January 20, 2025 • 38 mins
Brian Shaffer drives 30 minutes from Columbus to celebrate the start of Spring Break with a steak dinner at his father’s house.
During dinner, Brian eagerly discusses his upcoming vacation to Miami with his girlfriend, Alexis Waggoner. According to his family, Brian plans to propose during the trip. He also mentions plans to go out that evening with his former roommate, William “Clint” Florence.
At 9:00 p.m., Brian meets Clint at the Ugly Tuna Saloona, a popular college bar on the second floor of the Gateway Building. Around 10:00 p.m., Brian calls Alexis to check in before he and Clint head to another bar in the Arena District. They visit several bars, each having a shot, before meeting up with Clint’s friend, Meredith Reed, around midnight. The group then returns to the Ugly Tuna in Meredith’s car for one last round.
At 1:15 a.m., Brian, Clint, and Meredith ride the Gateway Building escalator back to the Ugly Tuna and have another round of shots while listening to the band. Brian steps outside the bar to chat with two women, leaving Clint and Meredith to spend some time alone. Surveillance footage captures Brian speaking to the women until 1:55 a.m.
Five minutes later, as the bar begins to close and patrons head down the escalator, Clint and Meredith realize Brian is missing. Assuming he walked home to his off-campus apartment, located six blocks away, they leave.
On Saturday morning, Alexis calls Brian to finalize plans for their upcoming vacation. Her call goes straight to voicemail, but she assumes he is still sleeping off the previous night. That afternoon, her second call also goes unanswered.
Brian’s father and brother, Randy and Derek Shaffer, also fail to reach him. On Sunday, Derek visits Brian’s apartment. He finds Brian’s car parked outside, and nothing seems out of place inside the apartment, but Brian is nowhere to be found.
When Brian doesn’t show up at the airport on Monday morning, Randy reports him missing.
Investigators review surveillance footage from the Gateway Building. Brian is last seen walking off camera toward the Ugly Tuna’s entrance but never comes back down the escalator. He is not seen exiting the building through an emergency door or other exits.
The only other way out from the second floor is a service door leading to an area under construction. This door provides access to a temporary freight elevator and a service ladder. Climbing down would have been challenging for a sober person, let alone someone intoxicated.
Nearby surveillance cameras from other bars should have captured Brian if he had exited the Gateway Building through the first-floor doors, but no footage shows him leaving.
Columbus police search garbage leaving the building, the sewers below, and use dogs to comb a miles-wide radius. Despite extensive efforts, no trace of Brian Shaffer is found.
JOINING NANCY GRACE TODAY:
- Matthew Mangino – Attorney, Former District Attorney (Lawrence County); Author: “The Executioner’s Toll: The Crimes, Arrests, Trials, Appeals, Last Meals, Final Words and Executions of 46 Persons in the United States”
- Steve Fischer – Missing Persons Private Investigator, Search & Rescue Specialist, & Owner of Search Investigations; X: @SF_Investigates (helping in the search for Riley)
- Dr. Angela Arnold – Psychiatrist, Atlanta GA. Expert in the Treatment of Pregnant/Postpartum Women, Former Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Obstetrics and Gynecology: Emory University, Former Medical Director of The Psychiatric Ob-Gyn Clinic at Grady Memorial Hospital
- Todd G. Shipley, CFE, CFCE– Cyber Crime Expert, and Author: “Investigating Internet Crimes: An Introduction to Solving Crimes in Cyberspace;” X: @webcase
- Sydney Sumner - CrimeOnline Investigative Reporter
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A brilliant med student goes
missing in a bar. How do you go missing in
a bar? This is how he goes in and he
never comes out. He vanishes. Where is Brian? Good evening,
(00:24):
I'm Missy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for
being with us.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
A twenty seven year old medical student vanishes into thin air.
Surveillance captures him entering a bar but never leaving.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
How does that happen? You enter a bar and you
never come back. Now, if this was some sci fi movie,
there would be a time warp and a space continuum
in there. How he you know? And Harry Potter? How
you transport from one place to the next just like that? Okay,
that didn't happen. There is a logical explanation, but what
(01:02):
is it. How can a brilliant medical student go into
a bar to meet his friends and never emerge. And
it's not just that witnesses don't see him emerge. He's
not called on security surveillance cam, CCTV, nothing, He never
(01:23):
leaves the bar, yet he vanished. Where is Brian? Thank
you for being with us? Okay, let's go straight up
to the moment we realize he has vanished. Listen.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Saturday morning, Alexis Wagoner calls her boyfriend to nail down
some final plans for their upcoming vacation. It goes straight
to Brian Schaeffer's voicemail, but Wagoner assumes Schaeffer is sleeping
off the night before. That afternoon, a second call from
Wagoner goes to voicemail again. Schaeffer isn't answering his father either.
On Sunday, Derek Shaeffer heads to his brother's apartment. Brian's
(01:59):
call is parked outside and nothing's amiss inside the apartment,
but no Brian. Monday morning, Brian Shaeffer doesn't show up
at the airport. Randy Shaeffer immediately reports his son missing.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Okay, that's a lot of information, but most specifically, where
do I start the timeline? This starts with Saturday morning,
when Alexis Wagoner calls her boyfriend about final plans on
a vacation they're taking. And when she calls, it goes
straight to voicemail, but she assumes he's sleeping off the
(02:36):
night before. Okay, right there, Saturday morning he's gone. That's
where we can officially start the timeline. Saturday morning with
me an all star panel to make sense of what
we know. But first to Sydney Summer. Sidney Sumner Crimeonline
(02:58):
dot Com investigative reporter, Sydney, thank you for joining us.
Tell me about the night before that Friday night girlfriend
reporting Saturday morning. He's not answering his phone. I'm deducing
he goes missing sometime on Friday night.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
Explain well, Nancy. Friday night was the last day of
classes before spring break at OSU Medical School. Brian met
with his father that evening to celebrate completing his finals,
and they had a steak dinner. He told his father
that he had plans to go out that night with
some friends. His father did not approve of those plans,
so he thought he should be wrestling a minute.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Sorry, Sandy Sumner, Okay, he has dinner with his father
Friday night, kind of celebrating the end of Ohio State
University's semester. This guy is a medical student, he's brilliant.
His family is so proud, so they're having this celebration meal.
(03:58):
They go out in public to a restaurant. We know
that witnesses spot him there. We know he's alive. Then
the father has no reason to lie of course, so
I can place him alive at what time, Sydney at
six pm? Nancy, six pm? The dinner started or ended?
I reoually assume started started at six pm. Okay, go forward.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
So from there, Brian goes back to Columbus about a
half hour drive, and at nine pm he meets his
former dorm meet William Clint Florence at the Ugly Tuna Saluna.
So this is the first time he's seen out with
his friends. Nine pm.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Okay, hold on, and I've got that on video. Let's
check out the video we obtained the surveillance video of
him going to the bar, meeting up with his friends.
It's a big night. They are just finishing classes. This
is at the Ugly tun of Saluona. It's a bar
near Osu Ohio State University campus there in Columbus. Let
(04:57):
me remind everybody there was a one hundred thousand dollar
a reward for information leading to the discovery of Brian's whereabouts.
What happens then, Sidney Sumner, So from.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
The Ugly Tuna Saluna, Florence and Schaeffer start going to
different bars in the area. So they spend a couple
rounds at the Ugly Tuna Saluna, and then they move
on in their bar, hopping for several bars, and they
end up in the Arena District where they meet with
Florence's friend, Meredith Reid.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Got a question for you, Sidney Sumner. So they're pub crawling.
They leave the Ugly Tuna and meet up with other friends.
During that time, he calls the girlfriend. Ten pm. We've
got a confirmed call from Brian. He's alive.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
That is correct.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Ten to twelve am, ten pm, twelve am they pub crawl. Now, yes,
I can establish him alive at twelve am when he
goes back to Ugly Tuna. But in the interim tween
ten and twelve is anybody following him? Do we see
(06:06):
him get into an argument with anyone at a bar?
Anything unusual, Sidney Sumner?
