Brandon Swanson, 19, MN Missing 5/14/08

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Search continues for Marshall 19-year-old

May 19, 2008
MARSHALL, Minn. - Authorities in Lincoln County say an air search is likely Monday for 19-year-old Brandon Swanson.

The Marshall man has been missing since Wednesday.

Lincoln County Sheriff Jack Vizecky says searchers in protective gear walked the river Sunday but found no signs of Swanson.

Lincoln County Sheriff Jack Vizecky says searchers in protective gear walked the river Sunday but found no signs of Swanson.

Lyon County officials say Swanson last had cellular phone contact with his father, Brian Swanson, early Wednesday and said his car was in the ditch near Lynd. Swanson had apparently been using a field road and was on his way home to Marshall.

Swanson's car was later found near Taunton. The search has focused on areas of Lyon and Lincoln counties near the Yellow Medicine River. Volunteers have searched on horseback, on foot and on all-terrain vehicles

http://www.startribune.com/local/19064349.html?location_refer=Homepage

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05/19/2008
A Marshall teen vanished nearly a week ago.

It's a bizarre missing person case that has two counties searching from the ground, water and now the air.

Nineteen-year-old Brandon Swanson's parents last heard from him Tuesday night. He called them from his cell phone, told them his car was in the ditch and he was walking along a fence line. But his car wasn't where he told them it was, and no one has seen him since.

Lyon County Sheriff Joel Dahl still has more questions than answers.

"I often ask if we're still searching or if we're in a recovery? And we are still searching," he says.

Still searching for 19-year-old missing person, Brandon Swanson.

"We don't believe this is a case where he ran away," Dahl says.

He didn't likely run away. He seemingly disappeared. The mystery began at 2-am Wednesday morning when Swanson called his parents and told them he drove in the in the ditch near Lynd, just a couple miles south of Marshall. His car was stuck and he needed help

"They searched this area, law enforcement searched this area, and once we were able to trace his cell phone calls..."

It turns out the calls were made nowhere close to Lynd. Searchers found Swanson's car in a ditch near Taunton. That's northwest of Marshall off a highway Swanson traveled all the time.

"He was on the phone with his parents for one time at 45 minutes, explaining to them he was walking," Dahl says.

The best the searchers can do is assume Swanson was walking toward Taunton. So they're searching all nearby streams.

"We've done ground searches, walkers, atvs, horseback, airplanes, today we have the state helicopter up," Dahl says.

Still, 6 days later, no trace of Swanson can be found.

"I wish we could do more. I wish we could give them answers. But I just don't know."

The 19-year-old man has seemingly vanished.

Sheriff Dahl says he's received second-hand and third-hand information that Brandon Swanson was drinking Tuesday night, which could explain why he was confused about where he was. But Dahl says he can't be sure of that.

Monday's search from the air did not turn up anything new.

He was wearing jeans a dress shirt with a black hooded sweatshirt over it. Anyone who may have seen him or has information should call the Lyon County Sheriff.

http://www.keloland.com/News/NewsDetail6371.cfm?Id=0,69685

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Sheriff 'running out of answers' in disappearance of Marshall teen

Last Updated: 5/20/2008
Volunteers continued to search Tuesday for a Marshall teen who hasn't been seen since driving his car in the ditch overnight a week ago.

Lyon County Sheriff Joel Dahl says a cadaver dog from South Dakota will join the search tomorrow for 19-year-old Brandon Swanson. Said Dahl, "There's still that hope he could call his parents and say 'here, I am,'" but authorities now consider that unlikely. "I'm running out of answers," said Dahl.

Investigators have learned Swanson was drinking earlier in the evening on the night he disappeared, but Dahl says there isn't evidence he was impaired.

Swanson's father says his son seemed fine when he called from his cell phone to tell his parents he had driven into the ditch.

Searchers are concentrating their efforts on a branch of the Yellow Medicine River near Taunton, about a quarter mile from where Swanson's car was found.

