Money Crimes with Nicole Lapin - Brandon Swanson: The 47-Minute Call

Episode Date: October 13, 2026

In May 2008, 19-year-old Brandon Swanson called his parents to say his car had slid off the road and he needed a ride. He swore he knew exactly where he was. But when his parents' flashing headlights never found him, Brandon started walking toward town, his father still on the line, until he yelled two words and went silent. What began as a routine favor became one of Minnesota's most confounding disappearances: an officer who said Brandon had a "right to be missing," his car found twenty-five miles from where he swore he was, and almost two hours of his final night that no one has ever explained.For part 2, follow The Final Hours wherever you listen to podcasts: https://pod.link/1872821250If you’re new here, don’t forget to follow Scams, Money, & Murder to never miss a case! To hear episodes ad-free, subscribe to Crime House+. Join at crimehouseplus.com or if you’re listening on Apple Podcasts, tap “Try Free” at the top of this show’s page. Scams, Money, & Murder is a Crime House Original Podcast, powered by PAVE Studios.🎧 Need More to Binge? Listen to other Crime House Originals Clues, Crimes Of Reddit, Crime House 24/7, Serial Killers & Murderous Minds, Murder True Crime Stories, and more wherever you get your podcasts!Follow me on SocialInstagram: @CrimehouseTikTok: @CrimehouseFacebook: @crimehousestudiosX: @crimehousemediaYouTube: @crimehousestudios

Hi, everyone. Before today's episode, there's another show I want to tell you about. It's called What the Fact with Connor Tomlinson from Netflix's Love on the Spectrum and Carter Roy. Every week, they take three unbelievable true facts from history and tell you the full story behind them. Plus, Conner's infectious energy that'll make you realize history is the most fascinating thing on earth. Follow What The Fact wherever you listen or subscribe on YouTube at What The Fact Pod. It's the middle of the night on May 14, 2008. Brian and Annette Swanson are driving down a gravel road in southwestern Minnesota. A cell phone is pressed Brian's ear. Their 19-year-old son Brandon is on the other end of the line. He'd called about an hour earlier. His car had slid off the road and was stuck in the mud. He wasn't hurt.

Just stranded. He needed a ride. He told them he was near Lind, a town roughly 10 minutes from home. He was certain he was on a road he'd driven a hundred times. But his parents drove up and down that road that night, and there's no car. There's no Brandon. There's nothing. So now Annette tells Brandon they're going to flash their headlights.

Brandon says he'll do the same. Through the phone, Annette hears the click, click, click, her son's headlights switching on and off. He asks if they can see him. They can't. So they keep driving. Eventually, Brandon tells his parents he's going to walk towards some lights he can see in the distance. He's pretty sure it's downtown Linde. He'll meet them in the parking lot of a popular bar there.

He sets off through the dark fields. His father is still on the line. Then, suddenly, Brian hears Brandon say, quote, Oh, shit. After that, the line goes silent. He has no idea those were the last two words anyone would ever hear, Brandon say. Every year, over half a million people go missing,

and that's just in the United States alone. Most of those stories barely get a headline. Some don't even get a flyer or a tip line. And when cases do get media attention, we usually only get the broad strokes. But for those of us who have lived these true crime cases, we know the devil's in the details. This is the final hours.

A crime house original powered by PAVE Studios. I'm Sarah Turney. And I'm Courtney Nicole. Every Monday and Wednesday, Sarah and I will be looking at the final hours of someone's disappearance, the small, seemingly mundane moments to see if there was anything hiding in plain sight. plain sight. Looking back at those last conversations, connections, and choices is critical.

