May 14, 2008. Marshall, Minnesota. The parents of 19-year old Brandon Swanson receive a late-night phone call from their son, who claims that his car has become stuck in a ditch in the middle of nowhere. The Swansons leave to go pick Brandon up, but have trouble finding him. At one point, Brandon’s father hears him shout a swear word over the phone before the call abruptly cuts off, and there is no answer to repeated attempts to phone him back. Even though his abandoned car is eventually found on a rural road, Brandon himself is never heard from again. What happened to Brandon Swanson, and what could have prompted his final reaction during his final phone call? In our latest Halloween-themed extended minisode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we tackle one of the scariest, most baffling missing persons cases of the past decade. Special thanks to Joe from Thinking Sideways Podcast for popping in to share a theory. Be sure to check out their episode about this case.

Additional Reading:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Brandon_Swanson

http://charleyproject.org/case/brandon-victor-swanson

https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/User:Jeff_Hasse/Missing_Person_Case_Study_–_Brandon_Swanson

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/01/18/grace.coldcase.swanson/index.html

The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.

All music is composed by Vince Nitro.