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Brian Shaffer /// 20 Years Missing /// Timeline /// Part 2
00:51:29
Ohio State Medical Student, Brian Randall Shaffer disappeared without an apparent reason on April 1, 2006. His last known whereabouts was a second-floor campus area bar where he was having drinks with friends. Near the entrance of the Ugly Tuna Saloona just before 2 a.m. Brian is seen on security footage talking briefly with two women. Brian later became separated from his friends who have stated that they assumed that Brian had left and gone home. At the time of his disappearance Brian Shaffer was 6’2” tall and approximately 160 to 165 lbs. He’s a caucasian male with brown hair and hazel eyes. Brian had a Pearl Jam tattoo on his upper right arm and he plays guitar. If you have any information regarding Brian’s disappearance or his whereabouts please contact Columbus Police Missing Person Unit at 614-645-2358
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Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
This podcast is presented by AMC's Gangs of London, which Vulture has called action at its most sublime.
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Host 2 (possibly Nick)
Season three ignites a new war, bigger.
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Darker and more explosive than ever as London's crime families battle for control. Gangs of London New episodes, Thursdays only on amc. Justworks helps small businesses support their teams with everything from HR to better benefits.
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Host 2 (possibly Nick)
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Or tackling compliance, JustWorks offers transparent pricing and 247 human support. Hire and manage talent without juggling multiple platforms or hidden fees, and get your.
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Team access to premium benefits like health.
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Insurance, 401k and commuter perks. Learn more@justworks.com they do your human resources right so you can do right by your people. Justworks for your.
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Host 2 (possibly Nick)
Welcome to off the Record. I'm your host Nick.
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Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
It's good to be seen and it's.
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Host 2 (possibly Nick)
Good to see you off the Record.
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Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
Thanks for listening. Thanks for telling a friend True Crime.
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Host 2 (possibly Nick)
Podcast Be good, be kind, and don't little Gather around, grab a chair, grab a beer. Let's talk some true crime.
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Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
So on Saturday, April 1st at 10am, Clint picked up his car from Brian's apartment and he said that he didn't go up to Brian's door even though they had lost him the night before. But he did call him and he left a voicemail that stated just that, Hey, I lost you last night. Alexis continued to call Brian's phone numerous times that Saturday and of course she didn't get any answer. Brian was also supposed to show up Saturday morning to either paint or help his dad clean up the house. I've heard both, so I'm not sure which. But he was just supposed to help Randy, but he didn't show up, which.
- [01:59]
Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
Again, it's not a huge deal. He's 26 years old and what we do know is when he parties, he parties. So Clint's probably not super worried at this point. Hey, once he wakes up or maybe didn't make it home, maybe went home with somebody else, but once he wakes up, he's going to get a hold of me. This is also probably why Randy Shaffer's not that worried. Oh my son. I knew he's going out drinking that night. That's probably why he didn't show up. And then his girlfriend obviously is probably thinking the same thing. I've called him several times but I haven't heard back from him. But I'm sure I will. But also, like you said, he had plans to meet his father at his father's house to help him Paint or do something. But he also had plans that he made with his friend, one of the Ryan brothers, right?
- [02:50]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
Yeah. He made friends to hang out with Matt and Melanie Ryan on Saturday evening that, of course, he didn't show up for either. And all day Saturday, there was no cell phone activity or credit card activity for anything have to do with Brian's account.
- [03:04]
Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
Right. Now, you have cell phone records that you have received from the private investigator that worked with Randy Shaffer, Brian's dad. Am I correct in saying that the cell phone records you have stop the early mornings of April 1st?
- [03:22]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
Yeah, the bills I have are very sporadic. My last phone call is actually the 201am call where Meredith calls Brian from Clint's phone. That's where my records stop. So on Sunday, April 2, Alexis was continuing to call Brian's phone, but she was getting a little more concerned. And when she couldn't get a hold of Brian, she decided to call Clint. And Clint told her that he had not seen Brian since the night before at the Ugly Tuna Saloona. So Clint decided to call around, and he called Brian's friend Matt Ryan and asked if he had seen Brian. And Matt told him of course he hadn't. But they did have plans on Saturday, but Brian didn't show up. So everyone's starting to get a little more concerned. So Alexis calls Randy, and Randy tells her the same thing, that Brian didn't show up on Saturday to help him with the cleanup and that he hadn't seen or talked to him.
- [04:15]
Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
But since we don't have the cell phone records, we don't know if his father's calling him a bunch or not.
- [04:21]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
Correct. Alexa then asked Clint to go over to Brian's apartment to wait on him to see if he was there. And Clint did so. And he checked around and didn't find anything out of the ordinary. Brian's bed was made, the shower was dry, and everything that seemed to be in place.
- [04:40]
Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
Do we know how he got into the apartment?