Speaker 4 (06:12):
Nancy, No, there isn't. There is no report of anything unusual,
and the two men are still happy, jovial, having a
good time when they run into Meredith Ree.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Okay, this guy seemingly goes into a bar and is
never seen alive again. Twelve am. Their bar hopping. Twelve am,
Brian and friend return to Ugly Tuna. All right, one
(06:42):
fifteen am we see Brian entering a bar. Which bar
is that Sidney Sumner. This is the Ugly Tuna.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
So that one fifteen am surveillance footage is of Meredith, Brian,
and William Clint returning to the Ugly Tuna Saluna together.
At one fifteen am, that's when we see Brian on
that surveillance video for the first time, coming up that escalator.
So the three enter the bar. There's a band playing.
It's already one fifteen. The bars close up too, so
(07:15):
they are here for one last round. Are going to
spend about forty five minutes in the bar. At one
five we see Brian again on that right side of
the screen and he's standing just outside the entrance of
the bar, and he speaks with two women for just
a few minutes, and then he walks off camera back
towards the entrance of the bar. So you would assume
it's one fifty five am. He's trying to meet back
(07:37):
up with his friends Read and Florence, but they don't
find him. At two am, they're standing outside the entrance.
They're watching people.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Okay, hold on this a moment. I want to analyze.
I want to analyze what you told me, So far.
So he's there with Meredith. It's Meredith Brian, And who's
the third.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
William Clint is his nickname William Clint Florence and he
is Hey. He was Brian Schaefer's former dorm meat. So
they're really close friends. They roomed together freshman year at college.
No bad blood, no none whatsoever.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Okay, the reason that Sidney Sumner is saying forty five minutes,
they're going to stay there forty five minutes. How do
we know that because the bar closes at two. It
closes at two am. Now, Sidney, is this just outside
the bar? Is it the foyer? Where is this?
Speaker 4 (08:27):
Yeah? So this is just outside the entrance of the bar.
So you take this escalator up to the second floor.
You can get to several businesses on that second floor,
and the entrance of the Ugly to Tuna is just
behind that escalator. So when we see Brian standing to
the right of the escalator in this footage, that's just
outside the entrance of the bar.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Okay, we know he's going to be there at most
forty five minutes, and he knows the bar closes at two.
So Sidney Sumner are his friends Meredith and William in
side the bar at the time. We're seeing him on
surveillance video. Yes, so we.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
See the three of them, the trio, enter the bar
together and then at some point Shaper gives them some privacy.
We're not sure if they just got separated, if he
found some friends that he wanted to chat with, or
if maybe these two were kind of on a date
and he was giving them some alone time. So Shaper
separates from Reed and Florence, who stay together the entire
(09:25):
time they're at the Ugly Saluna Ugly Tuna Saluna, and
they are supposed to join back up to leave together.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Okay, wait a minute, So are Meredith and William a couple.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
No, that has not been confirmed. They are just friends.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Then why would he want to give them alone time?
Speaker 4 (09:40):
I'm not sure. Maybe again, like we said, we saw
him chatting with those two women outside the bar, So
maybe he ran into some friends that he knew from
class and decided, hey, I want to say hello to them.
So I think that's what happened.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Now, let me understand something. Guys. You're hearing Crime online
dot Com investigative reporter Sydney Summer, and we're looking and
video footage surveillance footage of Brian and the two people
with him in that video, Sidney, are Meredith and William.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
Those are two women that Shaffer was not out with
that night. They may have been class meets. Oh okay,
so coming up the escalator, Yes, that is Shaper in force.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Okay, Sidney Sumner, you're saying he sees these two women.
They're laughing, they're talking, and it looks as if the
three of them go back into the bar. Sidney, correct, Nancy.
Speaker 4 (10:37):
It looks like Schaefer walks off camera back towards the
entrance of the bar. And it's one fifty five am
at this point, So I think Shafer is looking to
meet back up with Reid and Florence, sayas goodbyes before
they part nights for the evening. It's they know they
have five minutes until this bar is closing, Okay, and
we do know can we confirm Meredith and.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
William are in the bar.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
They waited for Shaper outside the bar for minutes and
minutes and minutes, and eventually they assumed that Shaffer just
went home. His apartment is located just six blocks away
from this gateway building where the Ugly Tuna Saluna is located,
so they assumed that it got late and he just
started walking by himself.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace joining me right now. In
addition to Sidney Sumner is Matthew Mangino, high profile lawyer,
Steve Fisher, missing person's private investigator, doctor ANGELA Arnold, renowned
psychiatrist in the Atlanta jurisdiction. And Todd Shipley, who is
(11:48):
additional cyber crime expert, author of investigating Internet crimes. Todd Shipley,
we would be able to tell, or an expert would
be able to tell, if this video, this surveillance video
we're looking at, had been doctored or edited in any way.
(12:08):
Isn't that true?
Speaker 5 (12:10):
I think generally you're correct, because we have to look
at the time period when this occurred. The technology to
be able to fake that video didn't exist during that
time period, So I think we have to rely on
the fact that that video was actually correct and true,
and the police have never said It's not.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
A night out with friends turns into a nightmare when
promising young med student Brian Shaeffer disappears.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
By all accounts, Schaeffer goes right back in the door
into the ugly tune of Selena, and you can see
him following the two women he meets just outside the door,
and there's only one place to go, going in that
direction into the bar. No one disputes that. Okay, how
(12:56):
did we get here? In order to evaluate a missing
person or a murder case, you start with knowing your victim.
Everything you can find out about the victim, it may
have a huge impact on where they are and what
happened to him. So who is Brian Schaeffer listen?
Speaker 3 (13:18):
Brian Shaffer grows up in Baltimore, Ohio, with his younger
brother Derek. After graduation, Shaeffer stays close to Homeford College,
pursuing a degree in microbiology at the University of Ohio.
Randy and Renee Schaeffer couldn't be more proud when their
oldest son designs to attend medical school at his alma mater.
In Brian Shaeffer's second year, his mother diagnosed with a
(13:39):
rare blood cancer. Three weeks before spring break, Renee succumbs
to the disease. While her death is hard on Schaeffer,
twenty seven friends say he seems to be handling it well.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
The apple of his parents' eyes, Brian Schaeffer seemingly goes
into a bar and no one is disputing that, and
it never comes out. He vanishes. Impossible. There's got to
be a logical explanation about what happened to Brian Schaeffer.
(14:10):
Straight out to Matthew Mangino, high profile lawyer joining US,
former prosecutor, author of the Executioners, Told the Crimes, theres trials, appeals,
last meals, final words, executions of forty six people across
the US. That's a mouthful. You're gonna have to work
with that title. You can find them at Mattmanngino dot com.
Matt thank you for being with us. There's so many
(14:33):
theories out there, and it doesn't matter what case you're
dealing with. It can be the Orenthal James Simpson double
murder trial of j Simpson. It can be the Karen
Reid prosecution for the murder the death let me say
off for a longtime boyfriend of Boston comp it can
be Scott Peterson. The conspiracy theories that surround cases, especially
(14:59):
when they're unsolved, abound. Just look online. So here we've
got the same issue, a lot of conspiracy theories, but
we use the defense A journey mean, as the former prosecutor,
have to look at the hard evidence and make sense
of it. This is not the first case I've encountered
(15:22):
where someone goes into a building and never comes out.
What do you make of this surveillance video?
Speaker 6 (15:27):
Well, Nancy, I think the most crucial aspect of this
is those five minutes between one point fifty five am
and when the bar closes at two am.
Speaker 7 (15:38):
You know, he has.
Speaker 6 (15:39):
Two friends inside the bar who say they leave at
two am looking for him, and they wait outside there.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
Now.
Speaker 8 (15:48):
I don't know how big you know this this saloon is,
but you know, within five minutes he's right outside the door,
walking toward the door.
Speaker 6 (15:59):
They're coming out, they're waiting for him.
Speaker 8 (16:02):
You know what transpires in those five minutes that I
think is the answer, you know, to this, to this mystery.
Speaker 6 (16:10):
You know what did anybody else see?
Speaker 1 (16:12):
I agree with you. Let me go straight up to
Steve Fisher joining us Missing Person Private Investigator and you
can find him at Search Investigations dot org. Steve, thank
you for being with us.
