The next morning, Swanson’s mother, Annette, went to the police in the adjacent town of Lynd and reported him missing.
When search parties eventually started looking for Swanson, they found the adolescent was 25 miles (40 km) away in a different direction rather than where they had first thought he was, in Lynd.
Police found the student’s automobile parked in a ditch after following his whereabouts using neighboring cellular towers. The car’s keys and personal belongings were not found.
Later, police were led to the Yellow Medicine River by sniffer dog searches, but the dogs’ scent was lost.
