At around 1am, Brandon

14:53

drove into a ditch on a gravel road

14:55

and couldn't get his car out. At

14:58

first, he tried to call some friends for help,

15:00

but no one was answering. At

15:03

1.54am, he called his parents to ask

15:05

for a ride. So maybe this is where we have to look

15:08

at, was he intoxicated? By

15:10

taking the back roads and

15:12

then driving into a ditch off

15:14

the gravel road? Yeah, I mean you could

15:16

see why people would ask that question

15:19

or hypothesize

15:20

that possibly

15:22

he was intoxicated. When

15:24

you think about what did people

15:26

see at the party? Some

15:29

people said they saw him take

15:31

a shot of whiskey.

15:32

Well, what

15:33

if he was out of their

15:35

sight and he drank a couple

15:38

of beers and then he had a glass of wine? You

15:40

just don't know what people have

15:43

had because you're probably not next to them

15:45

the entire time. You're not monitoring them.

15:48

But let's also talk about this phone

15:51

call that his parents are receiving

15:53

at almost 2 o'clock in the morning. All

15:55

right, you're going to be startled a

15:57

little bit. Sure. But it's your

15:59

child. And so they

16:01

say they need your help. You're going to spring

16:04

into action. Brandon told his parents

16:06

he wasn't injured and both Brian

16:08

and Annette said that he sounded coherent

16:11

during their conversation. Brandon told

16:13

them he was near the city of Lynn, which

16:15

is southwest of Marshall. Well,

16:18

it's good. He sounded coherent. It probably sounded

16:20

to them that maybe he didn't drink that night or

16:23

he was sober by that time. Yeah,

16:26

I'm not saying that parents could would

16:28

always be able to tell but I do think

16:31

a lot of parents would, you know,

16:33

if he's slurring his words, if he,

16:36

you know, just doesn't sound the way he normally

16:38

sounds. But again, we just don't

16:40

know. Brian Swanson told CNN

16:43

we got him to pick up to go to this spot

16:45

where he felt he was. Brian

16:48

said he believed Brandon was about 10 minutes

16:50

from home and that Brandon

16:53

was absolutely positive he

16:55

knew where he was. However, when

16:58

Brian and Annette got there, they didn't see

17:00

Brandon's car or Brandon. They turned

17:02

around and started flashing their lights, telling

17:05

Brandon over the phone what they were doing. They

17:08

could hear Brandon doing the same thing in

17:10

his vehicle, but they couldn't see the

17:12

car lights anywhere around them. Brandon

17:15

asked his parents, don't you see

17:17

me? At this point, everyone started

17:19

getting frustrated. And that said that

17:21

Brandon hung up on her. So she called

17:24

him back and apologized. Brandon said

17:26

he could see lights off in the distance, which

17:29

he thought was the city of Lynn. He

17:31

told his dad he was going to walk into town

17:34

and that they could pick him up at a bar and grill

17:36

called the Lindwood. Brandon was supposed

17:39

to be waiting in the parking lot. So,

17:42

you know, let's break down this situation. He

17:44

thinks he knows where he is.

17:46

He's pretty sure he knows

17:47

where he is. It sounds pretty confident, but

17:50

they go there and he's not there. What

17:53

really grabbed me was, so

17:56

both of them are flashing their headlights.

18:00

At one point he asked his parents,

18:02

don't you see me? Almost

18:05

as if he thought they

18:07

were close or he saw something. I

18:10

don't know that, that kind of caught

18:13

my attention. Yeah, I'm sure he's like, I'm

18:15

flicking my light so many times. How can you

18:17

not see me? Yeah. And, and they're

18:19

doing the same thing. So he makes

18:21

this decision that he's going to walk to

18:23

a bar and grow. Brian drove

18:25

home to drop a net off and then

18:27

went out to look for Brian. The second

18:30

phone call with Brandon started at two 23

18:33

AM according to Minnesota's

18:35

unsolved cases. As Brandon

18:37

walked, he described his surroundings

18:39

to his dad. He said he decided

18:42

to take a shortcut through some fields

18:44

and was walking along a fence still

18:47

heading towards the city lights. He

18:49

also talked about seeing gravel roads

18:51

and hearing running water in the distance.

18:54

Now, I don't know when the first kind

18:57

of GPS locator app

19:00

came about on the, on the smartphones.

19:03

There were smartphones out in 2007, right? Didn't

19:07

the first iPhone come out in like 2004

19:09

or five, something like that? Yeah,

19:11

I'm not really sure. But I don't

19:13

know when GPS really played

19:16

a factor in some of these apps. Today,

19:19

this would probably be a

19:21

pretty easy find. You

19:24

know, I would just open up the app.

19:26

I could see exactly where one of

19:28

my daughters was and just

19:31

follow along to that location.

19:34

Brandon and his dad were on the phone for 47

19:36

minutes. At three 10

19:39

AM Brandon suddenly shouted

19:42

out, Oh shit. And the line went dead.

19:44

Brian Swanson was quoted as saying, there

19:47

was nothing after that. And that

19:49

wasn't present during this phone call, but

19:51

she described what Brian hurt to

19:53

cast TP TV saying

19:56

it sounded like the phone fell. And

19:59

as it fell.

20:00

We could hear him say, Oh,

20:04

what did that mean? Did he fall into

20:06

a ditch? Did he fall into the river? We

20:08

don't know. And as a parent, the

20:11

dad, you want to spring into action,

20:13

right? Like, I got to go find my kid. What

20:15

happened? But you don't even know where he's at. Well,

20:18

I think it's at that point, right,

20:20

that the panic meter rises

20:23

because, you know, in the beginning,

20:25

they're talking on the phone. He

20:28

thinks he knows where he's at. They

20:30

don't find him, but he has a plan.

