Brandon Swanson /// Missing /// Part 2

Summary

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True Crime Garage – Brandon Swanson /// Missing /// Part 2 (Feb 5, 2026)

Main Theme & Purpose

In Part 2 of their deep dive into the disappearance of Brandon Swanson, hosts Nic and the Captain continue examining the mysterious 2008 case of the missing 19-year-old from Marshall, Minnesota. This episode focuses on the extensive search efforts—including bloodhound tracking, private and professional searches, and possible scenarios that could explain Brandon's unexplained vanishing. The hosts walk listeners through maps, methodologies, and persistent rumors, while weighing the logic—and pitfalls—of leading theories. The conversational, skeptical tone encourages listeners to challenge easy assumptions and engage with the mystery as armchair detectives.

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Key Points & Discussion Highlights

1. The Search: Tracking Brandon’s Final Steps

• Search Efforts Overview (03:57–09:49)

  • After Brandon’s green Chevy Lumina was found hung up on a remote ditch—20 miles from where he thought he was—professional searches began, using dogs, ATVs, horses, and helicopters.

  • Bloodhounds traced a 3-mile scent trail from the car, down gravel roads, to the Yellow Medicine River. The river at the time was swollen with spring runoff.

  • The lead dog jumped in and out of the river, then continued tracking to another road where the scent ended—suggesting Brandon entered and exited the water.

    "Now, because the dog actively jumped into and then back out of the river and then continued along a scent path that ended into nothingness, investigators are not convinced that Brandon drowned in the river." - Nic (07:40)

• Limitations of Dog Tracking (08:05–10:23)

  • Uncertainty persists about whether one or multiple dogs were used, and whether they were tracking scent or remains.
  • Despite exhaustive searches (over 50 times), no personal items or traces of Brandon were found in or near the river.

2. Mapping Out Brandon’s Route

• Reconstructing Brandon’s Movements (12:11–16:18)

  • Nic provides a detailed, step-by-step mapping of the search dog trail, corresponding to local roads and landmarks.

  • Emphasis on how disorientation—possibly seeing the lights of Porter, not Lynd, as he believed—led Brandon in a circuitous route.

  • The hosts highlight that off the main route (68), Brandon may have been unfamiliar with the area, despite local assumptions.

    "Rather than assuming that he knows the area well, I would debate that quite heavily. I question that... off of Route 68, he may not know at all." - Nic (17:07)

• Terrain & Misjudgment (15:47–20:18)

  • Brandon’s path took him through gravel roads, past abandoned farms, and along the river—which could have easily contributed to confusion and miscalculation given the time and his impaired condition.

3. The Scale and Science of the Search

• Professional Search Management: Jeff Hasse (21:30–24:42)

  • When official searches wound down, private groups led by Jeff Hasse took over, applying scientific profiling and calculated maximum distance models to set new priorities.

  • Using retrospective data, most missing persons in similar circumstances are found within a roughly 5-mile radius.

    "Retrospective studies... found that in these circumstances involving abandoned vehicles, the subjects were found within 5.6 miles from the last known position. This is 95% of the time." - Jeff Hasse (24:32/quoted by Nic)

• Technological Efforts (22:10–23:19)

  • Texas Equisearch and others deployed sonar, remote-controlled planes, and later drones, but turned up no evidence.
  • Constraints: farmland, changing seasons (harvest, rivers), and weather affected search windows and effectiveness.

• Largest Search of Its Kind (33:53–36:12)

  • Over 500 volunteers, 34 dog handlers from 9 states, more than 120 days, and 120 square miles—searches spanned years, focusing on river systems and farm fields northwest of Porter, due to repeated dog alerts.

    "It's by far the biggest search that he has ever been involved in in terms of length of time, number of missions and number of searchers involved." – Jeff Hasse (35:20/quoted by Nic)

4. Ongoing Investigation

• Case Still Open (37:12–39:09)

  • As of 2010, the Minnesota BCA took over.

  • Leads trickle in, and special agents remain open to breakthroughs.

    "The case is open. And just last week I got another lead or two. Sometimes you need a break in the case. All it takes sometimes is one thing. So we're not giving up." – BCA Agent Derek Woodford (38:30/quoted)

5. Examining Major Theories

• Alien Abduction & “Out There” Theories (39:36–41:33)

  • The hosts mention and dismiss wild theories—aliens, Bigfoot, time portals—citing the lack of supporting evidence or sightings.

    "Sometimes in these missing person case they go, he was probably walking down the road and Bigfoot got him, you know, or the aliens took him or the Mothman or he went into a time portal. You know, just have some kind of evidence of this." – Captain (40:18)

• Drug Impairment (“Bad Meth”) Theory (42:03–48:23)

  • A popular online suggestion is that Brandon was impaired by drugs, notably meth. The hosts analyze but largely dismiss this, citing:

    • Sheriff statements and family reports support Brandon’s sobriety.
    • Brandon sounded coherent in his 47-minute call with his dad.
    • Rumors about a pipe found in his car have not led police to believe he was impaired.

    "The father, we have the mother, we have the sheriff, we have friends—none of them are going, 'Yeah, he was so effed up that he ended up God knows where.'" – Nick (46:13)

• Vehicle Accident / “Hit by a Car” Theory (54:06–59:14)

  • Some theorize Brandon was struck by another vehicle and the incident covered up.

    • The hosts find little supporting evidence: no tire marks, no blood, no mention of another car on the call, no evidence at the dog’s final scent location.

    "If he saw a car, he would very likely assume it to be his father first. Or even if he didn't... he would say, 'Wait, there's somebody coming.'" – Nick (57:25)

• Foul Play / Confrontation Theories (59:47–66:40)

  • Two types covered:

    1. Random violence: Unlikely, given isolation.
    2. Landowner confrontation: A local farmer may have mistaken Brandon for a threat—possibly resulting in a fatal altercation or even an illegal trap.
    3. Debt or personal dispute: Persistent rumors he owed drug or vehicle money, though unsubstantiated.

    "The only thing would have been if someone was in the shadows and they got him that way ... I can't explain why clothing, belongings wouldn't surface after all these searches and after all this time." – Sheriff Vasecki (68:05)

• Other Notable Points

  • Brandon’s case is listed in VICAP, which tracks violent crime victims—leading some to suspect authorities think violence/foul play more likely.
  • His car was found with doors open and keys missing.

6. Family Perspective

• Brandon’s Mother (End, 69:08)

  • Annette Swanson’s plea: Don’t forget Brandon—he was real, beloved, and deserves to be remembered.

