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

[JustSweatyAsCanBe]

I just want to say as wild as people are able to make the Brian Shaffer story seem I really don't think it is. Bartenders used to open a door behind the bar for quick smoke breaks, he probably slide out that way to meet someone to buy coke or whatever. The scent dogs tracked him to Wendy's where he most likely arranged to meet someone because it'd be hard to pull up by UTS. He left with the person or was walking back and something happened with the drug deal, or he was robbed, or a drunk OSU kid hit him, whatever it may be they probably threw him in a river or dumpster and there wasn't much more to it. That area back there was not a good area like it is now. Also there was a prison release halfway house right next to Wendy's and 7eleven sketchy people hung out at. Source I lived right there in 2001-2002, and when I did the police knocked on my door one night because a neighbor called about a man watching me in my window and masturbating. It was a use the buddy system if you walk anywhere type of neighborhood.

 

[dotr]

It took me so long to find this I thought he was potentially found as I’ve been in a funk in my personal life so I avoid all news and crime stuff because it can become depressing. Unfortunately I ended up googling it and found the thread and see there’s just been no updates in a few weeks.

Nice to ''see'' you @Tman2004, hopefully summer sunshine will help lift your spirits!

Re-post refresher..
2021

 

[Vtgirl93]

I just don't know how he could just disappear.

 

[John/Jane Doe]

Brian Randall Shaffer – The Charley Project

 

[Ozoner]

I lived right there in 2001-2002, and when I did the police knocked on my door one night because a neighbor called about a man watching me in my window and masturbating.

Are you a man or a woman? Voyeurs sometimes escalate to be serial killers. If there was a guy watching other men and masturbating back in 2001–2002, that same somebody could have taken a liking to Brian.

 

[ekardh]

Are you a man or a woman? Voyeurs sometimes escalate to be serial killers. If there was a guy watching other men and masturbating back in 2001–2002, that same somebody could have taken a liking to Brian.

I sincerely doubt that Brian fell prey to a serial killer, in much the same way I doubt he ever left the building.

If he did manage to exit without leaving a trace, then death by misadventure is the likeliest outcome.

 

[Functionalist]

A serial killer who already killed in the past could explain the "without a trace" disappearance. If he was killed, it could have been by someone who already did it in the past and learned to cover their tracks. A person with a vehicle could have lured him into the car anywhere between the UTS and his apartment, though likely closer to the UTS.

There have been disappearances that turned out to be murders where the victim was lured into a vehicle, killed, and then buried in a remote and obscure area with a lot of vegetation. Once in the vehicle, the evidence of a struggle that you'd expect there to be, be it DNA, the noise of a fight, torn clothing, weapons, etc. becomes contained in the vehicle.

Brian's phone may have been the last thing to have been disposed off, resulting in the pings. He could have been lured with the promise of drugs, a party, or sex.

 

[GoBuckeyes]

A serial killer who already killed in the past could explain the "without a trace" disappearance. If he was killed, it could have been by someone who already did it in the past and learned to cover their tracks. A person with a vehicle could have lured him into the car anywhere between the UTS and his apartment, though likely closer to the UTS.

There have been disappearances that turned out to be murders where the victim was lured into a vehicle, killed, and then buried in a remote and obscure area with a lot of vegetation. Once in the vehicle, the evidence of a struggle that you'd expect there to be, be it DNA, the noise of a fight, torn clothing, weapons, etc. becomes contained in the vehicle.

Brian's phone may have been the last thing to have been disposed off, resulting in the pings. He could have been lured with the promise of drugs, a party, or sex.

I would think that the entire car would have to be buried, too, in that example. Although, there are plenty of rural areas and bodies of water in Ohio. MOO

 

[Ozoner]

I would think that the entire car would have to be buried, too, in that example. Although, there are plenty of rural areas and bodies of water in Ohio. MOO

Brian's vehicle isn't missing. If Brian was harmed in a vehicle, it must have been the perp's vehicle.

