Brian Randall Shaffer, a medical student at Ohio State University, disappeared on April 1, 2006, after a night out at a bar with friends in Columbus, Ohio.
The security camera outside the bar's entrance caught him chatting briefly with two women around 2 a.m.
After that, he walked away from the camera's view, and no one has seen or heard from Shaffer since then.
Early Life and Background
Brian Shaffer was born on February 25, 1979, in Pickerington, Ohio.
He grew up in a close-knit family with his parents, Randy and Renee Shaffer, and his younger brother, Derek.
Brian was an excellent student, graduating from the local high school in 1997 and later earning a degree in microbiology from Ohio State University (OSU) in 2004.
In 2004, Brian began his studies at the OSU College of Medicine.
Brian was romantically involved with Alexis Waggoner, a fellow medical student, and the couple had plans to travel to Miami for spring break in April 2006.
Sadly, in March 2006, during Brian's second year in medical school, his mother died of myelodysplasia.
Shaffer's friends mentioned that even though he seemed okay on the surface, her death really affected him.
The Night of Disappearance
On the evening of March 31, 2006, Brian and his father celebrated the beginning of spring break with a steak dinner.
After dinner, Shaffer told his father he wanted to go out for a drink with his friend William "Clint" Florence.
While they were eating, Shaffer's father noticed he looked exhausted from staying up all night earlier that week studying for his upcoming exams.
Shaffer's father thought it wasn't a good idea for Shaffer to go out with Florence that night, but he didn't share his concerns with his son.
At 9 p.m., Shaffer met Florence at the Ugly Tuna Saloona, a bar at the South Campus Gateway on High Street in Columbus.
An hour later, Shaffer called Waggoner, who had gone back to her home in Toledo to spend time with her family before they were supposed to leave for Miami together.
Shaffer and Florence then left the Ugly Tuna Saloona bar and started bar hopping.
According to Florence, they each had one shot of hard liquor at each place they stopped.
After midnight, Shaffer and his friend met with Meredith Reed, who was Florence's friend.
Reed gave them a ride back to where they had started their night, the Ugly Tuna Saloona.
There, they had one last drink together.
While they were at the bar, Shaffer separated from Florence and Reed.
The last time anyone saw him was on a security camera outside the bar just before 2 am.
Florence and Reed tried to find Shaffer by calling him multiple times.
When the bar closed at 2 am, they went outside, expecting to meet him there.
Since they didn't see him among the people leaving, they thought he might have gone back to his apartment without telling them.
Later that weekend, Waggoner and Shaffer's father also tried calling him, but he didn't pick up.
On Monday morning, Shaffer missed the flight to Miami that he and Waggoner had planned long before.
At that point, they reported him missing to the Columbus police because they knew all was not well.
Investigation
Columbus police launched a thorough investigation, starting with the Ugly Tuna Saloona where he was last seen.
The area around where the Ugly Tuna Saloona was located had a high crime rate, so the bar and other businesses around had security cameras.
They checked the footage, which showed Shaffer, Florence, and Reed going up an escalator to the bar's main entrance at 1:15 a.m.
Shaffer was spotted outside the bar around 1:55 a.m., chatting briefly with two young women before saying goodbye and walking out of view.
None of the cameras captured him after then, and this was the last known time Shaffer was seen.
Investigators considered that Shaffer might have changed his clothes inside the bar or worn a hat to hide his face from the camera.
They suggested that he could have also left the building using a service door that wasn't used by the public.
This door was near where Brian was last seen and led to a hallway on the first floor.
At that time, the hallway provided access to a construction area that had its own exit to the outside.
Some officers thought it would be hard to navigate through this area, especially if Shaffer was intoxicated, as he likely was.
However, the cameras in that area never captured Shaffer.
Security footage from nearby establishments was reviewed, but no additional sightings of Brian were found.
The search expanded beyond the immediate area, involving police dogs, flyers, and even a search of the city's sewer system.
At Shaffer's apartment on King Avenue, which is six blocks away from the bar, his car was parked outside.
Inside the apartment, everything looked normal and nothing seemed abnormal.
Friends and family members, including his father, Randy, took polygraph tests and cooperated fully with the investigation.