Speaker 7 (16:23):
Listen, thank you.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
The guys with the two women, the two women go
into the bar, He's following along behind him, and no
matter how much I have scoured through witness statements and
other surveillance video in the area. Ugly ten is not
the only one with a security can. There's no evidence
at all he ever leaves the bar. How do you
(16:47):
explain that.
Speaker 7 (16:48):
It's literally like he turned into a ghost.
Speaker 9 (16:50):
I mean, as an investigator, this has everything that you want,
Like you mentioned, it has surveillance of all the entrances
and exits, including the back, and all the surrounding businesses
have surveillance. He's not captured on any of it. It's bizarre.
I mean he left, I mean he's not there.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
It's extremely bizarre. Steve and again, and I'm gonna touch
on it later. This is not the first time I've
had a case where someone enters a building and has
never seen alive again. But Okay, when you don't know
which way to go and you're not getting anywhere everything
(17:29):
is modeled, you start over and reexamine what you know. Listen.
Speaker 10 (17:36):
Brian Schaefer makes the thirty minute drive from Columbus to
celebrate the start of spring break with a steak dinner
at his father's house. Over dinner, Brian excitedly discusses his
upcoming vacation to Miami with girlfriend Alexis Wagner. Brian plans
to propose. Brian also mentions his plans to go out
that evening with former roommate William Clint Florence. Randy Schaeffer
(18:00):
thinks Brian should be resting after a long week of exams,
but doesn't try to sway his son from his celebrations.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
A mysterious cell being a potential sighting in Mexico, but
friends refuse to take polygraphs? What happened to Brian Schaeffer?
What did happen to Brian?
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Safer? Again? Not the first time a victim has gone
into a building and never emerges. The family now desperate
to find Brian. We are reviewing what we know to
be true. We can see it with our own eyes,
or can we listen?
Speaker 11 (18:40):
At one fifteen am, Schaeffer, Florence, and Reed head up
the Gateway Buildings escalator to the Ugly Tuna and partake
in one more round of shots while listening to the band.
Shaeffer gives Florence and Reads some time alone and chats
with two women just outside the bar until one fifty
five am. Just five minutes later, the bar is closing
and masses of patrons head down escalator, but Florence and
(19:01):
Reed can't find Schaeffer. The pair eventually assumes that Shaeffer
went home, likely walking to his off campus apartment just
six blocks away.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
And isn't it true to Crime online dot Com investigative
reporter Sydney Sumner's that video evidence CCTV, all sorts of
hard evidence, does not reveal Brian Schaefer ever leaving that bar,
(19:29):
not going back down the escalator, which is where he
came from. It came in that way, he doesn't go
back down. He's not spotted by any of the other
businesses going in either direction. He had to go into
the bar on his way home. There are surveillance videos
from various businesses. Nothing. He doesn't go back home, he
(19:52):
doesn't go to his car, his ATM, his credit cards
are not used. He didn't go anywhere. So do we
have anything so far, any CCTV anything to suggest he
left the.
Speaker 4 (20:08):
Bar, Nancy, There is nothing, And Columbus is actually it
has more surveillance cameras than Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Toledo combined.
So this entire city is covered in cameras, and we
should have some indication as to where Shaper went. Police
went to the Gateway building. They checked all of those cameras,
(20:31):
They checked cameras at three other bars they had been
out earlier that night.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
Nothing.
Speaker 4 (20:37):
There is just nothing to indicate that Shaper ever left
that building.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
And Sidney Sumner. What about those two women? Have they
been questioned?
Speaker 4 (20:45):
Yes, they have been identified, questioned and they were both
cleared as suspects. They said that they spoke with Shafer
very briefly. He left the conversation. They don't know where
he went from there, and that's it. They have no
information on whe Shaper went.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Okay to Todd Shipley, joining US digital cybercrime expert, former
detective sergeant, author of investigating Internet crimes, and you can
find him at dark intel dot info. Todd Shipley. We
can very easily make out him and his friends coming
up the escalator, even if he had on a hat,
(21:23):
which there's no evidence he put on a hat, Even
if he took off the pull over, which there's no
evidence he did that, either, we would have seen him
going down the escalator or leaving the bar. Feeding into
those theories, again, those are just wild conspiracy theories. There's
no evidence either of those things happen that he put
(21:44):
on a hat or change his shirt.
Speaker 5 (21:46):
Well exactly. I mean, the video stands for itself. I
don't think we can look at that and say that
there was additional things at it or taken away because
the video at the time was not sufficient to hide
that kind of thing. And so the video they've got
is the video that exists, and there's no evidence that
he left. And that's the scary part. Where is he
(22:06):
and how did he get out of.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
The bar Sidney Summer joining us Crime online dot Com Sidney,
I'm only bringing up that back exit so everybody knows
about it. He didn't go down the back exit, and
I'll tell you why, Sidney. I've told you this once,
I'll tell you again. And all the years I try cases,
my single best witness I ever put on the stand
was a dog. Yes, I put a dog on the stand,
(22:31):
and I will tell you he survived cross examination. But
that said dogs were brought in to pursue the Zamy
theory that maybe, out of the blue, Brian Schaeffer goes
out this service door that leads to a construction area
(22:52):
and you have to climb down a ladder, and they
brought in canines to look in the sewers, to look
in the garbage to try to catch a scent. They didn't,
And I guarantee you I would trust a dog even
more than I would trust a surveillance video. So tell
(23:13):
me about that back exit.
Speaker 4 (23:15):
Yeah, so that back exit. Realistically, we would have seen
Shafer enter that door. And there's a freight elevator only
operated by a key, so you could take the service
ladder in that elevator shaft all the way down to
the ground floor, but that would have been difficult for
a sober person, much less and intoxicated. When we know
that Shaper has had at least three or four shots
(23:38):
on this pub crawl that he did with his friends
last night. There's also cameras on the ground floor door,
so we should have seen him coming out on the
ground floor if that was his exit as well. So
police start to theorize that maybe he left the building
in the trash, if he was killed inside the building
and his body was discarded in the trash, so they're
(23:58):
searching garbage cans been maybe the sewer was he hid
in somewhere else and he ended up below the building
in the sewers, and there was no evidence that he
was ever down there either, And you're right, dogs pick
up no scent from Shaffer leaving the building. It just
seems everything points to Shaffer not leaving this building.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
You know, City Cumner, You've been reporting for quite a
while and he've always struck me as a very rational,
logical reporter, and you analyze the facts very clearly. Did
you just say that he could have been killed and
thrown away in the trash?
Speaker 4 (24:39):
That's the first time we've heard of it, Nancy, where
somebody went into a building, didn't leave and exited in
a different manner. So how would he have gotten into
the trash with all of these witnesses, There's no way.
That makes no sense, right, But.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
How would he have gotten into a giant dumpster with
nobody seeing it? How would his body had been put
in the trash? And then what taken off to a landfill?
I mean, they bring hold on, let me bring it
Steve Fisher, because now I'm tormenting Sydney and she doesn't
deserve that. Steve Fisher missing Person's private investigator? Do you
believe if by this far Fisch theory and I'm only
(25:16):
discussing it to appease the conspiracy theorists. Even if this
far fetched theory is true, that he was killed and
thrown out in the trash that would have been discovered
by the dogs, there's no witness, nothing, that all the
employees at the bar didn't realize anything had happened. They
have been questioned tirelessly that did not happen.
Speaker 9 (25:40):
Explained, Yeah, the dogs simply would not miss that. I'm
lucky that I get to train it sometimes at the
National Training Center and they'll actually take tiny pieces of flesh,
like you said, and they'll try to mask the scent
with coffee grounds and stuff like that, and dogs just
do not miss.
Speaker 7 (25:58):
So that theory.
Speaker 9 (26:00):
And also people start producing death scent, you know, right
after death, so it doesn't have to be a long
period of time. So the cadaver dogs would have picked
that up. There's no way you can't mask it, you
can't hide it. They're just that good.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Well, not only that, Steve Fisher, cadaver dogs were brought
in in addition to bloodhounds or scent dogs to pick
up his scent, whether he was dead or alive. None
of them picked up the scent of Brian Schaefer as
going down that back entrance.