 

[geojeffrey]

I still believe there is likely a nexus to drug use/purchase as is typical of many college students, that possibly led to an encounter with a shady character....

BUT, I also sometimes think about the eerily similar case of Joey Labute, and wonder if there is a predator in Columbus.

<modsnip - no source for the photos was linked >

 

[neesaki]

I still believe there is likely a nexus to drug use/purchase as is typical of many college students, that possibly led to an encounter with a shady character....

BUT, I also sometimes think about the eerily similar case of Joey Labute, and wonder if there is a predator in Columbus.

Yep.

 

[ACG2x]

Had a long drive to a cabin for the weekend and listened to another podcast revisiting Brian's case. Didn't offer much new, but I started to make a mental list of all the places he could've gotten out of the bar besides the escalator because there is video evidence that didn't happen.

Note that a few of these may border on absurd, but again I'm only listing every other possible place Brian could've escaped the bar undetected:

Service Exit
Located in the back of the bar for the band and delivery vendors to use, the exit itself led into a long-ish hallway where other businesses in the building's service exits led and down a hallway that came out of the building. There was no camera on the service exit within the UTS, however there was one in the corridor/hallway that led out and CPD said they did not see Brian in that video.

However, that video has not been released so public can't take a look so we don't technically know for sure if they missed anything whereas with the main entrance we know for a fact he didn't go out there because video was shown proving it. With it being nearly 1 AM on a Saturday, I doubt many people went down through that corridor though so I presume it would've been easy for LE to watch everyone in that hallway and not see Brian since there were probably very few of them that night.

Fire/Construction Exit
Door located just to the left of the main entrance to the UTS but off-camera of the security cams that caught everyone at the main entrance. The door was clearly labeled with a sign that said something to the effect of "Opening this door will set off an alarm", however per one of the girls Brian was talking with and the last people to see him before he walked off camera to presumably go back into the UTS, it as a 'well-known fact' that the alarm on that door either wasn't working or was shut off after regular business hours.

Since this happened very early in the AM on a Saturday, if true the alarm would for sure have been shut off. A slight contradiction to this one could be that Clint reported that he saw Brian back inside the UTS and he said he was "going to talk to the band" at which point he vanished and Clint never saw him again. It's possible he said that then went back out the main entrance and went through the fire exit. As far as why, could have been drunken curiosity or pure drunkenness in thinking he was going out a different way.

It's also possible because he was being openly flirty with the two women outside, he thought he'd sneak out and meet them in the parking garage for a chance to meet up with them later without arousing suspicion of Clint & Meredith who obviously knew he had a girlfriend. This exit also did not have a camera and anyone could've walked through it without being seen. The issue here is while there was construction going on at the time, LE and others described it as "light" construction and the part they were building was mostly done so it's not as likely that Brian could've fallen or gotten injured/died down there and nobody found him. LE said they searched that area and didn't find him either.

Off the Patio
The UTS had a small patio area outside on the second floor - see image on left side - and it's at least possible that Brian went out there and tried to jump/leap down and do whatever. Find the girls in the parking garage, just trying to do something dumb when drunk, etc.

This one is not very feasible because obviously that's a considerable drop with multiple obstacles and it's likely Brian would've been injured or worse attempting this. The bar still had ample customers at the time because they didn't close for an hour when he vanished and the patio was reportedly one of the most popular areas of the bar where it was packed and seating was limited. Highly unlikely Brian could've even attempted this without anyone seeing or reporting.

Through the Ceiling Tiles/Roof
I didn't say they'd all be realistic. The only other way out would've been to somehow wedge himself into a ceiling tile, possibly in the bathroom because anywhere else he would've been seen easily by multiple people, and climb up through to the roof. It's not know if the roof was even accessible through the ceiling but again, trying to list every other possible way to escape the bar itself other than the main entrance. I obviously do not think this happened at all.

