Handsome Midwest doctor walked into a bar and NEVER emerged. Now, after 20 years, we reveal what really happened as sightings across the US surface
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At first glance, the hazy surveillance footage captures a typical night.
It was the night before spring break in 2006 and Brian Shaffer, 27, a second-year medical student at Ohio State University, had spent the evening out with friends at the Ugly Tuna Saloona, a popular student bar near campus.
Shaffer was seen on security footage around 1.55am, chatting outside the bar with two women before turning back inside.
When the bar closed just five minutes later, the camera captured hundreds of students pouring out and down the escalator.
Every single person was accounted for - except Shaffer.
He never reappeared on camera. He wasn't inside the bar. And he was never seen or heard from again. There one minute, gone the next.
That short snapshot of footage began two decades of mystery and one enduring question that continues to baffle investigators to this day: how could a man walk into a bar and just vanish into thin air?
Countless theories have emerged about what happened that night, from Shaffer running off to start a new life to suffering an accident on a construction site or even falling foul of a serial killer who targeted young, athletic men.
Brian Shaffer vanished without a trace on April 1, 2006, after going bar-hopping in Columbus, Ohio
Brian Shaffer is seen on surveillance footage in the bottom right corner talking to two women
He then walks out of the view of the camera in the direction of the bar's entrance - and is never seen again
There have been dubious sightings of doppelgangers worldwide and shocking hoax messages to his family. Tips continue to trickle in even now.
On the 20th anniversary of one of the country's most astonishing disappearances, Shaffer's surviving family say they still believe a breakthrough is possible.
And a private investigator who has worked the case for decades told the Daily Mail he has set his sights on a suspect.
For Shaffer's brother Derek, the pain of not knowing what happened that night still weighs heavy.
'This isn't something anyone should have to go through. Living without answers for nearly 20 years is a daily pain,' he told the Daily Mail.
'My brother has missed so many important moments in our family's lives, and that absence is always there.
'People have their theories and speculation, but at the end of the day, this is something that affects me and my family all the time.
'More than anything, I just hope we get the truth someday.'
His brother's disappearance is just one in a series of family tragedies from that time.
Their mother Renee died from cancer three weeks before Shaffer's disappearance. Their father Randy died in a freak accident when a tree fell on him during a storm in 2008.
While his dad died not knowing what happened to his son, Derek believes someone out there knows something and could finally bring the family closure one day.
'There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about my brother. Every day I wish we had answers,' he said.
'I believe someone out there knows what happened, and I hope that one day they'll step up and say something so our family can finally have some peace and closure.'
The OSU medical student was training to become a doctor and had planned a spring break vacation with his girlfriend
On the night of March 31, Shaffer and his friends William 'Clint' Florence and Meredith Reed went bar hopping around Columbus. They ended the night at the Ugly Tuna
It's a belief shared by Don Corbett, a retired Austintown police officer and private investigator who worked pro bono for Shaffer's father Randy.
Through his investigation, Corbett believes that Shaffer was murdered - and that, despite the lack of surveillance footage, the student did in fact leave the bar that night.
The truth, Corbett told the Daily Mail, lies in what happened after he left the bar - and crucially how.
'K-9 dogs picked up his scent into Wendy's parking lot next door,' he revealed.
'And then it stopped, suggesting he could have gotten into a vehicle there.'
Whether he got into a car or began walking the roughly one-mile journey home is 'the million-dollar question' to solving the case, Corbett believes.
Among all the unknowns, one thing is clear: Shaffer's disappearance took all close to him by surprise.
He was studying to be a doctor at OSU College of Medicine and had planned a spring break vacation to Miami with his girlfriend Alexis Waggoner on April 3.
On the night of March 31, Shaffer and his friends William 'Clint' Florence and Meredith Reed went bar hopping around Columbus.
They ended the night at the Ugly Tuna.
Brian Shaffer and his girlfriend Alexis Waggoner were planning a spring break trip just days after his disappearance
Randy Shaffer (in white shirt) died tragically two years after his son's disappearance - when a tree fell on him during a storm
Security footage captured the trio riding the escalator to the second-floor entrance to the bar at around 1.15am.
At some point, Shaffer became separated from his friends and appeared on surveillance footage with two women at 1.55am.
Corbett learned Shaffer had exchanged phone numbers with one of the women and had kissed her on the neck.
When the bar closed, Florence and Reed couldn't find him.
There was no activity on his phone, credit cards or bank account after around 2am.
Two days later when he missed his flight, a police report was filed and a huge search launched.
The discovery of the haunting footage quickly fueled speculation he never made it out of the bar alive.
But Corbett believes that's a red herring.
He said that while the escalator led to the only customer exit, there were three other possible exits: an emergency exit, a service exit and an exit leading to a construction area.
