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 One Year Later, Search Continues on For Brian Shaffer
It's been one year since Ohio State medical student Brian Shaffer went missing, seemingly vanishing into thin air. While the thought of finding him now may seem hopeless, don't tell his girlfriend. She continues to search and blog as each day passes. -- By all accounts, Brian Shaffer is one of our brightest. At 28, he's two years down with two to go on his medical degree from Ohio State University, but says the "whole doctor thing" is just temporary until he can get a band together and put out a record. He has an "awesome and amazing" girlfriend that he wants to own an island with, one day to bask in the sun and drink margaritas all day.
The only problem is Brian is not here. He's been missing since the night of April 1, 2006. On that night, Brian went out in Columbus with some of his friends to celebrate Spring Break. Just a few days later, Brian was to be on vacation with his girlfriend, Alexis, in Miami. He called Alexis that night to tell her he loved her and was looking forward to the trip. After the call, Brian and his friends went to the Ugly Tuna Saloona for drinks. Brian is seen on surveillance tape outside the bar, but once he disappears from view, it's the last image anyone has seen of him since.
In the weeks following Shaffer's disappearance, few clues emerged as to his whereabouts or what happened the night he went missing. Police questioned everyone who knew Brian, examined the surveillance footage in-depth and found a homeless man who thought he had seen Brian a week after he disappeared. Rewards were offered and the case was featured on NBC's Dateline. But spring ended, and soon summer came... without Brian.
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Not long after Brian went missing, his girlfriend, Alexis Waggoner, started blogging about it on her MySpace. Waggoner, also a medical student, documented searching dumpsters, printing flyers and being interviewed by Dateline in the early days of the search. On April 19, she wrote:
Today I spent the afternoon with people from Dateline NBC who are going to run Brian's story nationally next weekend. For those of you who have been curious, we have done so many things already to find Brian. We have searched through all the dumpsters (that was terrifying), we have walked the Olentangy River (thankfully to no avail), there have been search and rescue dogs all over the place, a day of helicopter searches, we have handed out and hung up thousands of fliers, and we have had psychics.
But no matter how grizzly the reality was, Alexis always made it a point to convey the true Brian Shaffer.
Brian is an amazing person. He is brilliant, kind, thoughtful, loyal, sweet, funny, talented, and handsome. I can't tell you how much I want to have him come home.
A month later, burglars hit Brian's vacant apartment. Alexis was the first to be called:
The police called me at 3 AM after I had finally cried myself to sleep at about 1 to tell me that someone had kicked in Brian's door and they needed me to come and tell them what was missing. The silver lining, I guess, is that it's brought the news back full blast, which has also helped to bring the $100,000 reward back into the spotlight.
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Brian had planned to take Alexis to a Pearl Jam concert on May 22 in Detroit. He had already purchased tickets, but as Alexis blogged on May 15, she felt like she couldn't go without Brian. Pearl Jam is Brian's favorite band; he loves the group so much, he had a band logo tattooed on his upper right arm. Alexis auctioned the tickets off on eBay and added the money to Brian's reward fund.
June marked the year anniversary of her and Brian's first date.
In the next week is also the year anniversary of our first date and our first kiss. That was also our last week of school, and on the very last day I had gotten into a car accident. The following day, Brian, after only less than a week of dating, came over and drove me 30 minutes away to where they could fix my car, and then we went out to dinner and a movie. I'll never ever forget how sweet he was that day to drive me basically anywhere I needed to.
Later in the month, Alexis published a thank you note to Eddie Vedder, frontman of Brian's favorite, Pearl Jam. Vedder had dedicated time during the band's Cincinnati show to read off Brian's description and dedicated a song to him. ( See YouTube Video)
Brian would FLIP OUT to know that Eddie Vedder talked about him! I mean, Brian has a Pearl Jam tattoo and tributes a lot of this love of music to Pearl Jam.
July and August passed with no new information, but a promising development happened in late September. Alexis called Brian's cell phone, just like she had been doing at least once a day since he'd been missing. On September 23, the phone rang for the first time before going to voice mail.
Basically, all I know is that for a few hours a couple of weeks ago, Brian's cell phone was ringing before going to his voice mail for the first time in months. I kept calling it to hear it purely because it was one of the best sounds I have ever heard, even if no one picked up. His phone rang. That was good enough for me. It also scared the crap out of me, because I had no idea what I would say if a person answered it. I just wish I could have had the chance. I really wish I could get a straight story from someone on what happened and why because wondering where Brian is, is more than enough of a question to ask myself everyday without this one too.
