Disappearance of Brian Shaffer

Brian Randall Shaffer (born February 25, 1979) is an American medical student at the Ohio State University College of Medicine.

He graduated from the local high school in 1997 and went to Ohio State University (OSU) for his undergraduate work.

Six years later he graduated with a degree in microbiology.

Following that, Shaffer began studies at the OSU College of Medicine in 2004.

On the night of March 31, 2006, Shaffer went out with friends to celebrate the beginning of spring break; later he was separated from them and they assumed he had gone home.

However, a security camera outside the entrance to a Columbus bar recorded him briefly talking to two women just before 2 a.m., April 1, and then walking off screen without any further evidence of him leaving the area.

Shaffer has not been seen or heard from since.

The case received national media attention.

Shaffer's disappearance has been especially puzzling to investigators since there was no other publicly accessible entrance or exit to the bar at that time.

Columbus police have several theories about what happened; some interest and suspicion has been directed at a friend of Shaffer's who accompanied him that night, but has refused to take polygraph tests regarding the incident.

While foul play has been suspected, including the possible involvement of the purported Smiley Face serial killer, it has also been speculated that he might be alive and living somewhere else under a new identity.

Brian Shaffer grew up in Pickerington, Ohio, a suburb outside of Columbus, the eldest of Randy and Renee Shaffer's two sons.

During his second year there, in March 2006, his mother died of myelodysplasia.

Shaffer's friends say that although he appeared to be handling it well, her death was hard for him.

During his time at medical school, Shaffer had become romantically involved with another medical student, Alexis Waggoner.

She, along with their families and friends, believed that Brian would probably be proposing marriage to her later in 2006, most likely on a trip to Miami the couple had planned for spring break at the beginning of April.

Tropical locations such as Miami were attractive to Shaffer; he liked the relaxed lifestyles.

He told his friends that despite his decision to pursue a medical career, his real ambition was to start a band playing music in the vein of Jimmy Buffett.

On March 31, a Friday, classes at OSU ended for spring break the next week.

Shaffer and his father Randy celebrated the occasion by going out for a steak dinner together earlier that evening.

Shaffer's father noted that he seemed exhausted from having pulled all-nighters earlier in the week cramming for some important upcoming exams.

He did not think Shaffer should go out with a friend, William "Clint" Florence, later that night as he planned to do, but did not express his reservations to his son.

At 9 p.m., Shaffer met Florence at the Ugly Tuna Saloona, a bar in the South Campus Gateway complex on High Street in Columbus.

An hour later, Shaffer called Waggoner, who had returned to her home in Toledo to visit with her family before she and Shaffer were due to depart for Miami.

Shaffer and Florence went bar-hopping, visiting several other drinking establishments and working their way down to the Arena District.

At each stop the two had one shot each of hard liquor, according to Florence.

After midnight, Shaffer and Florence met Meredith Reed, a friend of Florence, in The Short North.

Reed gave them a ride back to the Ugly Tuna Saloona, where they had started the night, and joined them there for a last round.

While the three were there, Shaffer separated from his companions.

Florence and Reed attempted to find Shaffer, repeatedly calling him.

They left with other patrons when the bar closed at 2 a.m., waiting outside for Shaffer.

When he was not among the departing crowd, they assumed he had gone back to his apartment without letting them know.

Waggoner and Shaffer's father both tried to call him later that weekend, but he did not answer.

On Monday morning, he missed the flight to Miami he and Waggoner had scheduled long before.

He was then reported missing to the Columbus police.

Police began their search for Shaffer at the Ugly Tuna Saloona, the bar where he had last been seen.

Since the area around South Campus Gateway was somewhat blighted with a high crime rate, the Gateway building which housed the bar, and other businesses, had installed security cameras.

They reviewed the footage, which showed Shaffer, Florence and Reed going up an escalator to the bar's main entrance at 1:15 a.m. Shaffer was seen outside of the bar around 1:55 a.m., talking briefly with two young women and saying goodbye, then moving off-camera.

The camera did not record him leaving shortly afterwards when the Ugly Tuna Saloona closed; this was the last known time that Shaffer was seen.

It was possible, investigators realized, that Shaffer could have changed his clothes in the bar or put on a hat and kept his head down, hiding his face from the camera.