- [04:43]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
We don't. I've actually. I've actually been told two different things. I have been told that he had an extra key, and I have been told that Derek let him in. But I actually do not think either one of those is true. But I don't have an answer to that. Clint decided to call Meredith to let her know what was going on and told her that no one had seen Brian since they were out with him. On Friday night. Clint and Alexis decide to wait around at the apartment. And Clint, Alexis and Meredith begin calling jails and hospitals anywhere they could just seeing if maybe they had someone matching Brian's description or an unidentified patient. A little later, Derek showed up at Brian's apartment. And shortly after that, Randy showed up. They then decided that they were going to call the Columbus Police Department, but when the officer showed up, he told them that it had not been 48 hours and that it was completely legal for an adult to go missing and that if Brian didn't show up at the airport on Monday, then they would file the police report.
- [05:53]
Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
Yeah, which. Which is. I just don't think this is the way we should be handling people going missing. Even though, like, everybody has the legal right to not be found.
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Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
Everyone wasn't satisfied with not being able to file the police report, so they decided to do some ground searching themselves. And they knew his last location anyone had seen him was the Ugly Tuna. So Randy and Brian and Clint, Alexis and a few other people all walked around, like, the campus area around all of the bars. They were checking every dumpster they could find, just looking for any sign of Brian to see if they could find him. Of course, they didn't. And Alexis decided to spend the night at Brian's apartment that night before going to the airport on Monday morning, just.
- [06:47]
Host 2 (possibly Nick)
Because, I don't know, she stayed there alone.
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Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
She did, yes.
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Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
So what's their. Their threat level? Midnight. Right. Are they at this point, after they search for him, that I'm sure they're making more calls to the cell phone. So now we have Derek, his brother has searched for him. We have the father, Randy, searching for him. Clint, which was at the bar with him that night, is searching for him. Brian's girlfriend searching for him. She's going to stay in this apartment by herself because she's supposed to hit the airport and go on vacation with this guy. But I am assuming that everybody's going to. This is not good. Is that the pulse of the room? Or are. Or are there some individuals that don't think this is that big of a deal?
- [07:37]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
So I actually think that there was some concern, but I don't think that it was. It was a huge amount of concern at that point in time, because I had mentioned to you that Brian was a wanderer. He wandered off on vacations, he took vacations, that he didn't even tell anyone he was going on. This was just kind of who he was. So while they were concerned, I don't think it was to the point where they were really worried until he did not show up at the airport.
- [08:07]
Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
Well, it's not even showing up to the airport. So. Okay, I should slow down a little bit. So does the girlfriend go to the airport?
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Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
She does. Alexis goes to the airport, and she goes to the gate and waits and everything, and he does not show up.
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Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
And to me, that's concerning. But what's more concerning is he doesn't show up to his apartment before it's time to leave.
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Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
I agree. Because the one thing that has always concerned me and that no one has actually been able to give me an answer to is, did Alexis have Brian's ticket, or did Brian have his ticket for the airport that morning? Because how would he have even gotten to the gate if she had his ticket?
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Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
So she goes to the airport, Brian doesn't show up. What happens next?
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Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
Alexis and Randy went to the Columbus Police Department and they filed the official missing persons report. On that same day, Clint emailed Amber. And I had mentioned that she was a student in one of the classes where he was a ta and he had told her that no one had seen Brian. And Amber emailed him back and sent her phone number. And then Clint called her to tell her everything that was going on. In return, Amber then called Brighton to let her know that Brian was missing. On this day, the Columbus Police Department requested the surveillance footage from the gateway security. And they also put a communication ping service on Brian's phone through Singular Wireless. And they paid $3,500 for that. Now, what the ping service would do is it would not be usage pings. It would. It was just communication pings. It was the tower trying to see if it would find the phone. In order for the tower to communicate with the phone, the phone had to be on. So they started sending pings out on Brian's phone.
- [09:58]
Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
Yeah. So just to be clear, the phone doesn't have to make calls. The phone just has to be on and they'll send pings to the phone. And what their hope, what they're hoping is that they'll be able to get some GPS location of Brian and that will lead them to Brian and.
- [10:16]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
Correct.
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Host 2 (possibly Nick)
Real quick, I want to stick on this for one moment here. This was initiated at what time on what day?
- [10:24]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
This was initiated on Monday afternoon.
- [10:28]
Host 2 (possibly Nick)
Monday afternoon, April 3rd. And the service was with who the.
- [10:33]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
Cell phone provider was Singular Wireless.
- [10:36]
Host 2 (possibly Nick)
Okay, so what just to clarify here on this point and to be very thorough, the phone has to be on for there to be a signal, but also a factor in this is he that phone has to be in range of singular towers.
- [10:55]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
Correct.
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Host 2 (possibly Nick)
And that may seem like a silly statement. In 2026, in 2006 in it's not such a silly statement as wasn't everybody fighting in advertising how good their service was and how many towers they had and in what locations across this country?
- [11:13]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
I mean Brian's phone didn't even have GPS technology. So we are definitely in a completely different time than we are now when it comes to technology.
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Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
So where does the investigation go from there?