And it could be the key to unlocking it all. Each episode all offer insight on what those close to the victim might have been going through. And Courtney will use her expertise to give more context into the crime scene, the red flags, and the investigation itself. Crimehouse exists because of listeners like you. Want even more? Join Crimehouse Plus and get both parts of every story dropped on the Saturday before Part 1 even airs, plus crimehouse bonus episodes every month. To join, go to CrimehousePlus.com, or if you listen on Apple Podcast,

tap try free at the top of the final hour show page. As always, this show is made and recorded by humans, not AI. This is our first of two episodes on the disappearance of Brandon Swanson. In May 2008, 19-year-old Brandon spent a night celebrating the end of his first year at Minnesota West Community College. Just after midnight, he started the drive home, a route he knew by heart. Somewhere along the way, his car slid off the road and he called his parents for a ride.

But when they went to get him, Brandon wasn't there. 18 years later, they still don't know where he is. Hey, Ontario, come on down to BetmGM Casino and see what our newest exclusive the Price's Right Fortune Pick has to offer. Don't miss out. Play exciting casino games based on the iconic game show, only at BetmGM. Check out how we've reimagined three of the show's iconic games,

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Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connects Ontario at 1866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor, free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. The case of Brandon Swanson forces us to consider how fragile our sense of place really is. Brandon disappeared in his own backyard. On quiet country roads, he'd been driving his whole life. Between small towns where everybody knew everybody,

he wasn't a stranger passing through. He wasn't lost either. At least not as far as he knew. He was sure of exactly where he was, sure enough to tell his parents where to come get him. And still, he was wrong. That misplaced certainty is exactly what makes this case so haunting. But before we get into everything we don't know about that night,

let's start with what we do know. It's May 2008, a 19-year-old Brandon Swanson is living with his family in Marshall, Minnesota. It's a small town of about 13,000 people. Located in the flat, wide-open farmland of the state's southwest corner, Brandon has lived in Marshall his entire life. He was born on January 30, 1989, to Brian and Annette Swanson. A couple years later, his younger sister, Jameen was born. Brandon was a sweet, sensitive kid, and devoted big brother.

Honestly, the Swanson family as a whole was pretty close. Brandon was a die-hard Minnesota Twins fan, a music lover, and an avid reader. He was also legally blind in his left eye. He wore glasses and could still see generally, but his depth perception was affected. Still, it didn't stop him from getting his driver's license. In fact, when he wasn't in school, you could find him cruising around in his green Chevrolet Lumina or working at the local grocery store to earn gas money for it. In his friend group, Brandon was known as the responsible one.

Stable, mature, not a risk taker. He was also known for being really smart. He loved to learn, and not just inside the classroom either. Nobody wanted to get in a debate with Brandon. They were pretty sure they'd lose. Growing up, Brandon watched wind turbine farms pop up all over southwestern Minnesota. Most people saw scenery, maybe an eyesore. But Brandon saw a future.

He became super interested in renewable energy. So when he graduated from Marshall High School in 2007, 18-year-old Brandon enrolled in the Wind Turbine Technology Program at Minnesota West Community and Technical College. Minnesota West is located in Canby, which is only about 30 miles away from Marshall. So Brandon planned to live at home and save up some money during his freshman year. Then he transferred to Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs, Iowa,

a school over 250 miles away from home, Ultimately, he wanted to earn a four-year degree and start a career in environmental science. By the spring of 2008, Brandon's plan seemed to be going smoothly. He had just finished his first year at Minnesota West, and he was set to move to Iowa in August. On May 13th, 19-year-old Brandon finishes his last day of classes. He and his classmates are ready to celebrate the end of the semester. But before the fun can start, Brandon has some driving to do. He heads from campus and Canby back to his home in Marshall, presumably to get

ready for the night. That evening, he says goodbye to his mom Annette, hops in his Chevy, and heads out. His first stop is in Linde, a town about seven miles away, where he attends a small gathering at a friend's house. There are about five to six people there. It's intimate. Brandon hangs out for a while, then starts the 30-mile drive back to his campus in Canby. There, he stops at a goodbye party for a classmate who was moving away. And then, around midnight or shortly thereafter, he leaves headed for home. Okay, so we do need to be clear. Yes, there was alcohol at these parties, and no, we aren't sure how much Brandon had. Reports vary, though. Some say he had a few drinks throughout the night. Others say he had only one. One source said he didn't drink at all. But while

