OH OH - Brian Shaffer, 27, Columbus, 1 Apr 2006 #5

[MerryB]

What date was the last ping? What date did phone ring for Alexis?

Thanks and sorry if this was already said.

Right after Brian's missing person report was filed, CPD put a pinging service on his phone through Cingular Wireless. The phone company explained that it would only ping if the phone was on. They were just communication pings showing that the tower was able to find the phone. There were no usage pings from outgoing use.
We know that Brian's phone was off at 2:01 AM when Meredith called from Clint’s phone. Someone turned Brian's phone back on some time after that in order for the pings to take place.
CPD were only alloted money for one month of the service. The phone communicated the whole 30 days.
The pings all seemed to stay in the general area for the first couple of weeks (West campus-Lane Ave-Kenny Rd). Then, later in April, the phone started pinging 2 different towers as if the phone was moving in the Westbelt/Hilliard area.
I can attach a picture if you aren’t familiar with the area.
5 months later, in September, Alexis called Brian’s phone as she did daily. Brian’s phone began ringing after continuously going instantly to voicemail. Cingular explained this was either a glitch or someone turned on Brian’s phone. Some have guessed it could also have been charging. It rang through the next day.

 

[MerryB]

From Kelly’s post dated 11/20/19 Thread #4 (I can’t link here bc thread is closed):

“The phone had no usage activity from Saturday at 2:11 am until Monday evening. All of the calls and texts people were making to Brian over the weekend were not making his phone communicate with or ping a cellular tower, meaning the phone was more than likely off. However, on Monday evening the ping service started communicating with Brian’s phone and pinged a tower near Kenny and Lane. Over the following week there were several pings from the cellular service as well as pings from when someone would call Brian’s phone. This meant the calls and messages were now going through. The pings all seemed to stay in the general area for the first couple of weeks. Then later in the month the phone started pinging 2 different towers as if the phone was moving in the West side/Hilliard area. Every time the phone would ping, Cingular would give CPD a report with the pings and they began checking the areas closest to the tower pinged. They used the pings from the West side/Hilliard area to triangulate the signal for a search on Scioto-Darby Creek Road.”

 

[Ozoner]

We know that Brian's phone was off at 2:01 AM when Meredith called from Clint’s phone.

No, we don't know that. We know that the phone wasn't receiving a signal. Being turned off is not the only thing that would cause that.

Someone turned Brian's phone back on some time after that in order for the pings to take place.

This is misinformation. We don't know whether the phone was off in the first place. We only know that it didn't receive a signal at the moment that Meredith called.

 

[sammyed]

From Kelly’s post dated 11/20/19 Thread #4 (I can’t link here bc thread is closed):

“The phone had no usage activity from Saturday at 2:11 am until Monday evening. All of the calls and texts people were making to Brian over the weekend were not making his phone communicate with or ping a cellular tower, meaning the phone was more than likely off. However, on Monday evening the ping service started communicating with Brian’s phone and pinged a tower near Kenny and Lane. Over the following week there were several pings from the cellular service as well as pings from when someone would call Brian’s phone. This meant the calls and messages were now going through. The pings all seemed to stay in the general area for the first couple of weeks. Then later in the month the phone started pinging 2 different towers as if the phone was moving in the West side/Hilliard area. Every time the phone would ping, Cingular would give CPD a report with the pings and they began checking the areas closest to the tower pinged. They used the pings from the West side/Hilliard area to triangulate the signal for a search on Scioto-Darby Creek Road.”

Thank you for clarifying Merry B. Was his phone charger ever located? (Not that another charger cord could've been used that following week.) I'm truly stumped by the phone pings'meaning. I keep wondering what his brother D.'s belief is. He and girlfriend knew Brian best, aside from dad no longer with us, or Clint?

 

[dotr]

Age-Progression Image Released in Brian Shaffer Case - Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost
''Age-Progression Image Released in Brian Shaffer Case
3/29/2021

(COLUMBUS, Ohio) — The Ohio Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the Columbus Division of Police today released an age-progression image of Brian Shaffer, a missing central Ohio man, and are seeking the public’s assistance with the case.

“Take a close look at this image: a single tip can reignite a cold case and bring a family closer to reunification with a loved one,” Attorney General Dave Yost said. “Hope doesn’t have an expiration date – every missing person counts.”

Shaffer has been missing since April 1, 2006. He was last seen at approximately 2 a.m. at a bar near the Ohio State University Campus in the vicinity of N. High Street in Columbus.

Shaffer was 27 years old when he went missing and would now be 42. BCI’s forensic criminal artist constructed an age-progressed image of what Brian may look like now. Investigators hope that the new image may prompt the public to submit tips to law enforcement.