Speaker 9 (26:30):
Yeah, and I think law enforcements were very clear that
they've ruled out that back interest. And also there was
from I understand, there was a security guard stationed at
the back entrance and that's where the band was playing,
and he would have had to walk through the band
to get to the door.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Brian's disappearance remains a perplexing mystery to the city of
Columbus almost two decades later.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
Not only would Brian Schaefer have to go down a
ladder or have a key to a freight elevator which
he did not send dogs and cadaver dogs do not
pick on his scent going down that back exit, And
according to Steve Fisher, who is correct, he would have
to have passed a security guard and a band that
(27:13):
did not happen. I like to also point out, and
Sidney correct me if I'm wrong, that the dogs also
looked at pass leading from the bar. We've got nothing, Okay,
she's not in her hand, yes, Doctor Angie Arnold joining
me renown psychiatrist out of the Atlanta jurisdiction at Angelo
(27:35):
Arnold MD dot com. Why do conspiracy theorists exist? Because yes,
there haven't been, There have been a few conspiracies that
actually worked, but for the most part they don't work.
I promise you the LAPD did not join in on
a really big conspiracy to frame a beloved football star,
(28:00):
Oj Simpson. That did not happen. It did not happen.
Don't you know that one of them would have made
a deal with a publisher by now a two three
million dollar deal to tell the truth about the murders.
Same thing here. Why do the conspiracy theorists do what
they do?
Speaker 12 (28:18):
Well, Nancy, think about who conspiracy theorists are. There are
always people out there that live on the fringes that
they want to come up with the craziest, most off
the wall idea that they can sometimes in the hopes.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Of their own notoriety.
Speaker 12 (28:36):
And that's why I believe conspiracy theorists exists. And then unfortunately,
with some conspiracy theorists, they become delusional and they believe
what they're saying, and they go down a rabbit hole
and they stay there. But when you think of when
you think of the continuum of the types of people
that exist on the earth, not everybody falls under the
Bell curve, and so there are always people on the
(28:59):
edges of the bell curve. That want to think of
the craziest scenarios that they can.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
Yeah, well, you can't put that in front of a jury, guys.
Local police dotted their eyes and crossed their teas.
Speaker 10 (29:13):
Listen Columbus PD polygraphs. Those who last saw Brian Shaeffer,
including Randy Shaeffer and Meredith Reid, both pass and are
cleared as suspects. However, Clint Florence refuses to submit to
the light detector test. Investigators theorize that perhaps Brian Shaeffer,
still grieving the death of his mother, left town for
(29:35):
some solitude, but with no activity on his cell phone
or bank accounts, there's no indication to where he might
have gone.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Okay, that's bs right there. He did not leave town
for a long time. He just met with his father
for dinner. He would not have done that to his father.
There's no indication that happened. More conspiracy theories. No atm us,
no credit card, use, nav on his car, nothing, nothing
to support that theory. But listen to this weird fact.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
Alexis Wagoner called Brian Shaeffer's cell phone at least once
a day before going to bed, at most hoping he
might answer, at least getting to hear his voicemail. Six
months after his disappearance, Shaeffer's voicemail doesn't immediately play. Instead,
the phone rings three times. Wagoner immediately reports it to police,
and investigators find that the phone pinged in Hilliard, a
(30:31):
suburb of Columbus, fourteen miles northwest. Shaeffer's cel phone company
says the activity is likely just to glitch, but family
and friends hope it is an indication that Brian is alive.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Holding on to any innycentilla of evidence that Brian could
be alive, the theories that he is alive only deepen
after this.
Speaker 11 (30:54):
Two years after Brian Shaffer's disappearance, a large storm blows
through Baltimore, Ohio. Ry Shaeffer tries to cross his yard
to retrieve something from his tool shed when a tree
branch snaps, hitting him and killing him. Days after his death,
Randy Shaffer's online obituary gets a comment reading, I love
you Dad, Love Brian. Us Virgin Islands investigators believe they've
(31:16):
gotten their break. Did Shaeffer leave the country and start
a band, plans he had jokingly mentioned to med school friends.
The message turns out to be a cruel hoax, leading
only to yet another dead end.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
You know, I could spend a whole hour talking about
what jackass did that writing a note from Brian on
his online obituary to his father that said, another dead end.
I keep talking about another case where someone goes in
and building and never comes out. I'm talking about Annie Lee. Listen.
Speaker 13 (31:51):
When police learn Annie Lay was never seen leaving the
Amistade Street building, they must assume Lay is still inside.
Investigators combed the build, discovering bloody clothes hidden above a
ceiling tile. Three days after Annie Lay is reported missing,
and the day of her planned wedding, Lay's body is
found stuffed in a cable chassis in a basement laboratory.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Lay had been strangled. A twenty seven year old medical
student vanishes into thin air. Surveillance captures him entering a
bar but never leaving.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
Where is Brian Schaeffer? In the last months, another young
man disappears en route to a bar.
Speaker 14 (32:43):
Listen, it is it that you're wanting to report us missing.
We're here on a fraternity formal trip. It's one of.
Speaker 7 (32:49):
My good buddies. Okay, what is his name?
Speaker 14 (32:53):
His name is Riley Straane Riley ri I L E.
Y Strane str And what was he last being wearing
outside of Luke Brian's Bar last night at Lake ten
and then the last time his location on his phone
was by the Sheriff's office, I like eleve them.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
Riley's train leaving Luke's Bar wasn't seen alive again. Quite
a period of time passed before his body was found
in a body of water, still under mysterious circumstances. And
He's not the only one. What about Andy Tinch.
Speaker 3 (33:34):
Andy Tinch has plans to spend the night out in Charlotte,
North Carolina, to celebrate his thirty first birthday. Monday morning,
Tinch misses his shift at his nursing job. His family
immediately reports him missing. Later that night, Tench's car is
found abandoned in Monroe. As the investigation continues, police get
a tip that Tinch was seen at Bar three sixteen
(33:55):
around twelve thirty am. This is the last known sighting
of Andy tent So Andy Tinch seemingly goes into a
bar and never comes out. I know the answer to
that riddle. Tench was murdered.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
His body was disposed of in the garbage. That theory
has been researched and investigated extensively. In Brian Schaffer's case,
that did not happen. Take a listen to this.
Speaker 13 (34:22):
Over the years, many have theorized about what happened to
Brian Schaeffer. Did Schaeffer change closed and simply wasn't recognized
coming down the escalator? Was he killed and dismembered hidden
in an empty keg, did a member of the band
stuff his body into an instrument case? Or was he
hidden in the building's infrastructure concealed by the ongoing construction.
Columbus PD hopes to one day have the answer for
(34:43):
Shaffer's loved ones and is still asking the public for
any information they might have. Central Ohio Crime Stoppers is
offering a one hundred thousand dollars reward for tips that
help locate Brian Schaeffer.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
A one hundred thousand dollars reward tip line sixty one
four four five four six two four. What happened to Brian?
To Matthew men Gino, best theory, well, absolutely supernatural.
Speaker 6 (35:10):
He either walked out, was carried out, or is still there.
I mean that there aren't any other options than that,
and that's where the bizarre unsolved aspect of.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
Biness, walked out, carried out, or never leaves. What about it,
Steve Fisher.
Speaker 7 (35:28):
I think he gets out of the building.
Speaker 9 (35:29):
I think somehow there's a blind spot in the surveillance,
and not on purpose, but I think he, you know,
gets out and then and something happens to him and
most likely ends up, you know, in the water or
something like that.
Speaker 7 (35:41):
Much like Riley Stream good.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
Theory, Steve Fisher, except for the friends were waiting for
him just outside the building. Doctor Angie Arnold jump in.
Speaker 12 (35:51):
You know, Nancy, medical school is very stressful. His mother
dying was very stressful. I have this gut feeling that
he disappeared and he's living his life somewhere else.
Speaker 4 (36:06):
That's really what I think, Nancy.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
All right, Doctor Angie, I thought you were going to
go down that route. I thought you might go with suicide.
So you're saying that he is left behind the fiance,
all of his relatives and his father to suffer because
he wanted alone time.