    "Talk about Brandon. Brandon is a real person. He touched a lot of lives. And don't forget him. He has a smile that lights up his whole face. He is big hearted and kind and he really believed in doing the right thing." – Annette Swanson (69:39/quoted)

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On Dog Tracking
  “If you believe the search dog's accuracy, Brandon entered and then exited the river.”
  – Nic (10:18)

• On Theories Getting Outlandish
  “He was probably walking down the road and Bigfoot got him, you know, or the aliens took him or the Mothman or he went into a time portal. You know, just have some kind of evidence of this.”
  – Captain (40:18)

• On Comparison to Other Cases
  "This theory in itself almost seems cut and pasted from Brandon Lawson's case. ... It's all bad meth. There is no good meth. All right. Just don't do meth."
  – Nic (43:17)

• On Parental Determination
  "What I can tell you from what I've spent two weeks on looking at mom and dad, I can tell you they only have one agenda in this entire huge story and that is to find their son."
  – Nick (49:16)

• On the Frustration of No Physical Evidence
  "I can't explain why clothing, belongings wouldn't surface after all these searches and after all this time."
  – Sheriff Vasecki (68:05/quoted)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [03:57] – Start of search efforts and dog tracking details
• [12:11] – Step-by-step mapping and analyzing Brandon’s possible path
• [21:30] – Jeff Hasse’s scientific search methodology
• [33:53] – Scale of volunteer searches and use of cadaver dogs
• [37:12] – BCA's comments on ongoing investigation
• [39:36] – Dismissal of ‘alien/Sasquatch’ theories
• [42:03] – “Bad meth” theory and substance use discussion
• [54:06] – Hit by a car theory
• [59:47] – Foul play, random violence, and rumors of debts
• [67:09] – On VICAP listing and unexplained evidence gaps
• [69:08] – Annette Swanson: plea for remembrance

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Closing Thoughts

The episode masterfully balances skepticism with empathy, taking rumors and theories seriously only when warranted and letting the evidence (or its absence) guide the inquiry. The hosts stress the enduring mystery, the relentless determination of Brandon’s parents, and the ongoing nature of both official and community investigation. Their open-ended approach fosters careful thought, empathy for the family, and vigilance against sensationalism.

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Transcript

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[Captain]

Sam. Foreign.

[Nick]

Welcome to True Crime Garage. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, thanks for listening. I'm your host Nick and with me as always, is the Music man, the host and taco connoisseur. He is the captain.

[Captain]

It is Taco Tuesday. It's good to be seen and it's good to see you. Thanks for listening. Thanks for telling a friend.

[Nick]

This week we are drinking Anheuser Busch's Budweiser, an American lager and an American Classic. This may seem like an odd pick, but hear me out. We've been discussing the disappearance of Brandon Swanson and Brandon loved the Minnesota Twins and was known to always be wearing a Twins hat. Anyone that has been to a Twins baseball game knows you can grab a beer at the Budweiser roof deck or located in the left field corner of the ballpark. It's the ultimate Minnesota Twins outdoor experience.

[Captain]

It's the King of beers.

[Sponsor Voice]

That's right.

[Nick]

So to all the listeners tuning in from the great state of Minnesota, we say this buds for you garage grade three big bottle caps. And we would also like to thank and send a big cheers to Jill in Columbus, Ohio and a big shout.

[Captain]

Out to Danez and Forney, Texas.

[Nick]

Next up we have a shout to Michelle in San Juan Capistrano, California.

[Captain]

And a big shout to Tiffany in Buford, Georg.

[Nick]

And next a big long distance cheers and big thank you to Tim from Seattle. And last but certainly not least, we have Stevie and Bay City, Michigan. Everybody we just mentioned went to trucrimegarage.com and donated to this week's beer fund. And for that we give you a big thanks.

[Captain]

Yeah, make sure after you donate to be calm and be patient because we're going to get to you. It might take a little time but when you hear your cool yourself, chill yourself, chill yourself out. It's going to take a little bit of time but once you hear your name you're going to get excited. So excited that you wee in your pants. And that is enough of the business.

[Nick]

All right everybody gather round, grab a chair, grab a beer. Let's talk some true crime.

[Captain]

Foreign.

[Nick]

We covered the details and some of the speculation regarding the night and early morning hours of 19 year old Brandon Swanson's last known whereabouts last week. Now we need to cover the search that ensued for Brandon after the discovery of his abandoned green Chevy Lumina which was found hung up in a ditch on the side of a gravel road and reminder this was approximately 20 miles from where Brandon thought he was. The searches have been exhaustive, thorough and in my humble garage opinion, highly professional. Investigators brought in search dogs which started at the vehicle. The dogs led investigators up and down some country roads and then to a woods by the banks of the Yellow Medicine River. The descriptions of this river are really all over the shop here. Captain. While the depths of the river range from anywhere from just knee deep up to 15ft in certain areas, this particular area meaning parts of the Yellow Medicine river within walking distance of where Brandon's vehicle was found. Several people have stated that this part of the river is much more like a creek sized waterway. But we should also keep in mind that like with most waterways, the Yellow Medicine River's depth can vary greatly depending on the time of year. At the time Brandon disappeared, it's reported that the river was flowing high and fast with spring runoff still impacting the flow. So by most reports we are talking about a very strong current at the time. According to Sheriff Vezecki, quote, there are two miles of the river in that area and it took six hours for deputies to walk it. He said he personally walked the river every day for 30 days at the time the dogs indicated and it was believed that he must have fallen in the river in that area, end quote. The sheriff then added, so we searched that area on the premise that he had been washed downstream. But the dogs didn't just track Brandon's scent to the river's edge. According to Brandon's mother, Annette Swanson, one bloodhound followed a scent from the stranded car down a gravel road to a farm. She said this was a long trail. It was about three Miles. This long trail is what led to the Yellow Medicine River. Annette says when the dog walked them up to the river's edge, the dog jumped in the river, but then jumped back out. After jumping out of the water, the dog continued to walk, following a trail up to another gravel road. This was a road that separates Lyon and Lincoln counties. And then at some point, the dog loses the scent, she says. Now, because the dog actively jumped into and then back out of the. The river and then continued along a scent path that ended into nothingness. Investigators are not convinced that Brandon drowned in the river. Sheriff Fazecki pointed out that had Brandon fallen into the river, he should have been found in the river or downstream somewhere. No trace of Brandon has been found anywhere. But if he was washed away in the Yellow Medicine river, you'd think that something like a, you know, a shoe, his jacket, anything would have been found. As the river dried up later in the season, this exposed more of the land along its banks. More searches were done during this time, but still, again, nothing turned up. The area of the river that is in question, that was searched, it was searched over 50 times, all with no results. Absolutely no evidence other than the dog leading them to the river. That Brandon, you know, that he was ever even in the river, that he drowned in the river or remains in the river to this day.