“We would like to thank BCI and their forensic artists who worked tirelessly on the age-progression image of Brian Shaffer,” Interim Columbus Police Chief Michael Woods said. “We would like to find every person from our missing persons cases and believe this is another step in hopes that we can find Mr. Shaffer.”

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the Columbus Division of Police at 614-645-2358.

Shaffer was last seen wearing jeans, a blue or green striped shirt and tennis shoes. A white male, Brian is 6’2” tall, weighed 170 pounds and has brown hair and hazel eyes.

Click here to view a public bulletin regarding the case. The age-progression image is also available on the attorney general’s Twitter page.

In addition to age-progression images, BCI's forensic artist is available to assist local law enforcement with the creation of forensic facial reconstruction models and post-mortem images to help identify remains and locate missing persons.

BCI also offers the Ohio LINK (Linking Individuals Not Known) Program, a free service to police, coroners and families of missing individuals. The LINK Program was established through the Ohio Attorney General's Office in 1999 to help match DNA taken from family members of missing individuals to DNA from unidentified remains. Samples of DNA submitted by family members as part of the LINK Program are compared only to DNA samples of unidentified remains submitted through similar programs nationwide.

Analysts with BCI's Criminal Intelligence Unit can also provide case review, investigative assistance, link charts and mapping. Law enforcement officials and family members of missing persons interested in learning more about the services that BCI's Missing Persons Unit provides should call 855-BCI-OHIO (855-224-6446).

MEDIA CONTACT:
Steve Irwin: 614-728-5417''

 

[MerryB]

Thank you for clarifying Merry B. Was his phone charger ever located? (Not that another charger cord could've been used that following week.) I'm truly stumped by the phone pings'meaning. I keep wondering what his brother D.'s belief is. He and girlfriend knew Brian best, aside from dad no longer with us, or Clint?

That is a great question. Nothing has ever been said about his phone charger. Some people have wondered if perhaps his charger was one of the “minor things” stolen from his apartment when it was broken into a month after his disappearance. Hurst has always been vague about what exactly was taken. It should be noted that he has stated that he believes the break-in was just a coincidence.

As for Derek and Alexis, I think their beliefs on what ultimately happened to Brian have ranged from one possibility to another, just as many of ours have. The truth of it is, there’s no evidence he’s still alive out there somewhere, but there’s no evidence he’s dead, either.

Detective Hurst said, “There is a possibility he is alive, but if you look at the probabilities that he isn’t alive, those are just as great. There is nothing we have been able to recover that shows he succumbed to foul play, so again, the probability of that isn’t as great as he just walked away.” (From Columbus Dispatch article below from 2016)

https://www.dispatch.com/article/20160401/NEWS/304019782

 

[drama_farmer]

very snipped by me:

From Kelly’s post dated 11/20/19 Thread #4 (I can’t link here bc thread is closed):

The pings all seemed to stay in the general area for the first couple of weeks. Then later in the month the phone started pinging 2 different towers as if the phone was moving in the West side/Hilliard area. Every time the phone would ping, Cingular would give CPD a report with the pings and they began checking the areas closest to the tower pinged. They used the pings from the West side/Hilliard area to triangulate the signal for a search on Scioto-Darby Creek Road.”

Just curious, if anyone knows: Was there some sort of landfill/transfer station or area designated for construction debris located in the "general area" or West of the area?

My purely speculative pet theory is that Brian was attempting an April Fool's Day prank/joke by "hiding" inside something located in/around the construction area: a dumpster, plastic barrel, or other sort of container.

Perhaps he fell asleep/got stuck/passed out and the "container" was removed from the site with Brian still inside.

Perhaps.....the container spent some time off-site (but still in the general area) and then was moved along with other, similar "containers" to another disposal location located further West.

MOO

 

[Ozoner]

very snipped by me:



Just curious, if anyone knows: Was there some sort of landfill/transfer station or area designated for construction debris located in the "general area" or West of the area?

My purely speculative pet theory is that Brian was attempting an April Fool's Day prank/joke by "hiding" inside something located in/around the construction area: a dumpster, plastic barrel, or other sort of container.

Perhaps he fell asleep/got stuck/passed out and the "container" was removed from the site with Brian still inside.

Perhaps.....the container spent some time off-site (but still in the general area) and then was moved along with other, similar "containers" to another disposal location located further West.

MOO

Not a bad theory.

 

[Valiant]

Columbus’s landfill is to the south near Grove City.
In 2006, when Brian disappeared, the Scioto Darby Creek area was very rural; however, there is an overpass of a major highway that passes by (I-270), there is a small lake called Blatz Lake, and there is also the CSX Intermodal freight terminal in the Westbelt area. Over the years, much more development has taken place.

Remember, Brian’s phone communicated with cell phone towers for at least 30 days. In your scenario, it would have remained on & charged that entire time. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but just wanted to loop in the confirmed phone data with your theory.

