OH OH - Brian Shaffer, 27, Columbus, 1 April 2006 - #2

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I just don't see someone who was planning on vanishing voluntarily deciding to do so after a long night out drinking with friends.

Drinking leads to careless, bad decisions which can have serious consequences. He would have been sober and anxious to prepare for the next day if he was leaving. I just don't see it. In all the Ugly Tuna security footage he looks relaxed and happy. There is no doubt in my mind if he had run away he would have gotten in touch with family or there would have been at least one tip as to where he might be living now. It's been over ten years.

His apartment being broken into wouldn't surprise me, i'm sure it was targeted by thieves. It's a high crime area around the student housing.
 
I've been following this case since almost the beginning and compared to all the cases that I follow, I have the least amount of theories for this one. It's just so perplexing. In my mind the possibilities are (just thinking out loud) 1) he left voluntarily 2) he was taken out of the bar undetected by someone else (such as in band equipment container) 3) he's somehow still there (in an air duct) 4) he managed to leave undetected by cameras and died, accident or foul play and his body not found, somewhere along the way, either in the construction site or on the route home. 5) he made it home and something happened at his apartment or he went back out again. The first three just don't make a lot of sense to me for many reasons. I think they are the least likely. I'm leaning towards #4 and 5 and I just think there's just been so much focus on the Ugly Tuna and not enough on possibilities especially ones that involve making it home and then going out again. He was walking home looking intoxicated and someone tried to abduct him and force him to make ATM withdrawls, Brian resisted and ended up dead, body dumped somewhere.
 
I've been following this case since almost the beginning and compared to all the cases that I follow, I have the least amount of theories for this one. It's just so perplexing. In my mind the possibilities are (just thinking out loud) 1) he left voluntarily 2) he was taken out of the bar undetected by someone else (such as in band equipment container) 3) he's somehow still there (in an air duct) 4) he managed to leave undetected by cameras and died, accident or foul play and his body not found, somewhere along the way, either in the construction site or on the route home. 5) he made it home and something happened at his apartment or he went back out again. The first three just don't make a lot of sense to me for many reasons. I think they are the least likely. I'm leaning towards #4 and 5 and I just think there's just been so much focus on the Ugly Tuna and not enough on possibilities especially ones that involve making it home and then going out again. He was walking home looking intoxicated and someone tried to abduct him and force him to make ATM withdrawls, Brian resisted and ended up dead, body dumped somewhere.

I agree about the attention being spent on 1-3. I am leaning toward 4, with something more like 1 being a possible second (he left with band or staff or someone took his body out).


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I agree about the attention being spent on 1-3. I am leaning toward 4, with something more like 1 being a possible second (he left with band or staff or someone took his body out).

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My thought is that if he left with the band there would be many witnesses but I suppose if he just stayed late talking to one of them, and everyone was leaving through the back door, he could have just followed them out. Perhaps the band meets a lot of people in bars and don't specifically remember him? Though considering how big this case is, you'd think that evening and everything that happened later that night would be in the forefront of the employees and band's minds. If he was killed at the bar, I doubt he could have been killed quickly enough without witnesses to have been taken out in band equipment. This is not a very large establishment and there would have been many employees there in addition to the band. Perhaps someone purposely kept him late after everyone else had left and there was just two of them there, Brian and one other employee? But that would have to have been the manager or someone else who closes. Was there a manager's office? Still, for any of this to have happened without witnesses or anyone remembering....?
 
My thought is that if he left with the band there would be many witnesses but I suppose if he just stayed late talking to one of them, and everyone was leaving through the back door, he could have just followed them out. Perhaps the band meets a lot of people in bars and don't specifically remember him? Though considering how big this case is, you'd think that evening and everything that happened later that night would be in the forefront of the employees and band's minds. If he was killed at the bar, I doubt he could have been killed quickly enough without witnesses to have been taken out in band equipment. This is not a very large establishment and there would have been many employees there in addition to the band. Perhaps someone purposely kept him late after everyone else had left and there was just two of them there, Brian and one other employee? But that would have to have been the manager or someone else who closes. Was there a manager's office? Still, for any of this to have happened without witnesses or anyone remembering....?