there may be different accounts of how much Brandon drink, every witness agrees. He never appeared drunk, not even tipsy. As we've mentioned, he was known for being responsible. So no one was worried when he started his late night drive home. I think anytime drugs or alcohol might be involved in a disappearance, people tend to tune out, like even, honestly, sometimes even investigators. In Brandon's case, he was super young and he may have been drinking at a party, but I don't think that should change the urgency or sympathy surrounding what's about to happen. Yeah, I agree, right? Like, I think everybody agrees. It's never okay to drink and drive. But also, we don't need to victim blame here. Or somebody who's been drinking and then goes missing doesn't mean that they shouldn't be looked for.

Yeah, you definitely said it best because once we start focusing on what like a missing person drank or did that night, it can quickly venture into like that victim blaming territory. And I don't love that. Yeah, I mean, somebody who's drinking, right, that does change the equation in some ways, at least it can depending on the case, right? But at the end of the day, I don't think it matters that much, to be honest. I think that we still need to look for these people. And like you said, with the same amount of urgency, like whether or not they had a few drinks, they were tipsy, and they, you know, fell into a bush or something. And that's why they're missing versus being met with foul play. I don't really care. It needs to be investigated either way. Either way. Because, you know, let's say, for example, if this wasn't branded, it was a completely, like, different scenario. And somebody really was, like, heavily intoxicated. And they drove, wouldn't you want to find them right away. So they don't injure another person or, like, if they end up missing, like, you would want to find them right away because they could

be gravely injured. So, yeah, like you said, either way, I don't really think it matters what they were doing. Like, they still deserve that attention. Yeah, I think it's just something we do in true crime that I wish we could kind of stop. Because, again, I think it's important to, like, lay out the details of the night before somebody goes missing. That's super, super important. But when it comes to, like, police response, let's just have the same energy no matter what's going on. Regardless of whether Brandon did or did not drink that night, one thing is for certain. When he pulls away from that party,

he has about 30 miles of dark, familiar road between him and his own bed. A straight shot he's driven more times than he can count. Even so, Brandon Swanson will never make it home. Hi, I'm Connor Tomlinson. You might know me from Love on the Spectrum. History is my thing and I have been waiting my heart. whole life for a show like this one. And I'm Carter Roy, and this is What the Fact?

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It is the wildest stuff. is real, and the real stuff is wilder than you think. New episodes every Wednesday, follow What the Fact on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or subscribe on YouTube at What The Fact Pod. A woman once survived a fall for more than two miles up because she crashed landed on a nest of furious fire ants. A 13th century pope once condemned black cats as these servants of Satan. A lumberjack once survived near decapitation by his own chainsaw.

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Follow the unbelievable on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you listen to podcasts. It's just after midnight on May 14, 2008. And 19-year-old Brandon Swanson is driving home from an end of the semester party in Canby, Minnesota. He's headed for his family's house in Marshall about 30 miles away. His drive is a straight shot down Highway 68. It's a familiar route, one he's driven more times than he remembers. But for reasons that have never been explained, Brandon doesn't stay on 68 that night. Somewhere along the way, he leaves the paved highway for the gravel roads that run between the farm fields.

What are your thoughts on him getting off of the highway, which he knows like the back of his hand? I'm team like anything could happen here. I don't think we have enough information to really do anything but speculate. I know. And this aspect, like, about this case has, it just goes wild online. Like, I've just seen it talked about so much, like, why he decided to get off the highway and go down this back road. But I think it does go back to the party that he was at. And like, some reports say he was drinking. If he was or wasn't, we don't know. But if he was, playing devil's advocate, I mean, even if it was just one drink since we know that he was responsible, maybe he was pulling off the highway to go down like a back road to lessen his chances of potentially getting pulled over. That is like the number one theory that I always see online when people discuss this case. And I could see that being the possibility. But I mean, obviously we have no idea what was going on his head. It could have been like a wrong turn, but I don't see that being a good possibility

because he did know that route so well. I don't know why he would have done that, but tiny split-second decisions, they can completely change the course of a night. And I don't know, when I think about stuff like this, it just kind of like, it's like every horror movie where someone decides to take a shortcut, and then somehow, like, it never goes to plan.

