Brian Shaffer: The Ugly Tuna Mystery

Summary

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Podcast Summary: The Final Hours with Sarah Turney and Kourtney Nichole

Episode: Brian Shaffer: The Ugly Tuna Mystery

Original Air Date: March 23, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, hosts Sarah Turney and Kourtney Nichole take a deep dive into the baffling disappearance of Brian Shaffer, a 27-year-old medical student who vanished in the early morning hours of April 1, 2006, after a night with friends at the Ugly Tuna Saloona bar in Columbus, Ohio. With their unique blend of personal experience and investigative scrutiny, the hosts examine Brian’s last known actions, the mysterious details of surveillance footage, and the ripple effects on those left behind. Their approach emphasizes compassion for families, the dangers of speculation, and the complexities of handling unsolved cases.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Final Hours: Setting the Scene

• [00:50] Courtney Nicole narrates Brian’s last appearance on surveillance, highlighting the iconic footage of him and friends arriving at the Ugly Tuna Saloona at 1:15am.
• Brian is later seen at 1:55am chatting with two college-aged women outside the bar. Minutes later, he vanishes.

Brian’s Background and State of Mind

• [04:47] Sarah Turney shares Brian’s personal history: Only weeks before, his mother Renee died of cancer, and his father would later die in a freak accident. Brian was known as friendly and outgoing, invested in music and sports, with close family and romantic ties.
• [07:18] Brian’s deep bond with his girlfriend Alexis Wagoner, his close-knit family, and the emotional toll of his mother's illness and death are explored in depth.
• [09:16-10:33] The hosts discuss how Brian's grief manifested in impulsive comments to Alexis about running away or skipping town, but emphasize the importance of weighing his actions over words.

The Night Brian Disappeared

Timeline Breakdown

• [12:05] Brian has dinner with his dad, appears exhausted but is planning a celebration post-exams.
• [12:44-13:17] Brian goes barhopping with close friend Clint Florence and is later joined by Meredith Reed.
• [13:42] An account is given (revealed years later) of Brian’s flirtatious behavior with another woman, Brighton Zadko, even as he had a girlfriend.
• [14:29] Sarah and Kourtney reflect on the dangers and unpredictability of heavy drinking and how it may have contributed to Brian’s actions.

Last Known Movements

• [16:18] After mingling, Brian is seen on camera with Brighton and Amber. They move off-camera into an alcove. After a brief conversation, Brighton and Amber leave; they did not see Brian re-enter the bar.
• [17:05] Three potential exits existed nearby: a (supposedly) alarmed emergency exit, an unsecured construction zone door, and a service elevator. The construction area offered possible unmonitored egress, but no surveillance footage of Brian leaving exists. Some bar cameras were dummies or broken.

Initial Search and Delayed Alarm

• [19:41] Friends were initially unconcerned, thinking Brian might be sleeping in post-partying. Panic only sets in after multiple missed calls and a missed family obligation.
• [21:44] Sarah points out the natural escalation of worry, noting how easy it is to rationalize absence at first.

The Investigation: Mysteries & Dead Ends

Early Theories and Police Leads

• [22:47] Police explore, then rule out, the theory that Brian fell into a dumpster or suffered a fatal accident in the construction zone.
• [24:08] The unsecured, sprawling construction area is examined as an exit route—a plausible but unconfirmed theory.
• [25:27] Malfunctioning or dummy cameras hampered efforts to track Brian’s movements.

The Role of Psychics and False Leads

• [26:11] Brian’s father Randy chased down tips, including those from psychics, often leading to disappointment or emotional trauma.
  • Notable quote – Sarah Turney [26:59]:
    “With me, I've never met or engaged with a psychic who was able to give me information that wasn't public info... Which breaks my heart, because I am open to it and very much like Randy... It's really hard.”

Consideration of Voluntary Disappearance

• [29:10] Detectives consider if Brian could have run away due to depression or dissatisfaction, but find little supporting evidence.
• [29:36] A break-in at Brian's apartment months after his disappearance raises hopes, but turns out to be random.

Surveillance Analysis and Technological Leads

• [30:16] Detective Andre Edwards re-watches all surveillance, confirming Brian is the only person recorded entering but not leaving.
• [32:26] A curious episode: Brian’s cellphone, which had always gone straight to voicemail, suddenly rings several times on September 8, 2006.
• [33:19] Cell tower pings place the phone in disparate areas, but nothing actionable results.

Hoaxes & Harmful Exploitation

• [35:19] A disturbing hoax: A comment left on Randy Shafer’s online obituary claims to be from Brian in the Virgin Islands, but is traced to a local public computer.

  • Notable quote – Sarah Turney [36:09]:
    “The emotional roller coaster of all this is just so heartbreaking... this poor family, all these loved ones of Brian. It's just. It's just awful.”

• Discussion on the prevalence of hoaxes in true crime cases, the harm caused to families, and the lack of sufficient legal prosecution for such actions.

  • Notable quote – Sarah Turney [37:35]:
    “There are laws, and I've seen people get prosecuted for... interfering with a case, but I think it should be more often, to be honest, there's so many hoaxes in these cases, and I feel like we're not prosecuting them enough...”

Theories, Suspicions, and Emotional Aftermath

• [38:20] Over time, both Alexis and Derek (Brian’s brother) change perspectives on possible explanations—ranging from Brian running away, to suicide or foul play.

• [38:47] Suspicion falls on Brian's friend Clint, who stopped cooperating with police and the Shaffer family after refusing a polygraph.

  • Notable quote – Derek Shaffer (via Sarah Turney) [39:41]:
    “If anyone knows whether he is still alive or if something happened to him, it’s Clint.”

• [40:51] Survivor’s guilt and the burden of being the last family member are poignantly discussed.