20:33

I don't know that the panic

20:36

was all that high because

20:39

the net gets dropped off. Brian

20:41

is just going to go pick him up. Still,

20:44

everything seems pretty routine other

20:46

than the fact that it's like two something in the

20:49

morning. Yeah. But in

20:51

this last phone call, you know,

20:53

you have the, Oh, shit.

20:55

You have the sounds

20:58

and then the phone call just ends.

21:00

And then obviously he's not picking up.

21:03

That's when the panic meter

21:06

starts to rise.

21:07

Brian called Brandon five to six times,

21:10

but he didn't answer the Swansons

21:13

and Brandon's friends looked for him all

21:15

night, checking dirt roads and farms,

21:17

but they couldn't find him at 6.30 AM. Annette

21:21

reported Brandon missing to the Lynn

21:23

police department. Officers were

21:25

unable to find Brandon during the initial

21:28

search. They issued a county

21:30

wide request to expand the search.

21:32

But according to CNN, the response

21:34

was delayed because the police

21:37

noted it was not abnormal for

21:39

someone Brandon's age to stay out

21:41

all night. I get that. But

21:44

he actually called his parents and

21:46

said, Hey, this happened. Come get

21:48

me. Wasn't it like he was trying

21:50

to avoid coming home? Yeah.

21:53

And this kind of thinking has changed over the

21:55

years. You and I have talked about it in

21:57

many different cases. I think

21:59

here. though, you're exactly right. Don't

22:02

you have to take the circumstances

22:05

of the situation into account

22:08

when you're weighing

22:10

whether or not this is just an adult

22:14

who chooses to stay out all night

22:16

and has the right to versus

22:19

someone who calls his mom and dad and says,

22:21

hey my car's stuck, I'm in

22:24

a little bit of trouble, can you come get me?

22:26

To me and then you've got the phone call dropping

22:29

and him not answering, you put

22:31

those circumstances together and I

22:34

don't know how you can say that this

22:37

is someone who just chose

22:40

to stay out all night and

22:42

we're not really gonna do anything. That doesn't

22:44

make a lot of sense to me. It doesn't. It's

22:47

almost like you know throughout the

22:49

years sometimes the police

22:51

have had these kind of standard

22:54

responses. Whether or not

22:56

they fit the situation and

22:58

the circumstances and you would

23:01

like for them and I think maybe they

23:03

do more now but you would like for

23:05

them to look at the circumstances

23:07

kind of evaluated on a case-by-case

23:10

basis a little bit more than just

23:13

giving these kind of standard responses.

23:15

It used to be well you got to wait 48

23:17

hours or you got to do this or you got to do that.

23:20

This person's an adult, they'll

23:22

show up tomorrow, don't worry. According

23:24

to Annette, one officer said that

23:27

someone Brandon's age had a right

23:29

to be missing. Man,

23:32

how do you say that to the mom? It's

23:34

not wrong but

23:36

again if you take all

23:39

the circumstances into account

23:41

then you're right. How do you say that

23:43

to someone's mother who has

23:45

just told you here's all the things that happened?

23:48

Yeah. That doesn't make a lot of sense.

23:50

Annette also told the Star Tribune,

23:53

I knew it was wrong. I know Brandon,

23:55

I'm his mother and I knew something

23:58

was horribly wrong.

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26:24

On Wednesday, May 14th, the search

26:26

was focused near the city of Lynn, but

26:28

the search area shifted when Brandon's

26:31

cell phone company traced his phone

26:33

to a cell tower 20 miles away

26:35

from Lynn, near the Lyon and Lincoln

26:37

County Lines. At 12.30pm,

26:40

Brandon's car was found 25 miles

26:42

from Lynn and 20 miles northwest

26:45

of Marshall, on the outskirts of

26:48

Taunton and Porter. It was found

26:50

near the Lyon and Lincoln County Lines

26:52

about 1.5 miles north of Highway 68. And

26:56

just as Brandon had described, his car

26:58

was found in a ditch. The police

27:00

didn't find his car keys. No

27:03

alcohol or drugs were found in the vehicle.

27:05

There was no blood or other signs of

27:07

a struggle. So my first thought

27:10

is that he was wrong

27:13

about exactly where he was.

27:15

Yes. He thought he knew, but he

27:17

was off by quite a ways.

27:20

Which I mean, doesn't make his parents feel

27:22

any better, right? No. I

27:24

think they know why they couldn't see him and

27:27

he couldn't see them. And when his

27:29

dad went looking for him, he was

27:31

never going to be able to find him. No, because he wasn't

27:33

heading where he told

27:35

his dad he thought he was. But

27:38

let's face it, he wasn't driving

27:40

down main streets. He's

27:42

on back roads, gravel roads,

27:44

which there might be a lot of them

27:47

in this area. And

27:49

the tree lines and the

27:51

farms and whatever's out there, they

27:53

may look similar. So it might

27:56

have been pretty easy to get

27:58

mixed up.

27:59

Sheriff Jack Fazeki

28:01

told CNN it was off

28:03

the side of a field approach and the

28:06

vehicle was hung up. It's sort of a sharp

28:08

incline, nothing major, but

28:10

enough that a car would get hung up. So

28:13

the wheels were too high off the ground

28:15

to get any traction. Investigators

28:18

couldn't figure out which direction Brandon

28:20

went because the ditch was grassy

28:22

and the road was gravel, meaning he

28:25

didn't leave any footprints when he got out.