And honestly, I think that is what happened here. Yeah, I mean, I get it. And I understand why it's the top theory in this case. But I have to wonder if maybe he went that way because he wanted to like stop by and see somebody while he was in town. My mind just explodes with possibilities. You know me. I'm like everything's possible.

And I feel like that's true for this case in particular. Regardless of why it happened, things go wrong pretty quickly on this little detour. There he steers onto something called a field approach, which is basically a dirt driveway leading to a farm field. This particular field approach is on an incline, and Brandon's car gets stuck on it. His front tires are spinning in the air.

The rear tires are digging into the mud. Unable to move in any direction, Brandon realizes he needs help. So he does what most teenagers would do. He calls his parents. And he's probably not excited about it. But he doesn't really have another option right now. The easiest thing is to have them come pick him up, and they can tow his car out in the morning.

So Brandon makes the dreaded phone call. When Brian and Annette pick up, He tells them he thinks he's about 10 minutes away from home. He believes he's just outside the small town of Linde, which is roughly 7 miles southwest of them. Brian and Annette know exactly where Brandon's describing, so they hop in their pickup and head out. They stay on the phone with him as they drive down the pitch dark country roads,

but when they get to the spot Brandon says he got stuck, he's not there. Neither is his car. After some confused back and forth between the three of them, Annette has an idea. She tells Brandon they're going to flash their headlights at him. Maybe he's slightly further off the road than he said, and they just can't see him out there in the pitch black.

Brandon says he'll do the same. Through the phone, Annette can hear the clicking of Brandon's headlights turning on and off. Brandon says he can hear his parents too, but none of them can see anything. It's pretty obvious that they must be in two totally different places. Everyone is frustrated to say the least. It's the middle of the night. what was supposed to be a quick trip has turned into a whole ordeal,

and they don't seem any closer to finding each other. This is like another big aspect in this case. Like how, I don't know, I see people online talking about, you know, how could he have possibly gotten lost in an area that he knows like the back of his hand. But me, like, I'm just trying to put myself in his shoes. Like, anything can happen. And like, me specifically, like, I don't love driving, first of all. And so, like, I don't really get out of the house much if I do my husband drives.

So when I have to drive on my own, like, I will always use GPS, even if I'm just going somewhere, like, in my own city. So all I'm here to say is things happen. No, I feel the same way. Born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, and I use maps pretty much everywhere I go. So I totally get it. I think it's really easy to get lost, especially in the dark. And there was one thing that I thought of. You know, I know that, you know, especially sometimes out in these more rural areas, people use landmarks, right, to turn or to stop, whatever it is. And I have to wonder if maybe one of those landmarks was like unexpectedly removed. Like maybe a tree or a mailbox or a stop sign was gone and he missed a turn. I don't know. It's just a

theory. No, that I haven't heard that before. That makes total sense. That could be what happened. And I also want to bring up the fact that, I mean, like you said, this was very remote. It's like these remote country roads where it is pitch black, middle of the night. And we also have to remember that Brandon was legally blind in one of his eyes. So although he could, can, like, generally still see, you know, his perception still was off at times. So I'm sure that played a factor as well. And then, you know, also mix in reports of some people seeing that he maybe had a drink. Like, if he did have a drink that could also come into play, missing a turn and somehow ending up lost. But all of this combined doesn't really seem that crazy to me. And also,

he is still very young. So he doesn't have, like, a ton of experience driving. Like, he's still pretty new to that. So I don't know. Those are just my thoughts. No, I agree. I think even the best of us, miss a turn or get lost every once in a while. Like, it just happens. And I think that, you know, maybe people won't think that's the best, most dynamic answer talking about theories here, but it's like, this stuff just happens sometimes. And there doesn't always have to be this crazy backstory behind it. Well, at one point, Brandon is so annoyed that he actually hangs up on his mom. She calls him back immediately, and they both apologize. Tensions are understandably high. Eventually, Brandon makes a decision.

