Why Brian Shaffer Is One Of The Most Perplexing Disappearances Ever

Brian Shaffer, an average college student, celebrated spring break starting March 31, 2006. Shaffer was in his second year of med school at Ohio State University. He met friends at a local college bar, the Ugly Tuna Saloona.

Shaffer left the bar with his friend Clint Florence after taking shots. He returned with Florence and their friend, Meredith Reed, around 1:15 am on April 1. Florence and Reed separated from Shaffer at the bar. They last saw him then. They searched for him after the last call, but...Shaffer was gone.They assumed Shaffer walked back to his apartment. Days passed before anyone knew Shaffer was missing.

Police reviewed security footage at the Ugly Tuna Saloona during their search for Shaffer. The cameras outside the bar included a manual camera and one that panned the whole area. This made it nearly impossible for someone to enter or leave unseen.

CCTV recorded Shaffer, Reed, and Florence going up the escalator to the bar's main entrance around 1:15 am on April 1. Shaffer was...The camera later showed Shaffer.About 40 minutes later, around 1:55 am, Shaffer talked to two college-age women at the bar's main entrance. Once Shaffer stepped back inside, no footage showed him leaving at closing. Investigators identified every patron leaving the bar in the early hours of April 1, including Reed and Florence, but Shaffer was nowhere to be found. Brian Shaffer vanished after re-entering the Ugly Tuna, just before closing.

When police could not find Shaffer among the patrons leaving the Ugly Tuna on April 1, they developed other theories about his disappearance. One theory...an early theory suggested Shaffer changed clothes or put on a baseball cap, then slipped out with another group before closing. This is not an unreasonable theory, but it fails to account for police identifying every other patron leaving the bar.This theory suggested Shaffer changed clothes or put on a baseball cap, then snuck out with another group of patrons before closing. Authorities could identify everyone else leaving the bar, which challenges this idea.

Brian Shaffer was 6'2", 165 pounds. He had a Pearl Jam tattoo on his left bicep, which made him easy to spot on even grainy footage. Shaffer leaving the front entrance required bypassing both the manual and panning cameras outside the Ugly Tuna.

The Ugly Tuna had one official entrance for patrons. A back exit existed where Shaffer might have left unseen. However, this theory faced a problem in the police investigation. The...The rear exit of the Ugly Tuna.An extensive construction site led to the disappearance. Police thought this site might confuse Shaffer if he was drunk. Reed and Florence said Shaffer drank a lot that night, making the rear exit theory less likely.

Shaffer jumping from the Ugly Tuna's balcony was a possible alternative, but it seemed nearly impossible for someone intoxicated. Investigators faced a hard question: If Brian Shaffer did not leave the bar through the front or rear entrance, how did he exit?

Security cameras in front of the Ugly Tuna Saloona did not record Shaffer leaving the bar, but police had other footage.Police had a wealth of other security footage to investigate.Columbus had more video surveillance than Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Toledo combined when Shaffer vanished. Three other bars near the Ugly Tuna—the Sloppy Donkey, Mad Mex, and Lucky's Stout House—gave security footage to investigators. Shaffer did not appear in any of the footage.

Even the construction site Shaffer could have used had security cameras, yet no one saw Shaffer moving through that area that night.

Brian Shaffer's family told authorities immediately there was no reason for him to leave. Shaffer and his girlfriend, Alexis Waggoner, planned to fly to Miami.Shaffer disappeared just two days after he vanished.Waggoner knew something was wrong only when Shaffer missed their flight. People close to Shaffer said he planned to propose to Waggoner on the trip.

The vacation was a gift from Shaffer's mother, Renee, who died of cancer three weeks before Shaffer disappeared. Renee was a nurse, and Shaffer said his mother inspired him to attend medical school. Speculation suggested Renee's death was so hard that Shaffer decided to leave his life behind.Shaffer never accessed his cell phone or bank account in the weeks after he disappeared, causing worry that he met a bad end.Meredith Reed and Clint Florence were first interviewed by police after Shaffer went missing. The two friends spent most of the night with Shaffer and tried calling him many times before leaving the Ugly Tuna. Reed passed a polygraph test about a month later to clear her involvement. Florence seemed less eager to help the police. Florence hired a lawyer, Neil Rosenberg, and reportedly refused to take a polygraph test.

