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

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Maybe he got out of the bar and walked, passing through the parking lot and vomiting/urinated on a spot in there.

From the last clip of the CCTV, i think that he didn't re-enter the bar, given that the entrance appears to be to the bottom left of the frame, maybe he walked into another exit and got out of the UTS.

Do we know if Brian had been there before? Maybe he knew of another way out.

Yes, Brian had been there many times. It was a popular spot at the time for OSU students, plus it was a short walk from his aoartment. They’d just started developing that area at the time, so things were new & exciting. Plus UTS had cheap drinks!
Speaking as someone who was an OSU student at the time, I can say that most of us were definitely aware of alternate exits. The emergency exit door was just inside the bar to the right when you walked in, and was usually propped open. Patrons often walked out there to smoke or talk on the phone. Those stairs led down to the outside promenade area on the side of the building. There was also the employee entrance/exit in the hallway right behind the false wall where Brian was last seen talking to Amber & Brighton. There was a hallway right behind there that led to both a set of stairs and an elevator which took you down to the ground floor. Those exits emptied out to the back of the building.
I can say that at the time of his disappearance, none of us familiar with the bar thought it was that odd that he’d leave an alternate way.
 
Yes, Brian had been there many times. It was a popular spot at the time for OSU students, plus it was a short walk from his aoartment. They’d just started developing that area at the time, so things were new & exciting. Plus UTS had cheap drinks!
Speaking as someone who was an OSU student at the time, I can say that most of us were definitely aware of alternate exits. The emergency exit door was just inside the bar to the right when you walked in, and was usually propped open. Patrons often walked out there to smoke or talk on the phone. Those stairs led down to the outside promenade area on the side of the building. There was also the employee entrance/exit in the hallway right behind the false wall where Brian was last seen talking to Amber & Brighton. There was a hallway right behind there that led to both a set of stairs and an elevator which took you down to the ground floor. Those exits emptied out to the back of the building.
I can say that at the time of his disappearance, none of us familiar with the bar thought it was that odd that he’d leave an alternate way.
I agree, maybe he went inside the bar, through the employee door and went outside using an alternate exit.

Perhaps once outside, he passed the Wendy’s parking lot where his vomit/urine was caught and went back to his apartment, leaving early by the next day and leaving it as if it wasn’t occupied.
 
Yes, Brian had been there many times. It was a popular spot at the time for OSU students, plus it was a short walk from his aoartment. They’d just started developing that area at the time, so things were new & exciting. Plus UTS had cheap drinks!
Speaking as someone who was an OSU student at the time, I can say that most of us were definitely aware of alternate exits. The emergency exit door was just inside the bar to the right when you walked in, and was usually propped open. Patrons often walked out there to smoke or talk on the phone. Those stairs led down to the outside promenade area on the side of the building. There was also the employee entrance/exit in the hallway right behind the false wall where Brian was last seen talking to Amber & Brighton. There was a hallway right behind there that led to both a set of stairs and an elevator which took you down to the ground floor. Those exits emptied out to the back of the building.
I can say that at the time of his disappearance, none of us familiar with the bar thought it was that odd that he’d leave an alternate way.

Great post!

What do you think happened?

Satch
 
Great post!

What do you think happened?

Satch

I think he got out of the bar and very well may have made it to his apartment that night by walking down Pearl Alley. It’s a short walk (1/2 mile).
Whatever happened to him likely happened the next day IMO.
I think, based on the timeline, that after he finished talking to Amber & Brighton at 1:58 AM, Brian saw Clint & Meredith heading out of the bar at 1:59. They’re shown going down the escalator at 2:00 AM. For whatever reason, he wanted to avoid them, so he ducked out an alternate exit. We know the camera wasn’t on the emergency exit, so there’s no mystery why he wouldn’t be seen going out that way. And it would explain why he seemed to be heading back to the bar on the surveillance we do have.
As far as why investigators made it seem like he couldn’t have gotten out of the building any way other than the escalators, I think that was strategy, albeit a bad one.
MOO
 
As far as why investigators made it seem like he couldn’t have gotten out of the building any way other than the escalators, I think that was strategy, albeit a bad one.
MOO

To generate interest, and therefore a higher likelihood of tips getting called in as well?
 
