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

[neesaki]

I’m assuming we will hear things like this, but obviously nothing jaw-dropping.

Nope. Unfortunately there wasn’t really any new info. But I’m glad to see the case get some exposure.

 

[george14]

Circling back, I really hope they questioned the bar staff. Here in Detroit, there have been stories of bouncers beating people up severely. My main two theories have always been:

1) Something happened in the bar in a discrete area and Brian was disposed of via dumpster or trash compactor.
2) He exited the bar somehow and was met with foul play.

People always ask “how could no one have seen a scuffle?” It didn’t have to be some bloody event nor out in the open. Maybe Brian was snooping around and when confronted, he mouthed off to the wrong person. Who knows?

I can promise someone knows. As time goes on, Brian still being alive goes from 1% to .0000”1%.

 

[King91]

As time goes on, Brian still being alive goes from 1% to .0000”1%.

Agreed. Stories of people that go missing that were last seen out at a bar almost never end well.

Hope the answers come out. It’s more than time.

 

[juan1]

I knew that the dumpsters were emptied prior to searching the area around the bar, but I always assumed that they were all unloaded at the same nearby landfill (the one that was checked with dogs). Was not aware of the Tennessee dumping site. Why were cadaver dogs not sent there?

 

[GymGuy007]

Just watched the program on TV, HLN's Real Life Nightmare. Very sorry to learn about Brian's disappearance. He is seen outside the bar at 1:55am and the bar closes at 2am, so as he re-enters the bar so close to closing time, wouldn't the doorman have challenged him? Inside the bar are the band, bartender, waiter, owner, how did nobody see Brian? Brian played guitar and talked about his interest in joining a band. Did he or did he not have an interaction with band member(s) in the bar. The band members said they knew nothing, but were they challenged? The band has cases for their equipment, large enough to hold a body, and they would have exited the bar by the service elevator, which is a possible exit point for Brian or his body. We presume Brian had his phone with him and presumably a wallet, which would have contained his address at the dorm, which was broken into by who? Was it a band member who had his wallet? A band member possibly had his phone also, which was on when the girlfriend called in September. The band members were not polygraphed. Their equipment was not checked by police or cadaver dogs. When Brian re-enters the bar at around 2am, how could no employee in the bar have seen him? Why would he re-enter? To use the washroom? As well, the man (taxi driver?) with the orange T-Shirt seen entering and exiting the establishment repeatedly is suspicious. This is not a normal behavior for a taxi driver, and as something strange has happened here, this driver was excused too readily. Polygraphing Brian's friends I do not understand, as much as polygraphing band members and said taxi driver in orange T-Shirt, as well as all staff at the Ugly Tuna Saloona on that night. Has anyone consulted with a local psychic to find out what really happened to Brian?

 

[ekardh]

There has never been any evidence of foul play. He was a low-risk victim, and theorists have to resort to elaborate scenarios for him to be murdered. I've seen all kinds of suggestions that he witnessed a drug deal and was silenced, or he overdosed with the band members and they dumped his body in a waste compactor. It doesn't sound remotely believable. The idea that he voluntarily disappeared in the middle of the night, under the influence, without any credible sightings is equally dubious.

Occam's razor must apply. We have a man occupying an area that had construction work going on, who was intoxicated and may have tried to leave through a back exit. He stumbles and falls into a blind spot, perhaps he suffers a concussion and falls unconscious. When construction resumes the next day, Brian's remains are unknowingly concreted over. Until some new evidence comes to light, or this area is dug up (unlikely this will happen for some time), that's the theory I'm sticking with.

 

[Valiant]

Just watched the program on TV, HLN's Real Life Nightmare. Very sorry to learn about Brian's disappearance. He is seen outside the bar at 1:55am and the bar closes at 2am, so as he re-enters the bar so close to closing time, wouldn't the doorman have challenged him?