He says he can see lights in the distance that he thinks are the town of Linde. He tells his parents he's going to walk that way and ask them to meet him in the parking lot of a bar called the Lind Tavern. Brian's reluctant, but he asks Brandon to stay on the phone with him while he walks. Meanwhile, Brian drives back to Marshall to drop off a net, then continues on toward the Linn Tavern to wait for their son. On the phone, Brandon describes some of what he's seeing and hearing, like rushing water. He sees a couple of fence lines.

It's hard to know anything for sure, though, because he can barely see his hand in front of his face to begin with. Not to mention, like we said, he had that visual impairment. But the descriptions keep coming. Pretty forgettable for the most part. That is, until about 47 minutes into the call when Brandon yells, Oh, shit. And then the phone goes silent.

Brian says Brandon's name. He repeats it. But there's no response on the other end of the line. line. Actually, now Brian can't hear anything at all. No breathing. No wind. Nothing. The call hasn't dropped, though. Brian figures something is wrong with the line. So he hangs up and tries Brandon again. No answer. He keeps calling five or six more times and gets the same result. So Brian heads back home, grabs a net, and the two of them go right back out there to look for their son. They drive along the gravel roads, calling out.

Brandon's name into the dark. They enlist the help of his friends who join in the search. By 6.30 a.m., the sun is rising and they haven't found a thing. So the Swanson's called the police and report Brandon missing. They expect the authorities to start investigating right away, to send out a search team to bring people in for questioning. Instead, they're met with skepticism, dismissal even. They're told that it's not all that unusual for a 19-year-old to stay out all night, especially on his last day of classes, an officer even tells Annette that as an adult, Brandon has, quote, a right to be missing. Brian and Annette are shocked by the police response. They understand that college students stay out all night sometimes, but that clearly wasn't

what happened with Brandon. He'd called them for help. He'd stayed on the phone with them. Something went very, very wrong. It'll take several more hours of convincing before the authorities agree to open an investigation. And once they finally pull Brandon's phone records, they realize the Swanson's have been right all along. Brandon is missing. And he disappeared from a location that wasn't anywhere near where he thought he was. True scary story is a podcast where people share their own terrifying encounters. It was actually chosen as a podcast of the month on Apple Podcast's Darkside Collection. And also the top-ranking show on Spotify. Ghost stories, retelling of long-lost memories and nightmares that seem a little

too real. Come find us by searching for True Scary Story on your podcast app or tell us your own encounter over on TruescarryStory.com. I'll see you there. It's the afternoon of May 14th, 2008. 19-year-old Brandon Swanson has been missing for about 12 hours. After a morning of pressure from his parents, the authorities have finally opened an investigation. Their first move is to pull Brandon's phone records, and what those records show changes the case completely. Brandon told Brian in Annette that he was stranded near the town of Lund. He thought he was close enough that he could see its lights in the distance. But Brandon's phone records told a different story. His calls were pinging off a tower near a tiny town called Taunton, about 25 miles northwest of Lind, which meant

Brandon had no idea where he was. After leaving Canby, Brandon would have driven past Taunton on his way home. It would have only been about 15 minutes into his drive down Highway 68. Everyone said Brandon left Canby around midnight. If he had traveled the street shot home and gotten stranded near Taunton, he probably would have called his parents around 12.30 a.m. Maybe even 1245 if he spent some time trying to get his car out of the mud. But Brandon didn't call until almost 2 a.m.

which everyone, the authorities, his parents, and his friends, all found extremely confusing. Even if he had been where he thought he was outside of Lind, it should have only taken him about 30 minutes to get there. Let's repeat this because it is a bit confusing. He left the party just after 12 a.m. He first reached out to Brian and Annette at 154 a.m. That leaves almost two hours unaccounted for. Two hours for Brandon to make another stop, perhaps.

