I think the ping itself, sadly, is sort of "agnostic" as to whether he's alive or not. It really supports at least a couple different scenarios.
1: In the first one he's alive and for some reason was still in the area - or came back into the area for an unknown reason - 5 months later. He needed to turn that phone back on for something - but why? If you'd given up your life to start a new one, what would be on that phone that was so important?
Also, it's mentioned somewhere that Alexis kept paying his phone bill and calling the number for well over a year. So she must have been receiving the statements. She'd know if the phone had been used that night to call out or if it answered any other calls.
2: In the second scenario, Brian is dead but likely made it out of the building because his phone obviously did. Either the killer still had the phone and turned it on for some reason or someone else did. Earlier in this thread it's mentioned that e-Cycle, the device recycling service, was in Hilliard at this time. I checked the BBB and it does indeed show the company was founded in 2005. I wish we knew exactly what time the ping occurred and if it only did it once or for an extended period.
Welcome to Ws. thanks for the interesting posts!
April 8 2007
One Year Later, Search Continues on For Brian Shaffer
"July and August passed with no new information, but a promising development happened in late September. Alexis called Brian's cell phone, just like she had been doing at least once a day since he'd been missing. On September 23, the phone rang for the first time before going to voice mail. Basically, all I know is that for a few hours a couple of weeks ago, Brian's cell phone was ringing before going to his voice mail for the first time in months. I kept calling it to hear it purely because it was one of the best sounds I have ever heard, even if no one picked up. His phone rang. That was good enough for me. It also scared the crap out of me, because I had no idea what I would say if a person answered it. I just wish I could have had the chance. I really wish I could get a straight story from someone on what happened and why because wondering where Brian is, is more than enough of a question to ask myself everyday without this one too.
Cingular, Brian's cell phone provider, offered two possible explanations. The most logical was a computer glitch that caused a dial tone to be heard. However, there was a possibility that Brian's phone was turned on and working for at least a short period of time in September. Sadly, Brian's phone did not have GPS capabilities and could not be located by Cingular."
https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/a-guy-walks-into-a-bar-and-is-never-seen-again#.bgan0pmcm
"Alexis called Brian’s cell phone every evening before bed. It always went to voicemail, the same sequence of sounds night after night: static, message, beep, silence. Then, on a sticky Friday in September, six months after her boyfriend evaporated, it connected. The ringback tone hummed once, twice, then three times. For Alexis, it sounded like a symphony. “It scared the crap out of me,” she
wrote on her MySpace. “I had no idea what I would say if a person answered it.” Brian’s phone pinged a tower in Hilliard, a suburb 14 miles northwest of central Columbus. It could have been a glitch, it could have meant nothing. Still, it suggested the incredible: Brian was alive."