- [11:23]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
So actually that Monday evening, Brian's phone began communicating with the pings and it was communicating all around campus and appeared that it was moving. So on Tuesday, April 4, Brian's case hit the local media and out of fear of someone stealing Brian's bank card since his wallet and everything went missing with him, Randy Shaffer canceled Brian's cards. This is also the day where a homeless man that was actually known to many officers at the Columbus Police Department, he claimed that he spotted Brian eating a sandwich behind United Dairy Farmers which was very close to the Ugly Tuna Saloona where Brian went missing.
- [12:11]
Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
So that the United Dairy Farmers was only a couple blocks away from the Ugly Tuna Saloona.
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Host 2 (possibly Nick)
And not only that, that that United Dairy Farmer receives, I mean a lot of business throughout the night. I mean even at the, at the 2:00am, 3:00am, 4:00am hours of the early morning, there are people going in and out of there all night long.
- [12:37]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
About a month after Brian went missing, someone actually smashed in the door of his apartment and they broke in. They stole a 19 inch TV that had a built in DVD player and a few different DVDs and they were making a lot of noise over there and the people that were in the apartment next door actually heard it and they knew that Brian was missing so they immediately called the Columbus Police Department. Now I know this seems strange, but there was actually a couple of break ins around that area. So yes, it's strange that Brian is missing and his apartment was broken into, but it was kind of the norm in that area.
- [13:19]
Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
Well, like you said, the, the day Brian goes missing in Columbus and the surrounding areas, like the listeners know, we, me and the Colonel were from Columbus. So the day this hits the news it was like holy shit. Guy goes into a bar and he's not seen leaving the bar. So this started, this was being talked about a lot. But at this point in my life I was spending a lot of time on the Ohio State University campus. Now you're from a little bit further south than Columbus than we are. But are you hearing about these news reports as well?
- [14:01]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
Oh yeah, it was all over all of the local news. Of course we had the Columbus local news station. So, yeah, we were seeing everything.
- [14:08]
Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
Me and Nick have talked about this case. I think the first time we talked about this was probably 10 years ago. So 10 years has passed. It's 20 years of him going missing. But I remember at some point, and I could be wrong. You have some remembrance of this as well. But I want to say that there was a website that they set up where there was a section of surveillance footage that you could watch.
- [14:35]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
Yeah, there was, yes.
- [14:37]
Host 2 (possibly Nick)
Yeah.
- [14:37]
Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
Because I've talked to people about that before. You know, when they. When they're people that I've met that are like, hey, I'm into true crime. And I've really looked into this missing person case. Brian Schaefer. I'm like, have you seen the surveillance footage? Because at a time period, I remember you could go to a website and watch it. And I remember watching it multiple times as if I was going to see anything, because I don't know who Brian is at this point, and I don't know who his friends are. So I couldn't tell you. This person is this person or this person is that person. We have this tip possibly coming in from known homeless person to the Columbus pd But during that time period, they're also doing searches. Randy Schaefer is in the media. Brian's dad is talking to pretty much anybody he can. And not only is local news stations reporting on this, but we also have the Columbus Dispatch running stories on his disappearance. We have the lantern, which was, I believe the. The campus paper running stories on Brian's disappearance as well.
- [15:41]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
Yeah, his. His case was absolutely everywhere.
- [15:45]
Host 2 (possibly Nick)
I would love to see the officer's written statement from this homeless gentleman who provided the information, who says, I may have seen Brian Schaefer or somebody that looks like the. Because if the way that I take this, unless you have further detail on how they came into this information, my bet would be that they're out. They have a picture, they have a photo of Brian Schaefer, our missing individual. And who are they going to talk to? They're going to talk to convenience store clerks. They're going to talk to persons that they know that would regularly be out and about and on the streets late at night, after 2am around 3am and this homeless individual would be a perfect person to approach and talk to. Look, everybody has a different perception of homeless individuals. My perception of most of them have been that they. They usually play nice with the cops because they frequently are talking with them, not because they're up to no good, but because they they rely on. On the streets that they live on, and they. They rely on the neighborhoods that they are living in. And they want to be friendly with these cops and play nice because they don't want to be pushed down the road. They don't want to be asked to leave. They don't want to be asked to move on to a different location. And so while I think this information is intriguing, I think we should take this with a grain of salt. There are would be a lot of persons that look like a white male in their mid-20s dressed like a college student out in the middle of the night on a. On a weekend. And so while I think that this individual is trying to be helpful, I don't want anybody to walk away from this conversation going, man, they saw Brian Schaefer just a few blocks away eating a sandwich behind the udf.
- [17:46]
Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up because there's nothing really unique about Brian. He was a handsome guy. Like I said, he was in good shape, but he's basically average height. He has a typical haircut for, like you said, college students. He dresses like a typical college student. There wasn't anything. It wasn't like he had a face tattoo like Mike Tyson. So I think the problem with an individual going missing that doesn't have a unique look or some unique feature, you're going to have a lot of individuals claiming that they possibly saw Brian.
- [18:28]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
So, Nick, I would actually like to add on a little bit to what you said as well. They did. The Columbus Police Department did speak to the homeless man while they were out canvassing and looking for Brian. And the man stated, not only did he see Brian, but he said he yelled out to Brian and said, hey, man, they're looking for you. So I asked Sergeant Hurst, like, you know, was this a credible man? Do you think he really saw anything? And based on what Hearst told me, it seems that this man struggled with alcohol a lot too, and was not always credible.