or to get lost, or even to get in some trouble. To this day, how Brandon spent that span of time is a giant part of the mystery surrounding his case. I don't know, Sarah, I think that, you know, initially I don't think the getting lost was strange, but I do think this two-hour gap is what's really strange to me, and I can't explain it. Yeah, I mean, I don't think anybody can explain it, and I have to imagine that that just haunts his loved ones. Like having a gap in the timeline like that and trying to figure it out and nobody coming forward to help fill it in has to be just torture.

Oh, for sure. The only things, reasons that I can come up with maybe, you know, that would explain that two hour gap, maybe Brandon was driving slower than everyone assumed. I know it really wasn't that long of a distance, but if it's late and he did end up on, you know, a back road, maybe he was going slower than everyone thought. It still doesn't really fully explain the two hours, but that could be one, you know, reason. Or maybe he just spent a lot longer than anyone initially thought trying to get his car out of the mud. That could seem plausible because it was pretty late into the night. And he probably didn't want to call and worry his parents that he got into a car accident and couldn't get the car out. So maybe he was just taking longer than what people think. Yeah. And I think it's another one of those things in this case where it could be something really nefarious or something really innocent.

At least they now have Brandon's cell records in hand. And with them, authorities set out to search for his green Chevy Lumina. At 12.30 p.m. on the day he's reported missing, they find it. His car is a mile and a half north of the Lion Lincoln County line just off of Highway 68 near Taunton. It was exactly like the phone records showed. And just like Brandon said, it was stuck on an inclined field approach. The car doors are open and the keys are gone. Most sources agree there isn't anything of note inside the car,

though a couple of blogs and Reddit threads dispute that. Some said there was a marijuana pipe in the car. Another said Brandon's glasses were still on the dashboard. None of it has ever confirmed an official police reports, though. That being said, every source does conclude there was no blood or any sign of a struggle, nor were their footprints or tracks of any kind leading away from the vehicle. Remember, his car was stuck in the mud off of a gravel road, so there's no missing a footprint in terrain like that.

However, Lincoln County Sheriff Jack Viseki, who will become a major player in this case, did make a good point. He said, quote, there's grass in the ditch and gravel on the road, so it's possible to leave that vehicle and not leave any tracks. But how do you make sure that happens in the pitch black at night? Here's what we do know.

Brandon's car was exactly how he described it, stuck and surrounded by soft mud. His parents were on the phone with him for the better part of an hour while he was supposedly walking away from this exact spot. And yet there was no trace of him in any direction. The next morning, a team of bloodhounds will arrive at that muddy field approach to do what no human searcher could pick up Brandon's trail. And what those dogs find and where they lose him

will only deepen the mystery further. Thank you for listening to the final hours. We'll be back on Wednesday with part two of Brandon. case. In the meantime, we want to hear from you. Your thoughts, condolences, and feedback are what make this community so special. At Crimehouse, we value your support. Share your thoughts on social media and remember to rate, review, and follow the final hours to help others discover the show. And to enhance your listening experience, don't forget to join Crimehouse Plus at crimehouse.com. Or if you listen on Apple Podcasts, tap try free at the top of the final hour show page.

The Final Hours is hosted by Sarah Turney and me, Courtney Nicole, and is a crimehouse original powered by Pave Studios. This episode was brought to life by the Final Hours team. Max Cutler, Ron Shapiro, Alex Vedan, Lori Marinelli, Natalie Pratsowski, Sarah Camp, Alyssa Fox, Ellie Reed, and Russell Nash. Thank you for listening. If you're looking for your next podcast,

check out What the Fact with Connor Tomlinson from Netflix's Love on the Spectrum and Carter Roy. Every week they take three unbelievable true facts from history and tell you the full story behind them. Follow What The Fact wherever you listen or subscribe on YouTube at What The Fact Pod.