[Captain]

Were there multiple dogs? Because sometimes they'll have multiple dogs, and sometimes they have one dog, and they do multiple tests with that one dog.

[Nick]

So throughout the years, what gets a little difficult in this case when we're reporting on it, there have been so many searches, and I'm certain that throughout the years, there's probably been a search or two that only contained one dog. But a lot of the stuff that I was reviewing, they're referring to dogs, plural. So I believe that we're talking about multiple dogs. Now, I don't know that. Using the searcher's words and the sheriff's words, it's a little conflicting, because at times they say the dog led us to the river's edge. And then other times they say the dogs led investigators to the river. So I don't know if in this exact point, if it was just one dog or multiple dogs. The other thing we need to keep in mind, too, is sometimes we're dealing with different kind of tracking dogs, dogs that are trained to look for different things.

[Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

You know, sometimes when you're looking for search and rescue, you're tracing ascent, and other times they. They've actually brought in cadaver dogs, dogs that are Looking for human remains.

[Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

The problem here is, again, Captain, the Yellow Medicine River, I think could hold some secrets. But the problem with that is, other than the dog or the dogs leading the investigators to the river, the. There's never been any other evidence that Brandon went into the river or drowned or, you know, and remains in the river to this day.

[Captain]

Right. But the problem is we have.

[Nick]

We have no evidence.

[Captain]

We have no evidence of a lot of things.

[Nick]

So I do want to go to a comment that I saw by his mother, Annette Swanson, and this seems to be backed up, or at least a shared feeling by other family members. They don't seem to be 100% convinced that Brandon drowned that night. And then I think you have to go back to this because if, in fact, if you believe the search dog's accuracy, Brandon entered and then exited the river.

[Captain]

Yeah.

[Nick]

So look, I want to try a little exercise, if you will, Captain, this.

[Captain]

But hold on a second.

[Nick]

Go ahead.

[Captain]

It's difficult because we don't know how the dog tracked. Let's say the dog jumped into the river, jumped out of the river and then walked the river's edge for a quarter mile or whatever and then veered off into this other path. That would make me believe more likely that he went into the river and went down the river for a time period enough for the dog to follow the scent. The problem with some of these reports is that we don't have this great detailed report or we don't have video footage of what actually happened. So to speculate too much either way, you might as well pull out your crystal ball and make a guess. Because you don't know.

[Nick]

Well, of course, nobody knows, and that's why this is a. An interesting case and that's why it's still talked about so much to this day. But, okay, so you say detailed description, detailed report. I want to try a little exercise here. Okay. And this will be quite helpful, I believe, especially to those who are either familiar with the area or for those who did look up a map of this area like we mentioned last week. I want to go through a detailed description of the part of this search. Okay. There's a lot of searches throughout the years, but I want to go through this one in, in very good detail here because again, I believe with. With the dog information, the dog tracking information, if we believe the accuracy of the dogs, this is really one of very few pieces of possible evidence that we have to go on.

[Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

So, okay, here's what we do know. Dogs tracked Brandon from his abandoned car Remember, his car was found in Lyon Lincoln County Road, one and a half miles north of Route 68. So on the map, if you're looking at it, go north of Route 68 and continue north past 390th Street. On my map, I placed a pin on Lyon Lincoln Road at the halfway mark, but right between 390th street and 160th Avenue. So we know from the conversation he had with his folks, Brandon thinks he is near Lind, and he eventually comes up with the idea to meet them in Lind via him walking there. He says he sees the town of Lind or the Lind town lights from his car.

[Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

And he's going to walk towards the light. So there are two things we can deduce from his statements here. One, Brandon is basically heading in a northwest walking direction. So he believes he is southeast of Lynd. Well, northwest of Brandon's car is the town of Porter. So he is very likely seeing the lights coming from the town of Porter. So number two, he thinks he is southeast of Lynd. So again, if the dogs are right, from his car, Brandon walked half a mile south on Lyon Lincoln Road and then turned right onto 390th Street. He walked on 390th westbound for about a mile. Then he makes another right onto County Road 16, walking northbound. He walks for about a half a mile, and then he decides to go off of the road and make a left. Now walking westbound on a private driveway of what has been described by at least three sources that I could find. This is a driveway belonging to a. An abandoned farm.

[Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

He continues westbound for approximately a quarter of a mile and then veers off the driveway and continues on roughly following the course of the Yellow Medicine river, traveling northwest.

[Captain]

Well, again, we also have to be clear about these driveways because a lot of these back roads are rough. Right. They're not. Not. Every single one is paved nicely.

[Nick]

A lot of them are gravel roads. Yes.

[Captain]

So you have to. You can't assume at this point that. That he knows if he's going on a road or a driveway.

[Nick]

Right.

[Captain]

That'd be safe to say.

[Nick]

Right. And again, he may not even care as long as he believes that he's making his way in that direction that he wants to go. So now he's. He's. He's kind of very roughly following the course of the Yellow Medicine river, traveling northwest.

[Captain]

But. But how. How much is the distance between the car and the river? Like, if you had to guess?

[Nick]

Well, it's difficult because there it's very different between where the. You know, how the crow flies to the route that he is taking, because he's taking a very roundabout way of getting there. He's. He's going. We see him going south, and then he's going west, and then he's going north, and then he's going northwest.

[Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

So he's traveled a few miles, once you add this all up. But again, he's. He's not taking a direct cut right to where we have him now.

[Captain]

1. I think this is important because. Because we do have a little bit of a time gap from when his. When his father decides to take his mom home to come back out, and we have a time gap, and then they're back on the phone and. And do. And I know that time gap is.

[Nick]

Kind of blurry, but I think the key thing here is what I'm. What I want to point out to everybody, if they are following along on the map, you can. You can really see where about he would be, based off of the information of the dogs. And it's. Once he starts doing this, this route that. That roughly follows the Yellow Medicine river there, traveling northwest. This is approximately where the bloodhound jumped into the river and then jumped back out. Now, the. The handler, as we said, interpreted this behavior as possibly indicating that Brandon might have fallen into the river at that point, but then Brandon traveled onward, walking, heading north toward a gravel road. It is here that the trail ends. The dog or dogs lose the scent. Really, any number of things could have happened here to make this trail end. The scent vanishes. He starts off in a very roundabout way of walking northwest with the idea that he is walking into town. This, obviously, regardless of what town it may actually be or what town he thinks he's walking into. I want to point out some things here, too, that are kind of working against Brandon, if that is his exact movements. Remember we talked about this is a route. You know, Route 68 would be a route that he would have taken from school to his house. I think rather than assuming that he knows the area well, I would debate that quite heavily. I question that. That off of anything off of Route 68, he may not know at all. You know, he may just take the simplest way to and from school into his house day after day after day, and never veering off of that Route 68, which he is clearly off of at this point.