- [18:59]
Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
So where does the investigation or timeline go from here?
- [19:03]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
So there were many searches done. Like, there were two sets of dogs from Columbus Police Department taken into the Ugly Tuna Saloona. There was also dogs taken to Ugly Tuna Saloona that Randy hired himself from a different part of the state.
- [19:18]
Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
And I think that's important because we have. It wasn't like people in Brian's life weren't doing anything at this time. We have his girlfriend constantly calling his phone just to see one if he'd answer. But maybe also to help with this ping technology, we have these searches by his family members, but also friends. And then we have his dad involved as far as, hey, I'll pay for my own dogs to come in. And Columbus pd I think it, I think it's a good look on them to go, hey, if he wants to pay for it, we're not going to stop him. More the merrier. Right?
- [20:00]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
You know, we're going to go into the Ugly Tuna Saluna a lot more when we get to the theories. But I do want to point out that that was probably the most searched location throughout the whole investigation when it comes to Brian's disappearance. And not only that, the, the building has changed quite a bit since 2006. The ugly tuna Saloona is not there anymore. Actually the entrance where you would even walk into the bar is completely covered over and that is offices now for Ohio State.
- [20:31]
Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
Yeah. And I don't know if Nick has experienced this, but the amount of true crime friends that I've, I've met throughout the years, anytime they come to visit Columbus, I would take them there. And then eventually it was like, well, I can take you there, but it's totally different. Doesn't look the same. There's not even an entrance point anymore.
- [20:53]
Host 2 (possibly Nick)
Yeah, the. A couple things here that we should make clear. While the captain's absolutely right in his brief description of the bar. It's kind of square shape, rectangle shape. You can see most, if not you can see most points of the bar from really any corner while you're standing inside, maybe with the exception of, of course, the, there's going to be doors that separate the bar from the restrooms. But there's also, forgive me, Captain, I can't recall the number, but there was three balconies. It's really just the bar spills out onto these, these balconies, but there were three or four of them that I recall from the last time I've been in there. And as said, it's, you know, and it's not even the Ugly Tuna anymore. So I've not been in there in many years. I think the last time I went in there was shortly before we covered it in 2015 and shortly after the last time I was in that building that housed the Ugly Tuna was for a movie. It was the 2022. I think it was the 15 year anniversary of the Zodiac movie and they were showing that again, there was a. There's a movie theater in there and I'm blanking on the name at the moment.
- [22:12]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
The Gateway Film Center.
- [22:14]
Host 2 (possibly Nick)
That's right.
- [22:14]
Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
That's why I like talking to Kelly. Because anytime I don't know something, she knows the answer.
- [22:20]
Host 2 (possibly Nick)
And circling back to the dog conversation that points to me is the thoroughness of the intent of the search for Brian Schaefer. Okay? The. The thoroughness of the intent on behalf of CPD and the Schaefer family, because those canine units, those canine officers, meaning the dogs, have a different set, a skill set than the. A traditional search and rescue dog or a traditional cadaver dog. And so that, to me, points towards the thoroughness or at least the intention of being very thorough in this search.
- [23:00]
Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
Well, I think, also, like, this case is difficult, I think, to wrap your head around because you go, okay, well, you go up this escalator, and then you go into a bar. Like I said, the bar is small enough. You have a bar, you have a kitchen, you have restrooms, you have a little bit of a balcony. But if you gave me five minutes and said, there. There's somebody, let's just say you cleared the whole place, but you had a. A Willy Wonka golden ticket. And you said, you got five minutes to go into this facility and look through the bathroom and look through the kitchen and look through the bar and look through the balcony. There's no place to really hide it. I could find that golden ticket probably within five minutes. Where this case gets more difficult is it's not just about the Ugly Tuna. It's about this complex. And this complex is very large, has multiple. Like you said, it has a movie theater, it has bars, it has restaurants.
- [24:01]
Host 2 (possibly Nick)
A large parking garage.
- [24:03]
Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
Then you have a large courtyard. That courtyard then leads you to another complex that's identical to the other one. Right. They're just mirroring each other. And then, like you said, you have these alleyways, but then you also have this very large parking garage. So that's where I think it becomes a lot more complex as far as the searching.
- [24:24]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
Right. But they. They did do a lot of searching. Not just inside the Ugly Tuna, like the entire Gateway Plaza. They had dogs down in the construction area. They removed electrical panels from the wall. They had manhole covers lifted. Like, they really did search that building top to bottom. They also searched the local landfill. And I know that that sounds like a very difficult task. However, they were able to pinpoint down to a very small section of where the downtown trash was going and where it was dumped inside the landfill. And it was also a very new part of the landfill that had only been open a couple months where that trash was being dumped. So it wasn't as difficult to search as some may Think well, and also.