28:27

I just think about how he was only a mile

28:29

and a half away from Highway 68

28:32

if he knew which way to go to get

28:34

there, if he even knew that was that close. Yeah,

28:37

I don't know if he did. Let's not

28:39

forget, right, Highway 68 was

28:42

the road that he could have taken

28:45

as a straight shot to get him home. Right.

28:47

But for whatever reason, he chose

28:49

the back road. Search

28:51

dogs led the police to the woods by

28:54

the bank of the nearby Yellow Medicine

28:56

River, which is up to 15 feet

28:59

deep in some spots. At the time

29:01

Brandon went missing, the water was high

29:03

and fast moving. And that's scary because

29:05

if you slide into there, you're probably not

29:08

going to get out, you know, high water,

29:10

moving fast. You

29:12

could get caught underneath

29:14

the current,

29:15

not able to resurface. There's so many different variables

29:18

in those rivers like that. But my

29:20

other thought was that if he did go into

29:22

the water, where would he ultimately

29:25

end up? You know, how far

29:28

could his body have traveled? Yeah. Or

29:30

did he end up getting stuck under the current

29:33

where his body couldn't resurface under

29:35

some big tree limbs,

29:38

rocks, things like that.

29:40

So I think kind of like

29:42

in the direction you were heading Gibbs, this

29:45

information immediately caused the search

29:47

teams to suspect that Brandon fell

29:49

into the river. Sheriff Fisaki said

29:51

that it took them six hours to

29:53

walk two miles of river in

29:56

the area Brandon went missing. He

29:58

also noted that he walked. walked the

30:00

river by himself for the next 30

30:03

days because they believed

30:05

Brandon fell into the water and would

30:07

be found downstream. Thirty

30:09

days of searching

30:11

this river to see if

30:14

he, you know, surfaced anywhere

30:16

downstream. That's dedication

30:18

and commitment. However, investigators

30:21

do not currently believe Brandon

30:23

fell into the river because his

30:25

body was never found downstream. But

30:28

that goes back to my question. I don't know,

30:31

you know, how far a

30:33

body could have traveled. I'm sure

30:35

they have a much better idea of it, but

30:38

who knows? And if he didn't fall in the

30:40

river,

30:41

where'd he go?

30:42

Well, yeah, then you have to completely

30:44

shift the focus

30:46

of your investigation. Annette

30:48

Swanson told CNN that one bloodhound

30:51

followed a scent from Brandon's car

30:53

down a gravel road to an abandoned

30:56

farm. His path was about three

30:58

miles long and it led to the river.

31:00

She said the dog jumped in the water, jumped

31:03

out and walked up another gravel

31:05

road before it lost the scent. Always

31:08

fascinated by the scent dogs. Oh, yes,

31:10

like a cool hand Luke, you know, those

31:13

bloodhounds on that show. More Shawshank.

31:15

More Shawshank, yeah. On May

31:18

15th, the search teams moved into Lincoln

31:20

County because search dogs

31:22

started to focus on an area west of

31:24

the county line road near fences

31:27

and water. According to Lyon County

31:29

Sheriff Joe Dahl, Brandon mentioned

31:31

seeing fences and water over the

31:33

phone, which was consistent

31:36

with the area the dogs were focusing

31:38

on. So I mean, they did have some

31:41

things to work with. Fences,

31:44

water. Now that meant

31:47

a lot more once they found

31:49

his car because he obviously

31:52

wasn't where he thought he was

31:54

when he was talking to his dad on the phone.

31:57

X amount of miles from. where

32:01

he thought he was headed. But at least his dad remembered

32:04

the terrain and the things that

32:06

he said to him, which obviously

32:09

would help the search party to

32:11

go out and look for him. Yeah. Brandon's

32:14

family and the police noticed

32:16

that during the 24 hour period

32:18

after Brandon went missing, it seemed

32:20

like his phone was still on and

32:23

he just wasn't answering it. Whenever

32:25

someone called him, the phone rang

32:28

multiple times before it went to voicemail.

32:30

If his phone was submerged in water

32:33

for an extended period of time, it

32:35

almost certainly would have stopped working.

32:38

Lyon County Sheriff Eric Wallen said,

32:40

it's quoted by Informed. I can

32:42

say that his phone was functioning into

32:45

the next day. I mean, you could place

32:47

a call and it would ring before

32:49

turning over to voicemail, that

32:51

much I can say. So what does that mean?

32:54

Does that unequivocally

32:56

mean that he didn't fall

32:58

into the water? Or does it just

33:00

mean that his cell phone didn't fall

33:03

into the water? If it gets

33:05

damaged, is it still

33:07

gonna ring? Can you still leave a voicemail?

33:10

Or are you gonna get that where

33:13

it goes straight to

33:15

some type of message that this phone

33:17

is not working or not able to take voicemails?

33:20

That I don't know. Yeah, I don't either. In 2007. Maybe

33:24

when he did fall, if he did fall in the water,

33:26

his phone landed on the bank.

33:29

Or maybe as he was walking, he fell

33:32

on some type of well.

33:34

And his phone fell out of

33:36

his hand, landed on the grass, but he slipped

33:39

into some type of well or hole

33:41

in the ground. I don't know. I'm just thinking,

33:43

how did he disappear? Not

33:45

to be seen again. Yeah, I think that's the mystery

33:47

that everyone is trying to solve. And

33:50

one of the things about some

33:52

of these unsolved cases is

33:54

you get tidbits of information.