  • Notable quote – Sarah Turney [41:04]:
    “That survivor's guilt of, like, what if I just did one thing different? What if my day was different that day? What if I showed up? It eats away at you... If Derek's out there listening, I just hope that he knows that it's not his fault.”

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Notable Quotes

• “Actions speak louder than words applies here.”
  — Sarah Turney [10:00]

• “As much as we all like to, you know, make those jokes... about running away and starting a new life, I feel like it's very rare that somebody actually does.”
  — Courtney Nicole [09:16]

• “It's hard. Right. Like, he had a steak dinner with his dad, so we know that he has some food in his stomach. But this is also, like, their local haunts. They're in college... You should be able to have a good time and drink and have fun when you're in college. But also being realistic and staying safe. I don't know what that middle ground is.”
  — Sarah Turney [14:50]

• “We see this in a lot of cases. And to be honest, like, I am living for the day where I don't have to talk about hoaxes anymore because they're so harmful.”
  — Sarah Turney [36:25]

• “That survivor’s guilt... it eats away at you. And if Derek’s out there listening, I just hope that he knows that it’s not his fault.”
  — Sarah Turney [41:04]

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Important Timestamps

• 00:50 – Brian and friends arrive on surveillance at Ugly Tuna Saloona
• 01:55 – Brian last seen chatting with two women, then disappears
• 16:18 – Events leading to Brian’s disappearance; last two-minute conversation outside bar
• 19:41 – Friends, family start to worry; initial search
• 22:47 – Police begin full investigation; initial theories
• 24:08 – Unmonitored construction area exit possibility discussed
• 26:11 – Psychics and wild goose chases impact the investigation and family
• 29:36 – Break-in at Brian’s apartment; hopes dashed
• 30:16 – Detective confirms Brian alone unaccounted for on camera
• 32:26 – Suspicious cell phone behavior and pings months after disappearance
• 35:19 – Hoax message on father’s obituary
• 38:47 – Focus on friend Clint and the polygraph controversy
• 41:27 – The burden and trauma on Brian’s surviving brother, Derek

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Episode Tone and Approach

• The hosts balance empathy with detailed investigative commentary.
• Personal experience with loss and missing persons adds a deeply compassionate layer.
• They question prevailing narratives but caution against reckless speculation.
• The language remains sensitive, especially when discussing families’ ongoing trauma.

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Episode Takeaways

• Brian Shaffer disappeared within a tightly monitored area, leaving close friends, family, and law enforcement baffled.
• The case is marked by dead surveillance zones, the confusion of grief, and the cruelty of hoaxers.
• Personal reflection on survivor guilt, the reality of missing person cases, and the pain of ambiguous loss anchor the episode.
• The hosts urge anyone with information to contact Columbus Police (614-645-2358) and call for compassion in true crime communities.

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Contact and Case Information

If you have any information about Brian Shaffer’s disappearance, please contact the Columbus Police at 614-645-2358.

Brian Shaffer – Missing since April 1, 2006. 6’2”, brown hair, hazel eyes, distinctive tattoo (Pearl Jam stickman) on upper right arm.

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Community Callout

Listeners are encouraged to share their thoughts, condolences, and feedback, which fuels the supportive Crime House community.

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End of Summary

Transcript

[Sarah Turney]

Hey guys, real quick. Before today's episode, we want to tell you about another show from Crime House that we know you'll love. America's Most Infamous Crimes.

[Courtney Nicole]

Hosted by Katie Ring. Each week, Katie takes on one of the most notorious criminal cases in American history.

[Sarah Turney]

From serial killers who terrorize cities to unsolved mysteries that keep detectives up at night, these are the stories that change the way we think about justice.

[Courtney Nicole]

Listen to and follow America's Most infamous crimes Tuesday through Thursday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

[Sarah Turney]

This is crime house.

[Courtney Nicole]

You're watching surveillance footage pointed at a landing at the top of two escalators. The footage comes from the Gateway Film center in Columbus, Ohio, a building with a theater and a handful of bars and restaurants. The timestamp reads 1:15am the footage was taken in the early morning hours of April 1, 2006.

[Sarah Turney]

You see three people coming up the 29 year old Clint Florence, 26 year old Meredith Reed, and 27 year old Brian Shafer. Brian's wearing a green T shirt over a long sleeved white shirt. He's leaning on the escalator facing backwards so he can talk to his friends. When they reach the top, they walk out of frame, heading into a bar called the Ugly Tuna Saloona.

[Courtney Nicole]

The next time Brian's caught on camera, it's 40 minutes later at 1:55am in this same spot on the landing at the top of the escalators. Clint and Meredith aren't there. Instead, Brian is chatting with two college aged women, both with dark bobbed hair, wearing white shirts. The women move out of frame, but we see Brian at the very edge of the camera chatting for another few seconds. Then he also disappears from view.

[Sarah Turney]

At 2:01am, Clint and Meredith realize Brian's nowhere to be found. They search the bar, they try to call him, but his phone is going straight to voicemail. And that's the last time anyone sees Brian Shafer alive.

[Courtney Nicole]

Every year, over half a million people go missing. And that's just in the United States alone. Most of those stories barely get a headline. Some don't even get a flyer or a tip line. And when cases do get media attention, we usually only get the broad strokes.

[Sarah Turney]

But for those of us who have lived these true crime cases, we know the devil's in the details. This is the final hours. A Crime House original Powered by Pave Studios. I'm Sarah Turney.

[Courtney Nicole]

And I'm Courtney Nicole. Every Monday, Sarah and I will be looking at the final hours of someone's disappearance. The small, seemingly mundane moments to see if there was anything hiding in plain sight.