[Captain]

Right. And anybody that knows these country roads or not, not exactly these country roads, but country roads in general, you might be able to go, well, I Go down this main path, and then I head down one country road, and that gets me to another town. Right. And then that's your path. But once you jump onto these, you know, other country roads that you're not familiar with, they could take you anywhere you want to know. Right. You know what I mean? And again, so I think there's also evidence that backs up that he doesn't know this area so well, because we have evidence that he's not where he thinks he is.

[Nick]

100%. We know he's not where he thinks he is. And what I think is working against him here in this situation.

[Captain]

Alcohol?

[Nick]

No. I think that there are things. There are indicators that to. To tell him that he is where he thinks he is. Meaning if I. If I'm looking around and I go, oh, northwest of me, there's the lights coming from, Right. Should be Linda. Oh, but it's not Lynd. It's Porter.

[Captain]

But it's something.

[Nick]

Yeah, yeah, it's. It's an indicator to him that he's. He's right even though he's clearly wrong. And then on top of that, the direction he's taking from his vehicle to walk into town, traveling northwest, let's pretend he does know the area very well. This would work against him even more because to walk into Porter, he would need to cross a major road. And there's a river that runs into Porter. Okay, that's the Redwood. I'm sorry, the. The north branch of the yellow medicine river runs into Porter. Now, if he were to walk northwest into Lind again, he would have to cross a major road 23 instead of 68. There's another river that runs that direction into the town of Lind. That's the Redwood River.

[Captain]

Right. That's. If he knew the area so well.

[Nick]

Yeah, if he knows this area really well, he's going.

[Captain]

Well, still going to be confused.

[Nick]

He's going, shit. I'm right. There's the town of Lind. I know it because here's the river backing my feelings up, and here's the road that I have to cross backing my feelings up as well.

[Captain]

I still think he's impaired.

[Nick]

He could be. He could be. And I think we can. We can debate that here in a little bit, But I want to go through some of the. Now, I want to go through some of the search efforts here, Captain, but to go through all of them would be ridiculous. If you want to. To dive into that even further. That stuff is available online. And specifically, I want to point out some of the Sources for our research here we have footprints at the river's edge. Blogspot.com that site has been raising awareness for specifically for missing young adult males since 2002. And then there's a really interesting thing regarding this case. We have Jeff Hasi who has really been the one that's led these, these searches and there is a website, the search for brandon.blogspot.com this website.

[Captain]

But who's this guy?

[Nick]

He, he's in charge. We'll get into him in a minute. But one thing I want to point out while I'm telling people, if you want to look into it, check out that the search for brandon.blogspot.com that is basically a website that reads like individual journal entries for each search that took place. And they have journal entries listed for searches that were conducted over a three year time period.

[Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

So very detailed information there. The areas around Brandon's car, where his car was found, they were searched using ground searchers, ATVs, horses and helicopters.

[Captain]

Yeah.

[Nick]

A company that we've talked about many, many times, Texas Equisearch did come in to help bringing in underwater sonar devices, a remote controlled plane and other high tech equipment to help the search efforts and still nothing was found.

[Captain]

Before you'd have to raise a bunch of money to get somebody to go up in a helicopter. Now with technology we can use these, these drones to cover so much area and detail.

[Sponsor Voice]

Right.

[Nick]

And then by July of the year that he went missing, the Lincoln county sheriff acknowledged that he personally believed that Brandon Swanson was likely deceased by this time. And they're still searching at this. And this is where we have the, if you review the sheriff's statements throughout the years, I think he's just really kind of perplexed by this whole situation because you will see statements where they say he can't be in the river. We've searched it so many times. But then here in July of the year that we went, he went missing, we have the sheriff saying we believe he's deceased and he likely fell into the river.

[Captain]

Yeah.

[Nick]

Now, within a few months after the quote unquote official search for Brandon stopped, which was actually about 10 days after he went missing, a new private search company took over the search for Brandon. This was, and this is going to answer your question, this was. Search, Rescue and Recovery Resources of Minnesota, which was headed up by a man named Jeff Hasse is not your amateur civilian search organizer. He uses scientific methods in mathematical calculations such as theoretical maximum distance traveled equations, probability studies and statistics to come up with the search Areas and likely scenarios. Besides his work for the srrmn, that's, that's a handful there.

[Captain]

That's what we should call the show.

[Nick]

Yeah. Hassi is the founder of Midwest Technical Rescue Training Associates, a nonprofit organization that teaches technical rescue skills to public safety providers.

[Captain]

Well, they're going to do some kind of scientific and mathematic equations as far as the average human can walk a mile in 15 minutes, things like that, to kind of narrow down the search a little more.

[Nick]

Thank you, Captain. And I want to talk about this because we talk so much about criminal profiling on the show. Well, when you think about it, Jeff and his team are using similar techniques to try and find and rescue or return lost persons. Basically taking whatever evidence they have Here we got the car, the scent trail, the phone call with dad saying, oh shit. And then the car call drops. They're going to take that information and layering, layering that with information and statistics collected from previous search efforts. You throw that algebra equation into a blender and boom. Now you have prioritized search areas, you have a game plan. One of these statistics is quite interesting has, he says, and this was to the Independent where he said this, he says, quote, retrospective studies based on the International Search and Rescue Incident database found that in these circumstances involving abandoned vehicles, the subjects were found within 5.6 miles from the last known position. This is 95% of the time. This yielding a total search area of 98.5 square miles. The median distance is 1.3 miles. So 5.3 square miles search area. There's one statistic used to help prioritize the search areas and also you might use this equation as well. The average person, as you pointed out, and this is what they're going to use in Brandon's situation, walks 1 to 3 miles per hour yielding a 1 to 3 mile search ring or 3.1 to 28.3 square miles. This is based off of he's in the car, he's walking for 47 minutes while talking on the phone to his father, right? And then he says, oh, and the call drops. You would use this information in regards to what you know by the information provided by Brandon's mother and father, what time he started walking from where he left his car and ending with the ol moment. That's the indicator for his disappearance or demise, if that's the thinking. Now I think that that's some fascinating stuff and we will get back into that in a bit when, when we get to the theories and our thoughts. But that's what they're kind of working with here. Look, he points out 98 point, what do we say, six square miles. So roughly 100 square miles. That's a huge area to try to search. And anybody that knows this area, we're dealing with farmland. That's difficult, especially when we're talking about when the, the crops are high.

