Brian Shaffer, a 27-year-old Ohio State University medical student, was last seen on CCTV entering the Ugly Tuna Saloona bar in Columbus on April 1, 2006, and never left, with no trace of him ever found.
A Promising Life Cut Short
Brian was described as good-looking, gifted, and bright, adored by his family. He loved the beach, his parents Renee and Randy, and his girlfriend Alexis. In high school, he was captain of the tennis team and was considered talented enough to turn professional. He held a Bachelor of Science in microbiology and worked as a radiology tech assistant for the Ohio State University hospital while taking a break from his studies.
His true dream was to escape the rat race and own a bar on a tropical beach. Brian was taking a break from university after his mother's tragic early death. Renee was diagnosed with myelodysplasia, a type of bone marrow cancer, and died shortly before Brian went missing, plunging him into a deep depression.
The Night of Disappearance
On March 31, 2006, about three weeks after his mother's death, Brian met his father at Outback Steakhouse for dinner. At about 9:30pm, he met his friend and former dorm mate William "Clint" Florence at the Ugly Tuna Saloona. At 10pm, Brian called Alexis, told her he missed and loved her, and talked about their planned trip to Miami.
Brian and Clint later went to The Short North bar, where they ran into a friend, Meredith Reed, who gave them a ride back to the Ugly Tuna Saloona. At 1:15am on April 1, CCTV captured Brian, Meredith, and Clint riding the escalator into the bar. At 1:55am, Brian was seen on security footage standing near the escalator in the foyer just outside the bar's entrance, chatting with two Ohio State students.
The camera angle fails to show Brian heading back into the bar, though he walked beyond the camera's field of view. Clint and Meredith maintained that Brian did return to the bar, as they had spoken with him about wrapping up the night. They last spotted Brian as he made his way towards the stage.
Investigation and Theories
When the bar shut its doors, the crowd streamed towards the exit, and Clint and Meredith realised Brian was nowhere to be seen and wasn't picking up his phone. Assuming he'd caught a lift, hailed a cab, or walked home, they left. But Brian never arrived home. Randy and Alexis repeatedly rang Brian's phone throughout the weekend, and on Monday, Randy called the police to report his son missing.
Missing posters were plastered across town, and police scoured dumpsters and sewers. Sniffer dogs initially picked up Brian's scent but were unable to track it further. Brian's car was parked outside his flat, with nothing tampered with, and neither had anything at his home. Randy and Meredith both took and passed polygraph examinations. Clint initially cooperated but eventually hired a solicitor who recommended he not take a polygraph test.
Police secured the security footage and identified nearly everyone exiting the bar that evening, and Brian wasn't amongst them. A service freight lift had no surveillance cameras, but a camera from an opposite establishment monitored the exit at ground level, showing no indication of Brian departing the building. Alexis rang Brian's phone every evening; one evening it rang three times before going to voicemail. Police contacted the mobile phone provider, who stated a technical fault may have allowed the ring. Police established the phone had pinged off the tower in Hilliard, Ohio, 14 miles northwest of Columbus.
Unresolved Mystery
Numerous theories surround the disappearance. Police theorised Brian could have orchestrated his disappearance, changing clothing or wearing a hat to avoid recognition on surveillance footage. Other theories include suicide, foul play, getting lost and tumbling into a river or rubbish skip, or never departing the bar and perishing inside the building. One theory suggests he left via a window or emergency exit leading to a construction site, where he met his end and was buried under building materials.
Hilliard, Ohio, is around a 20-minute drive from where Brian was last spotted, and the mobile phone mast and town are flanked by cornfields and bodies of water. If any search of the area surrounding Hilliard has taken place, it has yet to be made public. The only certainty in this case is that not a single trace of Brian has ever been discovered.