Speaker 12 (36:24):
I didn't say because he wanted alone time, Nancy, I
said because maybe he wanted to disappear. Maybe he didn't
want to be a doctor anymore. Maybe he didn't want
to marry his fiance anymore. Maybe the stress of his
mother dying pushed him over the edge, after the stress
of going to medical school. Nancy, it's a theory that
has to be considered.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
Okay, let me circle back to Sidney Sumner. Sidney Sumner, Yes, No,
didn't this occur in April of two thousand and six.
Speaker 4 (36:53):
That is completely correct. Eighteen years, two months and three
days ago.
Speaker 1 (36:57):
Todd Shiffley's joining me digital cybercrime. For Todd Shipley, this
guy would have to have some sort of a digital imprint. Now,
there would have to be a fingerprint, a something showing
that he was still alive.
Speaker 5 (37:14):
Well, cell phones are uniquely identified in the system by
their serial number, their Imei number, and so when that
rings six months later and they're identifying that ping fourteen
miles away in Hilliard, something occurred. I can't believe that
it was actually just a glitch. And in fact, there's
a recycling company that is up there in Hilliard and
(37:37):
started about a year before he went missing. So somebody
could have turned the phone in and they happened to
turn it on for whatever reason, and it happened. I
think there's some evidence that we haven't found surrounding that phone,
and we need to find.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
City Summer joining us crime online dot Com. The phone
disappeared along with him. Correct, it is correct.
Speaker 4 (37:55):
Brand's car was found outside of his spertman.
Speaker 1 (37:58):
Ah Okay, so we would have I have to believe,
logically speaking, that he became separated from his phone and
that the phone somehow activated. I'm thinking long and hard
about that, and I've got to reconcile it with the
fact that I do not believe he would have left
his father, relatives, friends, fiance behind and suffering to have
(38:26):
alone time or to disappear. He was more determined to
get through med school after his mother's death than ever.
That was his mission. I'm not buying it, you see,
Gray signing off, goodbye friend,
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A brilliant med student goes
missing in a bar. How do you go missing in
a bar? This is how he goes in and he
never comes out. He vanishes. Where is Brian? Good evening,
(00:24):
I'm Missy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for
being with us.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
A twenty seven year old medical student vanishes into thin air.
Surveillance captures him entering a bar but never leaving.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
How does that happen? You enter a bar and you
never come back. Now, if this was some sci fi movie,
there would be a time warp and a space continuum
in there. How he you know? And Harry Potter? How
you transport from one place to the next just like that? Okay,
that didn't happen. There is a logical explanation, but what
(01:02):
is it. How can a brilliant medical student go into
a bar to meet his friends and never emerge. And
it's not just that witnesses don't see him emerge. He's
not called on security surveillance cam, CCTV, nothing, He never
(01:23):
leaves the bar, yet he vanished. Where is Brian? Thank
you for being with us? Okay, let's go straight up
to the moment we realize he has vanished. Listen.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Saturday morning, Alexis Wagoner calls her boyfriend to nail down
some final plans for their upcoming vacation. It goes straight
to Brian Schaeffer's voicemail, but Wagoner assumes Schaeffer is sleeping
off the night before. That afternoon, a second call from
Wagoner goes to voicemail again. Schaeffer isn't answering his father either.
On Sunday, Derek Shaeffer heads to his brother's apartment. Brian's
(01:59):
call is parked outside and nothing's amiss inside the apartment,
but no Brian. Monday morning, Brian Shaeffer doesn't show up
at the airport. Randy Shaeffer immediately reports his son missing.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Okay, that's a lot of information, but most specifically, where
do I start the timeline? This starts with Saturday morning,
when Alexis Wagoner calls her boyfriend about final plans on
a vacation they're taking. And when she calls, it goes
straight to voicemail, but she assumes he's sleeping off the
(02:36):
night before. Okay, right there, Saturday morning he's gone. That's
where we can officially start the timeline. Saturday morning with
me an all star panel to make sense of what
we know. But first to Sydney Summer. Sidney Sumner Crimeonline
(02:58):
dot Com investigative reporter, Sydney, thank you for joining us.
Tell me about the night before that Friday night girlfriend
reporting Saturday morning. He's not answering his phone. I'm deducing
he goes missing sometime on Friday night.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
Explain well, Nancy. Friday night was the last day of
classes before spring break at OSU Medical School. Brian met
with his father that evening to celebrate completing his finals,
and they had a steak dinner. He told his father
that he had plans to go out that night with
some friends. His father did not approve of those plans,
so he thought he should be wrestling a minute.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Sorry, Sandy Sumner, Okay, he has dinner with his father
Friday night, kind of celebrating the end of Ohio State
University's semester. This guy is a medical student, he's brilliant.
His family is so proud, so they're having this celebration meal.
(03:58):
They go out in public to a restaurant. We know
that witnesses spot him there. We know he's alive. Then
the father has no reason to lie of course, so
I can place him alive at what time, Sydney at
six pm? Nancy, six pm? The dinner started or ended?
I reoually assume started started at six pm. Okay, go forward.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
So from there, Brian goes back to Columbus about a
half hour drive, and at nine pm he meets his
former dorm meet William Clint Florence at the Ugly Tuna Saluna.
So this is the first time he's seen out with
his friends. Nine pm.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Okay, hold on, and I've got that on video. Let's
check out the video we obtained the surveillance video of
him going to the bar, meeting up with his friends.
It's a big night. They are just finishing classes. This
is at the Ugly tun of Saluona. It's a bar
near Osu Ohio State University campus there in Columbus. Let
(04:57):
me remind everybody there was a one hundred thousand dollar
a reward for information leading to the discovery of Brian's whereabouts.
What happens then, Sidney Sumner, So from.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
The Ugly Tuna Saluna, Florence and Schaeffer start going to
different bars in the area. So they spend a couple
rounds at the Ugly Tuna Saluna, and then they move
on in their bar, hopping for several bars, and they
end up in the Arena District where they meet with
Florence's friend, Meredith Reid.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Got a question for you, Sidney Sumner. So they're pub crawling.
They leave the Ugly Tuna and meet up with other friends.
During that time, he calls the girlfriend. Ten pm. We've
got a confirmed call from Brian. He's alive.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
That is correct.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Ten to twelve am, ten pm, twelve am they pub crawl. Now, yes,
I can establish him alive at twelve am when he
goes back to Ugly Tuna. But in the interim tween
ten and twelve is anybody following him? Do we see
(06:06):
him get into an argument with anyone at a bar?
Anything unusual, Sidney Sumner?
Speaker 4 (06:12):
Nancy, No, there isn't. There is no report of anything unusual,
and the two men are still happy, jovial, having a
good time when they run into Meredith Ree.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Okay, this guy seemingly goes into a bar and is
never seen alive again. Twelve am. Their bar hopping. Twelve am,
Brian and friend return to Ugly Tuna. All right, one
(06:42):
fifteen am we see Brian entering a bar. Which bar
is that Sidney Sumner. This is the Ugly Tuna.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
So that one fifteen am surveillance footage is of Meredith, Brian,
and William Clint returning to the Ugly Tuna Saluna together.
At one fifteen am, that's when we see Brian on
that surveillance video for the first time, coming up that escalator.
So the three enter the bar. There's a band playing.
It's already one fifteen. The bars close up too, so
(07:15):
they are here for one last round. Are going to
spend about forty five minutes in the bar. At one
five we see Brian again on that right side of
the screen and he's standing just outside the entrance of
the bar, and he speaks with two women for just
a few minutes, and then he walks off camera back
towards the entrance of the bar. So you would assume
it's one fifty five am. He's trying to meet back
(07:37):
up with his friends Read and Florence, but they don't
find him. At two am, they're standing outside the entrance.
They're watching people.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Okay, hold on this a moment. I want to analyze.
I want to analyze what you told me, So far.
So he's there with Meredith. It's Meredith Brian, And who's
the third.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
William Clint is his nickname William Clint Florence and he
is Hey. He was Brian Schaefer's former dorm meat. So
they're really close friends. They roomed together freshman year at college.
No bad blood, no none whatsoever.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Okay, the reason that Sidney Sumner is saying forty five minutes,
they're going to stay there forty five minutes. How do
we know that because the bar closes at two. It
closes at two am. Now, Sidney, is this just outside
the bar? Is it the foyer? Where is this?
Speaker 4 (08:27):
Yeah? So this is just outside the entrance of the bar.
