• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
19-year-old drove his car into a ditch on his way home from a party and was never seen or heard from again

Home> Community

Published 17:37 1 Sep 2024 GMT+1

19-year-old drove his car into a ditch on his way home from a party and was never seen or heard from again

Brandon Swanson vanished during a phone call with his parents

Brenna Cooper

Brenna Cooper

Here are the chilling final words a teenager in the US told his parents before disappearing.

On 14 May 2008, 19-year-old student Brandon Swanson had been travelling home to his parents house in Minnesota after celebrating the end of his spring semester at a local college with a group of friends.

Instead of staying over at a friend's house, Swanson decided to make the journey back to his parent's home in the town of Marshall, southwest of state capital Minneapolis, in the early hours of the morning.

Swanson knew the route well as he regularly used it to commute to and from college, however this time he would not return home.

Advert

Brandon was just 19 years old when he disappeared (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children)
Brandon was just 19 years old when he disappeared (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children)

Just before 2.00am on 14 May, Swanson phoned his parents up to inform them he had driven his car into a ditch and could not get it back out. He added that he was uninjured but requested his parents come and pick him up.

After failing to locate their son at the location he'd given them, Swanson made the decision to walk towards lights, which he believed to be from a nearby town, and told his parents to meet him there.

Swanson had set off walking while remaining on the phone to his parents, however he would chillingly exclaim the words 'oh s**t' before the line went quiet.

The Swanson's would never hear from their son again.

Advert

Terrified, the teenager's parents and friends searched throughout the night while also attempting to ring his phone - with no luck. Swanson's mother, Annette, reported him missing to police in the nearby town of Lynd the next morning.

A missing poster for Brandon Swanson (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children)
A missing poster for Brandon Swanson (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children)

After authorities finally begun their search for Swanson they would discover the teen wasn't in his originally assumed location of Lynd, but actually 25 miles (40 km) away in a different direction. After tracking his location through nearby cellphone towers, police were able to locate the student's car stuck in a ditch. No personal items or the car's keys were recovered.

Searches with sniffer dogs later lead police towards the Yellow Medicine River, however they lost the scent.

Authorities theorise that Swanson may have fallen into the river, however no trace of the teenager - or any of his physical belongings - have ever been found, leaving the case unsolved to this day.

Advert

Searchers were unable to locate Brandon or any of his belongings (Marshall Independent/Public Domain)
Searchers were unable to locate Brandon or any of his belongings (Marshall Independent/Public Domain)

The initial response to her son's disappearance later saw Annette successfully campaign for the introduction of 'Brandon's Law' in the state, which requires police investigations into the case of a missing adult to begin as soon as it's reported.

Explaining her decision to push for the change, Annette explained that she had been motivated by the police reaction to her son's disappearance, saying: "I'm his mother and I knew something was horribly wrong."

Featured Image Credit: National Center for Missing and Exploited Children/Marshall Independent/Public Domain

Topics: US News

Brenna Cooper
Brenna Cooper

Brenna Cooper is a journalist at LADbible. She graduated from the University of Sheffield with a degree in History, followed by an NCTJ accredited masters in Journalism. She began her career as a freelance writer for Digital Spy, where she wrote about all things TV, film and showbiz. Her favourite topics to cover are music, travel and any bizarre pop culture.

X

@_brencoco

Advert

Advert

Advert

  • Why Stephen King book will never be printed again and was pulled from all shelves
  • Tragic way man was found after his body was stuck behind a supermarket fridge for 10 years
  • Teenager out on hike sent mysterious photo of 'shadow man' to family and was never seen again
  • Man who didn't look at a screen for two weeks explains shocking way it changed his life

Choose your content:

2 hours ago
a day ago
2 days ago
  • 2 hours ago

    Daughter of former secret service agent shares all common daily acts he told her never to do to keep safe

    We're all guilty of at least one of these everyday acts

    Community
  • a day ago

    Nurse who's witnessed 'so many deaths' explains spine-chilling moment she realised 'what happens after we die'

    Julie McFadden said the experience makes her 'want to cry' every time she talks about it, 'because it was so beautiful'

    Community
  • 2 days ago

    Therapist says one question will ‘test your relationship’ but it is ‘making people cry’

    Professional counsellor Jeff Guenther has revealed what questions you should ask if you want to 'test your relationship'

    Community
  • 2 days ago

    Car expert explains what 'new car smell' actually is and why you can't recreate it

    There's a harrowing explanation behind the satisfying scent

    Community