To generate interest, and therefore a higher likelihood of tips getting called in as well?

I think it was done so it would appear that they were focused on the building…in hopes that someone would get comfortable and “slip up”…but ironically it caused the public to focus on the building and potentially ignore other things during a crucial period. MOO
 
I just read that a "severely decomposed skeleton, believed to be that of a male"
Was found on south high street in Columbus. Which is about a 15 minute walk, from where he disappeared.

Identified..

August 17, 2021
''COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Columbus Division of Police has released the name of the man whose skeletal remains were found in a wooded area last week.

Police were called to the 1800 block of South High Street on Aug. 9 on the report of a body in the area.

On Tuesday, police said identified him as 49-year-old David Judd.

Police said detectives were investigating this as a suspicious death.''
 
It certainly seems the Wendy's stop was after he left the UTS if Meredith did indeed drive him there (source?). Unless the Wendy's was close enough to the UTS that he got out of the car upon their arrival and decided to use Wendy's instead of the UTS to relieve himself and/or get sick. It makes more sense with getting sick,,,that he couldn't wait.

It's possible that he was at UTS, went to Wendy's for food (which I doubt because a true bar-hopper isn't going to kill his buzz w/ food), or to meet a dealer, or another love interest, and then returned to UTS. I find all of these unlikely, and that Wendy's was after the UTS.

I'm not able to open some of these thumbnail pics to see distance between UTS and Wendy's. Once he left UTS, was Wendy's on the walk home to his apartment or in the other direction? And might that depend on which door he went out? I think he went out one of the other entrances that have been posted about.

Whether or not something happened at Wendy's or he simply stopped there and then continued on home, I believe he was there. Dogs are often cited as unreliable for not getting a hit when they should have. In this case, they did, and not only that but on urine and/or vomit, not just scent markers. 2am near a popular college bar, there are bound to be many instances of both, but these dogs followed a specfic person.

The 'he left the building/ didn't leave the building' debate will go around in circles until more information is released. And that won't happen w/o a new lead or witness, or his body is found. LE has more details that can't be released to then jeopardize a possible prosecution.
 
Yes, Brian had been there many times. It was a popular spot at the time for OSU students, plus it was a short walk from his aoartment. They’d just started developing that area at the time, so things were new & exciting. Plus UTS had cheap drinks!
Speaking as someone who was an OSU student at the time, I can say that most of us were definitely aware of alternate exits. The emergency exit door was just inside the bar to the right when you walked in, and was usually propped open. Patrons often walked out there to smoke or talk on the phone. Those stairs led down to the outside promenade area on the side of the building. There was also the employee entrance/exit in the hallway right behind the false wall where Brian was last seen talking to Amber & Brighton. There was a hallway right behind there that led to both a set of stairs and an elevator which took you down to the ground floor. Those exits emptied out to the back of the building.
I can say that at the time of his disappearance, none of us familiar with the bar thought it was that odd that he’d leave an alternate way.
Great information. So in your opinion do you think the cops are lying then about every person that came in and out of the bar was accounted for? How often would a patron use the alternate door(s)?
 
Great information. So in your opinion do you think the cops are lying then about every person that came in and out of the bar was accounted for? How often would a patron use the alternate door(s)?

Thank you. I’m just not convinced they could verify who was who on grainy CCTV footage with 100% accuracy—and account for every single patron—when it was common knowledge that people regularly left out the back with the band or slipped out the side door if it was propped open. MOO
 
Every person accounted for except Brian, IIRC.

But how does LE know this when it was shown that the camera did not scan all the time? And that there were exits that were not monitored by cameras? How do we know that LE really accounted for everyone? We know that there is information that LE knows but is not sharing. I read somewhere that they think Brian is alive. If that is the reason that they are not sharing this information, it is really a disservice to all investigating this case. What would be the reason(s) why LE can't say what they know? It's been over fifteen years.