Yeah, agreed. I have made the same points. If he stayed late after with the wrong person or crowd, I suppose he could have died on the scene and it covered up. People who worked there or were regulars may have had an advantage to pull this off. But more likely, I think he got out undetected and met with an accident or foul play.


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It's interesting that he wasn't spotted on surveillance video from other businesses along N. High Street, according to police, though I haven't heard the number of cameras they actually inspected. Back in 2006 I don't know how common it was for cameras to be on every storefront, building, in the intersections, etc. These days it seems like they are everywhere. Not sure how significant this is. I'm just wondering if as he's walking home in a somewhat intoxicated state, if he was the victim of a crime? That probably makes the most sense to me.
 
Well if he could be in wooded areas or scarcely used property, then they should conduct another search starting with wooded areas near Hilliard, since that's where his phone pinged from 6 months after. I know that it was believed to be a fluke on the phone company's part, but maybe there's some reason it pinged from that specific tower. Is that the closest one to where his phone was located at the time? Unless that's just the closest one to Columbus in general, I don't know
A lot of the wooded areas in Hilliard at the time of Brian's disappearance have since been developed. At one time, that was among the fastest growing regions in the Columbus metro area.
 
A lot of the wooded areas in Hilliard at the time of Brian's disappearance have since been developed. At one time, that was among the fastest growing regions in the Columbus metro area.

I would agree that if remains were dumped in Hilliard 10 yrs ago, they may be partially to fully buried by now. But I don't think exploring any lead could hurt...beyond the expense of man hours, I mean.

If police took the main road out to Hilliard, they could certainly keep an eye out for wooded areas or bodies of water and old abandoned barns and pay close attention to these places. There's always a very small chance they could come across a Drivers License or college ID or cell phone or something in one of these spots.

Not long ago, a missing girl around here was actually found by excavators developing the wooded property where her body was partially buried. So anything is possible.


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I still hold out hope that his remains can be found, especially since Jacob Wetterling's remains were just recently discovered. He disappeared in '89. I wish they would organize another public search. Heck, I'd join
 
I've been following this case since almost the beginning and compared to all the cases that I follow, I have the least amount of theories for this one. It's just so perplexing. In my mind the possibilities are (just thinking out loud) 1) he left voluntarily 2) he was taken out of the bar undetected by someone else (such as in band equipment container) 3) he's somehow still there (in an air duct) 4) he managed to leave undetected by cameras and died, accident or foul play and his body not found, somewhere along the way, either in the construction site or on the route home. 5) he made it home and something happened at his apartment or he went back out again. The first three just don't make a lot of sense to me for many reasons. I think they are the least likely. I'm leaning towards #4 and 5 and I just think there's just been so much focus on the Ugly Tuna and not enough on possibilities especially ones that involve making it home and then going out again. He was walking home looking intoxicated and someone tried to abduct him and force him to make ATM withdrawls, Brian resisted and ended up dead, body dumped somewhere.

Greetings,

Of those above five scenarios, I am not ruling out any one of them. I did read some of the reviews of The Ugly Tuna, and the place really sounds like a snake-pit with scummy employees. One reviewer even left one star alluding to Brian's disappearance, saying something like "Don't go here, there's a rumor somebody died here about ten years ago." There is also high crime in that area.

One question though might be why would Brian want to go out again after making it home? If he was that intoxicated, I think he would probably just crash for the night and go to sleep. I think it is extremely likely that Brian never made it home that night.

Satch
 
I am going to throw out these questions. (Sorry if this has been covered, but even if it has, it's good review material:)

Are there any records from reliable sources, interviews, surveillance, interrogations, that can tell us what Brian and his friends talked about that night and what his and their moods were throughout the evening? What was known about his personality? Was he a leader, or a follower in group situations? Was he a "Party Guy?" Or a casual drinker? Is it known the names and potency of the shots and or beers he drank that night?

Also, was Brian taking any medication for depression or any other form of illness? I am having a hard time with the "Brian separated from the group." Not saying that this didn't happen, but the more I think about this, it kind of falls in line with Clint saying that Brian, "Wanted to talk to the band." Why did Brian separate from the group?