So you take this escalator up to the second floor.
You can get to several businesses on that second floor,
and the entrance of the Ugly to Tuna is just
behind that escalator. So when we see Brian standing to
the right of the escalator in this footage, that's just
outside the entrance of the bar.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Okay, we know he's going to be there at most
forty five minutes, and he knows the bar closes at two.
So Sidney Sumner are his friends Meredith and William in
side the bar at the time. We're seeing him on
surveillance video. Yes, so we.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
See the three of them, the trio, enter the bar
together and then at some point Shaper gives them some privacy.
We're not sure if they just got separated, if he
found some friends that he wanted to chat with, or
if maybe these two were kind of on a date
and he was giving them some alone time. So Shaper
separates from Reed and Florence, who stay together the entire
(09:25):
time they're at the Ugly Saluna Ugly Tuna Saluna, and
they are supposed to join back up to leave together.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Okay, wait a minute, So are Meredith and William a couple.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
No, that has not been confirmed. They are just friends.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Then why would he want to give them alone time?
Speaker 4 (09:40):
I'm not sure. Maybe again, like we said, we saw
him chatting with those two women outside the bar, So
maybe he ran into some friends that he knew from
class and decided, hey, I want to say hello to them.
So I think that's what happened.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Now, let me understand something. Guys. You're hearing Crime online
dot Com investigative reporter Sydney Summer, and we're looking and
video footage surveillance footage of Brian and the two people
with him in that video, Sidney, are Meredith and William.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
Those are two women that Shaffer was not out with
that night. They may have been class meets. Oh okay,
so coming up the escalator, Yes, that is Shaper in force.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Okay, Sidney Sumner, you're saying he sees these two women.
They're laughing, they're talking, and it looks as if the
three of them go back into the bar. Sidney, correct, Nancy.
Speaker 4 (10:37):
It looks like Schaefer walks off camera back towards the
entrance of the bar. And it's one fifty five am
at this point, So I think Shafer is looking to
meet back up with Reid and Florence, sayas goodbyes before
they part nights for the evening. It's they know they
have five minutes until this bar is closing, Okay, and
we do know can we confirm Meredith and.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
William are in the bar.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
They waited for Shaper outside the bar for minutes and
minutes and minutes, and eventually they assumed that Shaffer just
went home. His apartment is located just six blocks away
from this gateway building where the Ugly Tuna Saluna is located,
so they assumed that it got late and he just
started walking by himself.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace joining me right now. In
addition to Sidney Sumner is Matthew Mangino, high profile lawyer,
Steve Fisher, missing person's private investigator, doctor ANGELA Arnold, renowned
psychiatrist in the Atlanta jurisdiction. And Todd Shipley, who is
(11:48):
additional cyber crime expert, author of investigating Internet crimes. Todd Shipley,
we would be able to tell, or an expert would
be able to tell, if this video, this surveillance video
we're looking at, had been doctored or edited in any way.
(12:08):
Isn't that true?
Speaker 5 (12:10):
I think generally you're correct, because we have to look
at the time period when this occurred. The technology to
be able to fake that video didn't exist during that
time period, So I think we have to rely on
the fact that that video was actually correct and true,
and the police have never said It's not.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
A night out with friends turns into a nightmare when
promising young med student Brian Shaeffer disappears.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
By all accounts, Schaeffer goes right back in the door
into the ugly tune of Selena, and you can see
him following the two women he meets just outside the door,
and there's only one place to go, going in that
direction into the bar. No one disputes that. Okay, how
(12:56):
did we get here? In order to evaluate a missing
person or a murder case, you start with knowing your victim.
Everything you can find out about the victim, it may
have a huge impact on where they are and what
happened to him. So who is Brian Schaeffer listen?
Speaker 3 (13:18):
Brian Shaffer grows up in Baltimore, Ohio, with his younger
brother Derek. After graduation, Shaeffer stays close to Homeford College,
pursuing a degree in microbiology at the University of Ohio.
Randy and Renee Schaeffer couldn't be more proud when their
oldest son designs to attend medical school at his alma mater.
In Brian Shaeffer's second year, his mother diagnosed with a
(13:39):
rare blood cancer. Three weeks before spring break, Renee succumbs
to the disease. While her death is hard on Schaeffer,
twenty seven friends say he seems to be handling it well.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
The apple of his parents' eyes, Brian Schaeffer seemingly goes
into a bar and no one is disputing that, and
it never comes out. He vanishes. Impossible. There's got to
be a logical explanation about what happened to Brian Schaeffer.
(14:10):
Straight out to Matthew Mangino, high profile lawyer joining US,
former prosecutor, author of the Executioners, Told the Crimes, theres trials, appeals,
last meals, final words, executions of forty six people across
the US. That's a mouthful. You're gonna have to work
with that title. You can find them at Mattmanngino dot com.
Matt thank you for being with us. There's so many
(14:33):
theories out there, and it doesn't matter what case you're
dealing with. It can be the Orenthal James Simpson double
murder trial of j Simpson. It can be the Karen
Reid prosecution for the murder the death let me say
off for a longtime boyfriend of Boston comp it can
be Scott Peterson. The conspiracy theories that surround cases, especially
(14:59):
when they're unsolved, abound. Just look online. So here we've
got the same issue, a lot of conspiracy theories, but
we use the defense A journey mean, as the former prosecutor,
have to look at the hard evidence and make sense
of it. This is not the first case I've encountered
(15:22):
where someone goes into a building and never comes out.
What do you make of this surveillance video?
Speaker 6 (15:27):
Well, Nancy, I think the most crucial aspect of this
is those five minutes between one point fifty five am
and when the bar closes at two am.
Speaker 7 (15:38):
You know, he has.
Speaker 6 (15:39):
Two friends inside the bar who say they leave at
two am looking for him, and they wait outside there.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
Now.
Speaker 8 (15:48):
I don't know how big you know this this saloon is,
but you know, within five minutes he's right outside the door,
walking toward the door.
Speaker 6 (15:59):
They're coming out, they're waiting for him.
Speaker 8 (16:02):
You know what transpires in those five minutes that I
think is the answer, you know, to this, to this mystery.
Speaker 6 (16:10):
You know what did anybody else see?
Speaker 1 (16:12):
I agree with you. Let me go straight up to
Steve Fisher joining us Missing Person Private Investigator and you
can find him at Search Investigations dot org. Steve, thank
you for being with us.
Speaker 7 (16:23):
Listen, thank you.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
The guys with the two women, the two women go
into the bar, He's following along behind him, and no
matter how much I have scoured through witness statements and
other surveillance video in the area. Ugly ten is not
the only one with a security can. There's no evidence
at all he ever leaves the bar. How do you
(16:47):
explain that.
Speaker 7 (16:48):
It's literally like he turned into a ghost.
Speaker 9 (16:50):
I mean, as an investigator, this has everything that you want,
Like you mentioned, it has surveillance of all the entrances
and exits, including the back, and all the surrounding businesses
have surveillance. He's not captured on any of it. It's bizarre.
I mean he left, I mean he's not there.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
It's extremely bizarre. Steve and again, and I'm gonna touch
on it later. This is not the first time I've
had a case where someone enters a building and has
never seen alive again. But Okay, when you don't know
which way to go and you're not getting anywhere everything
(17:29):
is modeled, you start over and reexamine what you know. Listen.
Speaker 10 (17:36):
Brian Schaefer makes the thirty minute drive from Columbus to
celebrate the start of spring break with a steak dinner
at his father's house. Over dinner, Brian excitedly discusses his
upcoming vacation to Miami with girlfriend Alexis Wagner. Brian plans
to propose. Brian also mentions his plans to go out
that evening with former roommate William Clint Florence. Randy Schaeffer
(18:00):
thinks Brian should be resting after a long week of exams,
but doesn't try to sway his son from his celebrations.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
A mysterious cell being a potential sighting in Mexico, but
friends refuse to take polygraphs? What happened to Brian Schaeffer?
What did happen to Brian?
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Safer? Again? Not the first time a victim has gone
into a building and never emerges. The family now desperate
to find Brian. We are reviewing what we know to
be true. We can see it with our own eyes,
or can we listen?