"We're looking in the water again today," said Stella Swanson, Brandon's Grandmother. "We just hope it doesn't turn out to be foul play, because it just seems like we can't find him."

http://www.kare11.com/news/ts_article.aspx?storyid=511468

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So this young man was out driving , ran his car into a ditch, called his parents , spoke to them for some amount of time, and then suddenly the phone went dead and no more has been found? Oh they did find his car some 1/4 mile from the Yellow Medicine River.
 
It doesn't sound like this fella was doing anymore than trying to get to a specific place. Not running away, not committing any crime though now investigators say he had been drinking. Well, what would make his cell phone go suddenly dead while mid conversation?

If he were hit by a car while walking it is likely the phone would have been thrown and not gone dead. They would probably still get a ping. If someone abducted him would it not have been likely that his father with whom he was speaking,when the phone went dead would have heard someone stop? or Brandon could have given some form of 'heads-up' ? He may not have ......he may just have hung up if someone were stopping to offer him a ride?  Could this be yet another young man to have fallen into a stream and drown after he had been drinking?

I hope they find Brandon soon.

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>>>>>SNIP


It turns out the calls were made nowhere close to Lynd. Searchers found Swanson's car in a ditch near Taunton. That's northwest of Marshall off a highway Swanson traveled all the time.

"He was on the phone with his parents for one time at 45 minutes, explaining to them he was walking," Dahl says.

++++++++++

I am still very puzzled by what might have happened to this young man, and nothing in the news yet today. 

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Family seeks volunteers in search for missing man

 May 23, 2008 - 12:47 PM
MARSHALL, Minn. - The family of a missing Marshall man is organizing another group of volunteers to continue the search for him.

Nineteen-year-old Brandon Swanson has been missing since the morning of May 14 after his car went into the ditch along the Lincoln and Lyon County line near Taunton.

The search has focused on areas near the Yellow Medicine River in parts of Lyon and Lincoln County.

Family member Wanda Scharfe says volunteers should meet at 9 a.m. Saturday in the parking lot of the West End Bar in Taunton.

She says volunteers should wear long pants and long sleeves and bring bug spray and sunscreen. They should be ready to work in different terrains.

Lincoln County Sheriff Jack Vizecky suspects a tragic accident happened. He says if Swanson went into the river, it could take weeks for the body to emerge from the cold water.

http://www.startribune.com/local/19211889.html?location_refer=Homepage

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Search for teen enters second week

 May 23, 2008
Brandon Swanson, 19, of Marshall is still missing after more than a week of a search in an area along the Yellow Medicine River near the border of Lincoln and Lyon counties between Taunton and Porter.

Swanson, a 2007 graduate of Marshall High School and a student at Minnesota West college in Canby, has been missing since the early morning of May 14 after a cellular telephone call with his father Brian Swanson ended abruptly, law enforcement said.

“This is a tragic accident,” Lincoln County Sheriff Jack Vizecky said.

“My heart goes out to the family.”

Vizecky said it’s not unusual for bodies to be submerged in cold water for one to four weeks, based on what he’s been told by medical experts and law enforcement with similar cases.

The water temperature where the river is running fast is about 50 degrees, Vizecky said.

Swanson is 5-foot-6 and weighs about 120 pounds, Vizecky said.

“We will come back with cadaver dogs again,” Vizecky said.

When the dogs return depends on the level of the Yellow Medicine River and weather conditions, Vizecky said.

Searchers need the water levels to decrease, Vizecky said.

“I’m not going to tell you we will go out there everyday and walk it,” Vizecky said. “Will we walk it again, yes. As staff and time dictate we will go out as often as we can...”

Swanson had called his parents at about 1:54 a.m. May 14 and told them his car ran into the ditch near Lynd, law enforcement said. Later that morning, the cellular telephone company was able to trace the phone call to within a five-mile radius of a cell tower near Minneota, law enforcement said. Swanson’s car was found at about 2:30 p.m. May 14 in a ditch along the Lincoln Lyon County line road, Lyon County Sheriff Joel Dahl has said.

Swanson’s family had looked for their son near the Lynd area and contacted the sheriff’s office at about 6:30 a.m. May 14, law enforcement said.

