Okay, so I’ve been spending some time recently diving back into a case that’s always sort of lingered in the back of my mind: the disappearance of Brian Shaffer. You probably heard about it – the medical student who vanished from a bar in Columbus, Ohio, back in 2006.
Getting Started Down the Rabbit Hole
I first started by just refreshing my memory on the basics. I pulled up some old articles, watched a couple of those summary videos people make. It all came flooding back. Brian’s out with his friend, William “Clint” Florence, celebrating the start of spring break. They hit a few places, end up at the Ugly Tuna Saloona. They get separated. Clint and Brian’s girlfriend, Alexis, try calling him later, no answer. He’s just… gone.
The really baffling part that always gets me is the security footage. You see Brian outside the bar entrance around 1:55 AM, chatting briefly with two women. Then he turns and walks back towards the bar entrance, off camera. Poof. Never seen again on any camera leaving the building. And apparently, the only public exit was covered by cameras.
Focusing on Clint Florence
This time, I decided to focus a bit more on Clint Florence. Not in an accusatory way, mind you, just trying to understand the timeline and the interactions. Clint was Brian’s friend, the guy he was actually bar-hopping with that night.
So, my process went something like this:
- I tried to piece together their movements that night from various accounts. They started somewhere else, met up with another friend, Meredith Reed, then went to the Ugly Tuna.
- I read that Brian and Clint got separated inside the crowded bar. Standard stuff on a busy night.
- Clint apparently assumed Brian had just gone home without telling him when he couldn’t find him at closing time. Makes sense, phones die, people wander off.
- Then I looked into what Clint told investigators. Reports say he cooperated fully, took a lie detector test (though the reliability of those is always debated). He said he didn’t know what happened to Brian after they got separated.
The Puzzles and Dead Ends
But here’s the kicker: That footage outside the bar, just before Brian walks out of frame towards the entrance… Brian is seen talking to Clint Florence right there. This detail often gets mentioned. So they weren’t separated the entire time after entering. They reconnected briefly near the entrance before Brian vanished from view.
That detail always makes me pause. What was said? Just a quick “Hey, see you in a bit”? Or something else? We’ll likely never know. It just adds another layer to the confusion.
And then there’s the service exit. Investigators checked it, sure. But it’s always mentioned as a possibility, even if unlikely. Could someone have propped it open? Could Brian have been led out that way? It’s a spot the cameras didn’t cover well, apparently. It just feels like an asterisk on the whole “he never left” narrative.
I also spent some time thinking about the human element. The sheer panic and confusion when someone just disappears like that. And the absolute tragedy that followed – Brian’s father, Randy, searched relentlessly for years. Then, in 2008, Randy himself died tragically during a storm. It’s just awful. A family completely devastated.
Where I Landed This Time
So, after digging around again, focusing a bit on Clint Florence’s presence that night and his interaction with Brian caught on tape shortly before he disappeared… I’m still left scratching my head. Clint was there, he was Brian’s friend, he was seen talking to him near the end. He cooperated with police. Does it mean anything? Maybe not. It’s just another piece of data in a case famous for having too few useful clues.
There’s no smoking gun, no clear path forward. Just a lot of unanswered questions and a really sad story about a young man who went out one night and never came home. My little research session didn’t uncover anything new, obviously, but it just reminded me how perplexing the whole thing is. You look at the faces, you read the accounts, you think about the bar, the cameras, the friend… and you just end up feeling the mystery deepen. That’s where I am with it today.