Brian Shaffer is seen riding the escalator to the second floor entrance to Ugly Tuna Saloona
It is around 1.15am on April 1, 2006. He is with friends William 'Clint' Florence and Meredith Reed
Brian Shaffer's college ID cards and his Pearl Jam tattoo. It is the 20-year anniversary of his disappearance
Those areas also had cameras but some of them moved and panned around, leaving blind spots where someone could slip by undetected.
Worse still, the camera at the exit leading to the construction site was not working.
Fears grew that Shaffer stumbled drunk onto the site, died in a tragic accident and his body was never found.
But, according to Corbett, the construction was almost fully complete at the time.
Further, cadaver dogs searched the building from top to bottom, finding nothing.
If Shaffer did make it out of Ugly Tuna alive, there are three key theories about what happened next.
The first is that Shaffer disappeared of his own accord and is alive somewhere not wanting to be found.
This was bolstered when Shaffer's phone rang one day following months of going straight to voicemail. Hopes were raised that he was alive - or at least that an assailant could be tracked down through the phone - but the phone company determined it was simply a glitch.
Following Randy's death, there was another twist when someone left a message reading 'Dad, I love you. Love, Brian (U.S. Virgin Islands)' on his online obituary.
Derek Shaffer believes someone out there knows something about his brother's disappearance
Police confirmed it was a hoax.
Several possible sightings were also reported over the years including in Sweden and most recently in Mexico in 2020 when a tip came in about a homeless man.
FBI facial recognition analysis confirmed he wasn't Shaffer.
The PI did however note something curious. In 2019, Columbus Police changed Shaffer's case to 'not a crime.' They wouldn't tell him why. The Daily Mail's request for comment was not returned prior to publication.
'What if the police located him and he doesn't want to be found? If it's not a crime then what is it?'
Another theory is that Shaffer died by suicide. But it would be unusual for his body never to be found.
'Which leaves the third option - foul play. That's the only one that makes sense to me,' Corbett said.
The Gateway neighborhood on the one-mile route from the bar to his home was sketchy with dark and badly-lit areas at the time.
'I believe he left Ugly Tuna and was walking back to his apartment, when he was intercepted by someone who either kidnapped or killed him and disposed of his body,' said Corbett.
'That's what makes this case so unusual as so many different things could have happened.'
Possible sightings were reported across the globe including in Mexico where the FBI carried out facial recognition analysis on a homeless man
Don Corbett, a retired police officer, has worked on the case as a private investigator for years (he holds up old pictures of Shaffer)
In the absence of answers, police interviewed more than 100 people including Florence, Reed and the two women in the bar.
Florence in particular faced a cloud of suspicion - as his close friend, one of the last to see him alive and after police learned they had some sort of verbal argument that night.
Early on, Florence retained a lawyer and stopped cooperating.
Shaffer's loved ones previously suggested he might know more than he let on.
'I always thought something was off with him,' Derek told MEL magazine in 2016.
'The way he talked about my brother after he went missing — kind of in a negative way. I wouldn't expect that from someone whose friend vanished.
'If Clint knew something, I hope he would have shared it. I deserve to know.'
In a statement to Corbett in 2008, Florence's attorney Neil Rosenberg cryptically indicated knowledge that Shaffer was alive and urged him to 'come forward and end this.'
Florence declined an interview when contacted by the Daily Mail.
He wasn't the only one reluctant to speak about the mysterious case.
Attempts to speak to Waggoner, Reed, the two women inside the bar and a retired detective were also unsuccessful.
Even his father Randy - who personally waded through Oletangy River following a tip from a psychic - wasn't immune from suspicion. Police searched his home with cadaver dogs, Corbett revealed, but found nothing suspicious.
One of the more chilling theories explored was that he fell victim to the Smiley Face Killer, a purported serial killer believed to prey on college-age men in the Midwest
The Ugly Tuna Saloona was a popular nightlife spot close to the OSU campus in Columbus
An age progression photo of Brian Shaffer. One of the theories is that he is still out there alive
At another point, the basement of a nearby student apartment was dug up.
Again, nothing was found.
One of the more chilling theories explored was that he fell victim to the Smiley Face Killer, a purported serial killer believed to prey on college-age men in the Midwest, dumping their bodies in waterways and leaving smiley face graffiti at the scenes.
But like all other avenues, it led nowhere.
To Corbett, the reality is likely more haunting - and closer to home.
'I believe the evidence points to the perpetrator being somebody he knew. No one observed any scuffle or screams and none of his belongings like his wallet or phone were ever found,' he said.
'Looking at the totality of the circumstances, he was fit and young and likely would have put up a fight - unless someone he was familiar with caught him off guard.'
Corbett does have a suspect on his radar but would not disclose their identity.
If Shaffer is still out there, he would be 47 now - 20 years frozen in time from April 1, 2006.
The date is something that also bothers Corbett: 'That it occurred on April Fool's Day has always troubled me a little.'