Law enforcement and Swanson’s father, Brian Swanson, has maintained there is no indication Swanson was impaired at the time of the phone calls.

http://www.marshallindependent.com/page/content.detail/id/501962.html?nav=5015

[Bearlyhere]

So this young man was out driving , ran his car into a ditch, called his parents , spoke to them for some amount of time, and then suddenly the phone went dead and no more has been found? Oh they did find his car some 1/4 mile from the Yellow Medicine River.
 
It doesn't sound like this fella was doing anymore than trying to get to a specific place. Not running away, not committing any crime though now investigators say he had been drinking. Well, what would make his cell phone go suddenly dead while mid conversation?

If he were hit by a car while walking it is likely the phone would have been thrown and not gone dead. They would probably still get a ping. If someone abducted him would it not have been likely that his father with whom he was speaking,when the phone went dead would have heard someone stop? or Brandon could have given some form of 'heads-up' ? He may not have ......he may just have hung up if someone were stopping to offer him a ride?  Could this be yet another young man to have fallen into a stream and drown after he had been drinking?

I hope they find Brandon soon.

If it went dead, maybe his cell phone ran out of it's charge(?)

This is strange for sure.  If he fell in the water, wouldn't his father have heard it?

 

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Foundation to help in Swanson search

May 29, 2008
 MARSHALL — Brandon Swanson’s family will use the help of the Jon Francis Foundation of Stillwater in the search for him.

Swanson, 19, a 2007 Lakeview graduate and student at Minnesota West in Canby, has been missing since May 14.

A news release said the Foundation will provide experienced and certified search, and rescue personnel and search dogs to help with local volunteers in the search for Swanson.

Searchers can meet at 7:30 a.m. Saturday at the West End Bar parking lot on Minnesota Highway 68 in Taunton.

The search has been focused on areas near the Yellow Medicine River in Lincoln County, near the Lincoln and Lyon County line road and between Taunton and Porter. Swanson’s car was found in a ditch along the county road line.

The Foundation is privately funded and will provide a professionally trained search manager, the release said. The Foundation will work with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department, the release said.

Swanson has not been heard from since he abruptly lost cell phone contact with his father Brian Swanson of Marshall early in the morning on May 14, law enforcement said. Swanson had called to say his car was in a ditch, law enforcement said.

The Foundation was organized by David and Linda Francis after their son Jon disappeared in the Sawtooth Mountains a few years ago.

http://www.marshallindependent.com/page/content.detail/id/502135.html?nav=5015

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http://www.marshallindependent.com/page/content.detail/id/502224.html?nav=5015

Volunteers sought for Swanson search
By Rae Kruger POSTED: June 3, 2008
   

More help is needed, says the man who is putting together the privately-organized search for 19-year-old Brandon Swanson of Marshall.

“If we could get 100 volunteers we could get this thing wrapped up,” Gary Peterson said.

Peterson would like more volunteers to gather at 8 a.m. Saturday on a farm near the search site.

Swanson has been missing since May 14 after he abruptly lost cell phone contact with his father.

The search the past three weeks has been in an areas in Lyon and Lincoln counties between Taunton and Porter, near Minnesota Highway 68 and the Yellow Medicine River and near the Lincoln and Lyon County road line.

Peterson is a private investigator working with Swanson’s parents, Brian and Annette Swanson, and the Jon Francis Foundation, a group that provides a search manager, trained search and rescue volunteers and other services to help families search for missing relatives.

Peterson is the search manager for the family and the Foundation.

Peterson said the search this coming weekend will focus on an area “just north of Taunton.” More of a straight line from Swanson’s car to Taunton and the light at the top of the elevator in Taunton in Lyon County, Peterson said.

“I know he’s out there,” Peterson said. “Nothing else tell me he is any place else. One thing we realize is we think that he is in the water.”

Peterson, who has worked on other missing persons incidents before, said “three weeks is a lifetime to a lot of people, including the family.”

But, “you could search the river every hour for 10 days and never see anything,” Peterson said.

It’s also not unusual for searchers to walk and area that’s already been covered and find the missing person, Peterson said.

“I’ve had this happen before where we will find the person and everyone will look at each other and say, ‘I walked 10 feet away and didn’t see him,’” Peterson said.

Searchers organized by the Foundation and Peterson were out this past weekend and found no trace of Swanson.

