OH OH - Brian Shaffer, 27, Columbus, 1 April 2006 - #4

[itsrak]

Which of the following positions is more absurd?:

Now retired lead detective Hurst on the notion that Brian could still be alive today: Absolutely. Can't rule it out.
The same man on the notion that Brian may have died in the building in the construction area: Absolutely not.

 

[juan1]

Which of the following positions is more absurd?:

Now retired lead detective Hurst on the notion that Brian could still be alive today: Absolutely. Can't rule it out.
The same man on the notion that Brian may have died in the building in the construction area: Absolutely not.

That's what draws me to this case. Based on limited public information, some things just don't add up.

Sure, Brian's disappearance is one of the most challenging brain teasers to grace this website. Nobody seems to have a good idea of what really transpired. We may never know. But the initial investigation left much to be desired, and the conclusions based upon its findings are perplexing to the layperson. There were some bold assumptions made. That's what makes me wonder how much private information sits behind the desks of CPD. Is there a major piece of evidence that we are missing out on? Perhaps.

One thing that has always irked me about this case is the discussion of Brian being "dead or alive" as if it's a 50/50 chance. It's probably not. In our heart of hearts, we all want to believe that Brian is living out his dream. But with no verified sightings, no slip-ups, and no trace for nearly a decade and a half, I just don't see it. I sincerely hope that I'm wrong.

 

[Ozoner]

That's what draws me to this case. Based on limited public information, some things just don't add up.

Sure, Brian's disappearance is one of the most challenging brain teasers to grace this website. Nobody seems to have a good idea of what really transpired. We may never know. But the initial investigation left much to be desired, and the conclusions based upon its findings are perplexing to the layperson. There were some bold assumptions made. That's what makes me wonder how much private information sits behind the desks of CPD. Is there a major piece of evidence that we are missing out on? Perhaps.

One thing that has always irked me about this case is the discussion of Brian being "dead or alive" as if it's a 50/50 chance. It's probably not. In our heart of hearts, we all want to believe that Brian is living out his dream. But with no verified sightings, no slip-ups, and no trace for nearly a decade and a half, I just don't see it. I sincerely hope that I'm wrong.

I agree with you about it not being 50/50. I remain convinced that Brian died in the construction area and became buried or immured, but on the off chance that he made it out of the complex, then he must have been murdered and disposed of soon after. There is no chance that he's still alive.

 

[?unknown?]

The main reason I don’t think he’s with us any longer is that there’s been nothing at all that even hints of it in so long. Other than perhaps the phone pings (which them selves were 14 years ago) not even a whiff of life. In a lot of these other missing persons stories you get something that looks at least semi-credible like maybe a potential sighting that warrants some follow up, yet in the Shaffer case we don’t have even an inch to grab and place our hopes on. I can remember a few people getting excited about that message from the Virgin Islands that was left on the Randy Shaffer obituary but wasn’t that proven to be a fake and traced to a local computer? It definitely looked fake to me as soon as I saw it

 

[MerryB]

That's what makes me wonder how much private information sits behind the desks of CPD. Is there a major piece of evidence that we are missing out on? Perhaps.

Respectfully SBM. I agree; they know something we don’t.

 

[Falkner77]

@?unknown? :

The “other than“ of the Hilliard phone ping (if reliable) is the key to the difference between he’s somewhere in the building or basically ANY other possibility. Pretty significant. If he went undetected from thorough (“every nook and cranny”) CPD/dog searches, his phone can’t have been lifted from an accident scene.

I don’t think I’ve come across anyone following the case who actually thinks Brian’s still with us though... well, besides William Florence’s lawyer. ‍Hmm.

 

[Ozoner]

Respectfully SBM. I agree; they know something we don’t.

No, they don't. They've made their reasoning clear. In their minds, since they didn't find him, he isn't there. They are unwilling to admit their own fallibility. They have acknowledged that they're considering several scenarios, which is essentially an admission that they don't know anything.

 

[ShamelessObserver]

Bit of a long shot. But on CCTV Brian seems to be wearing two shirts. If you look closely, he has (seemingly) got one grey shirt on, with a long sleeved white shirt underneath. Is it not possible that he took off the grey shirt and is seen later on, on CCTV, but in a white long sleeved shirt? Meaning people haven't looked into it as they don't think it's him; because he isn't wearing grey?? Maybe he took it off for some reason (spilled drink), wrapped it up unseen and walked down the escalators? Or if he went out of the access door underneath the CCTV camera, made it out onto the street but he was wearing white then the sighting might have been dismissed as he wasn't in grey.

Long shot like I said but you never know...

