31-05-2025
The chilling final two words uttered by teenager on the phone to his parents while walking home in the dark - before he vanished forever
A teenager who mysteriously disappeared after getting lost in the dark while driving home said two final chilling words to his parents on the phone before the line went dead.
Brandon Swanson, from Marshall, Minnesota, started walking home after his car got stuck in a ditch after taking a wrong turn on a country road while on the way home from an end-of-semester spring party in 2008.
Just before 2am, the 19-year-old rang his parents to come and pick him up, but was so lost he sent them in the wrong direction.
Trying to find somewhere they would both know, Brandon told them he thought he could see the lights of Lynd, a nearby town, and decided to take a shortcut through an abandoned farm field.
There, while still on the phone to his parents, Brandon uttered his final words - 'oh s***' - before the line went dead, and he was never seen again.
Brandon's parents and friends searched throughout the night while ringing his phone, but there was no answer.
His mother, Annette, reported him missing to police next morning. Sniffer dogs led police towards the Yellow Medicine River but lost the scent.
His case has become one of America's greatest unsolved mysteries and, while some believe he fell into the river and died, his body and belongings were never discovered.
Brandon's evening started in the nearby town of Lynd, about seven miles southwest of his home in Marshall.
After leaving the party early, he headed 35 miles north west toward Canby to meet another friend.
It was a route Brandon had driven every day to college, but this time it was believed he decided to take the back roads instead as he'd been drinking at the party. However, his friends confirmed they didn't believe he'd been overly intoxicated.
If he had taken the main highway, it should have taken just 30 to 40 minutes to get home.
After he getting lost in the backroads and subsequently stuck in the ditch, Brandon told his parents he was somewhere on the road between Lynd and Marshall - although it's now believed he was around 25 miles away.
When his father Brian and mother Annette arrived, they couldn't see his car.
Still on the phone, they flashed their headlights and, although Brandon said he was doing the same back at them, it remained pitch black.
Getting increasingly desperate to get home safe, Brandon started honking his car horn - which again, couldn't be heard by his parents except through the phone.
Frustrated, Brendan decided to abandon his car and walk to what he thought was a nearby town and they all agreed to meet in one of the bar's car park.
Brain stayed on the phone to his son for 47 minutes as he made his way through fields, over fences and along streams of water.
At around 2.30am, Brandon suddenly yelled 'oh s***!' and the phone disconnected. Brian immediately called Brandon back six times in a row, with each getting no answer.
His parents continued looking for their son until the next morning when they were able to report him missing to police, who initially dismissed their claims and said 'teenage boys go missing all the time'.
According to Annette, one officer said directly 'as an adult Brandon has a right to be missing if he wants to be'.
It took hours of Annette pleading with officers before they would take Brandon's disappearance seriously.
Authorities managed to track his phone and it turned out Brandon was 25 miles away, between the towns of Porter and Taunton, from where his parents were searching.
Moving the search to the Taunton area, authorities quickly located Brandon's abandoned car which was in a ditch on the side of the road, just as he said.
Ground and air searches took places over the next few days for Brandon and rescue dogs were brought in to track Brandon's scent from his car.
The dogs followed his trail across an abandoned farm, and then along the Yellow Medicine River, at the river's edge, the dogs lost Brandon's scent, which indicated he may have gone in the water.
However the dogs did pick his trail back up on the other side, which suggested he got back out.
After the initial response to her son's disappearance, Annette successfully campaigned for the introduction of 'Brandon's Law' in the state.
Brandon's Law was passed in Minnesota later that year in 2008 and it requires police to begin an immediate search for missing adults under 21, as well as older adults who are missing under suspicious circumstances.
If you have any information, please contact Lincoln County Sheriff's Office 507-694-1664.