33:57

But what does that information mean?

33:59

Okay.

36:00

David Francis told the state cloud

36:02

times about the search for Brandon he

36:05

said I'm looking for the oh

36:08

Shit spot

36:09

basically is what he said not saying

36:11

cloud times didn't print that but where

36:14

in his walk he might have slipped into

36:16

the river and Abandoned

36:18

cistern or trench. I'm looking

36:21

for the spot where we believe we had

36:23

a Mishave and that makes a lot

36:25

of sense and he even brought up cistern

36:28

which kind of goes to your possible well

36:30

theory We are talking about

36:32

a pretty rural area.

36:35

Yeah, and you would have to think

36:37

that Whatever

36:39

happened when he said that

36:41

to his dad The

36:44

spot where it happened would be a

36:46

pretty important spot if they could

36:48

figure that out It may have to be something drastic

36:51

right to say oh shit Yeah,

36:53

and then for the phone to just stop

36:56

Working after that or maybe not stop

36:59

working but for him not to answer

37:01

or you know, whatever Brandon's

37:03

parents came to believe that he became

37:06

confused while he was walking around

37:08

and had an accident The

37:10

police have found no evidence

37:12

of foul play, but it can't be ruled out

37:14

yet because his body has

37:16

not been found There's also no indication

37:19

Brandon disappeared willingly His

37:21

family doesn't believe he would do this and

37:24

the fact that he called his parents and asked him

37:26

to pick him up kind of Discredits

37:28

this theory and I'm never big

37:31

on this theory anyway, right? And

37:33

you know when you have no activity

37:36

on people's bank accounts and and

37:38

things like that It makes it

37:40

tough to kind of think that's that's

37:43

the route they chose. But here we have

37:45

someone who Actually makes

37:47

a call to their to his parents Right

37:50

before he goes missing Asking

37:53

them to come get him doesn't sound

37:55

like a guy who's has a plan

37:58

of disappearing on his own zone. No, I

38:01

don't get that at all from that conversation.

38:04

Another possibility is that Brandon was

38:06

abducted or was the victim

38:08

of a hit-and-run, but there's no evidence

38:11

to support either of these theories.

38:13

I think if it was a hit-and-run, the dad would

38:16

hurt some squealing tires or

38:18

a thud or you know something.

38:20

If

38:22

someone tried to grab them, I think the dad would

38:24

have heard some argument going on. Yeah,

38:27

you would think. You would think. Lincoln

38:31

County Sheriff Vesecki told CNN

38:33

that if there was foul play, the

38:35

only thing would have been if someone was in the

38:37

shadows and they got him that way. I

38:40

can't say there wasn't someone else there, but

38:42

I can't find any evidence of it.

38:44

And again, I think we also kind of have to

38:47

talk about the rural

38:49

area. I mean, is there someone really

38:52

lying in wait out

38:54

in the middle of nowhere hoping

38:57

someone comes along? I mean, we're not

38:59

talking about a serial

39:01

killer stalking

39:03

a neighborhood at two, three

39:05

in the morning

39:08

or waiting for a jogger to come. We're not talking

39:10

about that type of stuff. This is not

39:13

New York City or a bigger

39:15

type city where you're going to

39:17

have a lot of foot traffic or people

39:20

jogging or anything like that. It has

39:22

to be like really strange that you ended

39:24

up on the property of Leatherface.

39:27

Yeah, really? Seriously,

39:30

it would have to be something like that. Some

39:32

believe that it's possible Brandon died

39:35

of exposure or hypothermia that

39:37

night, especially if he fell into the

39:39

river, got out and kept walking.

39:42

It was 39 degrees at

39:44

the time Brandon went missing above

39:46

freezing, but that's still very cold. But

39:49

yeah, but he fell into the river, got out,

39:51

started walking and died

39:54

because of the conditions of the weather. Wouldn't

39:56

you think they would have found him during

39:58

the search? I mean, I know it's a vast area though. It

40:01

is, but it sounds

40:03

like they really concentrated

40:06

on the banks of the river. So

40:08

he would have had to have deviated

40:11

pretty far from the river, I think, for

40:14

them to have missed him. I mean,

40:16

we said the one guy spent 30 days

40:18

going up and down the river. Yeah. But

40:21

let's say this is what happened. Then

40:24

that has to mean that Brandon's remains

40:26

are at some unknown location

40:30

somewhere that they

40:32

didn't check or they somehow missed

40:35

him in the search

40:37

of that area

40:38

or

40:39

possibly he's in the river and

40:42

they just weren't able to find him in there. It's

40:44

also possible that Brandon sought shelter

40:46

in someone's outbuilding. But if that's

40:49

the case, wouldn't you think

40:51

that the owners would

40:53

have eventually found his body and

40:55

called the police? You would think, I mean,

40:57

there are some people who have outbuildings, really

40:59

old outbuildings, barns that are falling down

41:02

on their property that I don't even

41:04

think they ever go in. So some

41:06

people keep those for specific

41:08

tax write-offs. Right. Exactly. That's

41:11

why you see them with the roof caving

41:13

in, but they're still standing. You're like, why? Why?

41:16

But that's exactly why. Yeah, they don't use them, but yeah.

41:18

And they never would go into them for any reason.