Lincoln County Sheriff Jack Vizecky said two search and rescue dogs used by his office found no sign of Swanson this past weekend.

Peterson said he tells families and volunteers to not get discouraged as the search continues. “It’s a process of elimination to find out where he’s at,” Peterson said.

“He’s out there some place, we know he is,” Peterson said.

Volunteers who want to participate Saturday should go to the first intersection past the intersection of Highway 68 and the Lyon-Lincoln County line. Take a right off Highway 68 and travel about one-and-a-half miles on a gravel road and the farm site will be on the left with a long driveway.

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Search Continues For Missing Marshall Teen

06/07/2008
Emergency personnel, family friends, even strangers gathered this morning in the little town of Taunton, Minnesota to help search for Brandon Swanson.

Nancy Boogaard says, "We hear bits and pieces of what's going on and you just wanna help out."

Brandon's dad was the last person to speak with him on his cell phone the night he disappeared.

Gary Peterson says, "He and his father had a good conversation for that 45 minutes, trying to locate each other."

And that conversation may be the biggest clue to finding him.

"I think what he heard was a disconnect and he said that he kinda likened the sound of slipping or something," Peterson said.

Because of that, volunteers focused their search efforts on the river areas and drainage ditches, trying to see if there was any sign of Brandon out there.

"Anything...a cap, baseball cap, jacket, piece of jewelry, wallet, key, anything that would identify him," explained Peterson.

One problem is that Brandon was confused about where he was while talking to his dad on the phone. Searchers have been out several times in the last month, and still haven't found a trace of evidence.

The volunteers may not find Brandon alive, but they say it's necessary to keep looking.

Sharon Root says, "because it matters and for another thing, I know Brandon and his family and his sister and it's a hard situation for them and I want to do what I can do for them, this is something you pray to God you never have to go through."

They're still searching for closure.

http://www.keloland.com/News/NewsDetail6371.cfm?Id=0,70462

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Private Brandon Swanson search suspended

June 9, 2008
MARSHALL — The search for Brandon Swanson, 19, of Marshall will suspend for about 10 days, search organizer Gary Peterson said Sunday evening.

Peterson said organizers involved in the privately funded search which started about two weeks ago want time to re-assess the progress of the search. The organizers will not conduct a search this weekend, Peterson said.

Swanson has been missing since May 14. He has not been heard from since he abruptly lost cell phone contact with his parents in the early morning of May 14. Swanson’s car had went into a ditch along the Lincoln and Lyon County line road near Taunton. The search has included fields and wooded areas near the Yellow Medicine River in Lincoln and Lyon Counties.

About 100 volunteers searched for Swanson Saturday and a smaller group searched Sunday and no physical evidence of Swanson was found, Peterson said.

The Jon Francis Foundation of Stillwater, a privately funded organization that helps families of missing persons conduct searches, is working with Swanson’s parents Brian and Annette Swanson of Marshall.

The searches conducted by law enforcement and the private organizers have included search and rescue dogs, boats on the river, rescue personnel in the river, ground walkers, horses, all-terrain vehicles, cadaver dogs,planes and other aviation equipment.

http://www.marshallindependent.com/page/content.detail/id/502391.html

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June 15, 2008 Sunday 
 
Two fathers search: David Francis and Brian Swanson have a shared mission: finding Swanson's missing teenage son. Francis is at Swanson's side, having lost his own son and now aiding families in searches.
 
Jun. 15--David Francis and Brian Swanson are separated by 181 miles and 20 years but connected by heartache no father should have to bear. Each has searched for a lost son.

Francis, who lives in Stillwater, spent more than a year looking for his son, Jon, who disappeared while climbing in Idaho's Sawtooth Mountains in 2006.

Now Francis is helping Swanson, of Marshall, Minn., find his son.

Nineteen-year-old Brandon Swanson was returning home May 14 after a party in Canby, Minn., when his car went into a ditch on a gravel road. He called home at 1:54 a.m. and asked his parents to pick him up near Lynd. He said he would walk toward town.

As Brian and Annette Swanson drove toward Lynd, Brian talked to Brandon on his cell phone.

"I talked to him for 47 minutes, and all of a sudden, he said, 'Oh, s---!' and the phone went dead," Brian Swanson said.