- [25:16]
Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
It'S the trash going through the different conveyor belts. And I've talked to individuals that work at these facilities that have found bodies, but they normally don't find them inside the dump, but they normally find those bodies as they're sorting the trash before it even goes into the dump.
- [25:38]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
Right. And that's actually what Sergeant Hurst told me. He told me that the trash would come in and it was sorted, and some of it would go to the local dump, and then some of it was sent out to Tennessee to a recycling facility. One of the other searches that they used dogs for to search was they actually went to the Shaffer family home in Baltimore, Ohio, and they took search and cadaver dogs through Randy Schaefer's house and around his property.
- [26:06]
Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
Yeah. And when I first heard this, it was like, dun, dun, dun. Why are they taking cadaver dogs multiple times to Brian's father's house?
- [26:17]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
There was actually a tip called into Columbus Police Department that Randy Schaefer had killed Brian and buried him in his backyard.
- [26:25]
Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
And like we said, Brian and his father, Randy, go out to dinner the night Brian goes missing. It's possible that Clint and Brian and Randy had a beer before Randy and Clint went out for the night. But we have no alibi for Randy Schaefer at this point. So if you're law enforcement, it's not out of the realm of possibility to go, okay, well, we have this, you know, disagreement, or we have this tension in the family because the mother passed away. She changed the will. The husband's upset about that. He's trying to get his children, both boys, to agree to, hey, give me some of the money, and you, you keep some of it. So we have this tension. We have this conflict, and this son goes missing, and the dad has no alibi. So it's not out of the realm of possibility to question him and then also to have either scent dogs or cadaver dogs come out to his property. This podcast is presented by AMC's Gangs of London, which Vulture has called action at its most sublime.
- [27:47]
Host 2 (possibly Nick)
Season three ignites a new war, bigger.
- [27:50]
Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
Darker, and more explosive than ever as London's crime families battle for control. Gangs of London. New episodes, Thursdays only on amc. This show is sponsored by Better Help. Everyone is still just figuring it out. Whether you're single, dating, or in a relationship, we're all still trying to figure it out. February is the month of hearts, roses, and chocolates. No matter where you are on your romance journey, single, dating, or just focusing on you, therapy can be a helpful way to sort through it all. Signing up for therapy with BetterHelp can help you find your way by understanding what you want from a relationship and taking some of the pressure off yourself. BetterHelp is the world's largest online therapy platform and and handles the initial therapist matching work for you. Just take a short questionnaire to share your needs and preferences and thanks to Better Help's industry leading match fulfillment rate, they usually get your match right the first time. You can also feel confident knowing Better Help therapists work according to strict code of conduct and are fully licensed in the us. Everyone is still finding their way. Find yours and Phil Leiter Sign up and get 10% off@betterhelp.com garage that's better. H lp.com garage Treat yourself by checking out betterhelp.com garage today.
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Host 2 (possibly Nick)
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Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
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- [32:11]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
So In September of 2006, Brian's phone just continued to go to voicemail every time Alexis would try to call him, but suddenly his phone began ringing again. It would ring three or four times and then the voicemail would kick on. So she continued to call it and actually all of his family and friends kept calling. But the one thing that Brian's phone didn't do at that point in time was it did not ping in Hilliard, Ohio. This was actually a glitch. The ringing of the phone was only due to an overloaded tower and the phone was handed or the call was handed off to another tower. So while it appeared hopeful to everyone when Brian's phone started ringing, it wasn't anything more than an overloaded cell phone tower.
- [33:00]
Host 2 (possibly Nick)
And the second part of your statement with that is it was not pinging in Hilliard, Ohio.
- [33:08]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
It was not.
- [33:09]
Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
Yeah. And this would be very difficult, especially for the girlfriend, because you're calling, it rings, goes straight to voicemail, and now all of a sudden it's ringing multiple times. And probably the multiple rings is the service being passed over. So. But there was a lot of speculation about Brian's phone pinging in Hilliard, Ohio, which is what, 15, 20 minutes from Brian's apartment.
- [33:36]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
Yeah, there's a lot of confusion there because a lot of people think that that phone ping happened at that point in time. His phone did ping in Hilliard, Ohio, but it was in the immediate days following his disappearance when Columbus Police Department had that ping service put on that we talked about earlier.
- [33:54]
Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
So let's just talk about this ping service for just. Let's dive into it a little bit more. So they run the service right after he goes missing. We have some pings and some movement around the Ohio State campus area. And then we have some pings and movement happening just outside the Columbus area as well.
- [34:14]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
Yeah, there's some around Grove City. There's some around Greenlawn Avenue, around Lou Berliner Park. There's some around Scioto, Darby Creek Road, some in Hilliard Kenny and Lane, there was a phone ping. His phone was just all over the place.
- [34:36]
Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
Do we have any rhyme or reason for this?
- [34:38]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
I was told it appears that the phone was moving because it wouldn't have been something as simple as handing off to another tower because some of the towers that it was peeing off of, it would have been too far out for a stationary phone to find that tower, if that makes sense.
- [34:58]
Host 2 (possibly Nick)
And this is when, when exactly is this movement taking place?
