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

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I was just reading about this in Paulides' book "A Sobering Coincidence". What a strange, mysterious case. So sad, his brother Derek has now lost his whole family after his father was killed in that freak accident. :(

I do think someone that was there that night knows what happened to Brian though, jmo. Has this video already been posted here? It has some footage from the surveillance cameras at the bar.

[video=youtube;Fz50sB89uG8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz50sB89uG8[/video]
 
^^I just didn't get how someone can walk away when you're with a group of friends. I understand kids walking off suddenly but usually when I go out drinking with friends I'd be like "Hey wait up" or "where ya going?" if someone appears to walk away without saying anything. You have to be smashed to not pay any attention - but that bit is unclear to me too - how drunk they were.

^Oh, now that's a piece I never heard before - that Brian went to talk to the band. Now that makes some bit of sense. I always wanted to see someone retrace Brian's steps, so I'm glad they did that. I would have tried that myself had I lived in the area.
 
This case is one of the most mysterious I have seen on WS regarding missing persons. Have never forgotten him. LE needs to re-interview I think.
 
ScottyMcGee said:
^^I just didn't get how someone can walk away when you're with a group of friends. I understand kids walking off suddenly but usually when I go out drinking with friends I'd be like "Hey wait up" or "where ya going?" if someone appears to walk away without saying anything. You have to be smashed to not pay any attention - but that bit is unclear to me too - how drunk they were.

^Oh, now that's a piece I never heard before - that Brian went to talk to the band. Now that makes some bit of sense. I always wanted to see someone retrace Brian's steps, so I'm glad they did that. I would have tried that myself had I lived in the area.
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Wonder who the band was and if they, or any of their fans/ g/boyfriends were there taking photos, do they remember Brian and was the band vehicle parked behind the club?
 
New podcast covers Brian Shaffer disappearance they do over two hours on Brian's story. Coming up on ten years missing. The name of the show is true crime garage it's on ITunes and stitcher

www.TrueCrimeGarage.com
 
I posted here about three years ago, and I still think about Brian. Especially after seeing that very close to the 10th anniversary of Brian's disappearance, another young man has vanished from that same area. Joey LaBute was the same age as Brian, and even looks like Brian. Could Brian's killer/abductor have struck again? And will they catch him this time, leading to answers about Brian?
http://myfox28columbus.com/news/local/family-frantic-after-26-year-old-man-goes-missing
 
OSUgrad2011 said:
I posted here about three years ago, and I still think about Brian. Especially after seeing that very close to the 10th anniversary of Brian's disappearance, another young man has vanished from that same area. Joey LaBute was the same age as Brian, and even looks like Brian. Could Brian's killer/abductor have struck again? And will they catch him this time, leading to answers about Brian?
http://myfox28columbus.com/news/local/family-frantic-after-26-year-old-man-goes-missing
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Joey's thread is here:
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?302362-OH-Joey-LaBute-26-Columbus-4-March-2016
 
Bumping for Brian- I have been enthralled with the disappearance of Joey Labute and cannot help but think of this case. It is haunting and continues to puzzle me.
When I was a student at OSU, I worked at Ugly Tuna for a short period of time. As an employee, I was only aware of ONE exit (the main entrance/exit). I continue to to picture the inside of the bar- it is not a huge bar. I just cannot explain how someone could leave that bar without being seen. If he were to jump off the patio, someone would SURELY witness this- He would land directly onto the patio of the bar downstairs. Also, there was probably many many students walking around the area, up and down High St, at that particular hour. Plus, from when I worked there, a bouncer (or two) was ALWAYS present at the door- they saw everyone come in and everyone go out. I just cannot wrap my head around how a physically fit, tall, 27 year old male could just vanish into thin air! It haunts me that we don't have any answers. Surely, someone out there knows SOMETHING!
 
Are there windows in the bathroom one could climb out?
 
UnsolvedinOhio said:
New podcast covers Brian Shaffer disappearance they do over two hours on Brian's story. Coming up on ten years missing. The name of the show is true crime garage it's on ITunes and stitcher

www.TrueCrimeGarage.com
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Sorry, I don't post much here, but just wanted to say that the True Crime Garage episode on Brian Shaffer was very well done. It was two episodes and pretty informative. On top of that there was pretty good discussion into theories. This story is pretty interesting for me, because I've been in that area many times.

I've looked around on the web for as much as I was able to for this story. I guess the one thing I would love to know is that phone call Brian made to his girlfriend earlier that night. Was that normal for him to do with her? Did she ever say?

Some people are quite vocal like that with their significant others. Lots of people aren't. I just wonder if that call raised a flag with her, or if that is just something the two of them did all the time, in which you would really disregard the importance of that call.