It was 3:10 a.m.

"We haven't been able to get in contact with him since," he said.

The Swansons kept calling but got his voice mail. About 6:30 a.m., they called the sheriff's office and reported their son missing.

They've been searching ever since.

David Francis is convinced Brandon will be found.

"We'll find him. We'll find Brandon," he said. "But it's harder than we thought it would be. ... The ground teams have not found a single clue. We have no article of clothing, have no footprints, have no clear idea which direction he was traveling."

David Francis said he is focusing

on the moment that Brandon's phone cut off.

"I'm looking for the 'Oh, s---!' spot," he said. "Where in his walk he might have slipped into the river, an abandoned cistern or a trench. I'm looking for the spot where we believe we had a mishap."

ADVICE, COMFORT

David Francis and his wife, Linda, joined the search for Brandon around Memorial Day. A volunteer who had helped them search for Jon was helping the Swansons, too, and he put the families in touch with each other. After Jon disappeared in July 2006, the Francis family launched the Jon Francis Foundation, which is dedicated to getting information and advice to families searching for people missing in the wild.

David Francis, 64, is a former Navy captain and retired businessman who ran unsuccessfully for the Minnesota Senate in 2006. To help in the search for Jon, he raised money, took search-and-rescue classes, bought equipment and learned to climb. Two mountain guides found Jon's body in July 2007 on Grand Mogul Mountain, about 1,500 feet below the summit Jon had climbed.

The Francises have visited the Swansons three times and regularly communicate with the couple and offer advice. They made the trip to southwestern Minnesota again last weekend and helped organize a massive search that included 114 volunteers.

The official search for Brandon was called off six days after he disappeared. The Francises helped make "Missing" posters and suggested ways to organize food and water for volunteers and to raise money for the "Search for Brandon Swanson" fund. They also put the Swansons in touch with canine search teams and a professionally trained search manager, Gary Peterson, who is leading the search for Brandon.

When David Francis spotted Brian Swanson writing checks at the search headquarters last weekend, he said: "Brian, you've got to get a treasurer."

David Francis' organizational and search-and-rescue skills have been invaluable, Brian Swanson said, and Linda Francis has been a comforting presence.

"They've been very supportive. They talked with us, they listened to us," Brian Swanson said. "Emotionally, that has really helped. Coming from somebody who has gone through this terrible situation. I hope nobody else ever has to go through this -- I wish it would never happen again to anybody. It's just so painful."

Annette Swanson said she immediately felt better after talking to Linda Francis for the first time.

"When you're thrown into this -- and you're literally just thrown into this -- there's not a lot of people, especially in our rural area, who can comprehend what this is and how difficult it is," she said. "To be able to connect with Linda was such a comfort. Unfortunately, she's been through it, but that enabled her to offer words of advice, words of comfort and just be there."

Linda Francis said both women cried during their first phone conversation. "I said, 'This is crummy. Nobody should have to go through this, but here we are,' " Francis said. "I just validated what she was feeling -- been there, done that. It's just important to show up. That's the important part. Just to show up, and hold her hand, and give her a hug."

'BE SAFE'

Annette Swanson said her greatest fear is that people will forget her son.

"I want people to remember Brandon," she said. "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, his mother said, and is big-hearted and kind and really believed in doing the right thing.

Brandon graduated from Marshall High School in 2007 and spent the past school year studying wind energy at Minnesota West Community College in Canby. He planned to transfer this fall to Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and major in science.

On May 13, Brandon went to Lynd to visit friends and then drove to Canby to say goodbye to another friend from school. He was wearing baggy jeans, a blue-striped polo shirt, a black hooded sweat shirt, a white Twins baseball cap, wire-rimmed glasses and a silver necklace.

Brian Swanson, 44, was taking a class in St. Cloud on May 13, so only Annette was home when Brandon popped in to say goodbye. The couple also has a daughter, Jamine, 17, who just graduated from Marshall High School.

"I said the things I normally say to him," Annette said. " 'See you later.

" 'Be safe.' "

TRAGIC ACCIDENT LIKELY

Saturday marked the one-month anniversary of Brandon's disappearance.

