Campus Camera Wasn’t Working When 18-Year-old Brendan Santo Disappeared

More than two weeks after he disappeared while visiting friends on the Michigan State University campus, Grand Valley State University student Brendon Santo remains missing — and investigators say missing surveillance video is making the search more difficult.

Santo, 18, was last seen leaving Yakeley Hall in East Lansing just before midnight on October 29, and it’s that video that investigators don’t have — the camera at the residence hall’s entrance “was not operational the night Brendan was last seen,” MSU President Samuel Stanley said, according to WXYZ.

The FBI has joined the search, as CrimeOnline previously reported. WXYZ spoke with a security consultant and former FBI agent who said that not having the Yakeley Hall video was truly unfortunate.

“That video would give us the evidence on who he was with to approach these people to see what happened,” said Ned Timmons, president of security company LSS Consulting.

“It’s frustrating,” he said.

Police found Santo’s car where he parked it on the night he disappeared and have been searching along the Red Cedar River, which runs for two miles through the campus.

MSU’s Stanley said the school was installed 300 new cameras throughout the campus, but those will be too late for Brendan Santo.

“You’re just going to have to keep interviewing and interviewing and put together all the clues,” Timmons said.

WXYZ contacted Santo’s family, but they said they weren’t ready to comment.

“The family should rest in knowing that they’ve got an incredible team working on the case,” Timmons said. “They are very competent and well trained and educated. They are going to get to the bottom of it.”

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[Featured image: Brendon Santo/Michigan State University Police and Public Safety]