[Sarah Turney]

Looking back at those last conversations, connections and choices is critical, and it could be the key to unlocking it all. Each episode, I'll offer insight on what those close to the victim might have been going through. And Courtney will use her expertise to give more context into the crime, crime scene, the red flags, and the investigation itself. And we want to thank you for being a part of the Crime House community. Please rate, review and follow the show and for ad free access to every episode. Subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts.

[Courtney Nicole]

This time we're discussing the disappearance of 27 year old Brian Schaefer. A medical student from Columbus, Ohio. Brian disappeared in the early morning hours of April 1, 2006. After going bar hopping with friends. He vanished from a crowded area with multiple surveillance cameras. And yet to this day, no one has any idea what happened to him that night.

[Sarah Turney]

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[Courtney Nicole]

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[Sarah Turney]

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[Courtney Nicole]

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[Sarah Turney]

And right on cue.

[Courtney Nicole]

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[Courtney Nicole]

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[Sarah Turney]

fees and boosting fees still apply. See website for details. Brian Schaefer's case is bookended by tragedy. His mother, Renee, died from cancer just weeks before he vanished. His father, Randy, passed away in a freak accident a few years later. And in the middle lies Brian's disappearance, an absence that has left the world wondering whether he too is gone or if there's any chance he's still alive out there somewhere. But before we discuss the tragedies that befell the Shaffer family, let's talk about their lives. Brian Shaffer was born on February 11, 1979. His mom, Renee, worked as a nurse while his dad, Randy, was an electrician. They raised Brian in Pickerington, Ohio, a suburb east Of Columbus. Brian had one sibling, his brother Derek, who was two years younger. Derek was the introvert of the family and Brian the extrovert. Friends and family said Brian was friendly and funny, but he could also be impulsive and stubborn. I think the best example of these traits comes from a story from his high school years. Brian was the captain of his high school tennis team. Just two games shy of the state tournament, his coach told him he had to get a haircut. Brian refused and opted to quit the team instead. Through his teenage years, the one thing that outweighed sports for Brian was music. He learned guitar and even played in a garage band As a teenager, his old MySpace page said he listened to everything from Elton John to Nine inch Nails. His favorite band, though, was Pearl Jam. He even got a tattoo to commemorate some of their album artwork.

[Courtney Nicole]

After Brian graduated high school, he took a few years off to figure out what he wanted to do with his Life. Then in 1999, at the age of 20, he enrolled at Ohio State University. The campus was just north of downtown Columbus, A about half an hour from Pickerington, so he would still be close to home. He decided to follow in his mom's footsteps and go into medicine. So he majored in microbiology with a minor in molecular genetics. In 2004, Brian enrolled in OSU's medical school. That first year of med school, Brian noticed a woman in his class named Alexis Wagoner. But he didn't make a move until a mutual friend told him that she was interested too. So Brian sent Alexis an email asking her out to dinner and they started dating. In June of 2005, as Brian entered his second year of med school, tragedy struck when his 50 year old mom, Renee, was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Christmas of 2005 was bittersweet. It was the last one Renee would have with the family and she wanted to do something special for Brian and Alexis. So she helped Brian pay for their upcoming trip to Miami.

[Sarah Turney]

Over spring break, as Renee's health got worse, the family spent as much time together as they could. During one of Brian's visits, his mom told him she wanted him to settle down and have a family soon. And she loved Alexis. Brian told her he was thinking of proposing and his mom recommended a jeweler to him. Even though they'd only been together about six months, Brian and Alexis were nearly inseparable. They hadn't moved in together yet, but Brian had his own apartment just off campus and Alexis was there all the time. And they had talked about marriage and even looked at engagement rings together.

[Courtney Nicole]

But being in the midst of medical school, marriage might have seemed like a lot of the time. His old MySpace page gave us a good snapshot of his life at that point. Brian wrote in his bio that medical school was just a temporary hustle until he made it big in music or became a beach bum. He also wrote about how he'd love to smoke a joint with Bob Marley.

[Sarah Turney]

That being said, there are more serious bits, too. He mentioned Alexis saying, quote, I have an awesome and amazing girlfriend, making it clear he was happily taken. He also spoke about his mother, calling her his hero, end quote. The greatest, most wonderful person in the world. Brian had always been close with his mom, but her illness seemed to bring them even closer. But then, on March 6, 2006, Brene lost her battle with cancer. At 51 years old, Brian took her death extremely hard. Over the next few weeks, he seemed to have this rollercoaster of emotions. Shortly after the funeral, he asked Alexis to run away with him. Not long after that, Brian told her he was struggling so much with his mother's death that she should probably find somebody else and move on. As March drew to a close and finals were looming, Brian then asked Alexis to, quote, skip class tomorrow. Let's go get married. I think everybody grieves differently, and especially when you're really close to your partner, I feel like that filter is just gone, as it should be, I think.

[Courtney Nicole]

Yeah, I feel like you tend to open up a little bit more, and especially in Brian's case, when you're dealing with the grief of someone on top of trying to accomplish this really, really hard task of going to medical school. So it's really, really a lot. It's kind of all closing in, it seems. But, you know, I think everyone at some point has made the joke of throwing in the towel and running away and starting a new life, especially in recent times. I know I have. So, as much as we all like to, you know, make those jokes and make those little comments about running away and starting a new life, I feel like it's very rare that somebody actually does. And in Brian case, I really don't think that he was wanting to do that. I just feel like the grief and everything in his life at that point in time was just too much to bear. And like you said, you kind of rely on your partner and you make little comments like this. I feel like that's totally normal.

[Sarah Turney]

Yeah, and I feel like the phrase like actions speak louder than words applies here. You know, he was going to go look at engagement rings, and, yeah, maybe he made a Few jokes here and there or said things while he was grieving his mom. I don't know. I think that, like, the actions here are clear.