When Brandon called his parents May 14, he said he had crashed his green Chevy Lumina outside Lynd, a small town southwest of Marshall. As the Swansons drove toward Lynd, and Brian and Brandon talked by cell phone, Brandon said he was getting impatient and would meet them in Lynd. He talked about walking on a gravel road, taking a shortcut through a field and hearing water running.

After tracing Brandon's last cell phone call to a cell phone tower in Minneota, officials found Brandon's car about 2:30 p.m. near Taunton, about 30 miles from Lynd.

Since then, hundreds of volunteers have searched for Brandon, using cadaver dogs, horses, boats and ultralight aircraft. For the most part, the search has concentrated on areas in and around the Yellow Medicine River.

Since Brandon's car was found near the Lincoln-Lyon county line, law enforcement officials from both counties were involved in the search. Officials say there is no evidence of foul play or that Brandon staged his own disappearance.

"If I had to lay any money down, I'd say we're missing him somewhere in the water," said Lyon County Sheriff Joel Dahl. "He's in an eddy somewhere, being held down by a log. He's got to be here. Everything is consistent that he was walking and something happened to him."

Lincoln County Sheriff Jack Vizecky said Brandon was likely the victim of a tragic accident. If Brandon, who was 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighed about 125 pounds, went into the Yellow Medicine River, it could take weeks for the body to emerge from the cold water, he said.

"I would say every day that goes by, hope is extremely diminished," Vizecky said. "I would like to bring some closure to the family."

Vizecky said the Jon Francis Foundation's involvement in the search has been helpful. "It's certainly given us the ability to look longer," he said. "We've had more eyes and ears since we had to formally stop this. We want to find Brandon, and that's the whole thing."

"I just keep thinking he's got to be out there somewhere," Annette Swanson said. "We want to bring him home."

"We're going to keep looking," said Brian Swanson. "That's all we can do until we find him. There's no way I could stop until I know where he is. Either way it ends, it's closure."

LIGHT LEFT ON FOR HIM

Brian Swanson said no large organized search would be held this weekend, the first without one since Brian's disappearance. He, however, will be out looking.

It is Father's Day, after all, and he wants to be with his son.

"It is awful," he said. "Every day has been awful, to be honest with you.

"But we're going to find him eventually, and hopefully, he'll be OK. Maybe somebody's found him, and they're taking care of him, and they don't know he's missing."

But after more than a month, reality is setting in.

"If he's no longer with us, which, unfortunately, is the most likely scenario, that hurts," Brian Swanson. He said he gets some comfort from knowing that Brandon "really enjoyed the life that he lived."

Annette Swanson said she clings to a thread of hope that Brandon is alive.

"I do still hope," she said. "There are times when I think maybe I don't, and then, all of a sudden, somebody says something, and I'll think, 'But he could still be out there.' Sometimes I surprise myself with it."

But she has stopped searching.

"I just can't be the one who should come across him," she said. "That's not how I want to remember him."

Annette Swanson has gone back to work at Southwestern Center for Independent Living in Marshall. Brian, who previously worked in construction, is studying to be an insurance salesman.

Jamine's high-school graduation party, originally scheduled for the end of May, will be held next month.

"We're very proud of her, of course, and Brandon, if he were here, he would be, too," Annette Swanson said. "We felt that her reception should be a time of celebration for her, for her achievements. We're hoping that in (mid-July) that that's what it can be -- a celebration for her."

In the meantime, the Swansons will leave the porch light on for their son. It's been burning since May 14.

"That morning when we left, we turned the porch light on for him," Annette Swanson said. "Well, we haven't turned it off since. We're leaving it on till he comes home."

The Swansons hope other families in Marshall will do the same.

"We want to continue to remind people that he's still missing and that we're working so hard to bring him home," she said.

"Turn your porch lights on for him and light his way."

One hundred and eighty-one miles away in Stillwater, David and Linda Francis have an automatic porch light that comes on when the sun goes down. So no, Linda said, they have not turned on a porch light for Brandon.