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Cingular, Brian's cell phone provider, offered two possible explanations. The most logical was a computer glitch that caused a dial tone to be heard. However, there was a possibility that Brian's phone was turned on and working for at least a short period of time in September. Sadly, Brian's phone did not have GPS capabilities and could not be located by Cingular.
More months passed and the seasons changed again. Alexis made a Christmas wish that Brian would somehow come home, but he didn't. She pondered what she would feel should Brian spontaneously come to her door:
Obviously, at first I'd be so thankful and happy. Then I thought that if he were out there somewhere and if he knew what was going on and how much he was missed, how incredibly hurt and angry and heart broken I would be. How could you fully explain to someone what it was like to miss them, pay their bills, defend them against anything negative said about them, and tell people how wonderful they were for over 9 months? But at the same time love them, and hope and pray that happens. He'd better hope he has no clue who he is if he's out there somewhere, that's for sure!
Life continued to move on without Brian. Alexis advanced in her studies, started hospital training and helped deliver a baby in January. The ten month mark of Brian's absence was noted because he had now been gone longer than Alexis had known him.
As the one year mark quickly approached, Alexis and Brian's family set up a prayer vigil to remember Brian and generate new ideas for the search. But before that could happen, Alexis had new reason to be worried. Skeletal remains were found in mid-March about an hour away from where Brian went missing that were likely to be about a year old. At the time, it was unknown if the remains were that of a male or female.
A guy out looking for aluminum cans in a makeshift garbage dump in the woods found them. I found out last night, and lets just say it was a long night for me.
Two days later, the remains were determined to be female. Alexis posted a blog titled 'It's not Brian, thank goodness.'
It has now been over one year since Brian Shaffer went missing. On April 1, Alexis and Brian's family, along with a small group of people, some strangers, gathered outside the Ugly Tuna Saloona and hung new fliers for Brian. They said a prayer and parted ways.
Alexis retains hope that Brian will eventually come home. Reading her blog is difficult but also awe-inspiring; how this young woman can deal with such a terrible situation and yet go about her life with a such a positive attitude nearly defies the laws of nature. Should Brian make it home, what an incredibly dedicated, beautiful and lovely lady he has to come home to. All of the words she uses to describe Brian can also be used to describe herself.
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Brian Randal Shaffer
Date of Birth: February 11, 1979, 28 years old
Height: 6 feet, 2 inches
Weight: 160-165 pounds
Eyes: Hazel
Tattoo: Upper right arm, Pearl Jam symbol
Central Ohio Crime Stoppers: 1-877-645-8477
Resources used for this article:
[url=http://www.findbrianshaffer.com]www.findbrianshaffer.com
Brian Shaffer's MySpace
Alexis Waggoner's MySpace
Ohio State University Brian Shaffer Support Page
Central Ohio Crime Stoppers
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very peculiar - i hope he is safe
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It's a very unusual story and no doubt a lot for Alexis to deal with all at once.
I think it's great that she's turned to the web to get the word out because you so often hear about YouTube or Myspace leading to the successful discovery of someone. It's a long time to be missing, but I'm sure any news at this point would be welcomed news.
Do you know exactly where he was celebrating Spring Break when he went missing? You say Columbus, but was it just at a local bar or something? And if he went out with his friends, were none of them with him when he left to go home?
Great article Carpenter -- this clearly took a lot of research, and this is a great example of citizen journalism producing original content.
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The Ugly Tuna Saloona is a restaurant/bar in Columbus, and this is the last record anybody has of where he went that night. The surveillance footage shows him walking into the bar but never walking out. From what I've gathered, there were three entrances/exits to the bar, two of which were covered by cameras.
One friend Brian went out with that night was asked by police to answer some questions and take a polygraph test, but he refused. Police still say there are no suspects in the case...
And public thanks to you, Chris, for giving me some advice to make this article better.
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Very sad story. I still find it rather odd that all of a sudden his cell phone rang. Cingular said it was a 'glitch', but did they say what type of glitch. Also, why was he phone still active? Was someone paying the bill?? If the bill was not being paid, I am sure at some point Cingular would have deactivated the service.
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Uh, I don't even know where to begin. This is just a heart breaking story. I was getting chills while I was reading the article, Carpenter.
I am glad Alexis did not give up in her search for him. It is rather strange that he would just disappear all of a sudden without trace. There must have been someone who saw him in front of that bar.
All I can say is that I hope he's alive and safe. I hope Alexis stays strong and doesn't lose hope. She sure has a great soul and as you have stated, a positive attitude towards all of this. Hopefully, someone will come forward with any kind of information.