[Courtney Nicole]

I think a lot of people like to speculate and not just in this disappearance, but in a lot of them, you know, if there were any red flags that could be worth paying attention to. And I guess the only thing that really stands out to me is the passing of his mom and how hard he was taking it. But again, I don't think he was being serious when he made those comments about running away and, you know, and starting a new life.

[Sarah Turney]

Yeah, I totally agree. And like, that's a huge thing. And she was young. 51 is young. And again, all these pressures, going through medical school, thinking about, you know, marrying your girlfriend and then you lose your mom so hard. Right, because your world stops, but the rest of the world around you doesn't. And I don't know, coping with all of that is just extremely hard. And I just think we have to look at his actions over his words. Finals week ended on Friday, March 31, 2006. The plane tickets Renee helped Brian buy for their trip to Miami were for Monday, April 3rd. So they have that weekend before their vacation. That Friday, Alexis and her brother drove up to Toledo, Ohio, two and a half hours northwest to visit their par. They want to spend time with their family dog who's nearing the end of her life. Alexis planned to come home Sunday the second, giving her enough time to pack before their trip. After Alexis leaves, Brian makes plans to go out and celebrate the end of the term. But before he heads out, he shoots Alexis a message over MySpace. He tells her he can't wait for their trip and jokingly asks if she can go topless at the beach. He says, quote, a man can dream. Can he? When he leaves his apartment, Brian starts his night out by getting dinner with his dad Randy at a steakhouse. Brian invites his brother Derek too, but Derek already had plans. He and his girlfriend are seeing a comedy show, but Derek tells Brian that he might meet up with him afterwards. This leaves Brian and his dad time to catch up. And during that dinner, Randy says Brian seems exhausted from his exam week.

[Courtney Nicole]

After dinner, Brian heads home and his friend Clint Florence comes by between 9 and 9:30pm Brian and Clint are close. They go out bar hopping all the time. Brian's apartment is close to downtown Columbus, so he and Clint walk to a place nearby called the Gateway Film Center. It's a huge entertainment complex with a movie theater and several bars and restaurants. When Brian and Clint get there, they go to a spot on the second story of the complex called the Ugly Tuna Saloona. It's a small bar with a nautical theme. Brian and Clint have three or four shots each and hang out for about an hour. At around 10.30pm, Brian calls Alexis from the bar. She doesn't answer, so he leaves her voicemail and tells her that he loves her. About half an hour later, she calls him back. Alexis talks about how her dog Ellie is doing and he says to try and enjoy her time with her family. Around 11pm, Brian and Clint leave to go to an area in Columbus called the Short north. They hit up three different bars and around midnight or 12:30am they decide to head back to the Gateway. They're supposed to meet up with some other friends now at the Ugly Tuna, but they've ventured about a mile and a half south, so Clint calls his friend Meredith Reed to come and pick them up. By 1:15am the three of them are riding up the escalator to the Ugly Tuna Saloona.

[Sarah Turney]

Remember, his brother Derek mentioned meeting up with them too, but the show he was at ran late. So Derek and his girlfriend just went home for the night. But the friends they're supposed to meet up with are at the Ugly Tuna waiting. Some of them are Clint's students. He works as a teacher's assistant. Clint goes to talk to one of them, a woman named Amber Ruick. She brought along a female friend named Brighton Zadko. So while Clint and Amber catch up, Brian and Brighton get to chatting.

[Courtney Nicole]

Brighton did not disclose this publicly until years later, but she said that night Brian was flirting with her and she didn't know that he had a girlfriend at the time, so she went along with it. Brighton said as the night wore on, Brian even kissed her on the neck and she put her number in his phone.

[Sarah Turney]

That's how things went for the next half hour. Everyone mingles, and with closing time drawing near, Clint tells Brian not to wander off. He has a habit of doing that when he drinks. Multiple friends said that Brian could get into some mischief after having one too many. He was the type of person who might wander off and wake up on a stranger's lawn the next morning. I feel like alcohol is just this complete wildcard, like you can think, you know, and maybe you do often act a certain way when you drink, but again, it just feels very random sometimes.

[Courtney Nicole]

Yeah, it also depends on, you know, how much you've eaten that day. Like you said, you might know your limit, but honestly, at the end of the day with alcohol you never truly know as girls, like, as women. When we go out, we tend to stick really close with our friends, and we don't really let each other out of our sight. Although he may be a wild card and, you know, might drink a little bit too much sometimes, generally speaking, he. He can handle himself.

[Sarah Turney]

Yeah. I mean, and it's hard. Right. Like, he had a steak dinner with his dad, so we know that he has some food in his stomach. But this is also, like, their local haunts. They're in college. You know, I'm sure that they knew even more people at this location. Right. So it's like, I waver between. You should be able to have a good time and drink and have fun when you're in college. College. But also being realistic and staying safe. I don't know what that middle ground is.

[Courtney Nicole]

I don't either. Especially in his downtime, he kind of just wants to go out and let loose and have fun. I feel like you should be able to do that.

[Sarah Turney]

Well, he's trying to celebrate. Right. They were celebrating, like, the end of the term, which for a medical student, I can't even imagine the pressure of that. Right. I was an English major, and that felt really hard. But being a, you know, in medical school, that's a whole different thing. And you should just be able to let loose at your local bar that you go to all the time without having to worry about something awful happening to you.

[Courtney Nicole]

Exactly. And I feel like whether you are a man or a woman, there's always some tips that you can do to stay safe when you're out drinking. Like, for example, you can leave with the same people that you came in with. I feel like that's one sure way to make sure everyone gets home safe. Another thing that you could do is, like, make a plan for when you might need to cut each other off. You can have those gentle conversations, you know, basically saying, hey, let's start taking it a little easy. And then, of course, like, the number one, most important thing that I guess I would always recommend is to always share your location with the people that you go out with, especially if you are drinking, because you. You never know what could happen in the blink of an eye.