[Captain]

Yeah, very much so. And then also, like you said, there's multiple water sources.

[Nick]

Yeah, yeah. So you, you have to use this information to profile where you think he may be to prioritize your search areas and your search efforts.

[Sponsor Voice]

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[Nick]

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[Nick]

I've told you before, one of my.

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[Captain]

Cheers, me mateys.

[Nick]

Cheers to you, Captain. Oh, I want to give a another cheers here. I got a fantastic message from a very long time friend of the show. Remember Gina, private investigator down in Texas who helped us out with the dark past episodes?

[Captain]

Yeah, Gina. Gina Badass.

[Nick]

Yeah. Regarding serial killer Felix Vale. So she had some kind of thing to go to at one of her children's schools or one of their classes. She wore the ban the van T shirt to the school. She said that the teachers loved it and the kids were very confused. She's hoping it's a life lesson for, for, I guess, that class.

[Captain]

Well, we're gonna start sponsoring police, police departments to go into the schools. Just like the DARE program. We're starting the band. The van program.

[Nick]

The van program. So regarding the searches, Captain, there, there were multiple searches, as we said, over a number of years. Parts of the river were even drained. Now, on the five year anniversary of Brandon's disappearance, Twin Cities.com discussed the scale of the search for Brandon, saying more than 500 volunteers, including 34 dog handlers from nine different states, spent more than 120 days searching for Brandon and covered part of 120 square miles. We have Jeff Hasse, who says it's by far the biggest search that he has ever been involved in in terms of length of time, number of missions and number of searchers involved. Remember, he's the search manager. A search in October of 2013 focused on the Mud Creek area. This is a few miles northwest of the town of Porter. The cadaver dogs consistently hit on the creek, leading searchers to believe that the waters from wherever Brandon's body is located, somewhere in the watershed, were possibly washing into this creek. And that's why the dogs are hitting on this area again. In 2015, searchers searched farm fields northwest of Porter where the dogs were hitting on a scent. This included an area that they had not been able to search for several years. And this is because of harvest schedules and bad weather. Ken Anderson, president of Emergency Support Services in Minneapolis, who partnered with Jeff Hasse, said searchers concentrated on the area northwest of Porter because search dogs were, quote, still getting the scent that says there are remains of a human in this area, end quote.

[Captain]

So we're again, we're assuming those are cadaver dogs and not scent dogs that they used before, correct?

[Nick]

Yes. This is according to cadaver dogs. They are hitting on areas northwest of the town of Porter. So it May be likely that Brandon's remains are somewhere in that area. Again, this is a large area.

[Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

And it's my understanding that these dogs, when they hit on this scent because of winds and such, they can be hitting on this even for miles away. Now, another search was conducted just last year in May of 2018, and this was just another search where they really, they found nothing. Now, I do want to point out here, too, something that I think is important to this case is that back In March of 2010, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the BCA, they became the lead investigating agency on this case. The BCA has said that the case remains open and leads continue to trickle in. In fact, last year, in 2018, Derek Woodford, BCA special agent, said, quote, the case is open. And just last week I got another lead or two. Sometimes you need a break in the case. All it takes sometimes is one thing. So we're not giving up, end quote. And we talked about this a little bit on, off the record recently, where if you are working a case and the trail has gone cold for you, you may trade it off to another investigator, you may hand it off to somebody else, put some new eyes on this thing to see if I missed anything. And we also see situations with these cases where they will hand it over to a whole nother agency completely. And that's what happened here in 2010. March of 2010. Let's start to get into some of the theories here, Captain. There's a lot of them. Right. Because Brandon's disappearance is. It's very frustrating and it's mysterious. He was on the phone with his dad and then he wasn't, and now no trace of him has ever been found.

[Captain]

Well, not just that. I mean, he says, oh, and then the phone gets disconnected.

[Nick]

Right, right. And. And so the Internet is just rife with rumors and theories about what could have happened to Brandon.

[Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

I think we.

[Captain]

It's a big topic on Reddit.

[Nick]

Yeah. And. And there's so many, so much so out there that we can't list all of them, but we're going to try to go through some of them. Yeah.

[Captain]

You could read stuff about, you know, possible abducted by aliens.

[Nick]

That was first on my list. Alien or some other strange abduction or disappearance.

[Captain]

Possible Sasquatch.

[Nick]

Right. I think, I think if that were to be the case, it would be better recognized on some other show.

[Captain]

Right? Yeah.

[Nick]

Unless you feel different.

[Captain]

No, I don't think there's any evidence of that. I'm not saying I'd rule down as out as A possibility on a case if, if there was like some sightings that night. Oh, well, we, we had 300 sightings of a UFO and then this kid went missing.

[Nick]

Right.

[Captain]

Maybe I'd have a little more weight to it. But I think sometimes in these missing person case they go, he was probably walking down the road and Bigfoot got him, you know, or the aliens took him or the Mothman or he went into a time portal. You know, just have some kind of evidence of this.

[Nick]

You know what, I thought there were a ton of theories out there. I think you just added two more to, to the possible theories, but there's.

[Captain]

No evidence of those, so they're not.

[Nick]

Well, and you know what? I. One sad thing. Well, I mean this, this whole case is tragic and sad, but when I was doing research for Brandon's case, our old friends thinking sideways covered the case.

[Captain]

Oh yeah.

[Nick]

And it brought a tear to my Devon. I listened to the thinking sideways and, and basically what they said in Brandon's case regarding alien abduction, this was kind of funny.

[Captain]

They were saying, Devin, Joe and Steve.

[Nick]

There was no crop circles. If, if he were abducted by aliens, there would have been crop circles. And I, obviously, I don't know that to be true, but I found, I found that to be funny on their show and I miss their show and I miss those, those guys.

[Captain]

Yeah.

[Nick]

So let's get into some of the much more likely theories. Here's one that, that, that is constantly in this case. It says Brandon tried. And some of this is ripped straight off of the Internet. Brandon tried some bad meth that night and had a bad reaction to drugs and, or alcohol that he have he consumed. And he got so disoriented enough so that he got totally lost.

[Captain]

Well, we know he was lost. We have evidence of that. So this.

[Nick]

Well, no, they mean lost for good.

[Captain]

Right. So phone gets disconnected. He says, oh shit. Maybe the oh shit isn't that big of a deal. He keeps walking, he goes further, gets even more lost. That's a possibility. I think the difficult thing here is I don't think he'd be so impaired or so unhealthy that by the time. And yes, this is a rural area, but by the time that the sun would come up, I would think that Brandon would get to a road and at least see somebody pass him by and possibly could get help. So that's the only reason, that's the only problem I have with this theory.