Common misconception. 2 AM is last call, not closing time (no drinks served after 2). The bar remains open but no longer serving for 1/2 to one hour for people to finish their last drinks so closing time is either 2:30 or 3.
It is somewhat common for people to come back into a bar to order on elast drink before cut off.

 

[george14]

There has never been any evidence of foul play. He was a low-risk victim, and theorists have to resort to elaborate scenarios for him to be murdered. I've seen all kinds of suggestions that he witnessed a drug deal and was silenced, or he overdosed with the band members and they dumped his body in a waste compactor. It doesn't sound remotely believable. The idea that he voluntarily disappeared in the middle of the night, under the influence, without any credible sightings is equally dubious.

Occam's razor must apply. We have a man occupying an area that had construction work going on, who was intoxicated and may have tried to leave through a back exit. He stumbles and falls into a blind spot, perhaps he suffers a concussion and falls unconscious. When construction resumes the next day, Brian's remains are unknowingly concreted over. Until some new evidence comes to light, or this area is dug up (unlikely this will happen for some time), that's the theory I'm sticking with.

Low risk victim? Brian was a young man lol, that's a very high risk victim. How can you say Brian meeting foul play is not "remotely believable" because there is "no evidence".....yet falling into a construction area, unconscious, and being buried by concrete, missed by cadaver dogs, ignored by several workers is? Saying there is no evidence for X yet using it to prove Y is one of the silliest things you can say because there is no evidence for anything here.

The ultimate irony in your post is saying "people create elaborate scenarios" yet that is exactly what you did. If you believed he was killed then conveniently stashed there....that would be more believable. Accidentally concealing a 6'2" man + slip and fell + land in a weird spot + get ignored by works, not smelled by dogs etc etc etc = elaborate.

I respect your opinion but you are letting your ego get in the way here. How can you be so dismissive of the foul play theory (which is an accepted theory by LE) yet be sure of the "buried in concrete" theory? It's possible, but to dismiss foul play as not "remotely believable" is one of the most ludicrous things I've heard on this forum.

Let's line up all of the cases where someone was never seen again and find which ones were buried vs. which ones were killed elsewhere. Occam's Razor.

 

[Zimmerman The Gnome]

Brian is not buried in that construction area, he made it out and something happened later.

 

[psych-nurse]

One item from last night's show that has nagged at me all day: There was only one detective who viewed the security video in his home from a projector onto his basement wall? Is that correct? I have long assumed that a team of video specialists poured over and analyzed it, comparing notes and that it was a highly sophisticated process. Has anyone besides this one detective accessed the entire footage?

 

[MerryB]

One item from last night's show that has nagged at me all day: There was only one detective who viewed the security video in his home from a projector onto his basement wall? Is that correct? I have long assumed that a team of video specialists poured over and analyzed it, comparing notes and that it was a highly sophisticated process. Has anyone besides this one detective accessed the entire footage?

That was it. And there are questions about how accurate grainy CCTV footage would be when blown up & projected on a wall.

 

[psych-nurse]

That was it. And there are questions about how accurate grainy CCTV footage would be when blown up & projected on a wall.

Absolutely there should be questions. That is not at all how I thought footage was investigated. Seems to me it shouldn't be routine to do it this way.

 

[george14]

Absolutely there should be questions. That is not at all how I thought footage was investigated. Seems to me it shouldn't be routine to do it this way.

I agree completely.

However, I also don’t know how much it matters unless Brian was walking out with specific people and talking to them. I am under the impression he probably left the bar and met foul play after. So if this was all a mistake and he actually was on camera leaving, that doesn’t change much for me.

I wonder how closely the bar owner was looked into. It has been stated he owns (owned?) Nasty’s in Hilliard and that is where Brian’s phone pinged. If something happened in the bar, then he certainly moves to the top of the list. Hurst mentioned the automatic camera by the service elevator switched to manual that night. Strange “coincidence.”

 

[ekardh]

Brian is not buried in that construction area, he made it out and something happened later.