The other thing I would love to know, was anyone in that place, especially the two people he was with, able to confirm that he was drinking? If you want to go down the path of Brian using this night, and this building to go off the grid, why would you try to pull that stunt after several drinks. There are reports that he was very drunk, but I just wonder if anyone there confirmed that they did see him physically drinking.

I tend to believe that Brian somehow got out of that bar on his own. I think for whatever reason, he ditched his friends and was just going to find his own way back home. Somewhere along the way maybe someone took advantage of a guy they could lift for a few bucks, or maybe someone wasn't paying attention while they drove, and hit him, and didn't want to deal with the consequences, of maybe a dui/manslaughter.

You really can't rule anything out. I find it hard to believe that he would use a Friday night at a bar very close to Ohio State where there are tons of people as a focal point of disappearing on your own. But maybe that was just it. Disappear right under everyone's noses?

I really wish there were more podcasts out there with discussion of this case. It's really interesting, and hits home a bit as I grew up in Ohio and spent a lot of time hanging out in Columbus with friends.
 
I too, went to OSU & am intrigued by this case, partly because I'm familiar with campus & also, like you, my interest has been renewed with the disappearance of Joey Labute. Remember that there was construction going on at the Ugly Tuna at the time of Brian's disappearance (April Fool's Day 2006). While it wasn't a desirable way to exit the bar, it was another way to exit without survellience.
 
MerryB said:
I too, went to OSU & am intrigued by this case, partly because I'm familiar with campus & also, like you, my interest has been renewed with the disappearance of Joey Labute. Remember that there was construction going on at the Ugly Tuna at the time of Brian's disappearance (April Fool's Day 2006). While it wasn't a desirable way to exit the bar, it was another way to exit without survellience.
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April Fool's joke gone very wrong?
speculation.
 
According to "Help Find Brian Shaffer" Facebook page, a user contacted 10TV news to get media involved in this case again, in light of the recent disappearance of Joey Labute. March 31 marks the 10th anniversary of Brian's disappearance. Hope the media bites at the request.
 
MerryB said:
Brian disappeared 10 years ago in the early morning hours of April 1, 2006 from OSU campus.
http://www.columbusmonthly.com/content/stories/2014/09/when-missing-persons-cases-go-cold.html
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From the link,
Wondering what the 3 theories LE are considering?
Did someone want to stop the potential/ probable? marriage proposal?
Did B. go willingly/ unwillingly with someone toward the construction area for any reason?
Did he "snap", or even have plans to disappear?
Get into an argument about re-entering the club?

If the Tuna was someplace Brian frequented, is there cctv video showing him on other nights, what sort of things might be captured at the club on nights when he was not there?

Did Brian change his mind about studying medicine after spending time with his sick mother?

speculation, imo.




That evening, Brian Shaffer, a second-year Ohio State medical student, had dinner with his father at an East Side steak house before meeting a friend at Ugly Tuna Saloona, an upstairs bar in the South Campus Gateway. He was set to depart for Miami, Florida, the following Monday for a vacation with his longtime girlfriend, also a medical student at Ohio State. She was anticipating a marriage proposal, she had told friends, and was hoping it would happen on the trip they’d planned for spring break. She had left Columbus to stay with her parents in Toledo for the weekend. When she spoke to Brian on the phone around 10 p.m., she had no idea it would be the last time she would ever talk to her boyfriend
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snip>

Part of the building was still under construction, and a construction elevator outside surveillance range could have been taken down to the first floor. Several theories of what happened to Brian that night exist, including the possibility he left the bar with the intention of never being found. Some said the stress of medical school, coupled with the death of his mother, who had died of cancer less than a month before he went missing, was enough to drive him away.

“We have three different theories,” says Sgt. Denise Reffitt of the Columbus police missing persons unit, “but none that we can discuss.
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”
 
dotr said:
From the link,
Wondering what the 3 theories LE are considering?
Did someone want to stop the potential/ probable? marriage proposal?
Did B. go willingly/ unwillingly with someone toward the construction area for any reason?
Did he "snap", or even have plans to disappear?
Get into an argument about re-entering the club?

If the Tuna was someplace Brian frequented, is there cctv video showing him on other nights, what sort of things might be captured at the club on nights when he was not there?

Did Brian change his mind about studying medicine after spending time with his sick mother?

speculation, imo.



snip>

[/B]”
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I don't know, but I believe the 3 theories are 1. Brian chose to disappear that night 2. Brian had an accident of some kind, possibly involving the construction elevator/area at the Ugly Tuna and 3. Someone hurt Brian in the bar or as he left the bar.

I would be curious to know if he had a ring for the expected proposal on the Miami trip. There was no mention of that to my knowledge, just that his girlfriend was expecting that.

My personal theory, being a former OSU student and familiar with that area, is that he left via the construction elevator, bypassing survellience. JMO
 
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