The Strange Disappearance Of Brian Shaffer

On Friday, March 31st, 2006 Brian Shaffer finished university before the Spring Break. He met with his father, Randy, and the pair had dinner at an Outback Steakhouse in Columbus, Ohio. After dinner, Brian met with a friend, William “Clint” Florence, and the pair commenced an evening of drinking. They started at the Ugly Tuna Saloona, an OSU campus bar located on North High Street (note, the location of the bar has since moved). After leaving the Ugly Tuna, Brian and Clint went bar hopping.

At around midnight, the pair met one of Clint’s friends, Meredith, who drove them back to the Ugly Tuna Saloona. The three of them were caught on CCTV, travelling up the escalator to the bar at approximately 1.15 am, on the 1st of April.

At some point after 1.15 am, but before 1.57 am, Brian and Clint were seen outside the bar talking to two girls. Despite having a girlfriend, Brian was said to be flirting with one of the girls, even taking her phone number. At 1.57 am, Brian was seen again on CCTV at the top of the escalator outside the Ugly Tuna. This would be the last known sighting of Brian. Brian was wearing jeans, trainers (tennis shoes) and a striped shirt, either green or blue.

The bar closed at 2 am, but Brian was nowhere to be seen. Clint and Meredith tried to call Brian, but he did not answer. They searched the bar and the bathroom, but Brian was nowhere. At 2.10 am, Clint sent Brian a text message asking where he was, this was the last signal that was recovered from Brian’s phone. Clint and Meredith thought that he must have made his own way home, as his apartment was only a few blocks away. Brian often wandered off from his friends, so Clint and Meredith thought nothing of it.

The following day, his girlfriend Alexis Waggoner could not reach Brian. The pair were due to fly to Miami on the following Monday. Concerned, Alexis called Randy, Brian’s father, telling him that something was wrong. A missing person report was filed, but everyone still hoped that Brian would turn up at the airport on Monday for his flight to Miami. When he failed to show up at the airport, Brian’s friends and family became highly concerned.

The strange thing about Brian’s disappearance is that nobody saw Brian leave the Ugly Tuna Saloona. Police could account for every other person that entered the building from the CCTV as they left the building, apart from Brian. This means that Brian must have exited the building through an emergency or service door. There are four more doors on the east side of the building. In a documentary by Investigation discovery, they state that every exit was covered by CCTV, apart from one, which exited out to a construction site. Police surmise that this must have been the door that Brian left the bar from. However, the police do not know why he would have chosen this door to exit the bar. No other CCTV cameras in the area caught sight of Brian. Brian is 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighs around 170 pounds, so he isn’t a small guy.

Every day, Brian’s girlfriend Alexis would call his cell phone, and every time it would go straight to voicemail, except once, when it rang, but nobody picked up. This was a huge hope for the family. However, when questioned, the phone provider said that this was probably just a system glitch. Brian’s phone did not have GPS, but a cell tower located a ping in Brian’s phone from Hillard, 14 miles west of Columbus. It is unknown if this was also a system glitch.

Everyone was baffled, including the police. Randy, Brian’s father, visited a psychic, who told him that Brian’s body was in the water. It is not clear if divers were sent down to search the nearby river, but a foot search brought nothing.

Police have received many tips over the years, including sightings all over the USA and as far as Europe, but there has been nothing solid.

Three weeks before Brian disappeared, his mother passed away from cancer. His mother had worked as a nurse, which is the reason why Brian wanted to pursue a carer as a doctor. Brian was devastated, so much so that he was one hour late to his mother's funeral. A week after his mother's death, Brian asked Alexis if she would go away with him. A few days before he disappeared, he told Alexis to move on and find someone else. However, Alexis thought that Brian was going to propose in Miami. The trip to Miami was a gift from his late mother, and it is said that Brian was looking forwards to the break.

Meredith took a lie detector test, which was negative. However, Clint refused to take a test, he got a lawyer and refused to participate any further in the search for Brian. Brian’s brother, Derek, and Alexis both think that Clint knows more than he is letting on. Clint and Brian are said to have had an argument inside the Ugly Tuna on the night that Brian went missing. Police had no evidence that Clint had any involvement, and so could not pursue him as a suspect.

Theories

One theory is that Brian was drunk, came out of one of the emergency exits and accidentally fell on the construction site. Police say that they checked the area, but conspiracy theorists say that the investors could have covered up his death, not wanting any bad press. Search dogs were used on the whole area, coming up with nothing.

Due to his emotional state, some people think that Brian may have committed suicide and that his body is in the car park that was being constructed when he disappeared. Friends say that at the time of his disappearance, he was in good spirits. But this does not mean much, as many people can hide their emotions well.

Another theory is that Brian ran away to start a new life. He was training to become a doctor and despite wanting to follow in his mother's footsteps, people have said that he was only pursuing a career in medicine to please his parents and he really wanted to be a musician.

Could Brian have been a victim of the Smiley Face Killers? Police discarded this, saying that such a killer does not exist and Brian’s body has not been found.

Police say that there is no evidence that points to foul play.

Updates

2 years after Brian disappeared, in 2008, Brian’s father Randy died at his home when a branch broke from a tree and crushed him to death. On his obituary online, somebody commented, “Dad, I love you. Love, Brian” the location of the post came from the US Virgin Islands. However, when police traced the message, they found it came from a public computer in Franklin, Ohio and declared it a hoax.

Alexis married in 2009 and now has a family of her own.

In 2019, there was a possible sighting of Brian. The sighting was of a homeless man in Tijuana, Mexico. An image of the man was sent to the FBI for facial recognition, but the man was said not to be Brian.

Last year, in 2021, the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation released an age-progressed photo of Brian of what they think he would look like at age 42.

Should anyone have any information on Brian, please call the Columbus Police Department on (614) 645–4545

Notes

The original location of the Ugly Tuna Saloona was at 1546 N High St, Columbus, OH 43201. Today, the bar is called the Ugly Tuna Saloona 2, located at 195 Chittenden Ave, Columbus, OH 43201.

Sources

https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/vicap/missing-persons/brian-shaffer

https://www.columbusnavigator.com/brian-shaffer-missing-columbus/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=249&v=zlrmqCaLtrw&feature=emb_logo

https://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/Media/News-Releases/March-2021/Age-Progression-Image-Released-in-Brian-Shaffer-Ca