Well done, Carpenter! You put a lot of time into this and honestly, this is one of the best articles I have read on DJ.
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@ rob13:
Very sad story. I still find it rather odd that all of a sudden his cell phone rang. Cingular said it was a 'glitch', but did they say what type of glitch. Also, why was he phone still active? Was someone paying the bill?? If the bill was not being paid, I am sure at some point Cingular would have deactivated the service.
Cingular claimed that they were performing maintenance on their network at the time the calls to Brian's phone that got a dial tone were made, and that was probably the "glitch."
And yes, Alexis kept paying Brian's cell phone bill -- she thought that since it was one of the only things he had with him, keeping it active could pay off.
For all these little details, be sure to check out Alexis' blog. I could have written twenty pages on her entries and this story, but it's probably best to just go check it out yourself. -
@ Theodora L. (Franklin):
Uh, I don't even know where to begin. This is just a heart breaking story. I was getting chills while I was reading the article, Carpenter.
Thanks, Franklin. I've been following this story since I learned about it last May. Only recently did I find that Alexis had been blogging about it, and when I read her eloquent and touching entries, I wanted to do something. An article here at DJ might not mean much on a grand scale, but anything to help get the word out and spread the story more has to be a good thing.
I hope good news in this case can be found very very soon. -
@ Carpenter S. Newton:
Thanks, Franklin. I've been following this story since I learned about it last May. Only recently did I find that Alexis had been blogging about it, and when I read her eloquent and touching entries, I wanted to do something. An article here at DJ might not mean much on a grand scale, but anything to help get the word out and spread the story more has to be a good thing.
I hope good news in this case can be found very very soon.
Actually you would be surprised about the "grand scale" Carpenter. I know of at least 3 other people who have written about sexual abuse, dead beat dads, etc. on this site and the person involved signed up here just to thank the writer for spreading the word. It's amazing how many people come across this information, and they all come from a variety of sources. You just indexed this forever in a Google search so that is doing quite a bit. -
@ Carpenter S. Newton:
Thanks, Franklin. I've been following this story since I learned about it last May. Only recently did I find that Alexis had been blogging about it, and when I read her eloquent and touching entries, I wanted to do something. An article here at DJ might not mean much on a grand scale, but anything to help get the word out and spread the story more has to be a good thing.
I hope good news in this case can be found very very soon.
Yes, it is important to get the word out there and the best way to do it is through media. Since DJ is visited by many, many people and is picked up by search engines, I am hoping someone will recognize him. He couldn't have just disappeared. He must be somewhere and someone must have seen him. Again, it is hard for me to wrap my mind around it and say that he just vanished. I'm hoping for the best.
I've just read a couple of Alexis's blogs and they're heart wrenching. I wouldn't be able to keep living if something like this happened to me. In my eyes, she's a very, very, very strong person. -
Great post Carpenter, the best article I have seen so far. Hope they find him, it looks like his friend might know about it, why is he not taking a polygraph test if he has nothing to hide. Hope they show on America's most wanted TV network, they might get some calls or clues about him. Keep us posted if you hear any. Again well done.
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Wow great article. I am wondering why the friend refused to take a polygraph test?
I really hope he is found. What I would think is the hardest is the not knowing.
Also two of my stories had the person involved or a relative comment on it. So DJ does get the word out.
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One of a few things. He either met with foul play, has amnesia or doesn't want to be found. The friend refusing to take the polygraph smells bad to say the least. Other than jealousy I wonder what other motive he may have had. What a sad story. Well written and obviously a lot of work went into writing it. Great post. Thanks.
P.S. Is it just me or did anyone else notice the April 1st (fools) date?
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@ Sheba:
P.S. Is it just me or did anyone else notice the April 1st (fools) date?
I totally missed the significance of the date. If this happened this year, maybe could be ruled a joke -- sick sense of humour, for sure.
But this woman has been blogging for a long time about it, so I wouldn't rule it as a joke.
Interesting observation though. -
@ Chris Hogg:
I totally missed the significance of the date. If this happened this year, maybe could be ruled a joke -- sick sense of humour, for sure.
But this woman has been blogging for a long time about it, so I wouldn't rule it as a joke.
Interesting observation though.
I didn't mean it that way Chirs. I meant it as it's a sick cruel joke his buddy played on him. Who knows if his friend didn't plan it that way? It's ironic to say the least. -
great story. it reminds me of a really scary movie called "The Vanishing." (the original dutch version is way scarier than the american remake.)
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This is one example of outreach Carpenter: Brandigal wrote an article on Canadian men arrested in India for sexual assault and one of the victims responded to her story to ask if there were others.