Meredith Reed and Clint Florence were two of the first people police interviewed after Shaffer vanished. These friends spent most of the night with Shaffer. They tried calling him several times before leaving the Ugly Tuna. Police asked Reed for a polygraph test about a month after Shaffer disappeared. Reed passed the test. Florence, however, seemed unwilling to assist the police. Florence hired a lawyer, Neil Rosenberg, and reportedly...Florence refused to take a polygraph test.William “Clint” Florence, one of Shaffer’s friends, avoided contact after being the last person to see Shaffer on April 1, 2006. In a 2009 email to reporters, Florence wrote, "ANY and ALL questions you have for me should be direct to my attorney, Neil Rosenberg."

Reports suggest Shaffer and Florence argued at the Ugly Tuna. Those who think Shaffer left his life guess Florence played a part. Shaffer's brother, Derek, said in an interview thatsomething seemed "off" with Florence.Derek said, "The way he talked about my brother after he went missing—kind of in a negative way. I wouldn’t expect that from someone whose friend vanished." Derek insisted Florence should know any information about Shaffer's disappearance.

By 2009, Clint Florence refused two polygraph tests regarding Shaffer's disappearance. In an email between Florence's lawyer, Neil Rosenberg, and private investigator Don Corbett, Rosenberg stated he believed Shafferwas still alive.Rosenberg wrote on September 22, 2008, "If Brian is alive, which is what I'm led to believe after speaking with the detective involved, then it is Brian, and not Clint who is causing his family pain and hardship. Brian should come forward and end this."

Corbett helped the Shaffer family search for Brian but could not name which of the three detectives Rosenberg spoke with. Rosenberg refused to discuss the email or his claims when reporters asked.

After over a year without finding Shaffer, investigators began looking at less likely but possible theories about his disappearance. One theory suggested Shaffer was the victim ofa serial killer.Bloggers and web sleuths linked Shaffer to the alleged "Smiley Face Killer," who reportedly killed intoxicated young men by drowning them.

The killer left a smiley face spray-painted near the victim's body. However, it is unclear if the Smiley Face Killer is one person, because there is no clear link between a single killer and the 40 murders attributed to them. Shaffer fit the age and was intoxicated, but investigators found no bodies of water near Shaffer, nor did they find a smiley face spray-painted in the area. The FBI ruled out this theory in 2008, but it remains popular online.

Brian Shaffer had a distinct Pearl Jam stick figure tattoo on his left bicep. He planned to see a Pearl Jam concert in Detroit a month after he went missing. Shaffer's girlfriend, Alexis Waggoner, auctioned the concert tickets and used the money for Shaffer's reward fund.

During the investigation, Eddie Vedder assisted.a 2006 concert in Cincinnati.Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder talked to the audience about Shaffer and asked for their help finding him. Shaffer's dad, Randy, also went to the concert. In May 2010, Pearl Jam played in Columbus, and Vedder dedicated "Come Back" to Shaffer. Eddie Vedder assisted Shaffer.

After Shaffer vanished, Alexis Waggoner called his cell phone nightly, hoping her missing boyfriend would answer. Shaffer's phone went straight to voicemail each night. This pattern continued for six months. Then, on a Friday night in September 2006, Shaffer's phone rang."It scared the crap out of me," Waggoner wrote on her MySpace page. Shaffer's phone rang three times before stopping.

Waggoner told the police right away. They traced the call to a cell tower ping in Hilliard, a Columbus suburb. The phone ping's closeness to where Shaffer disappeared (about 14 miles) felt strange. The cell phone ping gave Shaffer's family a small hope, but investigators found it a technical error. Shaffer's phone never rang again.

On September 14, 2008, the Shaffer family faced another tragedy. Brian's father, Randy, died when a tree fell on him during a windstorm. Randy searched for his son for two and a half years, even consulting a psychic. The psychic told Randy his son's body was underwater, and Randy nearly drowned during a search.

After Randy died, an unbelievable post appeared.appeared in the comment section of his online obituary. The comment read, "Dad, I love you. Love, Brian (US Virgin Islands)." An investigation later found the comment was probably a sick joke, not posted by Shaffer.

On March 29, 2021, the Ohio Attorney General's office released a new photo of Shaffer.Authorities released a new age-progressed photo of Shaffer in March 2021.The photo showed Brian Shaffer at age 42. Interim Columbus Police Chief Michael Woods told the press that they wanted to find everyone from missing persons cases and thought this was another step to find Mr. Shaffer.

The last real sighting of Shaffer happened in 2020. The FBI used facial recognition on a photo of a homeless person in Mexico. This possible sighting might have offered some hope, but the FBI decided the man in the photo was not Brian Shaffer.