Speaker 11 (18:40):
At one fifteen am, Schaeffer, Florence, and Reed head up
the Gateway Buildings escalator to the Ugly Tuna and partake
in one more round of shots while listening to the band.
Shaeffer gives Florence and Reads some time alone and chats
with two women just outside the bar until one fifty
five am. Just five minutes later, the bar is closing
and masses of patrons head down escalator, but Florence and
(19:01):
Reed can't find Schaeffer. The pair eventually assumes that Shaeffer
went home, likely walking to his off campus apartment just
six blocks away.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
And isn't it true to Crime online dot Com investigative
reporter Sydney Sumner's that video evidence CCTV, all sorts of
hard evidence, does not reveal Brian Schaefer ever leaving that bar,
(19:29):
not going back down the escalator, which is where he
came from. It came in that way, he doesn't go
back down. He's not spotted by any of the other
businesses going in either direction. He had to go into
the bar on his way home. There are surveillance videos
from various businesses. Nothing. He doesn't go back home, he
(19:52):
doesn't go to his car, his ATM, his credit cards
are not used. He didn't go anywhere. So do we
have anything so far, any CCTV anything to suggest he
left the.
Speaker 4 (20:08):
Bar, Nancy, There is nothing, And Columbus is actually it
has more surveillance cameras than Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Toledo combined.
So this entire city is covered in cameras, and we
should have some indication as to where Shaper went. Police
went to the Gateway building. They checked all of those cameras,
(20:31):
They checked cameras at three other bars they had been
out earlier that night.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
Nothing.
Speaker 4 (20:37):
There is just nothing to indicate that Shaper ever left
that building.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
And Sidney Sumner. What about those two women? Have they
been questioned?
Speaker 4 (20:45):
Yes, they have been identified, questioned and they were both
cleared as suspects. They said that they spoke with Shafer
very briefly. He left the conversation. They don't know where
he went from there, and that's it. They have no
information on whe Shaper went.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Okay to Todd Shipley, joining US digital cybercrime expert, former
detective sergeant, author of investigating Internet crimes, and you can
find him at dark intel dot info. Todd Shipley. We
can very easily make out him and his friends coming
up the escalator, even if he had on a hat,
(21:23):
which there's no evidence he put on a hat, Even
if he took off the pull over, which there's no
evidence he did that, either, we would have seen him
going down the escalator or leaving the bar. Feeding into
those theories, again, those are just wild conspiracy theories. There's
no evidence either of those things happen that he put
(21:44):
on a hat or change his shirt.
Speaker 5 (21:46):
Well exactly. I mean, the video stands for itself. I
don't think we can look at that and say that
there was additional things at it or taken away because
the video at the time was not sufficient to hide
that kind of thing. And so the video they've got
is the video that exists, and there's no evidence that
he left. And that's the scary part. Where is he
(22:06):
and how did he get out of.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
The bar Sidney Summer joining us Crime online dot Com Sidney,
I'm only bringing up that back exit so everybody knows
about it. He didn't go down the back exit, and
I'll tell you why, Sidney. I've told you this once,
I'll tell you again. And all the years I try cases,
my single best witness I ever put on the stand
was a dog. Yes, I put a dog on the stand,
(22:31):
and I will tell you he survived cross examination. But
that said dogs were brought in to pursue the Zamy
theory that maybe, out of the blue, Brian Schaeffer goes
out this service door that leads to a construction area
(22:52):
and you have to climb down a ladder, and they
brought in canines to look in the sewers, to look
in the garbage to try to catch a scent. They didn't,
And I guarantee you I would trust a dog even
more than I would trust a surveillance video. So tell
(23:13):
me about that back exit.
Speaker 4 (23:15):
Yeah, so that back exit. Realistically, we would have seen
Shafer enter that door. And there's a freight elevator only
operated by a key, so you could take the service
ladder in that elevator shaft all the way down to
the ground floor, but that would have been difficult for
a sober person, much less and intoxicated. When we know
that Shaper has had at least three or four shots
(23:38):
on this pub crawl that he did with his friends
last night. There's also cameras on the ground floor door,
so we should have seen him coming out on the
ground floor if that was his exit as well. So
police start to theorize that maybe he left the building
in the trash, if he was killed inside the building
and his body was discarded in the trash, so they're
(23:58):
searching garbage cans been maybe the sewer was he hid
in somewhere else and he ended up below the building
in the sewers, and there was no evidence that he
was ever down there either, And you're right, dogs pick
up no scent from Shaffer leaving the building. It just
seems everything points to Shaffer not leaving this building.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
You know, City Cumner, You've been reporting for quite a
while and he've always struck me as a very rational,
logical reporter, and you analyze the facts very clearly. Did
you just say that he could have been killed and
thrown away in the trash?
Speaker 4 (24:39):
That's the first time we've heard of it, Nancy, where
somebody went into a building, didn't leave and exited in
a different manner. So how would he have gotten into
the trash with all of these witnesses, There's no way.
That makes no sense, right, But.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
How would he have gotten into a giant dumpster with
nobody seeing it? How would his body had been put
in the trash? And then what taken off to a landfill?
I mean, they bring hold on, let me bring it
Steve Fisher, because now I'm tormenting Sydney and she doesn't
deserve that. Steve Fisher missing Person's private investigator? Do you
believe if by this far Fisch theory and I'm only
(25:16):
discussing it to appease the conspiracy theorists. Even if this
far fetched theory is true, that he was killed and
thrown out in the trash that would have been discovered
by the dogs, there's no witness, nothing, that all the
employees at the bar didn't realize anything had happened. They
have been questioned tirelessly that did not happen.
Speaker 9 (25:40):
Explained, Yeah, the dogs simply would not miss that. I'm
lucky that I get to train it sometimes at the
National Training Center and they'll actually take tiny pieces of flesh,
like you said, and they'll try to mask the scent
with coffee grounds and stuff like that, and dogs just
do not miss.
Speaker 7 (25:58):
So that theory.
Speaker 9 (26:00):
And also people start producing death scent, you know, right
after death, so it doesn't have to be a long
period of time. So the cadaver dogs would have picked
that up. There's no way you can't mask it, you
can't hide it. They're just that good.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Well, not only that, Steve Fisher, cadaver dogs were brought
in in addition to bloodhounds or scent dogs to pick
up his scent, whether he was dead or alive. None
of them picked up the scent of Brian Schaefer as
going down that back entrance.
Speaker 9 (26:30):
Yeah, and I think law enforcements were very clear that
they've ruled out that back interest. And also there was
from I understand, there was a security guard stationed at
the back entrance and that's where the band was playing,
and he would have had to walk through the band
to get to the door.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Brian's disappearance remains a perplexing mystery to the city of
Columbus almost two decades later.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
Not only would Brian Schaefer have to go down a
ladder or have a key to a freight elevator which
he did not send dogs and cadaver dogs do not
pick on his scent going down that back exit, And
according to Steve Fisher, who is correct, he would have
to have passed a security guard and a band that
(27:13):
did not happen. I like to also point out, and
Sidney correct me if I'm wrong, that the dogs also
looked at pass leading from the bar. We've got nothing, Okay,
she's not in her hand, yes, Doctor Angie Arnold joining
me renown psychiatrist out of the Atlanta jurisdiction at Angelo
(27:35):
Arnold MD dot com. Why do conspiracy theorists exist? Because yes,
there haven't been, There have been a few conspiracies that
actually worked, but for the most part they don't work.
I promise you the LAPD did not join in on
a really big conspiracy to frame a beloved football star,
(28:00):
Oj Simpson. That did not happen. It did not happen.
Don't you know that one of them would have made
a deal with a publisher by now a two three
million dollar deal to tell the truth about the murders.
Same thing here. Why do the conspiracy theorists do what
they do?
Speaker 12 (28:18):
Well, Nancy, think about who conspiracy theorists are. There are
always people out there that live on the fringes that
they want to come up with the craziest, most off
the wall idea that they can sometimes in the hopes.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Of their own notoriety.
Speaker 12 (28:36):
And that's why I believe conspiracy theorists exists. And then unfortunately,
with some conspiracy theorists, they become delusional and they believe
what they're saying, and they go down a rabbit hole
and they stay there. But when you think of when
you think of the continuum of the types of people
that exist on the earth, not everybody falls under the
Bell curve, and so there are always people on the
(28:59):
edges of the bell curve. That want to think of
the craziest scenarios that they can.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
Yeah, well, you can't put that in front of a jury, guys.