- [35:02]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
So I was told that this ping service was put on and they paid $3,500. And it lasted the whole month of April and a few days into May.
- [35:11]
Host 2 (possibly Nick)
And starting on April 3rd. And then during this, this month, it's. The phone is moving, it's active, and it's moving OSU Campus Grove City, which is a suburb of. Of Columbus. Hilliard, which is another suburb of Columbus. And then as well as the Green Lawn area, Greenlawn area. And you also said Kenny and Lane, which while, if you. If you zoom out, those locations all appear to be very close to one another. But as far as just driving around the greater Columbus area, I would not describe those as extremely close to one another. This is. This is a good amount of distance here.
- [35:55]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
Right. There was actually also one that I forgot to mention around Scioto Downs, and that's quite a distance away from some of the other locations as well.
- [36:04]
Host 2 (possibly Nick)
That's very, very south on High street, which High street is also Route 23. We should note here, the Gateway Building that house the ugly Tuna Saluna is on North High street or was on North High Street. This would be South High Street. But it's so South High street that it is south of the outer belt that surrounds the Greater Columbus area. 270.
- [36:31]
Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
Okay, so they're saying there's no rhyme or reason for this. This wouldn't just be his cell phone being transferred to. To different towers. His phone is moving. But to me, this is not evidence that Brian is moving around. This is just evidence that his phone is moving around.
- [36:49]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
Correct. I have no evidence that Brian actually had his phone on him when he went missing. We just know that his phone is missing as well.
- [36:58]
Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
And you said that we have this possible sighting, but again, it's probably a nothing burger coming from the homeless individual that claims he saw Brian. But what about other eyewitness reports? Did other people claim to see Brian?
- [37:14]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
They did, actually. There was a tip that came in very early, and it was of a sighting of a very handsome man with a black backpack sitting on the ground outside of Wendy's In Pickerington, Ohio, a lady walked up to him because she thought maybe he needed some food or something. So she was, like, just checking on him and ask if she could get him anything. And he said, no, I'm getting ready to hit the road. That was about the extent of their interaction. So another caller called in and said they saw a very handsome man with a black backpack hitchhiking on 270. Of course, you see things like this all the time. But that second person that called in and said they saw the person hitchhiking was the people that lived across the street from Randy and Rene Shaffer. So they actually knew Brian.
- [38:12]
Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
So they're calling in saying, we saw Brian.
- [38:17]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
Yes. And it just so happened to be in the same area where the lady said she saw him in Pickerington at the Wendy's. So it was two separate tips on the same guy. One of the people actually knowing Brian.
- [38:30]
Host 2 (possibly Nick)
And I want to be very clear here, because I'm a person that firmly believes that words have meaning. We mean what we say, and we say what we mean, Especially in these critical situations. The people that live that are essentially neighbors of Brian's father, they are saying, we saw a guy hitchhiking on 270, or they're saying, we saw Brian Schaefer hitchhiking on 270. Because those are two very different statements.
- [38:59]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
To me, they said Brian Schaefer.
- [39:02]
Host 2 (possibly Nick)
Okay, Just to be clear, I want to point out too here, for folks that, you know, not even with this case, just in generalities here, but to hitchhike on an outer belt is not. If you were to be riding your bicycle or walking you. That's. That's actually illegal behavior. That's an illegal action here. You could be pick. Picked up or ticketed for doing such a thing. So it's not like he's just on a busy road or a busy thoroughfare and. And walking or biking. This statement is, there was a man, thumb in the air, hitchhiking on the outer belt. And that's something that. If an officer, state patrol or whatever, driving by and spotted this individual, that is cause for them to stop and talk to that individual. Now would they? On most occasions, I cannot say that, but that is technically an illegal activity.
- [39:58]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
I would like to state that both of these tips claim that they were April 1, the Saturday. So it was later in that day that they both claimed to see him.
- [40:07]
Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
So they go out partying on Friday. This is just speculation, right? They go out partying. Brian, Clint and Meredith, they lose connection with each other. We don't see Brian at his apartment, we see Brian's car. We don't have his wallet. We have nothing. And then we have some eyewitnesses saying that morning we see somebody hitchhiking. Because the thing. I think it drives me nuts, and I. I think it also drives you nuts as well, Kelly, is when people talk about Brian starting a new life or disappearing on his own accord, people almost assume that it has to happen the night he goes missing. And my argument has always been, well, he could have left the bar. He could have got home. This could have been the plan all along. And then he wakes up in his apartment on Saturday and says, all right, it's time to go missing.
- [41:06]
Host 2 (possibly Nick)
Yeah. Because the. The. The other half of no one finding him at his home is also no one confirming that he wasn't at his home the following day.
- [41:16]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
Exactly. I have no proof that he didn't make it home. And when I asked Sergeant Hurst how they knew that he went missing on Friday night, and it was, well, the bath or the shower was dry when we got there on Sunday, and his bed was made. Well, I mean, if you take a shower early Saturday morning and make your bed, it's still going to be dry when they get there on Sunday. So it doesn't mean anything to me that the shower was dry and his bed was made.