[Nick]

You know, and this theory in itself almost seems cut and pasted from Brandon Lawson's case. Right. Brandon Same first name. Tried some bad meth that night. That's. That's a theory in both of those cases. And what I want to just like scream from. From the top of the mountain is this shouldn't be any news flash for anybody. It's all bad meth.

[Captain]

Yeah, there is.

[Nick]

There is no good math. All right. Just don't do meth.

[Captain]

That's what we should call our band. Good math.

[Nick]

Well, here's. All right. Ban the van campaign was. Was this year. Maybe next year's campaign is don't do meth.

[Captain]

Bad math.

[Nick]

Right. So again, this is ripped straight off of the Internet. It's total speculation. But here's some things here. It's been thrown out there that Brandon maybe tried drugs that night, possibly meth, and then behaved just as Brandon Lawson did. Disoriented and confused, possibly even seeing things. Now, we referenced a pipe that was found in Brandon Swanson's car. The pipe found in his car is of unknown origin. These are the words of Sheriff Dahl that I hope I'm saying that right. It's D, A, H, L. He said that. It is not known whether the pipe even belonged to Brandon. Police, in my opinion, must not have given it much weight because they have publicly stated that they do not believe that Brandon was impaired that night. The problem here, though, meth is a real possibility. Apparently this area of Minnesota is. So it's no stranger to meth troubles. In fact, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension website contains two options for public access. One search public criminal history. The other one is search Methamphetamine Offender Registry. It's. There's so much of it that they have to give a whole category to it on its website. So clearly there. There is a problem in that area.

[Captain]

Well, it's 2019. There's a problem in this whole country, so.

[Sponsor Voice]

Correct.

[Captain]

So, yeah, we don't have to worry about that. That's. That's a possibility. And again, you could have done something at one of these parties because we assume that he went to two different parties. So there's two different accounts of possibly where he was at and is in, you know, and his party ness. Of his. His level of party ness that. That. That night. But we have a situation where he's a little lost, he's a little confused, tries to call some of his friends. They don't answer. I think if he is on something, he wasn't so messed up that he wasn't afraid to call his parents.

[Nick]

Right. Or so messed up that. That there's no. There's Nobody inside. There's nobody involved in this case that is saying, we believe he was so messed up that that's what led to his demise.

[Captain]

Yeah. And think about the.

[Nick]

Everybody on the outside is going, well, he probably just did some meth and ended up hallucinating. But we have the father, we have the mother, we have the sheriff, we have friends. None of. None of them are going, yeah, he was so effed up that he ended up God knows where.

[Captain]

And we can get into that right now because, like I said, we have these two accounts of these parties.

[Sponsor Voice 2]

Yes.

[Captain]

Maybe the first 60 days or so, or maybe even less than that. What was he drinking? Not really for sure. I don't think he was drinking too much. Maybe he didn't want to get him trouble. Maybe he smoked some weed. Maybe they did some more than that. I think if they would have done more than that, as time would have went on, I think his friends would have came out and said, you know what? We didn't want to get him in trouble at first, but it's important for us to let you know that he smoked meth that night. Right, Right. That has not happened. And then I think the other thing that has not happened is with the Brandon Lawson case, for example, we have a 911 call that makes zero sense.

[Nick]

Right.

[Captain]

And we have a situation here with Brandon Swanson where he's talking not only to his father, but also to his mother. And both of them are saying that he sounded fine right. Now, he. Now that could be. He sounded fine for it being that late at night and being a little confused on where he was at. But I don't think there's really any. Any indication that he was on some psychotic.

[Nick]

Well, that he's hallucinating and he's totally off his rocker here.

[Captain]

Right. It's not like he's.

[Nick]

Because he talked to his father for 47 minutes. That's after other phone calls with his mom and dad.

[Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

47 minutes. That's a tough time to try to play the sober game. And look, I think you and I could agree that he's probably somewhat impaired. I mean, it's late at night. We know he's had a couple of drinks. But the thing I want to really point out here, I would say, and.

[Captain]

I'm just going to put this out there, I would say he's as impaired from the alcohol as he is from just being tired and.

[Nick]

Well, and here's one thing that I want to. I want to really go into and maybe not stay on it too long, but One thing that I really looked at when looking at this case was, okay, I go into a lot of these with, with the idea that there may be foul play. So let's at least look at that angle. Okay? If there was foul play, who had the means and the opportunity to be involved in that foul play? Well, in this situation we have mom and dad who are saying they spoke to this boy, their, their boy shortly before he vanished forever. So one thing I did, and I apologize to the family, but when I went into this case, looking into it, I wanted to know as much as I could find out about mom and dad and their search efforts and what took place the night that he went missing and since then regarding mom and dad.

[Captain]

Yeah, I mean, but that, that's what you have to do, right?

[Nick]

And what I can tell you from, from what I've spent two weeks on looking at mom and Dad, I can tell you they only have one agenda in this entire huge story and that is to find their son. They have, at no point, I don't, I've never got the feeling at any point that these are parents that are going, well, yeah, he was really messed up, but we don't want the memory of Brandon to be that. We want the memory of him to be good and wholesome. No, no, no, no. I'm telling you, his parents. The vibe I get, Captain, is that if whatever would help them find their son, they will say it, they will do it.

[Captain]

Right?

[Nick]

They don't care about public opinion. These people have spent years, they've spent time, they've spent money, lots of money. Some of these searchers were volunteers and a lot of this stuff, they, they spent their own hard earned money trying to find their son.

[Captain]

And we all know somebody that has struggled with addiction of some level and you know their parents and most of the time those parents do not shy away from their kids problems. So I don't think it's like you said, you're going to have these overly concerned parents on trying to find their kid, but they're not willing to tell the truth. It just doesn't make a lot of sense.

[Nick]

Right. And the other thing too, which is, you know, people compare this case to Brandon Lawson, but they also the, the meth believers or the people that state that he did some bad drugs on this night. They often point to the case of Michael Wamsley and Janelle Hornickel. This was, this was a very famous case in Nebraska. The two were very high on meth. Again, all meth is bad meth. They suffered delusions and they were calling 911 multiple times, reporting that their truck was stuck in some snow. They ended up freezing to death just within two miles of their truck. Again though, this kind of points back to me that mom and dad don't think he's messed up. The sheriff doesn't think that he's messed up. The friends don't think that Brandon's messed up. And what happened in this other case that everybody keeps pointing to, they found the bodies, they don't find Brandon. We don't know where Brandon Swanson is.