 

[Tman2004]

Bit of a long shot. But on CCTV Brian seems to be wearing two shirts. If you look closely, he has (seemingly) got one grey shirt on, with a long sleeved white shirt underneath. Is it not possible that he took off the grey shirt and is seen later on, on CCTV, but in a white long sleeved shirt? Meaning people haven't looked into it as they don't think it's him; because he isn't wearing grey?? Maybe he took it off for some reason (spilled drink), wrapped it up unseen and walked down the escalators? Or if he went out of the access door underneath the CCTV camera, made it out onto the street but he was wearing white then the sighting might have been dismissed as he wasn't in grey.

Long shot like I said but you never know...

I’ve brought up a similar theory before and people were so confident in the guy who reviewed all the footage couldn’t have missed anything. With video that grainy I think he could have easily taken off one of his shirts and been missed.

 

[ShamelessObserver]

I’ve brought up a similar theory before and people were so confident in the guy who reviewed all the footage couldn’t have missed anything. With video that grainy I think he could have easily taken off one of his shirts and been missed.

Is there no way the footage of everyone else leaving the bar could be made public? Or is that video already out there somewhere?? Also, is there any footage of Brian and Clint entering the bar earlier that night, for the first time?? There may be clues within the footage...

 

[Ozoner]

I’ve brought up a similar theory before and people were so confident in the guy who reviewed all the footage couldn’t have missed anything. With video that grainy I think he could have easily taken off one of his shirts and been missed.

Is there no way the footage of everyone else leaving the bar could be made public? Or is that video already out there somewhere?? Also, is there any footage of Brian and Clint entering the bar earlier that night, for the first time?? There may be clues within the footage...

These videos weren't just glanced at once. They were reviewed very carefully. There was only one man on video that LE wasn't sure about, and Brian's family was allowed to view the video; they confirmed that it wasn't him.

 

[itsrak]

Is there no way the footage of everyone else leaving the bar could be made public? Or is that video already out there somewhere?? Also, is there any footage of Brian and Clint entering the bar earlier that night, for the first time?? There may be clues within the footage...

I'd love to see the vid of Clint and Brian going down the escalator following their first visit of the evening to the UTS. I'd bet that it was very easy to identify Brian both up and down on that first trip, just as it was very easy to identify him up on the second trip.

That said, I don't think CPD missed Brian - tall, slender, long-sleeved Tshirt under polo shirt - going down the escalator a second time, I think he simply did not come down a second time. If I understand correctly, the analysis showed that X number of people went up the escalator, and every one of them was accounted for going down - except one. In other words, it wasn't like say 432 people went up, and 432 came down, and one of the 432 who came down didn't match with one of the 432 who went up (that would have raised the question, who is the surplus person seen going up but not seen going down - CPD would presumably have shown us the image of that individual and asked 'who is this person?'). No, it was like 432 people went up, and only 431 came down. Where it gets interesting is that #432, the one seen going up but not seen going down, turns out to have been the individual who permanently disappeared that evening - Brian Shaffer. Coincidence? I think not. I think that Brian's seeming to not have left the building that eve/morn by conventional means is linked to his permanent disappearance and very likely death that night. Linked by causality. Whatever caused him to not leave the building caused his disappearance and death. Which would mean the entire case was just a stupid drunken accident minutes after Brian was last seen on vid, leaving the body hidden from view, with a failed search of the premises.

 

[Zoomy]

I'd love to see the vid of Clint and Brian going down the escalator following their first visit of the evening to the UTS. I'd bet that it was very easy to identify Brian both up and down on that first trip, just as it was very easy to identify him up on the second trip.

That said, I don't think CPD missed Brian - tall, slender, long-sleeved Tshirt under polo shirt - going down the escalator a second time, I think he simply did not come down a second time. If I understand correctly, the analysis showed that X number of people went up the escalator, and every one of them was accounted for going down - except one. In other words, it wasn't like say 432 people went up, and 432 came down, and one of the 432 who came down didn't match with one of the 432 who went up (that would have raised the question, who is the surplus person seen going up but not seen going down - CPD would presumably have shown us the image of that individual and asked 'who is this person?'). No, it was like 432 people went up, and only 431 came down. Where it gets interesting is that #432, the one seen going up but not seen going down, turns out to have been the individual who permanently disappeared that evening - Brian Shaffer. Coincidence? I think not. I think that Brian's seeming to not have left the building that eve/morn by conventional means is linked to his permanent disappearance and very likely death that night. Linked by causality. Whatever caused him to not leave the building caused his disappearance and death. Which would mean the entire case was just a stupid drunken accident minutes after Brian was last seen on vid, leaving the body hidden from view, with a failed search of the premises.

