Onopgeloste Mysterie: Brian Shaffer

Maybe you've seen it from me before, but I am really slightly obsessed with true crime. You understand that Netflix and I have been doing quite well lately, because for about a year now, the true crime documentaries have been flying off the shelves. But that's not where my fascination for true crime began: it actually started on Reddit. There are tons of so-called armchair detectives there, who try to contribute to unsolved cases from home.

Now, the site Reddit (in collaboration with the other site Websleuths) has actually managed to solve a case seriously a number of times. For example, they discovered who John Doe, who was nicknamed Grateful Doe, actually was (Jason Callahan). But to be fair: the majority consists of unresolved mysteries that — unfortunately — most likely will never be solved. But that doesn't mean you can't rack your brains over it. I thought, I would present one of my ‘favorite’ (sounds so weird, but you know what I mean) unsolved cases to you. One that I can really read about for hours and is so bizarre and unimaginable: the disappearance of Brian Shaffer.

Brian Shaffer was a medical student studying at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. On the evening of March 31, 2006, he went out to eat with his brother and father. A few weeks earlier, on March 6, his mother Renee passed away after battling cancer for three years. Brian, his brother, and his father were understandably devastated by this. His mother had given him a trip to Miami for Christmas: he was supposed to go there with his girlfriend Alexis on April 3.

His brother asked him to join them after dinner for a comedy show, but Brian declined his invitation: he already had plans with a friend, Clint. They started at the Ugly Tuna Saloona, where they took a few shots, and then went to a few other bars, where a friend Meredith also joined them. Eventually, they ended up back at the Ugly Tuna Saloona, where they were spotted by the security cameras.

And here is where it takes a bizarre turn. The Ugly Tuna Saloona was a bar on the first floor, next to a movie theater. The only way to get in was to take the escalator (up and down). Brian can still be seen on the security cameras, talking to a couple of girls, after which he goes back inside the bar. And that… is the last living sign that has ever been seen of Brian. Curious about that footage? You can check it out here.

WHUT? When the bar closed, Clint and Meredith couldn't find their friend Brian anywhere and decided to leave after a while. Brian had often gone out alone, so they weren't initially worried. But the next day, they still heard nothing from Brian, his car remained untouched, and since that March 31, 2006, nothing has happened on his bank account.

Everything seems to indicate that something terrible happened that evening, although there are also theories that Brian may have run away to start a new life elsewhere. As I mentioned above, there is only one way to reach and leave the Ugly Tuna Saloona, and that is via the escalator. That evening, the police were able to identify everyone who was seen on the camera, and they could see that everyone actually left the place — except for Brian.

Now there are — at this point, the stories sometimes differ a bit — two other possibilities: a door that led to a construction site and a back door from the bar itself. The bar staff insists that they did not see Brian and that this exit is not easily accessible to guests.

The theory that comes up most on the internet is that he took the door to the construction site, and had an accident and died there. But that would mean that his body should still be found somewhere there, right? The Ugly Tuna Saloona was completely demolished not long ago, and there is no trace of Brian.

Is it then a possibility that Brian did manage to get out onto the street, and something happened there? He could have fallen into the water, but the strange thing is that there is no deep river nearby and the police have searched everything. Also, there have been zero witnesses who saw Brian on the street, and it is an incredibly busy student area there.

Brian Shaffer has never been seen or found again, and I can't wrap my head around the fact that someone can walk into a bar and just disappear without a trace. How is that possible? Someone must know something or have seen something, even if it was an accident?

If you want to know more about this disappearance, read his Wikipedia page, or this topic on Reddit. But be careful: it's really a rabbit hole you dive into.