Satch
 
But how does LE know this when it was shown that the camera did not scan all the time? And that there were exits that were not monitored by cameras? How do we know that LE really accounted for everyone? We know that there is information that LE knows but is not sharing. I read somewhere that they think Brian is alive. If that is the reason that they are not sharing this information, it is really a disservice to all investigating this case. What would be the reason(s) why LE can't say what they know? It's been over fifteen years.

Satch
 
Echo on Satch. Cops (hopefully) would've been provided with camera footage as it was at the time. But not necessarily on all exits; I think it's certain there were other exits not filmed, based on other input here and common sense; i.e. a bar is going to have mandated fire exits, and 'employee only' paths, etc. So there may be a legal issue here as well, a patron was known to have used a 'non'-exit and is now missing, cue lawyers (multiple). A giant headache for the bar, the PD, the municipality, and ultimately, the university.

Regardless, I think he left the bar and met his demise afterwards.
 
I think there is a likely cover up here. (By UTS employees, LE, hit and run, or murder.) Just not sure who to blame. Somebody knows what happened. Even if Brian left the bar, and met his demise on the way home.

Suicide or intoxication causing death is out there as well. Maybe Brian confided in Clint that he wanted to disappear, and swore him to secrecy for the rest of his life, and Clint and his friends went along with his wishes. Two strong elements:

1.) Whether Brian is dead or alive somebody knows what happened.
2.) Whatever Brian's fate is, he went through pain-staking efforts to never be found again, and if he is alive, would certainly be living under a new identity with a camouflaged appearance. I think Brian did not want anybody to know his true fate. "You will never find me, or my body, so don't even bother to try. I have dropped out of society."

If Brian left any kind of note as evidence, the quote above is what I think it would say.

Satch
 
There are always elements not known to the public. Even after decades, they can't jeopardize a prosecution. There's a very good chance, assuming this was foul play, that the person/people responsible are known, and have been for some time. It's then a waiting game to find his body or have someone talk.
 
Yes, Brian had been there many times. It was a popular spot at the time for OSU students, plus it was a short walk from his aoartment. They’d just started developing that area at the time, so things were new & exciting. Plus UTS had cheap drinks!
Speaking as someone who was an OSU student at the time, I can say that most of us were definitely aware of alternate exits. The emergency exit door was just inside the bar to the right when you walked in, and was usually propped open. Patrons often walked out there to smoke or talk on the phone. Those stairs led down to the outside promenade area on the side of the building. There was also the employee entrance/exit in the hallway right behind the false wall where Brian was last seen talking to Amber & Brighton. There was a hallway right behind there that led to both a set of stairs and an elevator which took you down to the ground floor. Those exits emptied out to the back of the building.
I can say that at the time of his disappearance, none of us familiar with the bar thought it was that odd that he’d leave an alternate way.

Thanks for this, very insightful! Always helps to actually hear from people who have been to the location in question.
I wouldn't have found it odd if the cameras missed him leaving on the escalator anyway, but if he likely left via one of the several alternate exits you mentioned then that makes even more sense.

Something interesting came up in a podcast about this case. The investigator said the two girls he was talking to told her Brian had offered to escort them outside but changed his mind for some unknown reason, and that he was also heavily flirting with Brighton (took her phone number, kissed her neck). I wonder what caused him to change his mind and return to the bar?
 
Something interesting came up in a podcast about this case. The investigator said the two girls he was talking to told her Brian had offered to escort them outside but changed his mind for some unknown reason, and that he was also heavily flirting with Brighton (took her phone number, kissed her neck). I wonder what caused him to change his mind and return to the bar?

Respectfully SBM. IMO when Brian found out they were parked on the 1st floor of the parking garage, he decided not to walk them out because that was where Clint & Meredith were parked as well. I believe for whatever reason, Brian wanted to avoid running into them. That’s why he didn’t walk the girls out, that’s why he shut his phone off after Brightan put her number in, and that’s why he took an alternate exit as Clint & Meredith headed out of the bar. MOO
 
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