[Captain]

I have an issue though, with, with the whole car thing. And again, I don't know the road that well. And so getting to the point where your car is stuck, that concerns me. And again, I think that leads to being impaired somewhat, with just tiredness and then also being somewhat impaired by the alcohol. Maybe enough to just go, I can't get out of this mess right now, so I got to start walking, take off on foot. But again, I don't know the road that well, so it could be just, you know, happenstance where here's this kid that wanted to turn around or when to do something with his car and it just so happened to be the wrong place to do that at. And that even, even if you're sober, you're gonna get hung up on it.

[Nick]

Yes, I, I would think so. In looking at pictures that I found of the site and of the area, that's what it looks like to me. That. Okay, so these are, these are long country roads where there's not much turn off you. There's not like a spot where you're like, oh, I'll just pull in here and back out and turn around.

[Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

This is the. And especially a lot, not a lot.

[Captain]

Of houses on these, on these roads.

[Nick]

And especially think of, think of yourselves out there. Right? Okay. We've all been in a situation where I'm handsome, where we're frustrated, where we might be in a hurry or we're lost or turned around or whatever, and we're frustrated and, and we do something out of haste that in the end we realize was just a dumb, stupid move.

[Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

And the thing that I think here is looking at these pictures, it appears to me there's not any turn offs. And he's like, you know what? I got to turn around. I think he just made a bad turn. I think, I think there's ditches on both sides of this road and maybe.

[Captain]

A little pissed off. So he was a little too aggressive.

[Nick]

Yeah, it's a narrow road and I think he thought he could make the turn, but he didn't.

[Captain]

And also if your drive is taking you a little bit longer or it's such a frustrating thing to be going, am I going the right way? What the hell's going on? And like you said, maybe just a little too aggressive and that stops you from being able to drive your car.

[Nick]

We rolling. Another theory, Captain, is that Brandon could have been hit by a car. Many people like this theory and believe that possibly the oh, shit that he uttered was in response to an approaching vehicle. For this to be the case, obviously whoever hit Brandon had to take his body and the body was taken away to hide after this accidental death.

[Captain]

Okay, so the, the reason why I like this is that we have evidence that the dog goes to the river, gets, gets out of the river, goes down another path, kind of in, ends its search or ends the scent kind of in the road. So that would make you lead, you know, that's evidence to show that this theory makes some sense.

[Nick]

Correct. You know, I've heard this. I found this to be quite strange. Some of the searchers were saying, you know, the, the dogs can only follow the scent for so long.

[Captain]

Yeah, I believe that.

[Nick]

I believe that too, but I don't fully comprehend it. And what I'm getting at is so, so what they're pointing out is that at this spot on the road where the dog lose the scent. Where the dogs lose the scent.

[Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

Is because they've been following it for so long, they point out that that doesn't actually mean that the scent went away or that they, that branded. That something happened to Brandon in that spot. The problem with, with, look, there are several holes in this theory. I like this theory too, at first, but when I really started thinking about it, I distanced myself from this theory because, because of the holes. One, if something happened to Brandon at that spot, it's not like they can't find that spot. They were led to that spot by the dogs. There should be some, you would think there would be some indication that something happened there, possibly blood or anything else.

[Sponsor Voice 2]

Right.

[Captain]

And we know like, let's just, we can assume that these people search and go, okay, well, here's roughly where the scent stops. We're going to look, you know, before that and after that, again, we have no blood evidence. We have no, we also have no evidence of him telling his father, oh, there's this car coming up on me. There's none of that.

[Nick]

There's, that's where, that's where the theory falls apart. Okay? He's saying to his father, just before he says, oh, he's describing that he's walking along a fence line, that he's off of the road, he's going through a field and that he can hear water. So this doesn't sound like an area that you're going that a car would be driving through. Car would be on the road. If this was an accident, this car is not driving in the middle of the field.

[Captain]

It's between driving on top of a fence.

[Nick]

Right. So, so if, if that in fact is true, then that part that makes the theory impossible. Now let's pretend, go back to what you were saying. Let's pretend that Brandon was walking on the road. If here's the problem with that his father is driving around looking for him. There is no way in hell that Brandon does not say to his father, oh, I see you, you just turned. I'm right up here. Do you see me? I see your headlights. He would, if he saw a car, he would very likely assume it to be his father first. Or even if he didn't assume it to be his father, he would say, wait, there's somebody coming. Or he would, these are, these are things he would say to his father.

[Captain]

We could have evidence of that. The same scenario is that we have evidence that he's telling his father. I'm walking along this fence line, I hear water. Oh shit. And maybe that ol shit is I fell into water. I get out of the water, I keep going down the path. I'm not on the phone with my father. That's where I get hit by a car. That's very likely too. The reason why I don't like this theory is we have no evidence of tire treads. No like sign of a vehicle trying to stop, no sign of a vehicle trying to speed up, no blood evidence. And this would be dark. So to be able to clean up that blood evidence would be nearly impossible. The other thing I don't like is we know that he had a cell phone on him. We don't have, you know, a broken cell phone somewhere.

[Nick]

Well, and some people regarding this theory even point out what would be the probability that if you hit a total stranger in the middle of the night of, on an accident that, that you even decide to take the body with you and clean up the, the scene.

[Captain]

You would just drive away.

[Nick]

Right. A lot of people point out that, that there is a certain percentage that would just continue along their way. So I, it's an interesting theory to ponder, but I, I put the probability level not Very high. Because, yeah, I think.

[Captain]

Right, right. No evidence as an armchair detective or even just law enforcement has to put this on the list of things that we have to dive into and rabbit holes. We need to go down with any missing person case when we have nothing. At the end of the day you have to go, did this person run away? Did this person want to start a new life? These are questions that we have to keep asking ourselves over and over. I think this is an important question to ask. I think that there's just zero evidence of this.

[Nick]

The other, another theory is that Brandon met with foul play. Now this theory encompasses several possibilities but, but most likely two possibilities. One, Brandon fell victim to a random killer or that someone who knew him followed him and there was some type of confrontation or ambush and Brandon was killed. So let's address these in turn. Okay. First the random killer. This theory is that Brandon was unlucky enough to stumble upon a opportunistic killer who murdered him and disposed of his body. We have to consider what are the chances that Brandon would encounter some random psycho killer in rural Minnesota on farmland and unused roads in the middle of the night. Right. This is remote, desolate area with rugged terrain at 3 in the morning. Now an offshoot of this theory, of the random killer theory is that, and this is probably, well, definitely more plausible in my opinion, is that Brandon was on private land and maybe stumbled upon a pissed off farmer, someone shot and killed him and hit his body. Right.

