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

[?unknown?]

If he switched the phone off to avoid calls from Clint & Meredith why would he then turn the phone back on 10 mins later? This doesn’t make sense to me. At nearly 3am in the morning, why not just shut the phone down until the next day? Or at least turn it off for a good hour after at which point Clint and Meredith have probably given up and gone to bed ? If he wanted to keep the phone on for safety purposes then why not just keep it on the whole time put on silent and let the calls from Clint/Meredith ring out? Or just ignore the calls. What did he care if he was avoiding them?

To me his phone activities in that brief period of time indicate more possibility of an accident. How do we know he wasn’t looking at his phone wondering why he had no reception and while he is drunk with his eyes on his phone he slips/trips/falls and the phone flies out of his hand landing God knows where? If he fell somewhere the phone could have dropped out of his hand several feet away landing in a trash bin, a gutter, ending up in a sewer, some
kind of crevice. The phone could have been teetering on the edge of an area where signal drops in and out before eventually dying, landed somewhere where it got transported around inadvertently by a refuse truck etc. His phone might well have made it out of the building and been on the move but for me it doesn’t mean Brian did too.

 

[juan1]

I think the phone remains in the complex where Brian was last seen. Probably in his pocket.

Just some thoughts, all under the assumption that Brian's phone is on his person:
We have established that Brian's phone went straight to voicemail when Meredith called, which presumably meant that the device was off. This occurred minutes after he disappeared from the camera's view. Many hours to days later, the phone pinged a tower which, according to Cingular employees, would mean that the phone was on. So, in order to turn the phone back on, Brian had to have been alive for at least several minutes after he disappeared from camera. The point being, if there was an accident in the construction site, it didn't happen seconds or even a few minutes after he walked out of view.

Some important things were brought up by Ed and @Looking4Brian in the Unfound podcast. Specifically, we learned (1) that the exit footage may not be as reliable as was previously thought, (2) that the alternative exits were fairly well known by patrons, and (3) that CCTV was not as ubiquitous in 2006 as was previously reported.

But, to be fair, let's assume for a second that Brian is still at the construction site. There are a few important things to note:
1. There was no construction over the weekend
2. His phone continued to ping for at least a couple of days after he went missing.
Assuming that the phone is in his pocket, and noting that his phone still had enough reception to ping towers, it's hard to believe that he was randomly entombed. The premises was searched on Monday without success, so no bodies were above ground. The only option left would be a void, which I believe you have mentioned as a possibility before. Seems reasonable I suppose, though my biggest holdup is still the timeline. What could he have been doing during the time between when he left camera and when he turned his phone back on? Perhaps he loitered in the hallways for a few minutes or stood outside the door. But, as mentioned above, this exit was relatively well known, and I would wager that several other people used that same exit as Brian that night. It's hard to believe that nobody would have seen him. It seems more likely that he strolled out one of those doors and kept walking (not into the construction zone).

Let's also think statistically. What seems more likely?
1. guy walks out of a bar and get missed by limited, grainy 2006 CCTV. Gets in car. Phone pings reflect accurate location.
2. guy falls into random void on construction site and hasn't been found. Phone pings are a fluke. Dogs and construction workers both missed him.

There were questionable scents of Brian by Wendy's and an abandoned factory. I know that dogs are unreliable, but it's all we have. There were also cell phone pings that seemed to track along a major highway. To me, this makes it seem like he most likely got out of the complex and had a ride. Where he could've gone from there is anyone's guess.

 

[juan1]

Spot on, @MerryB. The timeline and limited evidence strongly suggest that he made it out of the complex.

 

[juan1]

How do we know he wasn’t looking at his phone wondering why he had no reception and while he is drunk with his eyes on his phone he slips/trips/falls and the phone flies out of his hand landing God knows where? If he fell somewhere the phone could have dropped out of his hand several feet away landing in a trash bin, a gutter, ending up in a sewer, some
kind of crevice. The phone could have been teetering on the edge of an area where signal drops in and out before eventually dying, landed somewhere where it got transported around inadvertently by a refuse truck etc.

But, again, where is the body? It's very unlikely that he would not have been found.

As for the phone falling away from the body:
Someone has mentioned on this forum when trash pick-up took place. I cannot remember off the top of my head, but I believe that it was on Monday (someone please correct me if I'm wrong). Would have to correlate timing of pings to approx timing of trash pick-up to rule that in or out, but I believe that he was pinged moving West before the trash was picked up.
Can probably rule out sewer or gutter. The old phones were durable, but they weren't waterproof.

 

[MerryB]

Just some thoughts, all under the assumption that Brian's phone is on his person:
We have established that Brian's phone went straight to voicemail when Meredith called, which presumably meant that the device was off. This occurred minutes after he disappeared from the camera's view. Many hours to days later, the phone pinged a tower which, according to Cingular employees, would mean that the phone was on. So, in order to turn the phone back on, Brian had to have been alive for at least several minutes after he disappeared from camera. The point being, if there was an accident in the construction site, it didn't happen seconds or even a few minutes after he walked out of view.

