Search continues for missing teen

By Rae Kruger

rkruger@marshallindependent.com

Search and rescue dogs moved the search for Brandon Swanson, 19, of Marshall into Lincoln County Thursday and today, Lyon County Sheriff Joel Dahl said.

The search for Swanson had focused on an area near the Yellow Medicine River at the Lincoln Lyon County line road, near Taunton on Thursday and much of Wednesday after law enforcement found Swanson’s car in a ditch in that area at about 12:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Today’s search is near that area but will head west, after search and rescue dogs became interested in an area near the Yellow Medicine River in Lincoln County Thursday, Dahl said.

Swanson has been missing since early Wednesday morning when a cell phone conversation between him and his father Brian Swanson abrubtly ended, Dahl said. Swanson had called his parents between 1:30 and 2 a.m. Wednesday and said his car had gone into the ditch near Lynd, Dahl said. Brian Swanson called his son back and they were to meet at the Lyndwood, a bar and grill, in Lynd, Dahl said. Swanson was apparently returning to Marshall from Canby, Dahl said. Swanson had apparently been driving on a field road when his car went into the ditch at the Lincoln County line road, Dahl said.

Swanson is a 2007 Marshall High School graduate and a student at Minnesota West in Canby.

“We’re hopeful, we’re still hopeful we’ll find him,” Brian Swanson said. “There is still a chance. Maybe not a great chance, but there is still a chance.”

Dahl said Brian Swanson said his son told him he was not hurt and Brandon Swanson was coherant during the phone conversations.

Dahl said he and Lincoln County Sheriff Jack Vizecky were not calling the search a recovery effort as of Friday morning.

There will be no formal ground search today, Dahl said.

After search and rescue dogs from the Twin Cities and Codington County, S.D., began to give more attention to an area west of the Lincoln Lyon County line road and into Lincoln County where there is water and fences, searchers began to focus more on that area, Dahl said. The Twin Cities dogs came late Thursday afternoon.

“That’s the only area the dogs are interested in,” Dahl said.

The Department of Natural Resources and search and rescue dogs will again search that area today, Dahl said. The DNR will use a boat, he said.

“(Brandon) was talking about fences and water,” Dahl said. “So that is consistent with where we will search. There are fences in the area, there is water in the area.”

The water in the Lincoln County search area is about 10 feet deep in some areas, Dahl said. There are river areas where the water depth is less and some “where it’s fairly easy to (get through),” Dahl said.

Gates were placed in sections of the river Thursday, Dahl said.

The water level has gone down since Wednesday and that should be helpful in the search, Dahl said.

Dahl said he has no information to believe Swanson may have been impaired at the time of the accident or phone calls.

Swanson’s family first searched for him for a few hour near Lynd before they called the sheriff’s office, Dahl said.

Because Swanson believed he was near Lynd, the formal search was in that area on Wednesday until the cellular phone company was able to trace the tower of the cell phone conversations to a tower near Minneota, Dahl said. The cell phone tower information better identified the location that needed to be searched, Dahl said. Swanson’s car was then found on the county road line near Taunton, Dahl said.

Swanson had been in Lynd and went from Lynd to Canby and was apparently returning from Canby when his car went into the ditch near Taunton, Dahl said.

“As far as a ground search, I don’t know what else to do,” Dahl said. “We’ve walked it, we’ve used four-wheelers, we’ve used horses...I’m not going to discourage farmers and locals from checking their area but as far as an organized ground search...(not doing that).”