[Sarah Turney]

Clint said after he talked to Brian about not wandering off, he didn't see him again for the rest of the night. Some patrons in the bar said that they saw Brian and Clint having an argument, but the bar was too loud to hear specifics. Clint has never commented on this alleged argument, though. What we do know is that at 1:55am Brian is on camera chatting with Brighton and Amber outside the Ugly Tuna in front of them. People are going up and down the escalators, and armed security guards are watching from the top of the landing. Then the trio steps off camera, going into an alcove to get out of people's way. Brighton remembers stepping back into the alcove. She said that she and Amber talked to Brian for another few minutes before parting ways at approximately 1:57am Brian then goes in the direction of the bar, but neither women remember seeing him go back inside.

[Courtney Nicole]

If he didn't go back into the bar, Brian would have gone down a hallway that had three different exits. One was an emergency exit that would sound an alarm if opened. The other was a nondescript beige door that led to a part of the building still under construction. Though you'd expect this door to be locked, Amber had actually opened it earlier in the night to call her boyfriend, so we know that it was an option. The third exit was the service elevator that employees took. It went down to the first floor of the complex. But this exit had working cameras and investigators did not see Brian on the surveillance footage.

[Sarah Turney]

Minutes after Brian leaves Amber in Brighton, Clint and Meredith realize they've lost him. The Ugly Tuna's small and people have cleared out after last call, so they scan the bar quickly and check the bathrooms too. But Brian is nowhere to be found. Meredith calls Brian's cell at 2:01am and it goes straight to voicemail. She leaves a voicemail saying, where are you? Where in the hell are you? Clint and Meredith look for a little longer, both in and around the bar, but they can't find Brian. Then they're seen on camera heading down the escalator. In less than six minutes, Brian Schaefer vanished without a trace.

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[Sarah Turney]

it's the early morning hours of April 1, 2006. Lint is house sitting for a professor in Clintonville, a bit north of campus. He and Meredith spend the rest the of of the night there. They wake up around 10am Meredith takes Clint to his car, which he left at Brian's apartment the night before. They don't knock on the door, but later Clint leaves a voicemail checking in. Brian doesn't return the call. Later that day, Brian is supposed to visit his dad Randy, but he doesn't show up. Randy remembers that Brian seemed exhausted, so this doesn't raise any alarms. Brian's girlfriend Alexis doesn't call until 3 or 4 in the afternoon, thinking he's probably sleeping the night off. The call goes straight to voicemail, but she isn't worried yet either. Alexis tries him again at midnight though, and the phone still goes straight to voicemail. When he doesn't pick up at 2am, she really starts to worry that something's wrong. While she's driving home from her parents house later that morning, Brian still isn't picking up. When Alexis gets back to Columbus, she goes straight to Brian's apartment. His car is still in the parking lot and when she goes inside, nothing looks out of place. But Brian isn't there. That's when Alexis and the Shaffer family start calling Brian's friends and no one has seen him. They call the police that afternoon. Officers come to Brian's apartment and take a statement from Alexis, but before they open a formal investigation, they want to see if he makes his flight to Miami the next day. Alexis spends the night alone at Brian's apartment apartment. The next day, Monday, April 3rd, their flight comes and goes and there's still no sign of Brian. I get why this doesn't raise any alarms for so many people on the first day Brian's in college. He went out drinking, sleeping in really late the next day seems pretty reasonable.

[Courtney Nicole]

It's kind of all typical behavior from that age. And it's really, really sad to think, like, you know, everything was normal. Nobody ever thinks that something like this will happen, especially to, like, their loved one. But then looking back, obviously something is very wrong. If he's continuously not answering his phone.

[Sarah Turney]

I mean, I think there's a clear escalation. Right. You call the first time that it goes right to voicemail, you're like, okay, he's probably sleeping it off. You call again. Well, that's a little weird. You keep calling and then you're like, what's going on? What is going on? And I think that it's just natural to not want to think that the worst has happened and think that, you know, maybe something happened with their phone. You know, maybe there's some type of other barrier besides the worst case scenario.

[Courtney Nicole]

Yeah, you definitely tried to rationalize every single possible scenario.

[Sarah Turney]

Well, and I feel like I've heard it from so many families. Right. You never think it'll happen to you until it does.

[Courtney Nicole]

At this point, even though they are obviously very worried, I'm sure they still have hope that he's going to turn up and he'll be just fine.

[Sarah Turney]

Yeah, I think you always want to hold out that hope, especially in the beginning. Again, there could have been so many factors that could have happened. And this is a man with a plan. He's in medical school, like, he just finished his finals. This doesn't seem like somebody who just wants to disappear. And I think that's a big thing for me in this case is why go through finals if you planned on disappearing?

[Courtney Nicole]

Especially following in his mom's footsteps. Like, he really, really wants to make her proud since she did the exact same thing. To me, that doesn't scream, I'm gonna throw it all away and willingly go missing or willingly disappear. After Brian misses his flight on April 3, police start taking things seriously, and a detective by the name of John Hurst is assigned to lead the case. One of the first things they investigate is whether Brian could have ended up in a dumpster, either due to foul play or because he'd been drinking, started throwing up, and passed out. If Brian did end up in a dumpster, that kind of evidence could disappear very fast. So pursuing this angle is incredibly urgent to Sergeant Hearst. But some of the dumpsters in the immediate area have already been emptied, and dumpsters that are privately owned don't go to Local landfills. Instead, they go to landfills down in Tennessee. But even in the landfills that police can search, they are completely unsuccessful. Not a shred of evidence is found.