- [41:47]
Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
And like you said, all his belongings seemed to be there at the time. Brian was not only a medical student, but you made the comment. You talked about the comment that Brian made or the post that he made about, well, this. This medical thing is just for a time period until I start my band or my band takes off. But it also seems like he left all his guitars behind as well. So some people point that out as evidence of, well, he didn't go missing on his own. But I think, you know, if. If somebody went looking for him, his friends, his family, his girlfriend, and they go into the apartment and there were items like his guitar missing, I think that would be giant red flags that he was there.
- [42:33]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
Right. It seemed like everything was in place. Like, even his jewelry was laying on his dresser and things along those lines. It didn't appear that anything was missing in those early days until after the burglary of his apartment.
- [42:48]
Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
Well, like you said, he's went on trips before without telling people, but you'd think if he's going to head to the airport or he's going to head to the bus station, he could have drove himself. He wouldn't have to hitchhike. And these reports of people seeing him, we have to remind people that this is in Pickerington. This is his hometown. This is where he went to school. This is where he went to high school. But this is a good 20, 30 minutes from his apartment on campus.
- [43:16]
Host 2 (possibly Nick)
Just real quick, for the sake of clarity, there are obviously there, this being campus area near downtown area. There would be coda bus stops on every few. Every few blocks or corners in this area. So that there, there are are means of him getting around if that was in fact what he was choosing to do.
- [43:41]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
Yeah. And I do know that CPD did check with the bus companies and they checked with cab companies and they checked the airports. So pretty much from the remainder of 2006 until 2008, it was very minimal searches done for Brian. But Randy, Randy would do different events for Brian. He got his picture on the side of a race car. He got him covered on several different channels. Brian, he continued to just keep Brian's name out there. So In September of 2008, Ohio is rocked with some hurricane force winds. And I believe it was from hurricane Ike. I'm not sure if you guys remember, but it was pretty crazy. It was like 80 to 90 mile per hour winds at some point in time. In time. Well, Randy had called around and was checking on all of his friends, everyone that he knew, telling them to make sure they stay inside that waiting to make sure everything is safe before they go outside. However, Randy Schaefer did not take his own advice and he went outside to a back building to get the generator out. I'm not actually sure if he lost power or if he was just afraid he was going to lose power, but when he was doing so, a branch from the tree in his backyard had been. A branch from a tree in his backyard had fallen and it fell on Randy when the winds picked up and it actually killed him.
- [45:16]
Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
Which I believe this actually made news because like you said, this is two years after Brian goes missing. But Brian's name was not only in news reports, but it's in the local papers, it's in the campus papers. And like you said, Randy was in communication with a lot of these individuals. But this news of Randy passing then kind of sparks more attention on the disappearance of Brian Schaefer as well.
- [45:43]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
It does. And actually there were governors and I believe a senator and I can't remember who else that wrote letters after Randy's passing. Just basically crediting him for all of his work he did for missing persons, including his own son.
- [46:00]
Host 2 (possibly Nick)
Yeah, this was a hell of a storm. It was. I was living in Columbus at The time. And I believe we lost power at my home for 10 days, which is extremely excessive. Like, I think in my lifetime, that's got to be the longest that any home I lived in went without power. And that was just due to the. The. The wind damage that it did here in central Ohio.
- [46:31]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
Yeah, my kids were actually little at the time, and we watched from our window as the wind blew away their trampoline and their playhouse.
- [46:40]
Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
Well, you can blame yourself for not putting those away in the garage. But his passing then sparked some weird activity.
- [46:48]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
It did. So, as a lot of people know that when you pass away, you have an obituary, but there's also a website called Legacy.com that posts online obituaries. Well, Don Corbett, the private investigator on Brian's case, had logged in and was looking at Randy's obituary, and there was a message there that said, I love you, dad, comma, Brian. And then in parentheses, it said US Virgin Islands. Now, of course, CPD jumped on it as soon as they were told about.
- [47:23]
Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
It, but what do we learn from this? Is. Is this communication actually coming from the Virgin Islands?
- [47:31]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
No, it actually came from a public library computer in Hilliard, Ohio, which, again.
- [47:36]
Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
Is strange because we have some cell phone possible movements in Hillyard. We have now this message coming from a local library in Hillyard, Ohio. So it seems like this weird Hilliard, Ohio, is weirdly connected to the disappearance of this guy.
- [47:56]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
Yeah, definitely comes up a few times. So I do know that Columbus Police Department obviously looked into this, and unfortunately, you did not have to sign in to use one of the public computers. So they did not know the identity of the person, but they did try to pull surveillance footage from a gas station across the street, but unfortunately, there was nothing found from that.
- [48:22]
Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
Yeah. So we have no evidence that this was actually Brian, but I think not to go too much down the rabbit hole, but it's also possible that Brian, if he did go missing or just wanted to start a new life or however you want to frame that, it is possible that he had somebody there that was sending this message for him.
- [48:50]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
Yeah. Or just someone who possibly knew that did it on their own for Randy after his passing. The.