The service exit or fire exit are the two most likely IMO because I think there's almost a 0% chance he was met with foul play within the bar and they had some massive coverup, etc. That goes against all logic in this case. I wish LE would release the footage of the hallway leading out of the service exit just to see if other eyes can make anything of it but I doubt that will happen.

From there, I think it's 50/50 whether Brian actually got out of the complex or was injured/died there and his remains are still somewhere in the facility. I'd believe either is just as likely at this point.

 

[Rtael]

I think it's more likely he didn't go out the front door, but I don't find the video entirely conclusive on that point.

 

[Ozoner]

Had a long drive to a cabin for the weekend and listened to another podcast revisiting Brian's case. Didn't offer much new, but I started to make a mental list of all the places he could've gotten out of the bar besides the escalator because there is video evidence that didn't happen.

Note that a few of these may border on absurd, but again I'm only listing every other possible place Brian could've escaped the bar undetected:

Service Exit
Located in the back of the bar for the band and delivery vendors to use, the exit itself led into a long-ish hallway where other businesses in the building's service exits led and down a hallway that came out of the building. There was no camera on the service exit within the UTS, however there was one in the corridor/hallway that led out and CPD said they did not see Brian in that video.

However, that video has not been released so public can't take a look so we don't technically know for sure if they missed anything whereas with the main entrance we know for a fact he didn't go out there because video was shown proving it. With it being nearly 1 AM on a Saturday, I doubt many people went down through that corridor though so I presume it would've been easy for LE to watch everyone in that hallway and not see Brian since there were probably very few of them that night.

Fire/Construction Exit
Door located just to the left of the main entrance to the UTS but off-camera of the security cams that caught everyone at the main entrance. The door was clearly labeled with a sign that said something to the effect of "Opening this door will set off an alarm", however per one of the girls Brian was talking with and the last people to see him before he walked off camera to presumably go back into the UTS, it as a 'well-known fact' that the alarm on that door either wasn't working or was shut off after regular business hours.

Since this happened very early in the AM on a Saturday, if true the alarm would for sure have been shut off. A slight contradiction to this one could be that Clint reported that he saw Brian back inside the UTS and he said he was "going to talk to the band" at which point he vanished and Clint never saw him again. It's possible he said that then went back out the main entrance and went through the fire exit. As far as why, could have been drunken curiosity or pure drunkenness in thinking he was going out a different way.

It's also possible because he was being openly flirty with the two women outside, he thought he'd sneak out and meet them in the parking garage for a chance to meet up with them later without arousing suspicion of Clint & Meredith who obviously knew he had a girlfriend. This exit also did not have a camera and anyone could've walked through it without being seen. The issue here is while there was construction going on at the time, LE and others described it as "light" construction and the part they were building was mostly done so it's not as likely that Brian could've fallen or gotten injured/died down there and nobody found him. LE said they searched that area and didn't find him either.

Off the Patio
The UTS had a small patio area outside on the second floor - see image on left side - and it's at least possible that Brian went out there and tried to jump/leap down and do whatever. Find the girls in the parking garage, just trying to do something dumb when drunk, etc.

This one is not very feasible because obviously that's a considerable drop with multiple obstacles and it's likely Brian would've been injured or worse attempting this. The bar still had ample customers at the time because they didn't close for an hour when he vanished and the patio was reportedly one of the most popular areas of the bar where it was packed and seating was limited. Highly unlikely Brian could've even attempted this without anyone seeing or reporting.

Through the Ceiling Tiles/Roof
I didn't say they'd all be realistic. The only other way out would've been to somehow wedge himself into a ceiling tile, possibly in the bathroom because anywhere else he would've been seen easily by multiple people, and climb up through to the roof. It's not know if the roof was even accessible through the ceiling but again, trying to list every other possible way to escape the bar itself other than the main entrance. I obviously do not think this happened at all.

The service exit or fire exit are the two most likely IMO because I think there's almost a 0% chance he was met with foul play within the bar and they had some massive coverup, etc. That goes against all logic in this case. I wish LE would release the footage of the hallway leading out of the service exit just to see if other eyes can make anything of it but I doubt that will happen.

