Experts Baffled: The Disappearance Brian Shaffer

In a lot of missing person cases, you tend to at least end up with a plausible explanation or two for what might have happened, but the Brian Shaffer story is a confounding exception. Seen on tape going into a bar, but never leaving, investigators, family, friends, and the rest of the world are left without answers. 

Brian was a high-achieving student from Ohio. After graduating with a degree in microbiology, he went on to attend medical school. While there his mother tragically passed away after a fight with cancer. Friends say that although Shaffer continued to act normally, they could tell that her death deeply impacted him. While at medical school, Brian met and became romantically involved with a fellow student in the program, Alexis Waggoner. The two were in love, and, by all accounts of friends and family, a proposal was expected. The two had a trip to Miami planned, and many thought that the proposal might take place there. 

At the start of spring break, after Brian had pulled a number of all-nighters at school, he ended up going out with some friends to a beloved local dive bar, The Ugly Tuna Saloona. As the night grew late, after the group had all had a good amount to drink, Brian ended up getting separated from his friends at the Ugly Tuna. 

When the bar finally closed at 2 am, his friends waiting outside looking for Brian in the stream of guests departing the bar. There was no sign of him in the crowd. They figured he must have left earlier. He lived close by so, although it would have been weird for him not to say anything, it was possible that he simply walked home. The friends left not knowing that no one would ever see Brian again. 

The strange part about this story is that Brian was clearly seen on camera entering the Ugly Tuna. The bar only has one entrance, and it’s at the top of an escalator. Investigators have painstakingly combed through the footage, and Brian simply never leaves. There was a back service door, however, at the time, it opened right onto a construction site with no access. Especially for someone who had been drinking all night. And only the staff were even allowed back to use the door in the first place. 

Another explanation thrown around is that perhaps Brian left willingly. Maybe he disguised himself leaving the bar. But his phone, wallet, and cash were left behind, his bank accounts remain untouched. And that trip he had planned with the woman he was going to marry never took place, and she never heard from him again. So it doesn’t seem at all likely that Brian ran away. And if he did, he would have no reason to make it look so convincingly like a disappearance. 

One interesting thing to note is that all of his friends, except one of the ones who were with him at the bar that night, agreed to a polygraph test. This friend, Florence, felt she had told police everything they needed to know. Although, there are some reports that Florence wasn’t even directly asked to take a polygraph test. The police have cleared those who were with him that night of any wrongdoing. 

So what could have happened? None of the potential explanations seem to make sense when examined in context. Brian was a well-liked guy with a bright future. Not only does the explanation that he ran off defy what everyone knew of Brian as a person, but it also clashes with the fact that he took nothing with him, no personal objects, no money, no phone. And if there was foul play involved, how did none of it show up on any cameras? 

With investigations turning up little over the years, one thing is certain, this is one of the cases of the most baffling disappearance cases on record.