41:21

But I also think the search party probably

41:23

would have checked those out just if

41:26

it's within the radius of the car. But

41:28

I think that's one of the big questions, right? How

41:31

close was he to his car when

41:33

this moment happened

41:35

where he cursed and

41:38

the phone most likely fell out

41:40

of his hands or whatever it was.

41:43

And if he was in the river and he got out,

41:45

how far away would he

41:47

have walked or been able to walk

41:49

from his car? Yeah. See,

41:52

we don't know those answers. We

41:54

just know they were on the phone for 37 minutes. Before

41:58

it happened. Before. But he was

42:00

walking some distance from his car. But

42:03

I think investigators are pretty reluctant

42:06

to believe this theory because his

42:08

remains, his belongings have

42:10

not been found despite extensive

42:12

searches. And this comes up in a lot

42:15

of unsolved cases where a person's

42:17

body is not found. And

42:20

extensive searches are done. Now, we

42:22

have seen where bodies

42:24

have been found later in

42:27

areas that were said to have been

42:29

searched extensively. We

42:31

find that out a lot. And maybe they were.

42:34

It's just that they were missed. Lyon

42:37

County Sheriff Joe Dall told the St.

42:39

Cloud Times in July 2008, if

42:42

I had to lay any money down, I'd

42:44

say we're missing him somewhere

42:47

in the water. He's in an eddy somewhere

42:50

being held down by a log. He's got

42:52

to be here. Everything is consistent

42:55

that he was walking, and something

42:57

happened to him. And I think that goes back

43:00

to something you said earlier. Most

43:02

of the talk was about, OK,

43:05

if he fell in the water, where

43:07

would he potentially

43:10

wash up

43:11

down the stream?

43:14

And it does sound like they did a lot of searching.

43:16

I don't know how much searching

43:19

they actually did in the

43:21

water along that route.

43:23

Because you would think normally

43:26

a body is going to surface

43:29

at some point, but not

43:31

if you've got a fast-moving current.

43:34

And let's say a body gets

43:36

wedged under a log, under

43:38

a big rock. There are some

43:40

things that could happen. It's going to stay

43:43

there for who knows how long. Now,

43:46

Lincoln County Sheriff Jack Fisaki

43:49

said he believed Brandon died

43:51

in an accident. The Swansons were

43:54

unhappy with how the police reacted when

43:56

they first reported Brandon missing. So they

43:58

began pushing for legislation. legislation to

44:00

help the families of missing young adults.

44:03

On May 7, 2009, Governor Tim Polenti

44:07

signed Brandon's law, which, as

44:10

reported by the Twin Cities Pioneer Press,

44:13

requires authorities to respond more

44:15

aggressively to reports of

44:17

missing adults up to age 21 or

44:21

older adults who disappear under

44:24

suspicious circumstances. Well, and

44:26

this was a suspicious circumstance. It was.

44:29

I think they probably should have jumped on it super

44:31

quick. So finally, okay, something

44:35

I can get behind. Can

44:37

the police check out everything?

44:40

That's a tall order. There are

44:42

only so many resources to go around.

44:45

So

44:46

if someone calls and

44:48

says, you know, hey,

44:50

my 28 year old son was supposed to be home at 10, it's 10

44:53

15. I don't know that

44:55

you get the search dogs in the helicopters 15

44:58

minutes later without any other

45:01

context around it. Right. But

45:03

like you said, there was a lot

45:06

of very suspicious activity

45:08

that happened before Brandon Swanson

45:11

disappeared. And I think you

45:14

have to take that into account. Brandon's

45:16

law became effective on July 1st, 2009,

45:20

according to Minnesota's unsolved cases.

45:23

In March 2010, search dogs

45:25

concentrated on an area near Mud

45:27

Creek, which is a few miles northwest

45:29

of the city of Porter, Minnesota.

45:32

As we mentioned earlier, Brandon's

45:34

car was found on the outskirts

45:36

of Taunton and Porter. Another

45:39

major search took place in October 2013, but

45:41

it was unsuccessful. On

45:45

October 17, 2015, searches

45:48

for Brandon started again, focusing

45:50

on farms near Porter. Search

45:53

teams had been unable to check this area for

45:55

years due to local farmers

45:57

harvest schedules and bad weather. This

46:00

search was led by Ken Anderson from

46:02

Emergency Support Services,

46:05

an organization dedicated to helping

46:07

search and rescue operations. It

46:09

took over most of the search efforts in late 2008.

46:12

I think we've had other cases where Ken

46:15

got involved. Yeah, I believe we have. Anderson

46:18

told the Twin Cities Pioneer Press that

46:20

search teams were concentrating on the area

46:23

northwest of Porter because search

46:25

dogs were still getting the scent that

46:28

says there are remains of a human

46:30

in this area. Now, that's pretty

46:33

interesting. Dogs are hitting on

46:36

the scent of, I'm

46:38

going to say human remains. I'm pretty sure

46:40

they're trained to specifically

46:42

search out human remains. But

46:44

does that necessarily mean that

46:47

it's Brandon? And I would say no.

46:49

It could be. It doesn't mean it is.

46:51

Or it could be someone else. Yeah.

46:54

According to Ken Anderson, Brandon had

46:56

the ability to walk a very long distance.

47:00

And this statement implies that it's

47:02

possible Brandon walked to this area

47:04

from his car. And you

47:06

just said it, right? He was talking to his dad for what,

47:08

30-some minutes? Yeah. How

47:11

far can you walk in, let's

47:13

say, 37 minutes? Depends on

47:16

so many factors. Not you. How

47:19

far can a regular human being?

