Brandon Swanson

Annette met with Marty Seifert, minority leader of the state House of Representatives at the time, whose district included Marshall, in a local restaurant. The two talked about the problems she had experienced with the police when she reported her son missing. "She knew it wouldn't help in her son's case, but that it could help others in the future", Seifert recalled in 2015.

Later that morning the Lynd police did start a search, but found no trace of Brandon in the town or outside. They requested that the office of Lyon County sheriff Joel Dahl assist them. To better focus the search, the sheriff's office obtained Brandon's cell phone records, which revealed that Brandon had been calling from the vicinity of Taunton, along State Highway 68, the main route to Canby, northwest of Marshall—25 miles (40 km) from Lynd.

Searches resumed late that fall, after fields planted shortly after the disappearance had been harvested. Dogs on those searches continued to follow scents of human remains into an area northwest of Porter that had not been searched earlier. Efforts picked up again in the spring, after snow melted but before planting; a cycle that continued through 2011. By that time 122 square miles (320 km) had been searched.

In 2010, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension took over as lead agency on the case. It set up a tip line; by 2015, 90 leads had been reported that way. By that point, when official searches resumed, the area of interest had moved towards Mud Creek, a tributary of the Yellow Medicine north and northwest of Porter.

Dennis Frederickson introduced a companion bill in the State Senate. After it passed both houses (the House unanimously) in May 2009, Governor Tim Pawlenty signed it into law with the Swansons and their daughter Jamine in attendance at the ceremony.

Following the governor's signature, the law took effect at the beginning of July 2009. Four other states have passed similar laws. Seifert left the legislature in 2010, but he still has the pen Pawlenty used to sign the bill into law. "I consider it one of the most important bills I authored in my 14 years. It will save lives."

Shortly after midnight on May 14, 2008, Brandon Swanson (born January 30, 1989) of Marshall, Minnesota, United States, drove his car into a ditch on his way home from celebrating the end of the spring semester with fellow students from Minnesota West Community and Technical College's Canby campus. Uninjured, he got out and called his parents on his cellphone. Unsure of his exact location, he told them he believed he was near Lynd, and they drove out to pick him up; however they were unable to locate him. Swanson remained on the phone with them until he abruptly ended the call 45 minutes later after exclaiming "Oh, shit!" He has not been seen or heard from since.

Classes at Minnesota West ended for the academic year on May 13, 2008. Swanson stayed in Canby for the evening to celebrate with friends. At two different parties, he was observed to consume some alcoholic beverages but, his friends said, not enough to make him seem visibly intoxicated.

A native of Marshall, seat of Lyon County in southwestern Minnesota, Swanson graduated from Marshall High School in 2007. He then chose to study wind turbines for a year at the Minnesota West Community and Technical College campus in Canby.