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Shortly after midnight on May 14, 2008, Brandon Swanson (born January 30, 1989) of Marshall, Minnesota, United States, drove his car into a ditch on his way home from celebrating the end of the spring semester with fellow students from Minnesota West Community and Technical College's Canby campus.

Uninjured, he got out and called his parents on his cellphone. Unsure of his exact location, he told them he believed he was near Lynd, and they drove out to pick him up; however, they were unable to locate him or his vehicle. Swanson remained on the phone with them until he went silent 47 minutes later after exclaiming "Oh, shit!" He has not been seen or heard from since. In the morning, Swanson’s parents reported him missing to police, who advised them to wait as such behavior was not uncommon for young men his age. Later that day, the circumstances of his disappearance became more complicated when his cell phone records showed he had been near Porter, 25 miles (40 km) from where Swanson had said he was, in a different direction. That information led to the discovery of his car in a ditch near Taunton with the car doors open and keys missing. It is not known whether Swanson was aware of this discrepancy when he talked to his parents. Foul play has not been ruled out, but it has also been proposed that he might have accidentally fallen into the Yellow Medicine River, near where his car was found, and drowned, although extensive searches have not found a body. His parents successfully lobbied the state legislature to pass Brandon's Law, which requires that police begin investigations of missing adults promptly.

A native of Marshall, Lyon County, in southwestern Minnesota, Swanson graduated from Marshall High School in 2007.

Annette and Brian Swanson got in their pickup truck and drove out to where they thought he was, keeping him on the phone despite occasional hangups and drops. Brandon finally gave up and told them he was leaving the car to walk toward lights he could see that led him to believe he was near Lynd, a small town roughly 7 miles (11 km) southwest of Marshall. Shortly after 2:30, 47 minutes into the call, Brandon suddenly interrupted himself on the phone and said "Oh, shit!" He was silent for the remainder of the call, until his parents hung up and made multiple attempts to call him back. Brandon has not been seen or heard from since.

At 6:30 a.m., his parents reported Brandon missing to the Lynd police. Annette Swanson specifically recalled that one of the officers said it was Brandon's "right to be missing". Later that morning the Lynd police did start a search, but found no trace of Brandon in the town or outside. To better focus the search, the sheriff's office obtained Brandon's cell phone records, which revealed that Brandon had been calling from the vicinity of Taunton, along State Highway 68, the main route to Canby, northwest of Marshall—25 miles (40 km) from Lynd. He thought that it was possible that the red light Brandon had seen had led him to believe Lynd was within walking distance.

While the trail followed by one of the dogs went to the Yellow Medicine River, and despite her son's last known words, Annette Swanson does not think he drowned there.

After the searches, Annette Swanson was still struck by the initial response of the Lynd police that her son had "a right to be missing" when she told them how old he was. Disappearance of Suzanne Lyall, 1998 disappearance of New York college student whose parents also successfully lobbied for changes in law requiring faster and better coordinated police response in such cases

Quick Facts

• Later that day, the circumstances of his disappearance became more complicated when his cell phone records showed he had been near Porter, 25 miles (40 km) from where Swanson had said he was, in a different direction.
• In the morning, Swanson’s parents reported him missing to police, who advised them to wait as such behavior was not uncommon for young men his age.
• Swanson remained on the phone with them until he went silent 47 minutes later after exclaiming "Oh, shit!" He has not been seen or heard from since.
• It is not known whether Swanson was aware of this discrepancy when he talked to his parents.
• Unsure of his exact location, he told them he believed he was near Lynd, and they drove out to pick him up; however, they were unable to locate him or his vehicle.

Source material: Wikipedia - "Disappearance of Brandon Swanson". Adapted and summarized for DiscoverScroll. Original contributors are credited through the linked Wikipedia article. Read original on Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes were made from the original.