Your post has jogged my memory about a youtube video I saw about Brian, I think it was an interview with Detective Hurst, where he mentioned that three people were seen on CCTV either leaving or walking past the UTS at 6 am that morning. Two were ruled out as definitely not being Brian, but the head of the third was obscured by the other two people, so this could not be ruled out as not being Brian, as apparently this person was the same build as him. However after it was looked at by his family, they did not think that it was him, so was ruled out. So I'm wondering, who were these three people, cleaners maybe, or staff leaving after a lock in? Was it normal for anyone to be coming out or walking past the UTS at 6am in the morning? Does anyone else recall hearing about this?

 

[ShamelessObserver]

Your post has jogged my memory about a youtube video I saw about Brian, I think it was an interview with Detective Hurst, where he mentioned that three people were seen on CCTV either leaving or walking past the UTS at 6 am that morning. Two were ruled out as definitely not being Brian, but the head of the third was obscured by the other two people, so this could not be ruled out as not being Brian, as apparently this person was the same build as him. However after it was looked at by his family, they did not think that it was him, so was ruled out. So I'm wondering, who were these three people, cleaners maybe, or staff leaving after a lock in? Was it normal for anyone to be coming out or walking past the UTS at 6am in the morning? Does anyone else recall hearing about this?

Do you have a link to the video?? Surely if they exited the bar they could only have been cleaners or staff?

 

[ShamelessObserver]

Your post has jogged my memory about a youtube video I saw about Brian, I think it was an interview with Detective Hurst, where he mentioned that three people were seen on CCTV either leaving or walking past the UTS at 6 am that morning. Two were ruled out as definitely not being Brian, but the head of the third was obscured by the other two people, so this could not be ruled out as not being Brian, as apparently this person was the same build as him. However after it was looked at by his family, they did not think that it was him, so was ruled out. So I'm wondering, who were these three people, cleaners maybe, or staff leaving after a lock in? Was it normal for anyone to be coming out or walking past the UTS at 6am in the morning? Does anyone else recall hearing about this?

Were these people traced? Seems very odd

 

[Valiant]

I wouldn't find it that odd that the last employees could be here several hours after close, especially since it was bar that served food.
There's a lot of cleaning, shut down equipment, dish washing, etc. that still needs done once the last patrons leave. Add in that it's a bar that often may be the busiest right before close.

 

[Ozoner]

I wouldn't find it that odd that the last employees could be here several hours after close, especially since it was bar that served food.
There's a lot of cleaning, shut down equipment, dish washing, etc. that still needs done once the last patrons leave. Add in that it's a bar that often may be the busiest right before close.

Yes, they might not be done cleaning up until 4:00 AM, and then they might hang out drinking beer and smoking cigarettes for a couple of hours. The people who work at those jobs are night owls. Bed time for them is 7:00 AM.

 

[Ozoner]

I wouldn't find it that odd that the last employees could be here several hours after close, especially since it was bar that served food.
There's a lot of cleaning, shut down equipment, dish washing, etc. that still needs done once the last patrons leave. Add in that it's a bar that often may be the busiest right before close.

Yes, they might not be done cleaning up until 4:00 AM, and then they might hang out drinking beer and smoking cigarettes for a couple of hours. The people who work at those jobs are night owls. Bed time for them is 7:00 AM.

 

[Zoomy]

Do you have a link to the video?? Surely if they exited the bar they could only have been cleaners or staff?

I don't have the link to hand, it was on either a youtube video, or one I found on google, as I literally watched every single video I could find when I first heard about this case two years ago. I could probably find it again, but it would mean having to watch them all again, although I think it was from shortly after when Brian disappeared. The thing that makes me think it couldn't have been cleaners or staff, is that they would have been traced and identified, and it didn't sound as though these three people were, as the family were asked to watch to see if the obscured person was Brian. It is the only one aspect of this case that I have heard about, but has never been mentioned again. I wonder if Kelly Bruce could shed any light on this?

 

[Tman2004]

I don't have the link to hand, it was on either a youtube video, or one I found on google, as I literally watched every single video I could find when I first heard about this case two years ago. I could probably find it again, but it would mean having to watch them all again, although I think it was from shortly after when Brian disappeared. The thing that makes me think it couldn't have been cleaners or staff, is that they would have been traced and identified, and it didn't sound as though these three people were, as the family were asked to watch to see if the obscured person was Brian. It is the only one aspect of this case that I have heard about, but has never been mentioned again. I wonder if Kelly Bruce could shed any light on this?

with as grainy as the surveillance video is I don’t trust that anyone could definitively say a person in the video is or isn’t Shaffer. Unless he had some unusual gait that none of have heard of before.