47:22

Not Jason Bourning it. Right.

47:25

Big difference. Big difference. But

47:28

you're right. It does factor on terrain

47:30

and elements and all that.

47:33

But just give me a ballpark estimate. What do you

47:35

think?

47:36

I mean,

47:37

potentially two miles in that terrain.

47:39

Yeah. I would say so.

47:41

Drew Evans from the Minnesota Bureau

47:44

of Criminal Apprehension told the Pioneer

47:46

Press that since they took over the case

47:49

in 2010, they had received about 90 tips

47:52

about Brian and followed up

47:54

on all of them. Annette Swanson

47:57

told the Pioneer Press that she didn't

47:59

believe Brandon would be found alive, saying,

48:02

maybe I'm a terrible mother for this. I

48:04

don't know. But I felt very early on,

48:07

before the first 24 hours were

48:09

up, that something terribly wrong

48:11

had happened. It's a weird place to be,

48:14

because there's always a little glimmer

48:16

of hope, but then I think that's my

48:18

heart, but my mind knows it's

48:20

not going to happen that way. I talked

48:23

to my daughter about it this summer, and I said to her,

48:25

you know, I'm not sure Brandon is going to

48:27

be found in my lifetime. And

48:29

she said, mom, I don't think he's going to be found

48:32

in my lifetime. Yeah.

48:34

So, you know, we talk about this a lot,

48:37

the hope that parents have,

48:39

and she said it, right? There's always hope,

48:42

but at a certain point,

48:45

I think some of these individuals start

48:48

to believe and the

48:50

amount of time for each individual

48:52

differs, but as time passes,

48:55

they start to believe that, okay,

48:57

this is not good. More than

48:59

likely, we're not going

49:02

to find him alive if we find

49:04

him at all. Yeah. That's

49:07

tough to say,

49:08

but...

49:08

But it's intellectually honest.

49:11

Exactly. In 2017, KSTB

49:15

TV covered Brandon's case

49:17

and spoke with Jeff Haas from Midwest

49:19

Technical Rescue Training. Haas

49:22

and volunteers have spent thousands

49:24

of hours searching for Brandon in

49:27

a 120 square mile area.

49:30

Like Ken Anderson and his team, Haas

49:32

said search dogs indicated human

49:34

remains could be found in farm fields

49:37

north of Porter, specifically

49:39

fields on Highway 68 between

49:41

Cambie and Porter about six

49:44

miles from where his car was found.

49:46

Haas gave his theory about what happened

49:49

to Brandon saying, I believe

49:51

he fell, got wet, cell

49:53

phone went dead. I think he continued

49:56

walking. It was cold. It

49:58

got down to 39 degrees.

49:59

degrees.

50:00

So he doesn't go on to say it, but

50:03

it's pretty obvious that he believes that

50:05

Brandon died of hypothermia.

50:08

Yeah. And I think that's a very valid

50:11

theory, but it still doesn't answer

50:13

the question of why

50:16

they haven't been able to find his body.

50:18

You know, if that's the way it went down

50:20

with all the searching they've done,

50:23

you would have thought that by

50:26

now they would have found his

50:29

body, his skeletal

50:31

remains, something. But

50:33

then again, you know, if he's saying

50:35

that 37 minutes

50:38

into it, say it's somewhere between

50:40

a mile and a half, two miles, he falls into

50:42

the river, gets out, walks for

50:44

a little bit, because his cold continues

50:47

walking through the night. I mean,

50:49

he was saying this area was six miles

50:51

away from the car. Yeah. That's several

50:54

hours of walking that

50:55

eventually he

50:58

succumbs to the elements. Yeah.

51:00

When I was talking earlier about how far

51:02

could you get, you know, in 37 minutes,

51:05

that was kind of assuming that whatever

51:08

happened to him, he didn't

51:10

move on from, but

51:13

if you think he fell into the water at 37 minutes,

51:16

well, he'd already walked a ways and

51:18

then how far could he walk before

51:21

he succumbed to the elements? Yeah. And

51:23

I think that's kind of hard to figure

51:26

out. And what direction was he going? Right,

51:29

because that makes a big difference. Yeah. I'm assuming he

51:31

was still trying to go towards what

51:34

he thought was the town lights. And

51:36

we don't even know what those were. Right.

51:38

According to Inforum, the police eventually

51:41

brought in excavators to

51:43

sift through the dirt to search for human

51:45

remains or some of Brandon's

51:47

belongings. A secret excavation

51:50

operation took place in the fall of 2021. The

51:53

yellow medicine river had dried up due

51:55

to a drought, which allowed

51:58

the excavation crew to go in. but

52:00

they found nothing so i

52:02

think you know maybe that answer some of

52:04

our questions right if there was a big drought

52:07

in this river dried up right. But

52:10

again how far could his body have

52:12

gone and where does this river

52:14

lead to those are answers that

52:16

that i don't have a cousin times you

52:19

can estimate right as well you can use

52:21

estimate yeah where my have

52:23

went. But you just never know

52:25

what if you went two more miles down that

52:28

river. We found something and we didn't

52:30

go that far we didn't go that far

52:32

or does this river you know lead to

52:34

another river a bigger river.