Clint Florence, however, refused to take a polygraph test, which raised suspicions among some.
The two women Brian was last seen talking to were later identified.
They mentioned in 2009 that no one had ever asked them to take a polygraph test themselves.
Family's Efforts
Since there were no immediate clues and searches weren't turning up anything useful, authorities somewhat slowed down, waiting for new leads to pursue.
However, Shaffer's family continued their search without slowing down.
Every evening after Shaffer disappeared, his girlfriend Waggoner would call his phone before going to bed.
Most times, it went straight to voicemail.
One night in September, it rang three times.
"I kept calling just to hear it because it was one of the best sounds I've ever heard, even though no one answered," she wrote on her MySpace page.
Shaffer's phone provider, Cingular, suggested the ringing might have been a computer mistake.
However, a signal from the phone was detected at a cell tower in Hilliard, 14 miles northwest of Columbus.
The police followed this tip but it didn't result in any breakthrough in the case.
Shaffer's father, who had recently lost his wife, kept looking for his son by himself too
A psychic he talked to said Shaffer's body might be in the water near a bridge support.
Randy, along with Derek, Brian's younger brother, and other people who cared about the case, bought waders and spent a lot of their spare time searching along the shores of the Olentangy River.
They focused their efforts near bridges in Columbus, next to the OSU campus, but they didn't find Brian's body.
In September 2008, during a strong windstorm, Randy Shaffer was at home in his yard in Baltimore, Ohio, clearing debris.
A branch broke off from a nearby tree and tragically hit him, causing his death.
After his obituary was published online, a condolence message appeared in a guestbook.
It was signed "To Dad, love Brian (U.S. Virgin Islands)."
This suggested that Brian might still be alive and may have moved away from Columbus for a new life elsewhere.
However, upon investigation, it was found that the message was posted from a public computer in Franklin County, making it a hoax.
Theories and recent developments
Several theories have been proposed regarding Brian's disappearance:
1. Foul Play: Some suspect Brian was a victim of foul play, possibly linked to the purported Smiley Face Killer.
Under this theory, Shaffer would be the serial killer's only victim whose body hasn't been found.
Columbus police later decided that there's no link to the supposed killer in Shaffer's case, which matches the conclusions of many other law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, that have investigated it.
2. Voluntary Disappearance: Others speculate that Brian might have chosen to disappear and start a new life.
Because Shaffer's mother had recently passed away, some thought he had gone away for a while to mourn alone.
However, his disappearance turned out to be permanent, and there were no clear reasons why he chose to disappear.
3. Accidental Death: It is also possible that Brian suffered an accident and his body has not been found despite extensive searches.
Shortly after Randy Shaffer passed away, Neil Rosenberg, who is Florence's lawyer, wrote to Don Corbett, a private investigator helping the Shaffer family find Brian.
Rosenberg mentioned that his client, Florence, continued to refuse to take a lie detector test.
He hinted that he had heard from the Columbus police, who were investigating the case, that they believed Brian Shaffer might still be alive.
According to Rosenberg, Florence had nothing to hide and had been truthful from the start.
Despite Rosenberg's claims, many people close to Brian Shaffer have criticized Florence for not being open enough.
Shaffer's brother Derek accused Florence of stopping his cooperation as soon as the police got involved.
He said, "Once the detective got involved, he pretty much stopped talking to anyone. I've always felt he knows something but won't share it."
Derek still thinks Shaffer might be alive and that Florence knows where he might be.
"If Brian did leave somewhere, we always felt Clint might know," he said.
Waggoner also thinks Florence is hiding information but believes her ex-boyfriend is likely deceased and didn't just leave.
"I can't imagine he would have done that," she said.
Despite the passage of time, the case remains active.
In 2014, police continued to receive tips, and in 2021, an age-progressed photo of Brian was released.
In 2019, a photo of a homeless man in Tijuana resembling Brian was investigated but ruled out through FBI facial recognition analysis.
Brian Shaffer's disappearance is one of the most puzzling cases in recent times.
Despite extensive investigations and many theories, we still don't know what happened to him.
The search for answers continues, driven by the hope that one day, the mystery will be solved, and his family can find closure.
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