[Sarah Turney]

Another matter of urgency is finding out how Brian got out of the bar in the first place, because the surveillance footage doesn't show him leaving the bar. But remember, there were three other doors he could have accessed near the Ugly Tuna. The emergency fire exit, the service elevator, and the door that led downstairs to the construction zone. Police are quick to hone in on the construction site as a possible lead.

[Courtney Nicole]

Yeah, so the construction area was huge, taking up a large portion of the basement level, and there were no cameras inside yet. The area also had three different entrances to the street, which didn't have proper doors yet. They were just padlocked boards, and someone could have squeezed through. Plus, the cameras that watched these doors from the street just panned slowly over a wide area. They weren't motion detected. So if someone left through the construction area, they could have easily gone undetected while the cameras were pointed away. Sergeant Hurst has actually gone on record saying he thinks that's what happened with Brian. As far as the other exits, Brian probably didn't leave via the service elevator because it had surveillance, and he likely would have been spotted. But there was one other way out. The emergency fire exit. There was a camera pointing at this exit, too. But the footage was set to auto record over itself. And by the time police asked for the footage, it had been taped over. Management at the Ugly Tuna told police no one exited that way because they had someone stationed at the exit. And even if someone slipped past the guard, the exit was clearly marked with a sign that said an alarm would sound if opened. Yet no alarm went off that night. But here's the thing. Though it hasn't been widely talked about in the news, it was apparently common knowledge among locals that the door wasn't alarmed after all.

[Sarah Turney]

So what about the cameras nearby? Would they have caught Brian on the street after he got out of the building? You would think so. But police found that a lot of cameras nearby were either broken or dummy cameras, both near the gateway and on Brian's route home. So there's no leads there.

[Courtney Nicole]

Police also tried using dogs to figure out which way Brian went. Cadaver dogs searched the complex and the surrounding area several times over the those first couple of weeks. All the dogs got was a possible hit at the Wendy's across the street. But cadaver dogs aren't always accurate. They can hit on trash with even the smallest amounts of any Blood on it. Unfortunately, the camera at this Wendy's was one of the ones that was broken too. So another dead end.

[Sarah Turney]

As police are dealing with the investigation, Brian's dad, Randy, is getting desperate. He says he's even open to tips from psychics. Some of the tips he gets from the public are intended to just be cruel. Talking about how they have reason to believe Brian was killed or sexually assaulted. One he got from a psychic sends Randy on a wild goose chase. For example, the Olentangy river is only about a mile from the gateway, so there was a lot of speculation that Brian could have ended up there. But at the time Brian vanished, the river was only a few feet deep, plus the police had already searched it. But this doesn't stop Randy from following up on a tip from one particular psychic. He spends hours searching along the banks and wading through the Olentangies, searching for his son.

[Courtney Nicole]

Sarah, have you ever been approached by psychics to help in your sister's case?

[Sarah Turney]

Yes, and I would love to talk about psychics because it is truly a mixed bag. I've been approached, I've approached them. This is something that I'm open to, that I think a lot of families are open to. And unfortunately, I think you have good experiences and you have bad. With me, I've never met or engaged with a psychic who was able to give me information that wasn't public info that we didn't already know. Which breaks my heart, you know, because I am open to it and very much like Randy, you know, I. I will take a tip from a psychic and I'll go pursue that lead. It's really hard, you know, because I've also had really horrible experiences with psychics that were traumatizing. Like, I had somebody tell me that they knew where my sister's body was and they were digging it up right then. It's such a mixed bag. And I know I keep saying that, but it's hard. I think families in many ways are desperate, so they will take a tip from a psychic and run with it. And I don't think it's a bad thing to do. I think it's an exhausting and really kind of scary thing to do because you never know if they're lying.

[Courtney Nicole]

You're probably hoping that they provide something new that they can't just find online to kind of give them some shred of, like, credibility. But I feel like it is a very fine line between helpful information without it being hurtful and possibly not true.

[Sarah Turney]

No, it is a fine line. You know, And I'm even like my childhood best friend is a psychic and we talk about this all the time, you know, and she, she thinks that there's a certain code of ethics that most professional psychics should follow that most of them do follow. But then you get some of these like crazy outliers who, you know, may not have the best intentions.

[Courtney Nicole]

Yeah, I'd say it's a very interesting aspect to not only this case, but, you know, one like your sisters as well. You always want to believe that people are doing it for the right reasons and they're being truthful.

[Sarah Turney]

Well, and I always say, like families are such an easy target. Right. Because we're so desperate. And I think desperate has this like negative connotation. Right. But it's just like the reality of families, especially of the missing, when there's so few answers, we are desperate for any lead, any clue, any crumb of truth that we can follow to try to find our loved one.

[Courtney Nicole]

After the first few days of the search, detectives also consider the possibility that Brian could have run away. They look into his mental health history and find that he'd struggled with depression and had taken medication before. They also wonder if Brian might have been unhappy with his life and fled because of that. A former high school girlfriend tells police Brian may have been bisexual or had at least experimented with men at some point. But that theory seems to come exclusively from her and doesn't bear any fruit.

[Sarah Turney]

Well, after a month, there's a really interesting development in the case. Police call Alexis at 3am on the morning of May 11 to tell her someone had broken into Brian's apartment. Officers need her to come by and tally up what's been stolen. Strangely enough, only a small TV, a DVD player and a handful of CDs were taken. Brian had music equipment and guitars out in the open, but those were left alone at first. Police are hopeful the break ins connected to the disappearance. If it was foul play, did the killer break in to destroy evidence? Or if Brian did run away, did he come back for something important? But those hopes fizzled when they learned burglars broke into two nearby apartments that same night.

