Disappearance of Brian Shaffer

Brian Shaffer was a medical student at Ohio State University. On the night of March 31, 2006, he 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 near the entrance to the bar recorded him briefly talking to two women just before 2 a.m. April 1, and then apparently re-entering the bar. He has not been seen or heard from since. The case has received national media attention. Shaffer's disappearance has been particularly puzzling to investigators since there was no other publicly accessible entrance to the bar at that time. Columbus police have several theories as to what happened; some interest and suspicion has been directed at a friend of Shaffer's who accompanied him that night but has declined to take lie detector tests related to 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. Background: Shaffer grew up in Pickerington, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus, the state capitol, where The Ohio State University (OSU) is located, the older of Randy and Renee Shaffer's two sons. He graduated from the local high school in 1997 and went to OSU for his undergraduate work. Six years later he graduated with a degree in microbiology. Following that, he began studies at Ohio State University College of Medicine in 2004. During his second year there, in March 2006, his mother Renee died of cancer. His friends say that although he appeared to be handling it well, her death was hard for him. Renee was not the only woman important in Brian's life. He had become romantically involved with a fellow second-year medical student, Alexis Waggoner. She, along with their families and friends, believed that Brian would probably be proposing marriage to her later that year, most likely on a trip to Miami the couple had planned for spring break at the beginning of April. Disappearance: On March 31, a Friday, classes at OSU ended for spring break the next week. Brian and Randy Shaffer, his father, celebrated the occasion by going out for a steak dinner together earlier that evening. The older man noted that his son seemed exhausted from preparing for some important upcoming exams. He did not think Brian 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., Brian met Florence at the Ugly Tuna Saloona, a seafood restaurant and bar in the South Campus Gateway complex on High Street. An hour later, Brian called Waggoner, who had returned to her home in Toledo to visit with her family before the two went to Miami, and told her he loved her. He and Florence went bar-hopping, visiting several other drinking establishments and working their way up to the Arena District. At each stop the two had one shot each of hard liquor, according to Florence. After midnight, the two met Meredith Reed, a friend of Florence's, in The Short North. She gave them a ride back to the Ugly Tuna Saloona, where they had started the night. Security cameras at the bar recorded the three taking the escalator to it around 1:15 a.m. April 1. Sometime while the three were there, Brian became separated from them. At 1:55 a.m., just before closing time, the security cameras recorded Brian speaking with two young women near the top of the escalator. He appeared to say goodbye and walked back towards the bar. Inside, however, Florence and Reed had been trying to find him, to the point of repeatedly calling him. They left with other patrons when the bar closed at 2 a.m., waiting outside for Brian. When he was not among the crowd departing, they assumed he had gone back to his apartment without letting them know. Waggoner and Randy Shaffer both tried to call Brian later that weekend but he did not answer. On Monday morning, he missed the flight to Miami he and Waggoner had scheduled a long time before. He was reported missing to the Columbus police.