If we could get a clearer picture of the conversations with Brian and his friends that night, even Brian's last known verified words to anybody, it could help begin to bring closure to this case.

There is some very important conversations that are missing here. What do you think about this?

Satch
 
Greetings,

Of those above five scenarios, I am not ruling out any one of them. I did read some of the reviews of The Ugly Tuna, and the place really sounds like a snake-pit with scummy employees. One reviewer even left one star alluding to Brian's disappearance, saying something like "Don't go here, there's a rumor somebody died here about ten years ago." There is also high crime in that area.

One question though might be why would Brian want to go out again after making it home? If he was that intoxicated, I think he would probably just crash for the night and go to sleep. I think it is extremely likely that Brian never made it home that night.

Satch
after reading this comment I went and read some reviews of the bar myself, and you're right. A lot of people seem to think the bar staff are rude, scummy and basically just total jerks. Not sure that would necessarily mean that they would kill someone and make them disappear though. Based on what I read, they seemed to be more unkind towards foreigners or even out of staters- Brian was neither. Of course this isn't to say that they couldn't have had a personal vendetta against him and made him disappear for another reason. I just don't know though, since I'm assuming Brian was a regular there and they must have known him personally. He was even there earlier in the night without incident, and if they were planning on getting rid of him then how could they be sure he would have returned later in the evening? Unless it was just a random spur of the moment accident that killed him, but the timeframe is so small for that
 
I am going to throw out these questions. (Sorry if this has been covered, but even if it has, it's good review material:)

Are there any records from reliable sources, interviews, surveillance, interrogations, that can tell us what Brian and his friends talked about that night and what his and their moods were throughout the evening? What was known about his personality? Was he a leader, or a follower in group situations? Was he a "Party Guy?" Or a casual drinker? Is it known the names and potency of the shots and or beers he drank that night?

Also, was Brian taking any medication for depression or any other form of illness? I am having a hard time with the "Brian separated from the group." Not saying that this didn't happen, but the more I think about this, it kind of falls in line with Clint saying that Brian, "Wanted to talk to the band." Why did Brian separate from the group?

If we could get a clearer picture of the conversations with Brian and his friends that night, even Brian's last known verified words to anybody, it could help begin to bring closure to this case.

There is some very important conversations that are missing here. What do you think about this?

Satch

One of the problems with this case is it is so old some articles have been taken down. Some are still copied and pasted in old forums or accessible via web cache. But I am confident I have read nearly every last one. There isn't a lot of public information, but his girlfriend and brother said he didn't do drugs. Drinking seemed like an occasional casual thing when referenced. We've heard he did a shot or two at each pub, but I've never seen the names released. By all accounts, Brian was very social. I don't think the idea of him wandering off to talk to another group he knew was out of the norm for him.

There has never been any public mention of meds that I am aware of.


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I am going to throw out these questions. (Sorry if this has been covered, but even if it has, it's good review material:)

Are there any records from reliable sources, interviews, surveillance, interrogations, that can tell us what Brian and his friends talked about that night and what his and their moods were throughout the evening? What was known about his personality? Was he a leader, or a follower in group situations? Was he a "Party Guy?" Or a casual drinker? Is it known the names and potency of the shots and or beers he drank that night?

Also, was Brian taking any medication for depression or any other form of illness? I am having a hard time with the "Brian separated from the group." Not saying that this didn't happen, but the more I think about this, it kind of falls in line with Clint saying that Brian, "Wanted to talk to the band." Why did Brian separate from the group?

If we could get a clearer picture of the conversations with Brian and his friends that night, even Brian's last known verified words to anybody, it could help begin to bring closure to this case.

There is some very important conversations that are missing here. What do you think about this?

Satch
According to his father who saw him for dinner that night, Brian seemed fine but a little tired from studying for his tests. He supposedly suggested that Brian not go out, but Brian wanted to. Alexis also claimed that he seemed fine when she spoke to him on the phone. As for medication, I feel that it would have been brought up during the investigation if he was taking some because that's pretty important, especially if there was a chance of pills and alcohol mixture that night. My understanding is that he separated from his friends because he went off to talk to other people that he knew. He has been described as the social type, though I don't know if that necessarily means "party guy". There's definite proof that he did separate from the group at least once because of the video tape only showing him and not Clint or Meredith. Clint said that they opened tabs that night, so there should be some paper trail of what they drank, thought after nearly 11 years I'm sure no records will be found of that unless it's already in the police file. I wish it was made public what Brian said to those 2 girls, though I guess that it was deemed irrelevant by the cops.
 