52:37

Again i don't know the geography

52:39

of of this area can Anderson

52:42

from emergency support services spoke

52:44

with inform in two thousand twenty one

52:46

about some of the challenges they

52:48

face during the search operations. Noting

52:51

that they had face pushback from local

52:54

okay you've got

52:56

farmers who are trying to

52:59

survive do they want to help i'm

53:01

sure they do. But do they want their operations

53:04

interrupted no no so

53:07

the team had to work with farmers to

53:09

create a schedule based on planning

53:11

and harvest seasons because. They

53:14

don't want search teams to destroy the crops

53:16

that are their main source of

53:19

income and it's kind of hard

53:21

to blame. There's also sad that

53:23

some cattle farmers didn't want

53:25

dogs on their property anderson

53:28

told inform in at least a couple

53:30

of circumstances. That problem

53:33

is still in existence they will not allow

53:35

us on their property we don't dispute

53:37

the reason why we try and work

53:39

out a method that would make it acceptable.

53:42

And we've not been able to come up with

53:44

a working compromise so you know

53:47

this is very interesting because

53:49

this could be the answer

53:52

as to why. With all

53:54

the searching they've done they've

53:56

not been able to find brandon's

53:59

body. If he made it to

54:01

one of these fields that has

54:03

never been allowed to

54:07

have been searched. Okay, maybe

54:09

that's maybe that's the answer.

54:12

And at this point, I don't think popping up some drones

54:15

that you're going to be able to locate anything

54:18

without being on the ground with your

54:20

eyes right there. Well, it's going to be harder now,

54:22

right? So many years on.

54:25

Yellow medicine County Sheriff Bill

54:28

Flatten said that most landowners

54:30

are willing to work with them and that when

54:33

land owners decline a search, they have

54:35

no probable cause to get a warrant.

54:38

As time passes searching for Brandon's

54:40

remains becomes more difficult in

54:42

form reported that different types

54:45

of search dogs are needed to pick up on

54:47

sense as they age in two

54:49

thousand twenty one. Minnesota

54:51

had only three dogs who could search

54:53

for an aging set, but the emergency

54:56

support services team has brought

54:58

in canines from other states.

55:00

So

55:01

I learned something during the research.

55:04

I didn't realize that

55:07

the age of the remains determines

55:10

what type of dog you

55:12

have to use and they're specialized

55:15

depending on how old the remains are. That's

55:18

fascinating. Investigators are still

55:20

receiving tips about Brandon. Some

55:22

of them involve what happened before he went

55:24

missing. There were claims that Brandon

55:27

got into an argument that night, but

55:29

the police have not confirmed. And

55:31

we said it earlier, right? Investigators

55:34

cannot rule out foul play or

55:36

an accident because Brandon's

55:38

remains have not been found. But

55:41

again, I think if he got in an argument

55:43

and somebody wanted to take

55:45

him out during that whole time

55:48

his dad was on the phone with him, it would have

55:50

came to surface. I just you would think yeah,

55:53

I think you would have heard maybe another voice

55:56

or the

55:57

scaffold or something.

55:59

Or the fact that he would say dad i

56:02

think this person's after

56:04

me yeah so i do want to go

56:06

back to one theory. We

56:09

did kind of talk about you know how much

56:11

did brandon have to drink that night

56:14

is it possible that he took the back roads

56:17

because of that. And there

56:19

is a theory that people have

56:21

put forward that doesn't have anything

56:24

to do with brandon being

56:26

drunk but someone else on those

56:28

back roads. Possibly

56:31

being drunk and hitting

56:33

brandon while he was

56:36

walking right obviously couldn't have hit his

56:38

car that would have been noticeable

56:40

here but if he's

56:43

walking. In this guy

56:45

i'm woman it

56:47

could be anybody swerves off

56:49

the road there drunk hit him.

56:52

And then they go oh my gosh what did

56:55

i do i've got to cover this up and

56:57

that's all that's a theory that comes up in

56:59

a lot of cases are. Again

57:01

i'll go back to the family on the phone with him i think

57:04

his dad would hurt his you said a thud.

57:06

Or the tires squealing or something

57:09

like that right yeah possibly

57:11

you know what if the. Oh shit

57:14

moment with him seeing the

57:16

car leave the road. And

57:19

can i come in towards him he drops

57:22

the phone i don't know the

57:24

phone breaks possible you

57:26

know there you can't take

57:28

anything off the tape no you can. Someone

57:31

hits him they move his body

57:34

somewhere else because they don't want to face

57:36

charges and it's

57:39

not in the search

57:41

area. Or

57:43

they get it they get rid of it to the point where

57:45

it will never be found brandon swanson

57:47

was last seen wearing baggy jeans

57:50

a blue stripe polo shirt. A

57:52

black hoodie a white twins baseball

57:54

cap wire rimmed glasses

57:57

in a silver chain necklace

57:59

if you have. any information about his disappearance

58:02

or whereabouts, you can call the Lincoln

58:04

County Sheriff at 507-694-1664. The

58:10

NCMEC has released

58:12

an age progressed photo of what Brandon

58:14

could look like at age 30 and

58:17

you can view that on their website. It's

58:20

been 15 years since Brandon disappeared.

58:23

If he is still alive, he would be 34

58:25

years old. Brandon

58:28

was an overall happy person who

58:31

had plans for the future. I think

58:33

his family, especially his mom, has

58:35

come out and said they just

58:37

think it's so unlikely

58:40

that he just up and

58:42

ran away or that

58:44

he chose to end his life. They

58:46

just don't believe either one of those

58:49

is a possibility. Yeah, I don't

58:51

think so either. But outside of that,

58:53

I think there are a number of

58:55

theories, some more viable

58:58

probably than others, but there is

59:00

a ton of mystery that surrounds

59:02

this case. A lot of that mystery

59:05

comes because there's so

59:07

very little evidence.