From there, I think it's 50/50 whether Brian actually got out of the complex or was injured/died there and his remains are still somewhere in the facility. I'd believe either is just as likely at this point.

Your long post seems to leave out one option that seems to be very popular with people who believe that Brian made it out of the building alive. The prevailing theory of those in that camp is that Brian went through the construction area and exited through a door that was close to the nearby Wendy's.

 

[itsrak]

.....It's also possible because he was being openly flirty with the two women outside, he thought he'd sneak out and meet them in the parking garage for a chance to meet up with them later without arousing suspicion of Clint & Meredith who obviously knew he had a girlfriend. This exit also did not have a camera and anyone could've walked through it without being seen. The issue here is while there was construction going on at the time, LE and others described it as "light" construction and the part they were building was mostly done so it's not as likely that Brian could've fallen or gotten injured/died down there and nobody found him. LE said they searched that area and didn't find him either.....

The lead detective on the case was Sgt. John Hurst. Several years ago, in an interview, he characterized the construction area at the time of Brian's disappearance as having been in a 'completely dug up' state. That is verbatim and is the opposite of 'light'. Who would know better than Hurst? No one would know better than Hurst.

 

[ekardh]

Just a reminder for people who assume the police would've found Brian if he had perished in the construction site, police searched the loft containing Tia Sharp's body twice using cadaver dogs and still missed her.

 

[ACG2x]

The lead detective on the case was Sgt. John Hurst. Several years ago, in an interview, he characterized the construction area at the time of Brian's disappearance as having been in a 'completely dug up' state. That is verbatim and is the opposite of 'light'. Who would know better than Hurst? No one would know better than Hurst.

At this point, it's impossible for us to know what state that construction area was in when Brian vanished and the varying stories don't help. I have long thought that was the most likely exit path for Brian because it had no cameras at the door or inside the area:

• Main exit: Cameras at angles as we've seen
• Service exit: No camera at door to hallway other businesses shared with UTS leading to it, but cameras were on in the hallway itself. LE says they've reviewed the footage and didn't see Brian.
• Fire/construction exit: No camera at door nor inside area at time. There was one of those alarm bars that say basically "if you push this, alarm will sound" but according to the two girls Brian met, it was well-known that the alarm didn't sound outside of normal construction hours.

The easiest path out is the fire/construction exit. Then the question becomes if he made it out and met an end somewhere else, left to start a new life somewhere or fell into some construction gap and is entombed at the UTS to this day. I can't think of any other realistic scenario here.

 

[itsrak]

At this point, it's impossible for us to know what state that construction area was in when Brian vanished ...

True. But who ya gonna believe?! Hurst, who lead the search, who was in the construction area just days after Brian disappeared all those years ago, and who you can hear on tape say that the then active construction area was 'completely dug up'? Or everyone else, none of whom had the access Hurst had, none of whom were in there and saw it first hand? I've no reason to doubt Hurst.

 

[Martinie]

I've been digging into this again against my better judgement mainly because I end up going down a rabbit hole usually more than once. I have literally hundreds of hours into this case but I don't claim to be an expert on the subject of Brian Shaffer. The other day I went over Brian's phone bill again for as many times that I have done that I actually found a few new pieces of info. I'm not kidding myself that it will lead to anything or the I have found anything the that police don't know which is doubtful at best. I'll share as much as I can. I really wish that the police at this point would be more transparent. Everyone needs to throw the info out there so we can find out what happened to Brian before it gets to the point that if by chance someone killed him they would end up not being alive themselves.

I had the chance to speak to Det. Hurst a while back. I want to say up front that I am not privy to secret info just because I talked to him. He is not going to tell anyone things that he's not allowed to. What it did do was to dispel some of the common myths and give me a better understanding of the timeline. I'm of the believe that Brian made it out of the building. The police meaning everyone on the case to my understanding think the same. Anyone else who has a different opinion is welcome to it. A lot of what I write is just my opinion. I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything I couldn't care less about differing opinions.