[Courtney Nicole]

A few months pass. It's August when police finish combing through all of the video surveillance from the Gateway. Detective Andre Edwards had taken on this task. He thought maybe if there was anyone else who went into the bar that night but wasn't caught on camera leaving, it could point to a possible suspect. So Edwards made note of every single person caught on camera going into the bar that night. Then he watched the footage until he could trace every single patron back out of the bar, either via the escalator or the service elevator. Edwards said Brian was the only one who was seen on camera entering the bar that night, but was not caught on surveillance leaving, meaning he likely left alone.

[Sarah Turney]

Although the surveillance footage didn't bring any new leads, a month later, a possible new development came along. Alexis and Randy had been paying Brian's phone bill just so they could keep calling him, hoping one day he might answer. Alexis called his cell every single day, but it always went straight to voicemail. Then on September 8, she calls right before bed around 11:30pm and this time the phone actually rings. Planning a wedding shouldn't feel overwhelming. The Knot brings everything together in one place. Vendors who get your vibe, a custom planning checklist, guest list tools, and a free wedding website that syncs with it all. So instead of juggling a dozen out apps and spreadsheets, you can actually enjoy getting married. Get [e-mail] audio the knot let's plan your wedding together.

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[Sarah Turney]

It's Friday, September 8, 2006. Brian's girlfriend Alexis has been calling his phone every day hoping he picks up. It always goes straight to voicemail. But that night it rings. Alexa said it scared the crap out of me. I had no idea what I would say if a person answered it. But no one answers after it rings. The call eventually still goes to voicemail. Alexis lives with her brother so she has him call from his phone next just in case hers is acting up. But Brian's phone rings again. Then Alexis calls Randy and the police and tells them Brian's phone is ringing. The police keep calling and the phone rings until 4 or 5am on the 9th, but after that it goes straight to voicemail for the rest of the day. Then On Sunday the 10th, the phone rings between 8am and 8pm after that it goes straight to voicemail at the

[Courtney Nicole]

time the carrier singular tells police this could have been just a glitch, Especially if the nearby cell tower was overwhelmed. A local advocate on the case named Lori Davis followed up on that that more recently, though, and she was told that the ping could have meant that the phone was indeed on. In an interview conducted in 2019 or 2020, investigator John Hurst said there had actually been other possible leads involving Brian's phone. He didn't give too many details, but hearst said that police had brian's phone ping off of a few towers shortly after he vanished. One of these pings was near the west side of columbus. The other ping was in upper arlington, A neighborhood just west of brian's campus. Hearst specifically mentions the ping being near the intersection of lane and Kenny Road, about 2.5 miles from the gateway. Meanwhile, the tower that Brian cell appeared to ping when alexis called was in hilliard, a Columbus suburb about 14 miles from the Gateway. But all three towers that got pinged are all on the west side of the city, and they're all fairly close together.

[Sarah Turney]

After that phone ping on the weekend of September 8th, leads fizzle out. But randy still follows up on everything he can. Don corbett, a local private investigator, reaches out that first year and offers randy his services for free. Don starts helping him investigate every angle he can think of. Randy never believed brian just ran away. And he stayed determined to find him, even as months turned into years. Then, in 2008, the Midwest is hit with severe windstorms in the wake of hurricane ike. And that's when another unexpected tragedy strikes. On September 14, Randy's in his backyard cleaning up storm debris. But it's still very windy. And in a freak accident, A falling tree branch strikes randy on the head and kills him. After the funeral, people leave their condolences on his online obituary. And one comment is incredibly shocking. It says, dad, I love you. Love brian ryan. Then in brackets, it says u. S. Virgin islands.

[Courtney Nicole]

The case gets revisited instantly, and on October 7, 2008, Columbus Police track the origin of the comment to a public computer. But it's not in the virgin islands. It's in franklin county, ohio. John hurst says the whole thing is likely a hoax. Interestingly, though, there was an alleged sighting of brian in the u. S. Virgin islands at one point that the FBI even looked into to. But the few times police have discussed the sighting, they said it went nowhere, as did many other sightings of brian that happened over the years.

[Sarah Turney]

The emotional roller coaster of all this is just so heartbreaking. You have the phone that used to go right to voicemail. Now it's ringing. And they don't have the best answer for that. And then they get this comment on the obituary. Like, this poor family, all these loved ones of Brian. It's just. It's just awful.

[Courtney Nicole]

Yeah. I genuinely cannot comprehend what makes a person do something like this. And I guess I'm thankful that I can't because it takes one messed up person to give a family that is already grieving a false sense of hope. I just cannot understand why somebody would do this.

[Sarah Turney]

Yeah. I mean, and let's be real. We see this in a lot of cases. And to be honest, like, I am living for the day where I don't have to talk about hoaxes anymore because they're so harmful. And I have to wonder if it comes down to, like, the culture of true crime. Right. That people see these stories as entertainment. Especially Brian's case, we know, is one that is heavily discussed on the Internet. There's a ton of theories out there, but sometimes they hear these stories, they read about them online, and they think it's like some type of joke or game. They think it's almost like a reality TV show. And they insert themselves in this way, maybe not realizing or maybe not caring, you know, how it impacts families. I've had hoaxes in my sister's case, and I can tell you that they make me spiral. I have had, you know, people say that they have definitive information on where she is. It hurts on another level that I can't explain.

[Courtney Nicole]

Yeah. And for that reason alone, when they are proven to be hoaxes, I really wish that they could be held legally responsible for toying with these family's emotions. It is. It's ridiculous. They don't need to be dealing with this on top of grieving so many different loved ones.

[Sarah Turney]

There are laws, and I've seen people get prosecuted for, like, interfering with a case, but I think it should be more often, to be honest, there's so many hoaxes in these cases, and I feel like we're not prosecuting them enough, or else it would maybe lessen a little bit, or at least I would hope so.

