Key facts
- Name: Brian Randall Shaffer
- Born: February 1979, Ohio (sources differ on the exact date)
- Age at disappearance: 27
- Last seen: April 1, 2006, ~1:55 a.m.
- Location: Ugly Tuna Saloona, South Campus Gateway, Columbus, Ohio
- Height / weight: 6’2″, 160–165 lbs, brown hair, hazel eyes (distinctive fleck on left iris)
- Distinguishing: Pearl Jam “stickman” tattoo on right upper arm; played guitar
- Status: Still missing — case open and active
- Case numbers: NamUs MP1709; Columbus PD #060286094; FBI ViCAP Alert #2006-06-01
- Investigating agency: Columbus Division of Police (Ohio AG BCI assists)
The man who walked back into the bar
At 1:15 on the morning of Saturday, April 1, 2006, a security camera watched Brian Shaffer ride an escalator up to the second-floor entrance of the Ugly Tuna Saloona, a bar near the Ohio State campus in Columbus. He was with two friends, out for one last round at the start of spring break.
At about 1:55 a.m., another camera caught him outside the entrance — talking briefly with two young women, saying goodbye, turning back toward the bar. Out of frame.
No camera ever recorded him leaving. Not the escalator. Not the entrance. Not any of the nearby bars whose footage the police pulled. Twenty years later, nobody has explained how a 6’2″ man walked out of a building full of cameras, friends, and closing-time crowds — or if he ever walked out at all.
Who Brian was
Brian Shaffer was 27 and in his second year at Ohio State’s College of Medicine — though friends said his real dream was starting a Jimmy Buffett–style band. He played guitar. He had a Pearl Jam “stickman” tattoo on his upper arm, lifted from the artwork for the single “Alive.”
He’d grown up in Pickerington, a Columbus suburb, taken a microbiology degree from OSU, and worked as a radiology tech assistant at the university hospital. His mother Renee — a nurse, and the reason he’d gone into medicine — had been diagnosed with a bone-marrow failure disorder in 2005. She died on March 6, 2006, about three and a half weeks before Brian vanished. Friends said he seemed to be holding up.
He had a girlfriend, Alexis Waggoner, a fellow second-year med student. They had a trip to Miami booked, leaving Monday, April 3. Friends were openly expecting an engagement.
March 31 – April 1, 2006: the timeline
- Friday, March 31, evening — OSU’s spring break begins. Brian has a steak dinner with his father Randy, who thought he looked worn down from exam cramming and had quiet reservations about him going out.
- ~9:00 p.m. — Brian meets his friend William “Clint” Florence at the Ugly Tuna Saloona.
- ~10:00 p.m. — He calls Alexis Waggoner in Toledo: he loves her, he’ll see her when she’s back. Miami is Monday.
- Late evening — Brian and Florence bar-hop toward the Arena District (one shot of hard liquor at each of two bars, per Florence), then meet Meredith Reed, a friend of Florence’s, in the Short North. She drives them back to the Ugly Tuna for a last round.
- 1:15 a.m. — Cameras catch Brian, Florence, and Reed riding the escalator up to the bar’s second-floor entrance. At some point Brian separates from his companions.
- ~1:55 a.m. — The last confirmed sighting anywhere: Brian talks briefly with two young women outside the bar’s entrance (later identified), says goodbye, and walks back toward the bar — out of frame.
- 2:00 a.m. — The bar closes. Florence and Reed check the men’s restroom, call his phone repeatedly — no answer — then leave with the crowd and wait outside. Brian isn’t among them. They figure he went home.
- April 1–2 — His phone goes unanswered. On Sunday, April 2, Alexis gets back to Columbus and goes to his King Avenue apartment, six blocks from the bar: his car is in the lot, his glasses are on the table by the bed, his cellphone charger is still plugged into the wall. Nothing disturbed. She stays the night, hoping he’ll walk in in time for the flight.
- Monday, April 3 — Brian misses the morning flight to Miami. Alexis and Randy report him missing to the Columbus Division of Police.
The investigation
Police started at the bar and worked outward. They reviewed Gateway-area footage exhaustively — no camera shows Brian leaving. Officers with K-9 and cadaver dogs worked the streets and dumpsters and canvassed residents. Flyers went up. The Columbus sewer system was searched. Nothing useful came back.
His apartment: undisturbed. His car: in the lot. No bank or credit-card activity after that night. His phone was never recovered.
What followed reads like a catalog of almosts:
- The service door. Investigators found a non-public service door near where Brian was last seen, opening onto a first-floor hallway and an adjacent construction area with its own exterior exit — unsurveilled. Some officers doubted a drunk man could have navigated it. The cameras had acknowledged blind spots: one panned constantly, another was manually operated.
- The phone anomaly. In September 2006, Waggoner — who called Brian’s number every night — had one call ring three times instead of rolling to voicemail. The carrier called it a computer glitch, but a ping registered at a tower in Hilliard, about 14 miles northwest of Columbus. Later reporting added that the carrier could trace the phone to a series of locations around Columbus in the weeks after — never precisely enough to act on.
- The polygraphs. Randy Shaffer, Meredith Reed, and everyone else who was asked submitted to polygraphs and passed. Clint Florence refused, on his attorney’s advice. A refusal proves nothing — but it has fed twenty years of suspicion, including from Brian’s own brother Derek, who believes Florence knows more than he’s said. The two women from the 1:55 a.m. footage said in 2009 they were never asked to take polygraphs.
