This time I will present you the mysterious story of a young man who was captured several times on a camera in front of a bar. The medical student spent the evening there with his friends. The puzzle is that there is no evidence that he would ever leave this place. So what happened to Brian Shaffer?
Brian Shaffer was born on February 25, 1979, in Pickerington (Ohio, United States). He was the eldest son of Randy and Renee Shaffer. His younger brother was named Derek. Brian graduated in microbiology and continued his education at Ohio State University College of Medicine in Columbus. After graduation, he was to become a doctor in the future.
March 31, 2006, is crucial for the whole story. On that day, the spring break from classes began at the university. As is usually the case, the rest period was preceded by difficult exams. Fortunately, Brian Shaffer had them behind him. To celebrate this, he made an appointment with my father for dinner. Randy later recalled that the son looked tired. Perhaps the death of his beloved mother was for Brian to worry more than the exams. The woman died of cancer (specifically myelodysplasia) in early March of the same year. Admittedly, Shaffer's relatives said the man was doing well after the loss. However, it is difficult to say how it was in reality.
Brian's father thought his son looked so exhausted he should skip a night of celebrating in a bar with his friend William "Clint" Florenc. Randy, however, decided to leave these doubts to himself. He could not have known that if his son had returned home that evening, his fate would have been completely different.
Eventually, Brian made an appointment with a friend at Ugly Tuna Saloon's bar at 9:00 PM the same day. An hour later he called his girlfriend, Alexis Waggoner, who was also studying medicine. The woman returned to her family home to spend some time with her relatives. In a few days, she was supposed to fly to Miami on vacation with her boyfriend.
Brian Shaffer and his friend wandered around the local clubs, drinking alcohol and having a good time. After midnight, the two students met Clint's friend, Meredith Reed. The three then decided to return to the Ugly Tuna Saloon bar, where the men began their evening adventure. At one point, Brian separated from his friends. Meredith and Clint tried to call their friend but to no avail. They waited for him until 2:00 am. They thought it was the closing time of the bar. In fact, however, this was the time until guests could order drinks. The place closed half an hour later.
In any case, friends did not notice Brian among the guests leaving the place. They thought then that perhaps the 27-year-old simply went home. Often their trips together ended up just so that everyone simply returned to each other. The man lived nearby, just a few blocks away. So he could go on foot without any problems. Concerned relatives tried to contact Shaffer all weekend. However, they hoped that Brian had decided to spend some time alone. When the man did not show up at the airport on Monday, April 3, the illusion was broken. Shaffer was due to fly to Miami with Alexis that day. His absence meant something bad had happened. The relatives officially reported the man as missing to the police.
At first it was believed that the matter of explaining the disappearance of the man would be simple. There was a camera in front of the bar. The police were convinced that the video would explain what time Brian left the bar. They also counted on this to determine in what direction he went and who was with him. It was strange, however, that the camera failed to capture the medical student leaving the premises. Interestingly, there was no other publicly available output than that monitored by the camera.
The monitoring last caught Brian Shaffer at 1:55. The man then exchanged a few sentences with two women. It was later determined that they were Clint's acquaintances. Briana said goodbye to them and entered the premises. Columbus, where the 27-year-old lived, had the most cameras in the state at the time. On the other hand, it is hardly surprising. The city is the capital of the state of Ohio, inhabited by over a million inhabitants. Police checked video surveillance footage from nearby bars, but failed to find any significant trace.
Hundreds of posters depicting the missing man soon appeared across the city. The leaflets were also showing the iconic Shaffer tattoo. It was a character on the cover of the single "Alive" by grunge band Pearl Jam. Brian was a fan of this music group. He was passionate about rock music and dreamed of starting his own band. Shaffer had also purchased a ticket to the Pearl Jam concert, which was scheduled for May 2006, a little over a month after his disappearance. The band's lead singer, Eddie Vedder, found out about the history of a medical student. He turned to the fans at this very concert, wanting to publicize the matter. In 2010, the singer dedicated the song "Come Back" to the man.
Brian's relatives underwent polygraph tests, which all passed successfully. The exception was Florence, who refused to attend. The two women who were the last to see the student admitted years later that the law enforcement agencies had not approached them on this matter. Despite numerous phone calls regarding this mysterious disappearance, there was still a lack of evidence to determine what happened that night.
Alexis, Brian's girlfriend, didn't give up. She developed a habit of calling her loved one every day. She hoped that maybe one time she would be able to reunite with him. One day a miracle happened. Instead of the standard voicemail, the woman heard the call tone. She notified the Shaffer family about it. Father and brother dialed the number and heard the same sound that gave hope. The case was reported to the police, who in turn contacted the mobile operator. The company's employees admitted that the anomaly was caused by a system error. The signal from the telephone pointed to a place 23 kilometers from Columbus.
It is worth adding that the police reportedly monitored for a month after the disappearance what was happening with Brian's phone. Several times the cell connected to the masts near Columbus. However, no call was made from the phone. Not a single message was sent either. It is difficult to say if these activity signals were also indicative of some kind of error. The man's cell was never found.
However, this is not the end of weird cases. Investigators found that in September 2017, i.e. 11 years after his disappearance, someone logged in to Brian's e-mail. Initially, it was believed that the man's account had been deleted and someone set up the same e-mail after many years. This point has been checked.
It turned out to be the same account that Shaffer had set up. So the investigators checked the IP address. It indicated that the login took place in Italy. Even more interesting was that the computer that was used belonged to an Italian medical school. However, it was not possible to determine who logged in that day. Was it missing himself or some hacker who got access to the account? On the other hand, why would anyone go to the trouble of logging into Brian's email?
Another peculiar story is related to the death of the missing father. In 2008, two years after the disappearance of his son, Randy Shaffer died. The cause was an unfortunate accident. A large branch fell on the man. The incident took place in the man's garden. On the occasion of this tragic death, a website was created on which anyone could post condolences. One of the users signed as Brian. On the other hand, the message left showed that he was the son of the deceased. This user entered "Virgin Islands" in the home field. Investigators checked this lead. It turned out that the login took place in Ohio. It was specifically a public library computer. It was most likely a grim joke.
The bar was undergoing renovation at the time, and one hypothesis was that Shaffer managed to exit through the staff door. They led to the renovated part of the building. This is perhaps the most likely solution. There was also another way out. It was intended for members of musical bands that played in the venue. In practice, other bar customers used it from time to time. However, this output was also monitored. At the same time, it is worth adding that the police checked the entire building. The support was provided by specially trained dogs that did not find any trace of a man.
Another theory is that the 27-year-old changed his clothes and hid his face from the camera by wearing glasses or a cap. One must remember, however, that two friends were looking for him in the crowd. In addition, the police reportedly checked the monitoring very carefully. Investigators verified that every person who entered the bar later left the premises.
Another scenario was that Shaffer wanted to escape of his own free will. The question that needs to be asked then is: why would he do this? The man was young, handsome, and probably had a successful career as a doctor. His relationship with Alexis was successful. It should not be forgotten that Brian was going to go on vacation with his girlfriend. Apparently, he was waiting a lot for this trip.
Perhaps his mother's death shocked him more than he made himself known? Even if that was the case and Brian was depressed, would he take his life out of missing a loved one? The man was also reportedly not entirely convinced about the medical career. The mother of the 27-year-old cared most about medical studies. After she was gone, he might have thought it was time to start deciding for himself what he wanted to do with his life. The same was the case of Sneha Anne Philip, who went to medicine under pressure from her parents and went missing under mysterious circumstances.
Unfortunately, these are only speculations and we have not learned the truth to this day.
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