"We wait and sit on the same bench together," she said.
http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=574&topicId=100020825&docId=l:807446559&start=7

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Texas search team to look for missing Marshall man

MARSHALL, Minn. -- A search and recovery team from Texas is headed to Minnesota to help in the search for a missing Marshall man.

Lincoln County Sheriff Jack Vizecky says the team from TexasEquSearch will bring a remote control aircraft, underwater sonar detection and other equipment to the Taunton area to help in the search for 19-year-old Brandon Swanson.

Swanson disappeared after telling his parents over cell phone that his car had gone into a ditch near Lynd south of Marshall. Swanson is a 2007 graduate of Marshall High School and had graduated from Minnesota West college in Canby.

Hundreds of volunteers have helped to search for Swanson. They fear he may have fallen into a branch of the yellow medicine river. Just in case, they put up fencing to try to catch a body if one comes flowing down river in May.

A cadaver dog was even brought in from South Dakota but there are still no signs of Swanson.

http://www.kare11.com/news/news_arti...storyid=515967

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Wooo Hooo Tim and Team you are heroes!!!

[Bearlyhere]

From the 6/21-22 Search

The search for any clues in the disappearance of Brandon continued this past weekend. The search was concentrated in two efforts; one being a search near Porter with K-9 Units from Minneapolis and another from Brookings, SD which worked the area just west of Taunton along highway 68 and to the North. This will be the area we will explore in greater length when we begin another search next weekend. Over 40 volunteers were there this weekend to put in maximum effort into finding Brandon. We are hopeful that we will find some trace of Brandon in everyone's efforts.

http://www.thesearchforbrandon.blogspot.com/

 

[Bearlyhere]

Wooo Hooo Tim and Team you are heroes!!!

BB

You got that right.  They are Superheroes in my book.

 

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Father Of Missing Teen Speaks

Jun 28, 2008 at 6:19 PM CDT
Search teams have renewed efforts to find a missing teen from Marshall, MN today.

19-year-old Brandon Swanson has been missing for more than six weeks. Now crews are expanding two-mile radius they had been concentrating on. Volunteers are focusing on the Yellow Medicine River near Taunton, MN.

KSFY spoke to Brandon's father about the latest search efforts and on tonight's KSFY Live At 10:00, we will have a full report on why he's asking for more help.

Video Clip/ Article:

http://www.ksfy.com/news/local/22491679.html

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Fathers come together, search for missing Marshall teen

07/03/2008 03:27:33 PM
MARSHALL, Minn. (AP) - David Francis and Brian Swanson are separated by 181 miles and 20 years but they share heartache. Each father has searched for a lost son.

Francis lives in Stillwater. He spent more than a year looking for his son, Jon, who disappeared while climbing in Idaho's Sawtooth Mountains in 2006.

Now Francis is helping Swanson find his son.

Nineteen-year-old Brandon Swanson was returning to his Marshall home May 14th after a party in Canby when his car went into a ditch on a gravel road. He called home at 1:54 a.m. and asked his parents to pick him up near Lynd.

Brian talked to Brandon on his cell phone and says that all of a sudden, his son swore and then the phone went dead.

David Francis is convinced Brandon will be found. He says he's looking for the moment when the phone cut off. He says there might have been a mishap at that spot.

There was no large search organized for this weekend.

But Brian Swanson says he's out there looking. It's Father's Day -- and he wants to be with his son.

http://ksax.com/article/stories/S499413.shtml?cat=10230

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Missing Marshall Man Presumed Drowned

Thursday, 03 Jul 2008, 11:01 AM CDT
MARSHALL -- A Marshall, Minn. teen, who has been missing since May 14, is presumed drowned. The Lincoln County sheriff speculates that he died accidentally in the Yellow Medicine River.

After 2 and a half months of searching, Sheriff Jack Vizecky says he's convinced that 19-year-old Brandon Swanson's body is in the river somewhere. Foul play is not suspected.


Swanson's car went into the ditch along the Lincoln and Lyon County line near Taunton last May. His last contact with his family was a phone call that ended abruptly.

Ever since, volunteers and law enforcement officers have been searching nearly every weekend for the teen. Not a trace of him has been found.

Vizecky says there is no evidence to suggest Swanson is alive.

A decision has not yet been made on whether the county will continue the search.

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