- [48:58]
Host 2 (possibly Nick)
The not signing in portion of that strikes me, while I have no reason to doubt that we're getting honest information on that. As someone who frequents the Columbus Libraries and the greater Columbus Libraries, I have never used a computer where I didn't have to sign in. When I say sign in, it's to the point of your. You type in your library card number to use and access that computer and then they give you a time limit on the amount of time that you can use that computer as well. Now what I will say on that this would be rather clever of somebody if they wanted to be anonymous. The catalog computers where you would search for books or authors are open and already linked to the Internet so you do not have to sign into those. But they're also not a browsing computer or a working computer. So if somebody was very crafty and if I am right in my statement, I'm not going to say that I'm 100% right because I don't think I've ever set foot in a Hilliard library. But the captain will back me up on this. At one point all the suburb libraries were connected to the Columbus Public Library, right. Metropolitan Library as they call it. I believe that that was prior to 2008. I, I feel very strongly that that was prior to 2008. So again, if somebody went off and used one of those catalog computers that would be very crafty and that would be a way that that could go down. And, and my statement also be being correct that you did have to sign in. I don't know that they would be able to pinpoint it to exactly what computer. That would be interesting too. I don't want to go down the road of IP addresses and things of that nature because something I just don't understand.
- [50:59]
Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
Kelly, what are your thoughts on this post that was made?
- [51:03]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
I kind of go back and forth. I, the biggest part of me is how many coincidences can there be in one case? And I feel like that there's just a bunch in Brian's case. I actually lean towards this not being a hoax, but I actually think CPD knows who did it because Nick's 100% right. I even in growing up in a small town in Ohio when we needed to use a computer, you got like an hour time block and you had to sign your name, you had to put in your library card information. I, I feel like maybe they, that's just a part that they're going to hold close to the vest and not really put out there. But I do think that Columbus Police department knows who knows who made that.
- [51:47]
Host 2 (possibly Nick)
Post and with that sign in Kelly, and you'll back me up on this. It's not just your library card but it's also followed by a four digit PIN that is further indicator that you know, somebody didn't just find somebody's library card in the parking lot and on the, on the ground and walk in and Use that. You would have to have that PIN information as well.
- [52:10]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
Nick. That's actually real intriguing to me because I had never thought about the card catalog computers before. And Brian was very tech savvy. He actually, when he went to Ohio University, his degree was actually computers and he actually designed a video game that I accidentally stumbled upon when I was researching his case that he had done for a class project. So he was very tech savvy.
- [52:37]
Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
Nick also studied computer.
- [52:40]
Host 2 (possibly Nick)
Well, it's for this exact reason that the captain keeps me around.
- [52:45]
Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
Just so you can log in for me at the library.
- [52:49]
Host 2 (possibly Nick)
Just throw in some of these ideas.
- [52:52]
Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
So Brian's father, Randy, passes away due to this windstorm. I mean, what an awful way to go. And now you have this family that just two years, basically two and a half years prior, you have the mother, Renee, she passes away from cancer. You have Brian, he goes missing. Then you have the father, he is killed in this windstorm, and all that's left is Derek Schaefer.
- [53:22]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
Yeah, Derek lost his whole immediate family within two and a half years. So I would actually like to circle back just for a second and talk about that post on the Legacy page. Because the other thing that is really interesting to me is it had not been released that there was a tip. Well, I guess I wouldn't even say tip. There was a sighting of Brian in the US Virgin Islands, and it was actually one of the first tips that the Columbus Police Department received. It was a couple from Columbus who had been on their honeymoon and they were there and they were at a restaurant or something along those lines having dinner. And they had a waiter who had a striking resemblance to Brian Schaefer and was actually wearing a name tag who said his name was Brian. And as soon as they got home from their trip, Randy's death was all over the news again, and Brian's case had popped up or something. So they immediately called the Columbus Police Department and told them about the tip. So the fact that the US Virgin Islands was on that post could have been a coincidence, but it could have also been someone that knew something since that was a tip as well.
- [54:45]
Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
Yeah, and I think the information we don't know about this tip is when they came home, did this couple hear about this post that was made and did this. Do you see what I'm saying? Did this spark some thing of. Well, we had a waiter named Brian and he kind of looked like this guy, or was it just simply that they came home and went, hey, remember the guy that went missing from the Ugly Tuna? You see what I'm saying?
- [55:15]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
Like I do. I'm not sure actually how it came about but I was told that it was something along the lines that they made the call after Randy's passing. So I'm not sure.
- [55:27]
Host 1 (possibly Phil or a main host)
We do have a lot more to get into because at this point in the timeline you're not starting your investigation yet. You just know of the case and so I think we need to dive in to what you have learned once you get involved in actually investigating this case. I want to thank everybody for joining us here in the garage each and every week. Stick around for part three of Brian Shafer 20 years missing. Until then, be good, be kind and don't litter.
- [56:32]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
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- [56:46]
Host 2 (possibly Nick)
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- [56:47]
Kelly (investigator or expert guest)
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