Aside from the fact there's no evidence he left the bar, no camera footage, no credible sightings...etc.

 

[MerryB]

I agree completely.

However, I also don’t know how much it matters unless Brian was walking out with specific people and talking to them. I am under the impression he probably left the bar and met foul play after. So if this was all a mistake and he actually was on camera leaving, that doesn’t change much for me.

I wonder how closely the bar owner was looked into. It has been stated he owns (owned?) Nasty’s in Hilliard and that is where Brian’s phone pinged. If something happened in the bar, then he certainly moves to the top of the list. Hurst mentioned the automatic camera by the service elevator switched to manual that night. Strange “coincidence.”

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.

 

[ekardh]

Low risk victim? Brian was a young man lol, that's a very high risk victim.

He was a white, middle-class, medical student with no criminal background. By simply labelling him a "young man" you are engaging in reductivism.

How can you say Brian meeting foul play is not "remotely believable" because there is "no evidence".....yet falling into a construction area, unconscious, and being buried by concrete, missed by cadaver dogs, ignored by several workers is? Saying there is no evidence for X yet using it to prove Y is one of the silliest things you can say because there is no evidence for anything here.

Nothing implausible about the scenario at all, and it lines up with the known facts of the case.

The ultimate irony in your post is saying "people create elaborate scenarios" yet that is exactly what you did. If you believed he was killed then conveniently stashed there....that would be more believable. Accidentally concealing a 6'2" man + slip and fell + land in a weird spot + get ignored by works, not smelled by dogs etc etc etc = elaborate.

We have a drunk patron of a bar who is last seen re-entering the bar. Everyone coming and going from the bar that night is accounted for except him. There was active construction going on within the building at the time and the lead investigator believes he might have gone that way. Despite the fact that people believe he made it out, there hasn't been a single credible sighting or lead in over 15 years.

I respect your opinion but you are letting your ego get in the way here. How can you be so dismissive of the foul play theory (which is an accepted theory by LE) yet be sure of the "buried in concrete" theory?

Simple, because there has never been a single piece of evidence to support the notion that Brian was a victim of foul play or that he voluntarily disappeared. Meanwhile there is every reason to believe that he never made it out.

 

[george14]

He was a white, middle-class, medical student with no criminal background. By simply labelling him a "young man" you are engaging in reductivism.


Nothing implausible about the scenario at all, and it lines up with the known facts of the case.



We have a drunk patron of a bar who is last seen re-entering the bar. Everyone coming and going from the bar that night is accounted for except him. There was active construction going on within the building at the time and the lead investigator believes he might have gone that way. Despite the fact that people believe he made it out, there hasn't been a single credible sighting or lead in over 15 years.



Simple, because there has never been a single piece of evidence to support the notion that Brian was a victim of foul play or that he voluntarily disappeared. Meanwhile there is every reason to believe that he never made it out.

You said all of that to leave out the fact that there is no evidence he is in the bar? The dog searches? People searches? Site searches?

I don’t like dealing with disingenuous people. That is how you are framing your arguments. There have been private and police searches in that complex. Brian was not found. Could he be there still? Sure, anything possible. You put all of your eggs in one basket on a grainy camera capturing him.

The complex was searched, he wasn’t found.

The entire Earth has not been searched.

 

[george14]

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.

Please do attach it, I am unfamiliar!

 

[MerryB]

Please do attach it, I am unfamiliar!

The red mark is where the first set of pings were in the west campus area near the cell tower at Lane Ave/Kenny Rd and the blue mark is the later series of pings/phone ringing near the cell tower at Scioto Darby Creek/the I-270 west belt.

 

[george14]

The red mark is where the first set of pings were in the west campus area near the cell tower at Lane Ave/Kenny Rd and the blue mark is the later series of pings/phone ringing near the cell tower at Scioto Darby Creek/the I-270 west belt.

Close to the owners bar Called Nasty’s.