59:10

You have the location

59:12

of his car, you have a

59:15

little bit of cell phone data.

59:18

What does it mean? We

59:20

don't know. Other than that,

59:22

I don't know what police have to go

59:24

on. I think that's kind of evident

59:28

by the searches that they've

59:30

done. It's a pretty

59:32

vast area. They have no

59:34

way to really narrow

59:37

it down. If there was foul

59:39

play involved or an accident and

59:41

cover up, then they might not

59:43

be searching the right area at all.

59:46

That could be the reason why his body's

59:48

never been found or somebody

59:50

disposed of it in a way that

59:52

because they never wanted it to

59:55

be found. I don't know. You have

59:57

all that land that hasn't

59:59

been searched.

1:00:00

Yeah. Yeah. You know. So

1:00:03

that could be more of the

1:00:05

hypothermia angle

1:00:07

and just help explain why

1:00:09

his body's never been found because

1:00:12

he made it that far, but

1:00:14

they've never been able to search. Now,

1:00:17

would a farmer have seen it? I

1:00:20

think potentially a farmer would

1:00:22

have, unless he went up near

1:00:24

a fence line to lay down or... Is

1:00:27

it possible that a big

1:00:29

piece of farm equipment could

1:00:32

have... Maybe. You know, run

1:00:34

him over? I don't want to get too gruesome

1:00:36

about it, but potentially... I

1:00:39

don't know. Also, I think

1:00:42

you have to look at the cistern well... Yeah,

1:00:45

I don't think you can discount that theory

1:00:48

at all. I think that's definitely something

1:00:50

that could have happened. Yeah. But

1:00:52

that's it for our episode on the disappearance of

1:00:54

Brandon Swanson. We got some voicemails,

1:00:56

Gibbs. You want to check those out? Let's hear them. What's

1:00:59

up, guys?

1:00:59

This is David from Texas. problem,

1:01:05

then I'm going to go ahead and call him. I'm going to call him. I'm going

1:01:07

to call him. I'm going to call him. I'm going to call

1:01:09

him. I'm going to call him. I'm going to

1:01:11

call him. I'm going to call him. I'm going to call

1:01:13

him. I'm going to call him. I'm

1:01:16

going to call him once and listen to the

1:01:18

Mr. Rodderberry. So one

1:01:21

question about that case is if

1:01:23

that has to take without saying

1:01:25

to call me, the one that thinks

1:01:28

that she might have answered the one she circled, if

1:01:30

it says call me, didn't they have a number to

1:01:32

call, a number to trace, what's going on with that

1:01:34

number? I don't know, I've always got something to

1:01:36

say about each of my cases. Anyway,

1:01:38

you guys are killing it, man. I'm going to keep

1:01:40

listening.

1:01:41

I got a lot to catch up on. I've

1:01:43

got 103 of the un-solved to go, and

1:01:45

then I'm going to start a assault. Guys,

1:01:49

just keep doing what you're doing, man.

1:01:51

I appreciate your hard work.

1:01:53

Well, we appreciate you listening very much. So

1:01:56

the trouble is when you go back

1:01:58

that far. Give me an IK. remember

1:02:00

the details. We just

1:02:02

can't. Yeah. That case was

1:02:05

years and years ago. I can't remember when we did

1:02:07

it, but you know, at first I thought he was

1:02:09

talking about the one we just did a few weeks ago.

1:02:11

Right. But Kristen

1:02:13

Madofferi was many, many

1:02:16

years ago. So I don't remember

1:02:18

the details about the number that was left

1:02:20

or if there was a number on the

1:02:22

ad that she circled. It's a good question.

1:02:25

Hi, Mike and Gibby. This is Jodi from Idaho

1:02:28

and I'm dying laughing. I just listened

1:02:30

to the Elizabeth Fields, a little two-year-old

1:02:32

girl that was missing and

1:02:35

Gibby said acclimate or something.

1:02:38

Acclimate? Anyway, I'm laughing,

1:02:40

but I finished all of true

1:02:42

crime all the time, all of true crime

1:02:45

all the time, unsolved, and I'm having

1:02:47

a little bit of a crisis because now

1:02:50

I'm caught up all the way. So I

1:02:52

might try criminology, but

1:02:54

I kind of feel like I'm abandoning Gibby, but

1:02:57

I'm definitely seeing T-cat. You guys are amazing

1:02:59

and I love your podcast.

1:03:02

I just say just listen to them all again.

1:03:04

Yes.

1:03:05

And start from the

1:03:07

middle.

1:03:09

Go forward then backwards. That

1:03:11

seems like such a dumb plan. Why don't

1:03:13

you espouse that plan.

1:03:15

Start with prime numbers. Are you trying

1:03:18

to get acclimated to something? Because

1:03:21

everybody needs to get acclimated. Yeah.

1:03:24

I don't even know what word you said and then

1:03:26

the

1:03:27

word, I don't

1:03:28

know what word you were trying to say

1:03:30

and I don't know what word you actually

1:03:32

said. So I'm still pretty confused

1:03:34

on that one as well. It's in a dictionary somewhere. I'm

1:03:37

sure it is. Yeah. You're a hell of a scrabble

1:03:39

player. I am. All right.

1:03:42

We appreciate the voicemails very much, but

1:03:44

that is it for another episode

1:03:46

of True Crime All the Time Unsolved. So for

1:03:48

Mike and Gibby, stay safe and keep your

1:03:50

own time ticking.

1:04:27

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