Some important things were brought up by Ed and @Looking4Brian in the Unfound podcast. Specifically, we learned (1) that the exit footage may not be as reliable as was previously thought, (2) that the alternative exits were fairly well known by patrons, and (3) that CCTV was not as ubiquitous in 2006 as was previously reported.

But, to be fair, let's assume for a second that Brian is still at the construction site. There are a few important things to note:
1. There was no construction over the weekend
2. His phone continued to ping for at least a couple of days after he went missing.
Assuming that the phone is in his pocket, and noting that his phone still had enough reception to ping towers, it's hard to believe that he was randomly entombed. The premises was searched on Monday without success, so no bodies were above ground. The only option left would be a void, which I believe you have mentioned as a possibility before. Seems reasonable I suppose, though my biggest holdup is still the timeline. What could he have been doing during the time between when he left camera and when he turned his phone back on? Perhaps he loitered in the hallways for a few minutes or stood outside the door. But, as mentioned above, this exit was relatively well known, and I would wager that several other people used that same exit as Brian that night. It's hard to believe that nobody would have seen him. It seems more likely that he strolled out one of those doors and kept walking (not into the construction zone).

Let's also think statistically. What seems more likely?
1. guy walks out of a bar and get missed by limited, grainy 2006 CCTV. Gets in car. Phone pings reflect accurate location.
2. guy falls into random void on construction site and hasn't been found. Phone pings are a fluke. Dogs and construction workers both missed him.

There were questionable scents of Brian by Wendy's and an abandoned factory. I know that dogs are unreliable, but it's all we have. There were also cell phone pings that seemed to track along a major highway. To me, this makes it seem like he most likely got out of the complex and had a ride. Where he could've gone from there is anyone's guess.

Excellent post!

 

[MysteryMaven]

I don’t think scent and cadaver dogs are junk science. I can think of some cases where they have been accurate-For example in the Kristin Smart case cadaver dogs went through dorm rooms at Cal Poly and the only room they alerted on was Paul Flores’-who has been the number one suspect in her disappearance and recently arrested.

Scent dogs tracked Brian’s scent to the Wendy’s and an abandoned warehouse but I don’t know the exact location of either.
I would like to know the proximity of these to the Gateway Complex.
Ed from Unfound has some aerial views from Google Earth (Google Earth pro, I think?) of the Gateway Complex before and after construction.
Just wondering if the Wendy’s bordered it in any way? Sorry if this has already been discussed.

I am 50/50.
50 % Brian left the bar and died by misadenture and 50% he somehow became trapped in the Gateway Center, perished, and has never been found.

 

[Old Mozez]

If he switched the phone off to avoid calls from Clint & Meredith why would he then turn the phone back on 10 mins later? This doesn’t make sense to me. At nearly 3am in the morning, why not just shut the phone down until the next day? Or at least turn it off for a good hour after at which point Clint and Meredith have probably given up and gone to bed ? If he wanted to keep the phone on for safety purposes then why not just keep it on the whole time put on silent and let the calls from Clint/Meredith ring out? Or just ignore the calls. What did he care if he was avoiding them?

To me his phone activities in that brief period of time indicate more possibility of an accident. How do we know he wasn’t looking at his phone wondering why he had no reception and while he is drunk with his eyes on his phone he slips/trips/falls and the phone flies out of his hand landing God knows where? If he fell somewhere the phone could have dropped out of his hand several feet away landing in a trash bin, a gutter, ending up in a sewer, some
kind of crevice. The phone could have been teetering on the edge of an area where signal drops in and out before eventually dying, landed somewhere where it got transported around inadvertently by a refuse truck etc. His phone might well have made it out of the building and been on the move but for me it doesn’t mean Brian did too.

Well put.
I’m open to the possibility that his phone ultimately found it’s way to the mobile recycling company in Hilliard. They started operations in 2005, and I’m inclined to think the phone was turned on inside this premise when it pinged in sept 2006.

 

[MerryB]

I don’t think scent and cadaver dogs are junk science. I can think of some cases where they have been accurate-For example in the Kristin Smart case cadaver dogs went through dorm rooms at Cal Poly and the only room they alerted on was Paul Flores’-who has been the number one suspect in her disappearance and recently arrested.

Scent dogs tracked Brian’s scent to the Wendy’s and an abandoned warehouse but I don’t know the exact location of either.
I would like to know the proximity of these to the Gateway Complex.
Ed from Unfound has some aerial views from Google Earth (Google Earth pro, I think?) of the Gateway Complex before and after construction.
Just wondering if the Wendy’s bordered it in any way? Sorry if this has already been discussed.

I am 50/50.
50 % Brian left the bar and died by misadenture and 50% he somehow became trapped in the Gateway Center, perished, and has never been found.

I agree with you on the dogs.
The Wendy’s was on High St. If Brian headed south from the UTS in the direction of his apartment, it was on the way. The parking lot was behind the building on Pearl & that’s where his scent was picked up.
On the map it’s now a Popeyes. I’m also attaching an old pic to show you what Wendy’s looked like in 2006.
The factory was further down on 7th. If you look at the map, you can see how Brian would’ve crossed here to get to King (his apartment) if he took Pearl from the bar.