That is pretty amazing. -
Yeah, that's pretty cool. I had a similar thing happen in the comments of one of my stories a few weeks ago.
Alexis mentions in a couple of her blog entires that sometimes she searches Google to see if there is any new information on Brian that has gotten overlooked. I'm not looking for recognition by any means, but if a new group of people are made aware of Brian's story and it keeps him in the news through this article, I feel pretty happy about that.
I know relatively nothing about the guy other than what I have read online, but this story has been in the back of my mind for months. Awesome that so many people here took the time to read it and comment, too.
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You got me hooked Carpenter. Did you notice Brian also has a myspace page.
Last login was April 1. -
Wow...found a really important article on this subject. This site says a team of investigators in Marion County will try to identify human remains found on March 12. There are three missing person cases open in this area and a "Brian" (same name but in Ohio) is listed on the site as one of the missing persons.
Anyone know the results of this? -
Yeah, I knew Brian had a MySpace. I linked to it in my article.
Alexis checks his MySpace for private messages, so it's not him logging in.
The human remains were identified as female. Read my article closer :)
Here is another good article on this story. This documents the first six months of the search for Brian. -
@ Carpenter S. Newton:
Yeah, I knew Brian had a MySpace. I linked to it in my article.
Alexis checks his MySpace for private messages, so it's not him logging in.
The human remains were identified as female. Read my article closer :)
Here is another good article on this story. This documents the first six months of the search for Brian.
haha...sorry dude. Reading through this thing I have about 15 tabs opened on your sources and more. Clearly I'm all over the place on this. Got excited and jumped to comment and didn't realize the skeletal remains were the same you mentioned =) My bad. -
Carpenter: I have contacted one of my old, old friends from Ohio and she's going to print out Brian posters and put them around the university she goes to. I think, by now and today, I have read each and every one of Alexis's entries and have done some research about the case. I feel as though I want to do something to help her out. This is the only way I guess.
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@ Theodora L. (Franklin):
Carpenter: I have contacted one of my old, old friends from Ohio and she's going to print out Brian posters and put them around the university she goes to. I think, by now and today, I have read each and every one of Alexis's entries and have done some research about the case. I feel as though I want to do something to help her out. This is the only way I guess.
That's awesome. And you are awesome, too. :)
I hope people here on DJ that are from Ohio get a good look at this. Of course, since it's been a year and given a best case scenario, Brian could be anywhere... but somebody in Ohio is bound to know something about what happened to this guy. -
In some of the reading I've been doing it says police were investigating reports that Brian was seen 4 (I think) days after him going missing at a convenience store. Police were looking to get video footage from the store to see if the reports were true.
I can't see any info after that to know if this is true or not. Do you know Carpenter? I don't see anything in your report above.
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@ Chris Hogg:
I can't see any info after that to know if this is true or not. Do you know Carpenter? I don't see anything in your report above.
I did reference this, but not in full detail. A homeless man told police he saw a man that looked like Brian behind a convenience store eating a sandwich. According to the man, he attempted to talk to the guy, but got no reaction.
Police sought out footage from the store, but I never heard either way if they found anything on the tapes or not. I have done some extensive searching on this, too -- I presume nothing was found or Alexis would have written about it (and the media, big time, since there are so little clues).
The most I ever found on it was this:
According to police, the tipster said that Shaffer was behind a United Dairy Farmers store, located at High Street and 12th Avenue.
"The individual indicated that the man that he had seen was eating a sandwich," said Columbus police detective John Hurst. "He believes it was bought from one of the local restaurants."
Detectives said the homeless man attempted to talk with the man he believed was Shaffer, but the person walked off into the alley.
"(The homeless man) said that he said, 'Hey, people are looking for you,' and the individual really didn't have much of a reaction," Hurst said.-
I see. I was under the impression your reference to surveillance camera footage above was from the bar -- not the convenience store.
I think you're right though -- it would be all over the place it it was a lead worth following. I would love to her Alexis' side of the story as to why the friend wouldn't take a polygraph, though.
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@ Chris Hogg:
I see. I was under the impression your reference to surveillance camera footage above was from the bar -- not the convenience store.
The footage I referenced was from the bar, but I also talked about the homeless man.
This is a confusing story and I hate that in order to get this to a manageable reading level so many details had to be cut down on.