What was the weather like the day he disappeared? He isn't wearing a hoodie or jacket in the footage of him on the escalators. I've sometimes wondered if he left his jacket behind the bar or something because he was returning there later anyway and the reason he wasn't picked up on camera is because he had put his jacket on at the end of the night. But in that case you'd think that Clint would have mentioned to LE that he had a jacket on at the start of the night. Seems like it would be a big detail to leave out.

I know they insist "everyone was accounted for" but it would help a lot if we could see the actual footage rather than just being expected to accept that as gospel.
 
What was the weather like the day he disappeared? He isn't wearing a hoodie or jacket in the footage of him on the escalators. I've sometimes wondered if he left his jacket behind the bar or something because he was returning there later anyway and the reason he wasn't picked up on camera is because he had put his jacket on at the end of the night. But in that case you'd think that Clint would have mentioned to LE that he had a jacket on at the start of the night. Seems like it would be a big detail to leave out.

I know they insist "everyone was accounted for" but it would help a lot if we could see the actual footage rather than just being expected to accept that as gospel.

They analyzed all the people who left that were in Brian's height range, including other men (in case there was a change of clothes) and even women (in case of a disguise or double life was somehow in play). I feel really good about how he described their process for analyzing the footage too, which may still be linked in previous threads here if you're interested.

While I have had questions about police work (here on WS and elsewhere) on other cases, the interviews with the officers assigned to this case recounted painstaking details they had been notating. They had boxes of records from filing leads. And they even helped Brian's dad chase down some theories that many would consider outside of traditional police work (he went to the river with him to search a psychic tip for example).


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What was the weather like the day he disappeared? He isn't wearing a hoodie or jacket in the footage of him on the escalators. I've sometimes wondered if he left his jacket behind the bar or something because he was returning there later anyway and the reason he wasn't picked up on camera is because he had put his jacket on at the end of the night. But in that case you'd think that Clint would have mentioned to LE that he had a jacket on at the start of the night. Seems like it would be a big detail to leave out.

I know they insist "everyone was accounted for" but it would help a lot if we could see the actual footage rather than just being expected to accept that as gospel.

This is the weather reported for that time:


Weather History Results for Columbus, OH (43201) April 1st, 2006
« Previous Day - 3/31/2006 •••• 4/2/2006 - Next Day »

On April 1st, 2006, the closest available weather station to Columbus, OH (COLUMBUS PORT COLUMBUS INTL A, OH), reported the following conditions:

High Temp: 66.9°F
Low Temp: 50°F
Average Temp: 54°F ( 24 )
Dewpoint: 45.7°F ( 24 )
Sea Level Pressure: 1013.8 mb ( 20 )
Station Pressure: 984.4 mb ( 24 )
Visibility: 9.8 miles ( 24 )
Wind Speed: 11.7 knots ( 24 )
Max Wind Speed: 16.9 knots
Max Wind Gust: 22.7 knots
Precipitation Amount: 0.16 inches G
Snow Depth: n/a
Observations: Rain/Drizzle

Taken From: http://farmersalmanac.com/weather-history/search-results/

Satch
 
What was the weather like the day he disappeared? He isn't wearing a hoodie or jacket in the footage of him on the escalators. I've sometimes wondered if he left his jacket behind the bar or something because he was returning there later anyway and the reason he wasn't picked up on camera is because he had put his jacket on at the end of the night. But in that case you'd think that Clint would have mentioned to LE that he had a jacket on at the start of the night. Seems like it would be a big detail to leave out.

I know they insist "everyone was accounted for" but it would help a lot if we could see the actual footage rather than just being expected to accept that as gospel.
I don't think Clint was wearing one either, and neither were others that were seen on camera. It was towards the beginning of Spring, and people who live in the midwest get used to cold weather so when it's even slightly warmer, they usually take advantage of it and wear lighter clothing.
 
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