Local police dotted their eyes and crossed their teas.
Speaker 10 (29:13):
Listen Columbus PD polygraphs. Those who last saw Brian Shaeffer,
including Randy Shaeffer and Meredith Reid, both pass and are
cleared as suspects. However, Clint Florence refuses to submit to
the light detector test. Investigators theorize that perhaps Brian Shaeffer,
still grieving the death of his mother, left town for
(29:35):
some solitude, but with no activity on his cell phone
or bank accounts, there's no indication to where he might
have gone.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Okay, that's bs right there. He did not leave town
for a long time. He just met with his father
for dinner. He would not have done that to his father.
There's no indication that happened. More conspiracy theories. No atm us,
no credit card, use, nav on his car, nothing, nothing
to support that theory. But listen to this weird fact.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
Alexis Wagoner called Brian Shaeffer's cell phone at least once
a day before going to bed, at most hoping he
might answer, at least getting to hear his voicemail. Six
months after his disappearance, Shaeffer's voicemail doesn't immediately play. Instead,
the phone rings three times. Wagoner immediately reports it to police,
and investigators find that the phone pinged in Hilliard, a
(30:31):
suburb of Columbus, fourteen miles northwest. Shaeffer's cel phone company
says the activity is likely just to glitch, but family
and friends hope it is an indication that Brian is alive.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Holding on to any innycentilla of evidence that Brian could
be alive, the theories that he is alive only deepen
after this.
Speaker 11 (30:54):
Two years after Brian Shaffer's disappearance, a large storm blows
through Baltimore, Ohio. Ry Shaeffer tries to cross his yard
to retrieve something from his tool shed when a tree
branch snaps, hitting him and killing him. Days after his death,
Randy Shaffer's online obituary gets a comment reading, I love
you Dad, Love Brian. Us Virgin Islands investigators believe they've
(31:16):
gotten their break. Did Shaeffer leave the country and start
a band, plans he had jokingly mentioned to med school friends.
The message turns out to be a cruel hoax, leading
only to yet another dead end.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
You know, I could spend a whole hour talking about
what jackass did that writing a note from Brian on
his online obituary to his father that said, another dead end.
I keep talking about another case where someone goes in
and building and never comes out. I'm talking about Annie Lee. Listen.
Speaker 13 (31:51):
When police learn Annie Lay was never seen leaving the
Amistade Street building, they must assume Lay is still inside.
Investigators combed the build, discovering bloody clothes hidden above a
ceiling tile. Three days after Annie Lay is reported missing,
and the day of her planned wedding, Lay's body is
found stuffed in a cable chassis in a basement laboratory.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Lay had been strangled. A twenty seven year old medical
student vanishes into thin air. Surveillance captures him entering a
bar but never leaving.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
Where is Brian Schaeffer? In the last months, another young
man disappears en route to a bar.
Speaker 14 (32:43):
Listen, it is it that you're wanting to report us missing.
We're here on a fraternity formal trip. It's one of.
Speaker 7 (32:49):
My good buddies. Okay, what is his name?
Speaker 14 (32:53):
His name is Riley Straane Riley ri I L E.
Y Strane str And what was he last being wearing
outside of Luke Brian's Bar last night at Lake ten
and then the last time his location on his phone
was by the Sheriff's office, I like eleve them.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
Riley's train leaving Luke's Bar wasn't seen alive again. Quite
a period of time passed before his body was found
in a body of water, still under mysterious circumstances. And
He's not the only one. What about Andy Tinch.
Speaker 3 (33:34):
Andy Tinch has plans to spend the night out in Charlotte,
North Carolina, to celebrate his thirty first birthday. Monday morning,
Tinch misses his shift at his nursing job. His family
immediately reports him missing. Later that night, Tench's car is
found abandoned in Monroe. As the investigation continues, police get
a tip that Tinch was seen at Bar three sixteen
(33:55):
around twelve thirty am. This is the last known sighting
of Andy tent So Andy Tinch seemingly goes into a
bar and never comes out. I know the answer to
that riddle. Tench was murdered.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
His body was disposed of in the garbage. That theory
has been researched and investigated extensively. In Brian Schaffer's case,
that did not happen. Take a listen to this.
Speaker 13 (34:22):
Over the years, many have theorized about what happened to
Brian Schaeffer. Did Schaeffer change closed and simply wasn't recognized
coming down the escalator? Was he killed and dismembered hidden
in an empty keg, did a member of the band
stuff his body into an instrument case? Or was he
hidden in the building's infrastructure concealed by the ongoing construction.
Columbus PD hopes to one day have the answer for
(34:43):
Shaffer's loved ones and is still asking the public for
any information they might have. Central Ohio Crime Stoppers is
offering a one hundred thousand dollars reward for tips that
help locate Brian Schaeffer.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
A one hundred thousand dollars reward tip line sixty one
four four five four six two four. What happened to Brian?
To Matthew men Gino, best theory, well, absolutely supernatural.
Speaker 6 (35:10):
He either walked out, was carried out, or is still there.
I mean that there aren't any other options than that,
and that's where the bizarre unsolved aspect of.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
Biness, walked out, carried out, or never leaves. What about it,
Steve Fisher.
Speaker 7 (35:28):
I think he gets out of the building.
Speaker 9 (35:29):
I think somehow there's a blind spot in the surveillance,
and not on purpose, but I think he, you know,
gets out and then and something happens to him and
most likely ends up, you know, in the water or
something like that.
Speaker 7 (35:41):
Much like Riley Stream good.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
Theory, Steve Fisher, except for the friends were waiting for
him just outside the building. Doctor Angie Arnold jump in.
Speaker 12 (35:51):
You know, Nancy, medical school is very stressful. His mother
dying was very stressful. I have this gut feeling that
he disappeared and he's living his life somewhere else.
Speaker 4 (36:06):
That's really what I think, Nancy.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
All right, Doctor Angie, I thought you were going to
go down that route. I thought you might go with suicide.
So you're saying that he is left behind the fiance,
all of his relatives and his father to suffer because
he wanted alone time.
Speaker 12 (36:24):
I didn't say because he wanted alone time, Nancy, I
said because maybe he wanted to disappear. Maybe he didn't
want to be a doctor anymore. Maybe he didn't want
to marry his fiance anymore. Maybe the stress of his
mother dying pushed him over the edge, after the stress
of going to medical school. Nancy, it's a theory that
has to be considered.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
Okay, let me circle back to Sidney Sumner. Sidney Sumner, Yes, No,
didn't this occur in April of two thousand and six.
Speaker 4 (36:53):
That is completely correct. Eighteen years, two months and three
days ago.
Speaker 1 (36:57):
Todd Shiffley's joining me digital cybercrime. For Todd Shipley, this
guy would have to have some sort of a digital imprint. Now,
there would have to be a fingerprint, a something showing
that he was still alive.
Speaker 5 (37:14):
Well, cell phones are uniquely identified in the system by
their serial number, their Imei number, and so when that
rings six months later and they're identifying that ping fourteen
miles away in Hilliard, something occurred. I can't believe that
it was actually just a glitch. And in fact, there's
a recycling company that is up there in Hilliard and
(37:37):
started about a year before he went missing. So somebody
could have turned the phone in and they happened to
turn it on for whatever reason, and it happened. I
think there's some evidence that we haven't found surrounding that phone,
and we need to find.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
City Summer joining us crime online dot Com. The phone
disappeared along with him. Correct, it is correct.
Speaker 4 (37:55):
Brand's car was found outside of his spertman.
Speaker 1 (37:58):
Ah Okay, so we would have I have to believe,
logically speaking, that he became separated from his phone and
that the phone somehow activated. I'm thinking long and hard
about that, and I've got to reconcile it with the
fact that I do not believe he would have left
his father, relatives, friends, fiance behind and suffering to have
(38:26):
alone time or to disappear. He was more determined to
get through med school after his mother's death than ever.
That was his mission. I'm not buying it, you see,
Gray signing off, goodbye friend,
Host
Nancy Grace
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