OH OH - Brian Shaffer, 27, Columbus, 1 April 2006 - #3

[drama_farmer]

Have you considered becoming a verified insider for this topic/thread? That would allow you to present information without an MSM link. IMO

 

[Looking4Brian]

Have you considered becoming a verified insider for this topic/thread? That would allow you to present information without an MSM link. IMO

I really don’t know much about that, but I’m open for anything that could help this case.

 

[neesaki]

I’m sorry you feel that way. I feel that in the past year I have released a lot of never before known information. Nothing I do is to stir interest and trust me the interest is already there. My hands are tied on when I can release certain information, but I post here to let everyone know I’m still at it and that I’ve uncovered new things. This definitely isn’t meant as a teaser...just an update. I would share everything I have if I could. I see no point in withholding facts in a case that is 13 years old, but the people I interview stipulate what I can and can’t release.

I for one very much appreciate all the work you’re doing, for seeing it through, and for taking time out of your schedule to give us updates. I’m not on FB so have to rely on this forum for any information.

And whatever you can share at this point is better than the radio silence that has been typical for so long. I’m really looking forward to knowing everything you’ve learned.
Behind you all the way here! neesaki

 

[dotr]

I for one very much appreciate all the work you’re doing, for seeing it through, and for taking time out of your schedule to give us updates. I’m not on FB so have to rely on this forum for any information.

And whatever you can share at this point is better than the radio silence that has been typical for so long. I’m really looking forward to knowing everything you’ve learned.
Behind you all the way here! neesaki

Ditto from dotr!

 

[Looking4Brian]

Thank you for the kind words neesaki and
Dotr. I didn’t realize when I began this how deep the investigation would get, but I’m so glad I’m doing this. It is worth the time spent to hopefully bring answers to the Shaffer family. I will tell you something I personally found... we decided to look into a couple of more email addresses that Brian had access to. We chose this one in particular because Brian had used it before to register accounts. I believe this is an email address provided through the internet service provider. Then we noticed the email was used after Brian’s disappearance. Since it seemed to be a home based email go Brian we thought it could’ve been Randy, but the email pinged after Randy’s death as well. As I explained with the other email ping, our report provides an IP address when it last pings. So we started tracing the IP addresses associated with the new email and....we have IP addresses registered to 3 other colleges around the world, 2 of which are medical schools. Someone, somewhere is using proxy’s that send us to Colleges. What are your thoughts?

 

[neesaki]

Thank you for the kind words neesaki and
Dotr. I didn’t realize when I began this how deep the investigation would get, but I’m so glad I’m doing this. It is worth the time spent to hopefully bring answers to the Shaffer family. I will tell you something I personally found... we decided to look into a couple of more email addresses that Brian had access to. We chose this one in particular because Brian had used it before to register accounts. I believe this is an email address provided through the internet service provider. Then we noticed the email was used after Brian’s disappearance. Since it seemed to be a home based email go Brian we thought it could’ve been Randy, but the email pinged after Randy’s death as well. As I explained with the other email ping, our report provides an IP address when it last pings. So we started tracing the IP addresses associated with the new email and....we have IP addresses registered to 3 other colleges around the world, 2 of which are medical schools. Someone, somewhere is using proxy’s that send us to Colleges. What are your thoughts?

Interesting, are you saying these are emails being sent to this other email of Brian’s, or from, or both ? And his IP address changed several times? Apologies, I’m pretty terrible when it comes to this stuff. :/
I actually am not exactly sure what is meant by ‘using proxys’ either.
So if anyone can clarify this for me I sure would appreciate it, TiA.

 

[Kaie]

Hello. I’m so sorry your request was not approved. For some reason I was not receiving notifications for that group. I fixed that and approved all pending requests. I welcome all civil discussions, and quite enjoy hearing everyone’s opinions. Even though I have my opinions I keep an open mind to all possibilities. I look forward to communicating with you in the group.

Thank-you! And sorry again for thinking that it was for any other reason. Looking forward to the podcast.

Interesting, are you saying these are emails being sent to this other email of Brian’s, or from, or both ? And his IP address changed several times? Apologies, I’m pretty terrible when it comes to this stuff. :/
I actually am not exactly sure what is meant by ‘using proxys’ either.
So if anyone can clarify this for me I sure would appreciate it, TiA.

This YouTube video might help explain it a bit neesaki...

 

[neesaki]

Thank-you! And sorry again for thinking that it was for any other reason. Looking forward to the podcast.



This YouTube video might help explain it a bit neesaki...

I’ll check it out as soon as I have a chance, looks interesting. Thank you Kaie!

 

[Smiley IBI]

Hello all, I have followed this mystery off and on over the years and it's drawing me in again.

In regard to the construction area... despite anyone saying it was "all dug up" it must be noted, as I'm sure it has, that it was reported that employees of UTS and others in the building frequently walked through the construction area, correct? ...and recent podcasts have clarified that construction was mostly finished?