Here is a handy website I found just tonight that lists just about every article ever published on internet news sites about the case. -
I don't know if you two have come across one of the message boards where people are suspecting his friend Clint did it (that's the guy who didn't want to take the polygraph?!?!?). Clint is not talking at all which smells fishy to me. If I were his friend, I would do everything possible to find him. Another thing that I've come across was that his friends Meredith and Clint "ditched" him after not being able to find him, which is also weird. You don't just leave your friend at a bar and not check or try to call him afterwards. A little strange to me.
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I have read things about his "friends," particularly the one who refused the lie detector. I think it's extremely fishy, but I also find it hard to believe that only him refusing to talk and take a polygraph incites guilt. Surely the police know more than they are telling about this friend... and surely if the police suspected he was involved in Brian's disappearance, they would investigate him under a microscope. There are ways to find things out even when the suspect won't talk.
That may have happened and nobody has heard anything about it. But police continue to say "no suspects."
Some friends, though.
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Carpenter: I contacted Alexis about this post to tell her you were drumming up support and awareness and she wrote me back the most incredible email. I told her you spent a great deal of time working on it and it was your initiative so she wrote back thanking all of DJ for this. This goes to show you how your work can impact someone else's life.
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Hi Chris,
It's a fantastic article, and I can't really put into words how much I appreciate you taking so much time to put it together! I'm a babbler and I'm sure it took some time to get through all of that blogging!
It's incredibly difficult to be a year out from when this all started and to see how the media shifts so quickly. We were on the news here in Columbus all the time, and as it happens with all news stories, nothing new happens and it stops for them. I obviously understand that, but it's still hard.
When e! contacted us about having Brian in the show we were excited that after the year anniversary we would get the chance to have him in the media one more time. If nothing else comes of it, I just hope and pray that people saw it, hugged their loved ones a little tighter, and make sure to be a little more careful when they leave home any time of the day. If you come across any questions that you would like answered, please just let me know and I'll answer what I can for you!
Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart, as well as those of Brian's family, and take care!
Alexis
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I'm beyond words right now, which is really quite appropriate since the words of Alexis are the ones that speak the loudest and strongest.
I only learned of Brian's story because both of our favorite bands are Pearl Jam. At the time when I found out about it, I was traveling around seeing the band and even had tickets to the show he and Alexis were to attend in Detroit (I ended up not going). Each time the band would hit the stage, I would think of Brian and wonder if he had been found.
And since then, every time I listen to Pearl Jam, I think of Brian. Just through that small connection, I feel like I already kind of know the guy even though I really don't. Brian would be able to explain it -- there's just something about Pearl Jam people.
Alexis: You're most very welcome.
I'd also like to join Alexis in thanks to everyone who took the time to read my article and respond, especially Chris and Franklin, both of whom went above and beyond seeking out more information. Franklin even got in touch with someone to hang posters for Brian in Cincinnati... how great is that? I'm really thrilled that so many people took time out to make themselves aware of this story. Thanks DJ. What a great group of people.
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wow. i have been following all the comments on this story, and i have to say that what is happening is fantastic. i think it's wonderful that you, chris, contacted alexis and that she wrote to you. carpenter, you've really done an incredible job with this article. it's really quite moving and brings tears to my eyes. i really hope there is a positive resolution soon. please publish articles on this every time there is new information. i know a lot of us will eagerly be following this story. and i think it's really cool that eddie vedder mentioned brian and dedicated a song to him. sometimes that guy does some really nice things.
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Carpenter - you are just so awesome. Not only do you ooze talent, but you have a huge heart to write such a wonderful story!
Poor Alexis. My heart just breaks for her. Brian was such a handsome, kind and wonderful man in so many ways, based upon what has been shared here. What a horrible loss.
I find it rather suspicious that someone broke into his vacant apartment. That seems strangely coincidental to me. How would anyone really know for sure an apartment was vacant - but actually contained personal items to be stolen?
And the fact that his friend refused a lie detector test! What is up with that?? There has to be something much deeper going on there......did they ever say if he was noticed to be really drunk the night he disappeared?
Here in Minnesota we are constantly losing college students that leave the bars at night and walk, disoriented and end up being found months later in the river. Well, maybe constantly is a bit over the top, but I would say on average 2 or 3 per year, which is quite a few...............not saying this is what happened to Brian, but curious if the bar owner or other patrons said he seemed quite intoxicated.
I hope they find him for the sake of his family and dear Alexis.
As I said, fabulous story in every way.
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Kudos to everyone involved in this great effort! Carpenter you should be proud of the spotlight you've helped focus on this horrible situation. More thanks to Franklin and Chris for taking the time to make this more than a story.
Alexis, our thoughts are with you. Be strong and keep up hope. Just look at Elizabeth Smarts family for inspiration.
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