 

[MerryB]

Well put.
I’m open to the possibility that his phone ultimately found it’s way to the mobile recycling company in Hilliard. They started operations in 2005, and I’m inclined to think the phone was turned on inside this premise when it pinged in sept 2006.

I would love to know where the several pings were after the Hilliard/West side pings, but Hurst remains vague on that.

@Looking4Brian correct me if I’m wrong, but my understanding is that Brian’s phone did not ping in September when it rang for Alexis. This is why they deemed it a glitch.

Also just wanted to mention that this was 2006 and Brian had a flip phone. So in response to the question of why wouldn’t Brian just mute his phone when slipping out of the UTS, rather than turning it off, it wasn’t as simple to mute a phone back then. To turn it off, you held down the red end key. To mute, you had to hit the selection key, scroll to settings, select sound, scroll to silent, and tap the selection key. Phones have come a long way!
MOO

 

[annpats]

I’m open to the possibility that his phone ultimately found it’s way to the mobile recycling company in Hilliard. I’m inclined to think the phone was turned on inside this premise when it pinged in sept 2006.

But Brian went missing in April......the battery wouldn't have lasted until September, so the Hilliard Recycling place would have had to charge it up.

But once they did, and there was a long, there were no more pings, calls or anything else from it.....so they just had a nose at it then shut it down?

.....and that's if the phone was still working and wasn't covered in gunk, juice and other waste products from the trash cans.

Hmmmm.....

 

[juan1]

The phone is one element that I can't seem to piece together.

If Brian was planning to walk away, why would he bring the phone with him? Why not leave it at his apartment? Why not ditch it somewhere near the bar?

Perhaps he did dispose of the phone in the Scioto Darby Rd area whilst en route to his destination and it was simply never found?

I'm also wondering if he kept the phone because he still needed it. For example, maybe he was lying low in the Hilliard area before making a bigger move. Maybe someone was helping him, and he needed a way to contact him/her if something came up.

I have read that he placed no calls following his disappearance, but are we certain that no texts were placed or received after 2am Sat morning?

 

[juan1]

The factory was further down on 7th. If you look at the map, you can see how Brian would’ve crossed here to get to King (his apartment) if he took Pearl from the bar.

The factory is close to his apartment which makes me think that he may have made it home. It would make sense for him to sober up and get some rest before leaving on Saturday.

@Looking4Brian, you've probably addressed this elsewhere, but do we know if Brian routinely made his bed every morning?

 

[MysteryMaven]

I agree with you on the dogs.
The Wendy’s was on High St. If Brian headed south from the UTS in the direction of his apartment, it was on the way. The parking lot was behind the building on Pearl & that’s where his scent was picked up.
On the map it’s now a Popeyes. I’m also attaching an old pic to show you what Wendy’s looked like in 2006.
The factory was further down on 7th. If you look at the map, you can see how Brian would’ve crossed here to get to King (his apartment) if he took Pearl from the bar.

Thank you!

 

[MysteryMaven]

Ok make it

33.33% death by misadventure away from the bar

33.33% trapped in Gateway

33.33% walkaway-on Unfound Kelly says Some LE think breakdown/walkaway.

 

[Old Mozez]

I would love to know where the several pings were after the Hilliard/West side pings, but Hurst remains vague on that.

@Looking4Brian correct me if I’m wrong, but my understanding is that Brian’s phone did not ping in September when it rang for Alexis. This is why they deemed it a glitch.

Also just wanted to mention that this was 2006 and Brian had a flip phone. So in response to the question of why wouldn’t Brian just mute his phone when slipping out of the UTS, rather than turning it off, it wasn’t as simple to mute a phone back then. To turn it off, you held down the red end key. To mute, you had to hit the selection key, scroll to settings, select sound, scroll to silent, and tap the selection key. Phones have come a long way!
MOO

In september the phone pinged from a tower in Hilliard.
Earlier it had been west side / kenny road.
That part of the “west side” was searched extensively in 2007. Lots of threads if you have a look on older forums. Tim Miller also came up to Ohio to help out.

 

[Old Mozez]

But Brian went missing in April......the battery wouldn't have lasted until September, so the Hilliard Recycling place would have had to charge it up.

But once they did, and there was a long, there were no more pings, calls or anything else from it.....so they just had a nose at it then shut it down?

.....and that's if the phone was still working and wasn't covered in gunk, juice and other waste products from the trash cans.

Hmmmm.....

Someone created an account and took time to post her view of this on this forum. She said she lived in Hilliard and I think her boyfriend worked there.
I think it is worth consideration.
yes, probably the phone was serviced and left on a technician’s desk with 20-30 other phones. Can one prove it? No, just a hunch.

 

[King91]

This case is maddening.

 

[Old Mozez]

This case is maddening.

You’re not alone , the fmr lead detective doesn’t have the slightest clue either. And he worked the case for 13 yrs.

 

[MerryB]

This case is maddening.

Someone knows something. I truly hope one day we have answers.

 

[King91]

Someone knows something. I truly hope one day we have answers.

Do you think Clint knows?