- The detective’s certainty. In 2014, Detective Andre Edwards told Columbus Monthly he was “with 100-percent certainty” that Brian did not leave via the escalator — based on a frame-by-frame review of footage the public has never seen.
- The age progression. In March 2021, the Ohio Attorney General’s office and Columbus police released an age-progressed image of Brian at 42 and renewed their appeal.
- The 2026 tip. On the 20th anniversary, podcast host Kelly Bruce reported that a listener had sent her a name the authorities should look at — and when she passed it to a Columbus detective, he told her the same name had been given to his unit by a friend of Brian’s shortly after the 2006 disappearance. Two tips, twenty years apart, same person. The name isn’t public. No arrest. As of July 2026, Columbus police declined public comment. A reported lead — not a finding.
In September 2008, Brian’s father Randy was killed in a windstorm while clearing his yard — a second devastation for a family that had already buried Renee. A condolence note signed “To Dad, love Brian (U.S. Virgin Islands)” was investigated and exposed as a hoax, sent from a public computer.
Theories: what might have happened
Voluntary disappearance. Grief after his mother’s death, the hoax “Virgin Islands” note, and a 2008 claim by Florence’s attorney that a detective had led him to believe Brian was alive — these keep the theory breathing. Against it: no financial activity, no contact in twenty years, his car and everything he owned left behind — and nobody who knew him can picture it.
Foul play by someone he knew. A retired officer who volunteered on the case believes Brian was murdered by someone he knew; his brother and his girlfriend suspect Florence is holding something back. Nobody has been charged, police have named no suspect — though secondary reporting suggests investigators have drifted over the years toward believing something criminal happened.
An accident via the service exit. The unsurveilled service door and the construction area next to it remain the most concrete physical explanation for an unrecorded exit. What happened after is anyone’s guess.
The fringe. The “Smiley Face Killer” theory was briefly considered and rejected by Columbus police. Claims that he was killed inside the bar and carried out are pure speculation — the cadaver dogs found nothing, and there is no blood evidence.
Have information?
Contact the Columbus Division of Police: 614-645-2358, or FBI ViCAP: (800) 634-4097 (vicap@fbi.gov). In an emergency, dial 911. Reference NamUs MP1709 / Columbus PD case #060286094.
Timeline
- February 1979 — Brian Randall Shaffer is born in Ohio.
- 2004 — Begins Ohio State College of Medicine.
- March 6, 2006 — His mother Renee dies, age 51.
- March 31, 2006, evening — Dinner with his father; meets Clint Florence at the Ugly Tuna Saloona.
- April 1, 2006, 1:15 a.m. — Cameras record Brian riding the escalator up to the bar.
- April 1, 2006, ~1:55 a.m. — Last confirmed sighting: talks with two women, walks back toward the bar, out of frame.
- April 1, 2006, 2:00 a.m. — Bar closes; friends leave without him.
- April 3, 2006 — Misses the Miami flight; reported missing.
- September 2006 — The phone-rings-three-times anomaly; ping near Hilliard.
- September 2008 — His father Randy is killed in a windstorm.
- March 2021 — Age-progression image released (Brian at 42).
- 2026 — 20th anniversary; new tip reported (unverified); police decline comment.
- Today — Still missing.
FAQ
Is Brian Shaffer still missing?
Yes. As of October 2026, Brian Shaffer has been missing for more than 20 years. The case is open and active with the Columbus Division of Police.
How old would Brian Shaffer be today?
Brian was born in February 1979 — he turned 47 in February 2026.
How did Brian Shaffer leave the bar if no camera saw him?
Nobody knows — that is the central mystery. Investigators found a non-public service door near where he was last seen, leading through a hallway to a construction area with its own exterior exit, and acknowledged camera blind spots. A detective says frame-by-frame review proves he didn’t leave via the escalator.
Was Brian Shaffer’s friend involved in his disappearance?
Clint Florence, the friend Brian was with that night, refused a polygraph on his attorney’s advice. He has never been named a suspect and no charges have ever been filed. A polygraph refusal is not evidence of wrongdoing.
Was Brian Shaffer ever found?
No. No trace of Brian — no remains, no confirmed sightings — has ever been found. A 2020 photo of a homeless man in Tijuana resembling him was ruled out by FBI facial recognition.
How can I help?
Share this case file, and if you have any information, contact the Columbus Division of Police at 614-645-2358. Please do not harass private individuals named in online speculation.
Sources
- Official / law enforcement: FBI ViCAP alert (https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/vicap/missing-persons/brian-shaffer); Ohio Attorney General, age-progression release (March 2021); NamUs MP1709 (https://namus.nij.ojp.gov/case/MP1709).
- News: Columbus Monthly, “In the Name of the Father” (April 2009); The Columbus Dispatch (2024); 10TV Columbus (2020); Columbus Navigator (July 2026); The Lantern (OSU, 2006, 2009); NBC4 Columbus.
- Reference: Wikipedia, “Disappearance of Brian Shaffer” (retrieved Oct 2026).
Found an error? Tell us via the About page and we will fix it promptly and note the change here. Last verified October 2026.