Saying the area was hard to maneuver doesn't automatically mean there were deep trenches, etc, but rather that lots of construction equipment and interior building supplies were there. It's perfectly believable that someone might trip or fall in a construction area but they would be found. Also, the idea that there were deep trenches, deep enough to hide a body, is just an idea, right? There are no pictures or confirmation? ...and like Valiant mentions above, if those supposed trenches or holes had collapsed then they would have had to have been dug out again before construction continued.

It's also my understanding that by noon on the Monday after he went missing, that LE and loved ones began searching the UTS and spreading outward to check all areas, dumpsters, etc... and did it more than once.

Moving on... I've been thinking about Meredith's call to Brian's phone at 2:01am that night. It went straight to voicemail. Everyone talks about it like that was sudden but when is the last time that someone had called him on it prior and was it ringing then? Also, is it true that Brightan entered her number directly into his phone herself approx 1:55am?

Finally, the Hiliard phone ping. This to me is the strongest support for him making it out of the UTS that night, or at the very least his phone did. I understand that Cingular stated the phone may have been turned on OR it was a glitch, however; If it were just the fact that it rang for Alexis that would be one thing but that it apparently did so for several hours for everyone who called PLUS it actually pinged off a cell tower in Hilliard seems far too specific to be a glitch. A glitch might make it ring on the caller's end but I know of no way for a glitch to have created a cell phone pinging off of a tower a mere 14 miles away from where he went missing. Wherever Brian was in September of 2006, dead or alive, his phone seems to have been in Hilliard.

JT, don't forget that a homeless man also claimed to see Brian eating a sandwich behind a store after his disappearance, he was SURE it was Brian. If that and the Hiliard phone ping aren't enough, there's the email "ping" in Italy. I've researched that extensively and it makes me very hopeful! I agree about the construction theory not being valid, I just don't ascribe to that theory. I think when John Hurst said it was "dug up", he didn't mean it as literally as many took it. That theory could be squashed (or proven) instantly if OSU (I understand they own that building) would allow professional sonar imaging. I like your thinking!

 

[Smiley IBI]

This is the problem. Every comment about it seems to come in the form of, not just an either/or but, a guess. It *could* be a glitch or the phone *could* have been turned on. It sounds like it was never actually investigated (or no one is saying and if so, why?) or even Cingular could not state with certainty what the answer was.

Even Hurst's statements about the glitch seem to address the ringing - there is talk that if there is a lot of cell traffic in the area that the caller's phone might 'bounce' to the next tower - It seems logical that in the extra time it takes to communicate and make a connection with a tower out of your area that the phone *could* ring... but that would seem to apply only to one caller's phone. It's stated Alexis called Brian's dad and the police. Surely they tried calling it, as well... but we don't have any comment stating that while it was ringing for Alexis it was just going to voicemail for everyone else... what we are told is that it was ringing for several hours.

This also doesn't address the pinging of Brian's cell phone at all. Nothing said by anyone so far explains that away.

She's stated she called it every day, sometimes multiple times I think, for over a year. Out of the hundreds and hundreds of times she called the number it was only on September 23, 2006 that it both rang AND that his phone pinged a tower.


The record apparently shows that it was pinging... Cingular was noncommittal either way but yet there's no real data to discount it. No one can even say how a glitch could produce a ping from a phone if it wasn't turned on.

I talked to a friend that worked with Cingular and ATT and I used to work for a cell phone company called Powertel (Now T-mobile) and you couldn't ping a phone in 2006 (that didn't have GPS capabilities) that was not turned on, it was impossible.

 

[Smiley IBI]

As to Sgt. Hurst's characterization of the construction area as 'completely dug up' supposedly subsequently morphing into 'a small hole' (!!) per Kelly Bruce, I'll take lead detective Sgt. Hurst's word over Kelly Bruce's any day, for sure, unless he speaks directly/publicly on the matter again and corrects his original podcast comments. 'nuff said.

Listen here for yourself (episode 2, 10:30 in) as Sgt. Hurst just last year characterized part of the construction area as having been in a 'completely dug up' (not partly dug up, much less one small hole!) state when Brian went missing: Listen to ComeBack - A True Crime Podcast

And nice work digging up the phone ping dialogue - interesting. Based on my own experience with glitchy Cingular service back in the day, and Cingular's expertise as the carrier in this case, I tend toward Cingular's view that it was a glitch. But you never know. Anyhoo, nice digging.

I work with law enforcement and I absolutely admire the fantastic work Kelly and crew have done on this case, I have to say I'm going with Kelly on this one! No offense to John Hurst whatsoever, I just think his words were taken out of context.

 

[dotr]

I work with law enforcement and I absolutely admire the fantastic work Kelly and crew have done on this case, I have to say I'm going with Kelly on this one! No offense to John Hurst whatsoever, I just think his words were taken out of context.

Welcome to Ws Smiley IBI, thanks for the insight!
What do you think actually happened with Brian's phone?

