Refresher, lengthy.
Randy Shaffer died in a freak accident in 2008 before he could unravel the mystery that had consumed his life for nearly three years—the disappearance of his son.
www.columbusmonthly.com
April Johnston 2019
This story originally appeared in the April 2009 issue of Columbus Monthly
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Randy Shaffer died in a freak accident in 2008 before he could unravel the mystery that had consumed his life for nearly three years—the disappearance of his son.
www.columbusmonthly.com
''The case always has been a tragic one, even for the detectives who are accustomed to investigating hardship. Brian's mother, Renee, lost her battle with cancer only three weeks before he disappeared. The double loss sent her husband, Randy, into a tailspin. He spent the next two and a half years on a rabid, relentless search for his oldest son, sloshing along miles of river bank, fielding phone calls from psychics and making pleading, public pitches for help, until a freak accident during a September 2008 windstorm took him, too.
''The details of that Friday night in 2006 have been reported and repeated, sifted and scrutinized, examined and re-examined by the family, the police and the web-based sleuths who love a good mystery.
It goes something like this: Brian, 27, and his former roommate, Clint Florence, arrive at South Campus Gateway's Ugly Tuna Saloona sometime after 9, determined to celebrate the beginning of spring break with a boys' night out. Just before 10, Brian speaks briefly to his girlfriend, Alexis Waggoner, who, like him, is a second-year medical student at Ohio State. He tells her he loves her and hangs up. It is the last time she'll talk to him. While Waggoner visits her parents' home in Toledo, Brian and Florence barhop from Gateway to the Arena District to the Short North, where they meet Florence's friend, Meredith Reed. By this time, Florence will later explain to police, they've had several shots and gladly take Reed up on her offer of a lift back to the Ugly Tuna.
Surveillance cameras hidden in the ceilings and facades at Gateway catch the trio riding the escalator up to the second-floor bar and stepping inside. It’s 1:15. Just before 2, Brian is back in the camera’s view, speaking with two college-age women. He appears to say goodbye and walk away. He’s never seen again.
Calls from Florence and Reed go unanswered that night. Calls from Waggoner and Randy go unanswered all weekend. But it isn't until Monday morning, when Brian misses a long-scheduled flight to Florida, that his family is sure something is wrong. They call Columbus police. ''