I lived in that area between Hilliard and Galloway before moving in 2000. there was still lots of vacant land, but development was happening quickly. And still is.

As you pointed out, the trash goes south - not west.

 

[MerryB]

What is your source for this information? Websleuths requires the citation of approved sources.

Kelly has discussed the cell phone data both in her interviews with Detective Hurst on her podcast “Brian Shaffer: Dead or Alive?” and in frequent discussions as @Looking4Brian in past threads here on WS. I suggest you review these if you’d like to clarify information with which you may have missed.
IMO it’s a waste of time to argue facts.
Here are a few quick snippets just to refute the implication I’m making things up:

“CPD placed a pinging service through Cingular on Monday April 3, 2006. There was nothing on Saturday after 2:11 a.m. until Monday evening. It appeared the phone was shut off and came back on. The pings started that Monday evening. The Pinging service was put on the phone for 30 days. There were multiple pings throughout the 30 days.” Thread #4 11/3/19

“For the remainder of the 30 days the phone continued to communicate with the ping service. After the 30 days we have no information.” Thread #4 11/20/19


‎Brian Shaffer Dead or Alive: Chapter Three: The Inside Track on Apple Podcasts

 

[Ozoner]

Kelly has discussed the cell phone data both in her interviews with Detective Hurst on her podcast “Brian Shaffer: Dead or Alive?” and in frequent discussions as @Looking4Brian in past threads here on WS. I suggest you review these if you’d like to clarify information with which you may have missed.
IMO it’s a waste of time to argue facts.
Here are a few quick snippets just to refute the implication I’m making things up:

“CPD placed a pinging service through Cingular on Monday April 3, 2006. There was nothing on Saturday after 2:11 a.m. until Monday evening. It appeared the phone was shut off and came back on. The pings started that Monday evening. The Pinging service was put on the phone for 30 days. There were multiple pings throughout the 30 days.” Thread #4 11/3/19

“For the remainder of the 30 days the phone continued to communicate with the ping service. After the 30 days we have no information.” Thread #4 11/20/19


‎Brian Shaffer Dead or Alive: Chapter Three: The Inside Track on Apple Podcasts

If the words are coming from Hurst directly in an interview, then I would accept them. If they're Kelly's interpretation, then I wouldn't.

 

[MysteryMaven]

What happened to Kelly? She doesn’t post anymore?

 

[Quiet Time]

very snipped by me:



Just curious, if anyone knows: Was there some sort of landfill/transfer station or area designated for construction debris located in the "general area" or West of the area?

My purely speculative pet theory is that Brian was attempting an April Fool's Day prank/joke by "hiding" inside something located in/around the construction area: a dumpster, plastic barrel, or other sort of container.

Perhaps he fell asleep/got stuck/passed out and the "container" was removed from the site with Brian still inside.

Perhaps.....the container spent some time off-site (but still in the general area) and then was moved along with other, similar "containers" to another disposal location located further West.

MOO

And that's why his phone kept moving around? And pinging off of diff locations?

Or, someone was moving his body....

 

[MysteryMaven]

I am not sure why people think drunk people like to get in dumpsters, garbage cans, etc while drunk. Dumpsters aren’t appealing to most people drunk or sober. I see this speculation on a lot of cases when men disappear after drinking. I just don’t understand the idea that a drunk person decided to sleep it off or play a prank by climbing into a dumpster and getting thrown into a landfill. It’s pretty far fetched. People get murdered and thrown in dumpsters but they rarely climb in there of there own volition.
9 times out of 10 these men wind up having fallen in a body of water.
Brian probably never made it too far from the UTS/Gateway. He was never seen leaving. He could still be there due to an accident and the pings are just glitches.

 

[MysteryMaven]

The cases I can find about people going into dumpsters seem to be mostly homeless and they are found.

 

[annpats]

And that's why his phone kept moving around? And pinging off of diff locations?

Or, someone was moving his body....

But if you were moving his body, wouldn't you have got rid of his phone first?

 

[MysteryMaven]

He could have dropped his phone and someone took it. Or left it on a table and someone took it.

 

[Quiet Time]

But if you were moving his body, wouldn't you have got rid of his phone first?

Sure...hopefully.
Unless someone was in such a hurry they forgot, or some other reason I don't know about.

 

[MysteryMaven]

Kelly (former poster looking4brian) was interviewed for a missing person show in regard to Brian. It will be on CNN airing in September. She had said previously Oxygen was interested in putting something together on Brian but only if there would be new information dropped.
If would be great of the public was given new info but I doubt that will be the case. These specials are usually just rehashes of what is already known. We will see. She has done a lot of work to keep people interested in Brian and that is a good thing either way.

 

[MysteryMaven]

If the words are coming from Hurst directly in an interview, then I would accept them. If they're Kelly's interpretation, then I wouldn't.

Maybe listen to the podcast?