 

[itsrak]

I work with law enforcement and I absolutely admire the fantastic work Kelly and crew have done on this case, I have to say I'm going with Kelly on this one! No offense to John Hurst whatsoever, I just think his words were taken out of context.

Sgt. Hurst's words - he characterized the construction area as having been in a 'completely dug up' state, are recorded, and can thus be listened to fully in context and verbatim...

 

[Smiley IBI]

Welcome to Ws Smiley IBI, thanks for the insight!
What do you think actually happened with Brian's phone?

To be 100% honest, I am not sure. I think it's likely that Brian is alive but I keep an open mind. I will tell you this, dead or alive, I don't think he is anywhere near the UTS but I'd love for them to do sonar to prove it.

 

[Smiley IBI]

I’m sorry you feel that way. I feel that in the past year I have released a lot of never before known information. Nothing I do is to stir interest and trust me the interest is already there. My hands are tied on when I can release certain information, but I post here to let everyone know I’m still at it and that I’ve uncovered new things. This definitely isn’t meant as a teaser...just an update. I would share everything I have if I could. I see no point in withholding facts in a case that is 13 years old, but the people I interview stipulate what I can and can’t release.

I LOVE that you are true to your "sources", that's so important and will pay off in the long run!

 

[windrower]

Hurst didn't misspeak, he elaborated. You continue to ignore that "dug up" can just as easily apply to a flat, hard-packed ground as much as it can piles of dirt and holes. You equate "dug up" to trenches and holes but that's NOT a fact. I went to the effort to try and get clarification and got it. I'd certainly love more, even pics.

rs&bbm

This baffles me--flat, hard-packed ground can be described as being "dug up?" How so?

I disagree, so I guess we'll have to agree to disagree.

To me, dug up means just that. Dug up.

 

[Stella]

Italian medical schools that teach in English and incredibly easy to get into.

Medical Schools in English in Italy

 

[jtfolden]

This baffles me--flat, hard-packed ground can be described as being "dug up?" How so?

I disagree, so I guess we'll have to agree to disagree.

To me, dug up means just that. Dug up.

You should read back for the full context. So far the ONLY picture that even offers a glimpse of the construction area (circa April 2006) also seems to show a scissor lift being used - which can not be used on anything but hard packed ground or better. That is where that comes from. ...and yes you can have the floor completely dug up and be down to "dirt" - that doesn't mean there are huge trenches so deep to where a body could go missing and not even be found by construction workers, LEO's, searchers, and cadaver dogs going through multiple times. The building itself was finished. Everything being done at that point was to complete the area for additional tenants.

As I said previously, I asked Kelly Bruce (host of the Comeback and Missing In Ohio podcasts and I believe "Looking4Brian" right here in this discussion) about Hurst's comments on it, and the condition of it specifically. This is what she said:

...The difficult to navigate comment is referring to all of the hallways and doors on the ground level. The building itself was completely finished. The 2nd level was completely finished as well. The lower level or the construction zone was being sectioned off into individual retail spaces. After a recent call I did with Hurst I asked him to verify what “all dug up” meant. He told me there was a small hole that had been dug and the pile of dirt removed was sitting next to the hole. The hole and the dirt pile were searched thoroughly by CPD as well as with Search and Cadaver dogs. Like I said in the podcast people/tenants of the building were using the area everyday...

If you have anything at all to actually indicate the condition of that area then I would honestly love to see it but all the comments are vague on this as has been discussed. That people imagine it to be a certain way, doesn't make it so... Beyond that though, I have yet to see any professional directly involved in the case make a statement they think Brian is still in the building.

 

[jtfolden]

JT, don't forget that a homeless man also claimed to see Brian eating a sandwich behind a store after his disappearance, he was SURE it was Brian.

The claim by the homeless man interests me too but I haven't seen much about that report beyond one news article from, I think, NBC4 at the time.

I talked to a friend that worked with Cingular and ATT and I used to work for a cell phone company called Powertel (Now T-mobile) and you couldn't ping a phone in 2006 (that didn't have GPS capabilities) that was not turned on, it was impossible.

Yeah, if it were just the fact they were getting a ring when calling the number then I could accept the glitch idea, as well. The ping itself seems much harder to dismiss, though. It was certainly serious enough for Texas EquuSearch to go to Hilliard to search (and I'd love to know why they chose the exact area they did...).

I don't necessarily think the ping means Brian is alive, though. I do think it's fairly solid evidence that at least his phone was turned on in that area though.

 

[itsrak]

If you have anything at all to actually indicate the condition of that area then I would honestly love to see it but all the comments are vague on this as has been discussed. That people imagine it to be a certain way, doesn't make it so....You speciously characterize hypothesize as 'imagine'.

Beyond that though, I have yet to see any professional directly involved in the case make a statement they think Brian is still in the building. No professional directly involved in the case has ever made a statement as to where they think Brian is, inside or under the building or otherwise.