If you watch the video of Brian outside the Tuna we will see that he walks off camera at 1:55 am and 40 sec. From the interview that Brightan gave she excused herself to the bathroom. I have been to the Tuna and when you walk into the bar you make a right and go down to the second to the last door to the women's restroom. The last door is or was the fire escape door which on that night was open as people would go into that hallway to smoke. We can't know exactly when although the police do when Brightan and Amber left and maybe someone here knows the exact time, but I would make a guess that Brightan was gone for roughly 3 minutes. That's from the time she walked away till the time she got back. From what I remember Brightan said that she didn't look back to see where Brian went as she went down the escalator.

When I was at the Tuna I immediately took notice that as I sat at the bar (literally no one but me and a friend was there), that I could see directly out to where Brian would have been standing. The first thing I thought was I'll bet Brian saw Clint and Meredith coming and went out the back way. It's sad because if Clint would have come out just one minute sooner maybe this wouldn't have happened. Many people think that Brian took off because him and Clint got into an argument and I think that could be true but I also think Brian had other plans that he may or may not wanted Clint to know.

There is much controversy about Brian's phone being shut off or that he fell in a hole and his phone quit working. The simple explanation is that once Brian got into the elevator and down into the construction site he lost signal momentarily .This makes sense since his phone pinged a tower at 2:11 am. I know from experience that I will lose my signal at my local convenience store as I walk towards the back even if I am against the side wall. Makes no sense to me but that's what happens.

I will post some pics from E-News that show what the construction site looked like. Unfortunately this was filmed not on a VCR but someone using a camera videoing their TV screen. So you will see a reflection above of someone filming it. As you can see in the photos there was an outer parameter which is common during construction for the workers to walk. Since Brian was not spotted on camera going out the side door facing the garage he would have went right which is exactly what the film crew is filming, there's a clue for you. According to Hurst the construction doors (see photo) were chained together and there was enough room for as Hurst put it, that he himself could have easily slipped through them. I believe that once Brian got out of there as he walked to where he was going his phone reconnected to a tower.

Brian made several phone calls that night to a few different guys. These guys all knew each other and they hung out together a lot. I don't know if Brian saw any of these guys before he got to the Tuna but I do know that they were at the Tuna on Brian's second go around. The odd thing is you never hear about these guys. I'm not sure if Brian was part of the group so to speak. He did have all their numbers. Brian did not as far as I know have a FB page but he did have a Myspace and none of them are on it unless they happen to unfriend him which I don't think they would do as it would seem suspicious IMO.

Going over his phone bill there was one number that I always had trouble identifying until today. The surprising thing to me is that this number a landline number is associated with an apt that is very close to Lane and Kenny. I was also able to find out who this number belonged to. I found this to be one of the biggest pieces of info because it shows in my opinion that Brian or at least his phone was likely to be at this apt when his phone pinged off the tower near Lane and Kenny. This is where people need to stop and think of this case as if it is someone else and not the big mysterious Brian vanished into thin air. This person (Brian) once exiting the bar met with someone and this someone either was with Brian or had his phone. If this was a missing woman and her phone pinged very near he boyfriend's house I don't think there would be much disagreement as to what happened. From here it gets more complicated or so it seems. I'm going to try and see what I can find as far as a Hilliard connection. I actually have seen some possible Hilliard connections but I haven't had a chance to dig into them yet. The trouble is this was so many years ago it's like a puzzle and you have to try and fit the timeline together from 2006.

So were the pics of the 4 guys circulating on reddit, the same guys that Brian was in contact with that night? They've been trying to find out the names of 2 of them. I'm surprised they haven't been identified yet.

 

[Functionalist]

I've gone though most of the pages of the multiple threads on Brian's disappearance here. One thing I've been wondering is how embufum got a hold of Brian's cellphone records. That's quite the piece of evidence to have access to. Are they publicly available?