[Courtney Nicole]

You know, in cases like Brian's where there are a lot of weird questions, you know, like him being seen entering a building but not seen leaving, it kind of fuels these conspiracy theories. And then you have, like, the flip side of it where his phone starts pinging, which could be a malfunction, like his phone company said. But at the end of the day, if they did their due diligence and they tracked everything they could, and it ultimately led nowhere. I don't think keeping that information close to their hearts in the initial part of the investigation is harmful.

[Sarah Turney]

As time passes, Brian's loved ones have changed their opinions on what they think happened. When Brian initially vanished, Alexis leaned towards fat play, thinking that there was no way Brian could have just run off when he seemed so excited about their future together. But years later, she became more open to that possibility, citing the back and forth comments he made to her after Renee's death. With more time to think, she wonders if those comments could have foreshadowed his running away. Though she's still open to all possibilities.

[Courtney Nicole]

As far as theories go, Brian's brother Derek felt the opposite of Alexis. He initially hoped Brian had just. Just taken off, needing some time to himself. But as the case grew colder, he stopped thinking that and now leans towards foul play. Derek also pointed to Brian's friend Clint as someone who seemed suspicious. And before Randy died, he said he thought Clint knew more than he was letting on about the case. In the early days of the search, Clint was on the ground handing out flyers and checking in with Randy. But as police started polygraphing and questioning with more intensity, Clint got a lawyer. Lawyer. His attorney told him not to take a polygraph, which caused a rift between Clint and the Shaffer family. Beyond that, we don't know why Randy and Derek had cast suspicion on Clint. But when the 10 year anniversary came around, Derek kept these vague remarks going. He told the Columbus Dispatch, quote, if anyone knows whether he is still alive or if something happened to him, it's Clint, end quote.

[Sarah Turney]

Derek also told the Dispatch that he regrets not meeting up with Brian that night. On the 10 year anniversary of Brian's disappearance, he said, quote, I've thought about that night over and over and over for 10 years. What if I'd been there that night? Would things have been different? Would my brother still be here? Derek, the last remaining member of the Shaffer family, has spoken with the press very little since then.

[Courtney Nicole]

John Hurst also spoke to the media on the 10 year anniversary. When asked if he thought it was more likely Brian ran away or was met with foul play, he said he thinks both of those theories are equally possible.

[Sarah Turney]

Ah, sorry. Reading that quote did get me so emotional. It's. I mean, I can tell you, right, I'm one of, you know, five remaining siblings in my family and when somebody goes missing, there's such a wide array of feelings and thoughts about what could have happened. And your theories do kind of shift over time. You know, you grow up, you get a little bit older, you reflect back on things differently. So even challenging them themselves or questioning, whatever you want to call it, all of that makes sense to me. And especially in a case like this where there's so few answers.

[Courtney Nicole]

Yeah. You know, you want to explore every single possibility, but I can't imagine how painful it must be to ultimately come to the conclusion that you think your loved one was met with foul play. That's. That's haunting. Yeah.

[Sarah Turney]

One, the blame. Right. I think that's why I got so emotional. Like, I could, like, barely not cry when reading that quote from Derek, because I just get it. Like, that survivor's guilt of, like, what if I just did one thing different? What if my day was different that day? What if I showed up? You know, whatever it might be, it. It eats away at you. And if Derek's out there listening, I just hope that he knows that it's not his fault.

[Courtney Nicole]

It's definitely not his fault. And I'm sure it's probably extra heavy for him as well, because you have your mom and your dad both pass away. In the middle of that, your brother goes missing. So now you are the only one standing in your family left to try and figure out what the heck could have happened. And that is just devastating.

[Sarah Turney]

Yeah, well, and adding the pressure of, like, being the only person in the family left to speak to the media is just not something I'd wish on my worst enemy. Like, I get why families may not speak out. It's incredibly traumatizing. It's difficult. Like, it'll throw off your whole day, sometimes your week, sometimes your month. When you have to talk about your loved one for the media and revisit that trauma and that pain, it totally stops you in your track sometimes. So I just, again, I just want to send so much love to Darren Rick. Brian Schaefer was last seen on camera outside the Ugly Tuna Saloona talking to Brighton Zadko and Amber ruig. It was 1:55am on April 1, 2006. They talked for about two minutes, then parted ways at approximately 1:57am Just minutes later, at 2:00am, Brian's friends Clint and Meredith couldn't find him, and his phone went straight to voicemail. In the span of about 5 minutes, Brian Schaefer vanished without a trace. And to this day, his fate remains a mystery. If Brian Shaffer is alive today, he would be 47 years old. He's 6 foot 2 and has brown hair and hazel eyes. He has a distinctive dark fleck on his left iris and at the time he vanished, he had the Pearl Jam stickman tattooed on his upper right arm. If anyone has any information about this case, they're encouraged to call the Columbus Police at 6 weeks 645 2358. Thank you for listening to the Final Hours. If you have any more information on Bryant Shafer, please share it with us on social media. We want to hear from you. Your thoughts, condolences and feedback are what make this community so special.

[Courtney Nicole]

At Crime House. We've value your support. Share your thoughts on social media and remember to rate, review and follow the Final Hours to help others discover the

[Sarah Turney]

show and to enhance your listening experience. Subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. You'll get every episode of the Final Hours ad free, along with early access and exciting bonus content.

[Courtney Nicole]

The Final Hours is hosted by Sarah Turney and me, Courtney Nicole, and is a Crime House original. Powered by Pave Studios, this episode was brought to life by the Final Hours team. Max Cutler, Ron Shapiro, Alex Benedon, Lori Marinelli, Natalie Pertzofsky, Sarah Camp, Bethany Branson, Sheila Patterson and Russell Nash. Thank you for listening.

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