[Captain]

Or this is an area that you shouldn't be out in. It's like my Neighborhood, right. At three o'clock in the morning. I know all my neighbors. You shouldn't be driving down my road. Right? Yeah, it's not good. So in this case, you got a kid that's lost. Maybe the farmer doesn't know he's lost. But you're on my property. If you're on my property this time.

[Nick]

Of the day, I think you're a bad person.

[Captain]

It's nothing but bad. Right. So therefore you know you're going to be met with my shotgun.

[Nick]

Right. The farmer doesn't have to be a psycho. The farmer might be scared and assume that you are a psycho. You're outside of my house creeping around in the middle of the night. Now the thing here is this is another offshoot of this theory that I have seen very rarely discussed. So I do want to point this out as well, this is an interesting one, that possibly Brandon fell into an illegal booby trap intended for poachers or for thieves or for, you know, Any number of reasons.

[Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

And then eventually was. Was killed. Trapped there or was killed by the person that set the trap.

[Captain]

Yeah, again, you would think illegal booby trap. I don't know how that works. Well, booty track. Yeah.

[Nick]

What, what they're. What this is suggesting is that somebody has set some type of traps on their property. These could be for animals, they could be for. Against people, anything. It's. I wouldn't throw it out of the realm of possibility. It does lead to the idea of why they've not found any evidence. Because this theory would suggest that somebody then later covered up whatever took place.

[Captain]

Yeah, but again, it doesn't have to be illegal. It could be. You know, if somebody's coming through this field, it's nothing but bad. Right. So he gets hurt by one of these things. They go out there, they go again. The only reason why you'd be out here is bad. They take care of Brandon, they kill Brandon and then find out later it was just a lost kid.

[Nick]

And then. Right.

[Captain]

You have to be kind of psycho to come up with those to want to do that.

[Nick]

The other thought here, Captain, is hunters. Maybe somebody's out there hunting season. Yeah. We talked about on boys of boys on the tracks. They're out spotting for animals, so.

[Captain]

Yeah, but you should know that this, I mean, if it's accidental shooting, you should know it's not an animal because this person was talking to somebody on the phone. See, that's where I think an intruder thought. You know, like protecting your land makes a little more sense because you, you would hear this kid talking, and so maybe you would start assuming that he's talking to somebody else that's with him, which would get you. You'd raise your suspicions a lot higher.

[Nick]

You know, I do want to go back to the idea that maybe this wasn't a stranger, that it wasn't. There was foul play, but the offender is not a stranger because we really should address that. There are several message boards online containing post where they're talking about local rumors regarding what took place in this case. And people suggesting that Brandon either owed some people money for vehicles or drugs. It varies depending on the post that you see. And that he was actually targeted and killed as a result of these debts.

[Captain]

Yeah, it's an interesting theory and an interesting rumor. But do we have evidence that he owed anybody money other than those rumors?

[Nick]

No, there doesn't seem to be anything that's backing that up. And again, what's confusing about those rumors and why I think they may just be rumors is they're citing two different things that he has a debt for. Right, right. It's not like, you know, in some of the posters stating that he had a debt because of drugs. Other posts are stating he had a debt because of vehicles. I think the vehicle thing would be. If there was any truth to that, it seems like mom and dad would be like, yeah, he always had all these different vehicles and all these strange trucks and cars and whatnot. So. And the other problem with that too is if you in fact believe that he's. He's going, oh shit, because he sees somebody that he's afraid of, then you have to believe. Why wouldn't he say anything to his father about seeing headlights, seeing a vehicle coming toward him? That did not take place. So again, that doesn't. It makes it not ring true. I don't think either of those rumors are true. I think it's just people trying to come up with some rationale of what happened.

[Captain]

And, and even if you could prove that he owed somebody, you know, bottle of weed from somebody and owed him 20 bucks or something like that, I don't think there's any evidence of Brandon, you know, being a hardcore drug user. But again, usually you have to rack.

[Nick]

Up quite a bit of debt before somebody wants to kill you.

[Captain]

Yeah.

[Nick]

So.

[Captain]

Not if you're buying from the captain. You owe me 10 bucks. It's 10 bucks coming after you. No, I just don't think there's a lot of evidence of that. And again, like, how. How much money would you have to owe somebody on a car? It seems like almost like somebody came up with this idea. And yes, it's possible, but it's also possible that you owe somebody money. You owe your buddy a thousand bucks and he didn't come after you and you just happened to go missing.

[Nick]

Well, there are two things that I believe do tend to point to Brandon being the victim of foul play. One, Brandon is listed in VICAP as a missing person. As we brought up in episode one, ViCAP stands for the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program. There is not a long list of missing persons on VICAP. Last time I checked VICAP, there were 64 missing persons listed on there. And what people will point to in this case is that they believe that there is a reason why he would be on there on this short list.

[Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

Meaning that someone, whoever put him on there, believes that violence was involved in his disappearance. People point to this because they wonder if the FBI, in fact, has reason to believe that Brandon was the victim of a violent crime. The other thing Regarding this too is that the vicap entry for Brandon contains one interesting tidbit of information that we did mention earlier. His vehicle, the Chevy Lumina, was found with the doors open and the keys missing. We can presume that Brandon took his keys, but then why would he leave the doors open? That seems very strange to me. Was somebody else actually in the vehicle or did someone come along later, perhaps the following day and open up the car, you know, looking for things to steal or for whatever reason? We also have Sheriff Vasecki who definitely considered and left open the possibility of foul play, saying, quote, the only thing would have been if someone was in the shadows and they got him that way. He said. He said he can't say that there wasn't someone else out there, but adding that he can't find any evidence of it, stating that cadaver dogs and searchers, he explained, should have found a body or some evidence if Swanson had succumbed to the elements, adding, I can't explain why clothing belongings wouldn't surface after all these searches and after all this time. Now in episode three, Captain, we will tear through some of these theories, get into some more. But before we go, I want to leave you with Brandon's mother, Annette Swanson. What she told the Saint Cloud Times. She said her greatest fear is that people will forget Brandon. She says, talk about Brandon. Brandon is a real person. He touched a lot of lives. And don't forget him. He has a smile that lights up his whole face. He is big hearted and kind and he really believed in doing the right thing.

[Captain]

So much more to get to stick around for part three tomorrow in the garage. Thanks for listening. Thanks for telling your mother. Thanks for telling your brother. Thanks for telling your sister. Thanks for sharing on social media.

[Nick]

All right, and everybody, make sure you be good, be kind and don't live.

[Babs]

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[Nick]

Com.