Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / BRILLIANT MED STUDENT GOES IN BAR, NEVER COMES OUT: WHERE'S BRIAN?

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BRILLIANT MED STUDENT GOES IN BAR, NEVER COMES OUT: WHERE'S BRIAN? · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:00
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A brilliant med student goes
0:09
Speaker 1: missing in a bar. How do you go missing in
0:13
Speaker 1: a bar? This is how he goes in and he
0:18
Speaker 1: never comes out? He vanishes. Where is Brian? Good evening,
0:24
Speaker 1: I'm Missy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for
0:27
Speaker 1: being with us. A twenty seven year old medical student
0:31
Speaker 1: vanishes into thin air. Surveillance captures him entering a bar,
0:37
Speaker 1: but never leaving. How does that happen? You enter a
0:40
Speaker 1: bar and you never come back. Now, if this was
0:43
Speaker 1: some sci fi movie, there would be a time warp
0:47
Speaker 1: and a space continuum in there. How he you know?
0:50
Speaker 1: And Harry Potter, how you transport from one place to
0:54
Speaker 1: the next just like that? Okay, that didn't happen. There
0:58
Speaker 1: is a logical explanation, but what is it. How can
1:03
Speaker 1: a brilliant medical student go into a bar to meet
1:07
Speaker 1: his friends and never emerge. And it's not just that
1:13
Speaker 1: witnesses don't see him emerge. He's not caught on security
1:18
Speaker 1: surveillance cam CCTV nothing, He never leaves the bar, yet
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Speaker 1: he vanished. Where is Brian? Thank you for being with us. Okay,
1:31
Speaker 1: let's go straight up to the moment we realize he
1:36
Speaker 1: has vanished. Listen.
1:37
Speaker 2: Saturday morning, Alexis Wagoner calls her boyfriend to nail down
1:41
Speaker 2: some final plans for their upcoming vacation. It goes straight
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Speaker 2: to Brian Shaffer's voicemail, but Wagoner assumes Schaeffer is sleeping
1:48
Speaker 2: off the night before. That afternoon, a second call from
1:51
Speaker 2: Wagoner goes to voicemail again. Schaeffer isn't answering his father either.
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Speaker 2: On Sunday, Derek Shaffer heads to his brother's apartment. Brian's
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Speaker 2: call is parked outside and nothing's amiss inside the apartment,
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Speaker 2: but no Brian. Monday morning, Brian Shaeffer doesn't show up
2:07
Speaker 2: at the airport. Randy Shaeffer immediately reports his son missing.
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Speaker 1: Okay, that's a lot of information, but most specifically, where
2:17
Speaker 1: do I start the timeline? This starts with Saturday morning,
2:22
Speaker 1: when Alexis Wagoner calls her boyfriend about final plans on
2:27
Speaker 1: a vacation they're taking. And when she calls, it goes
2:30
Speaker 1: straight to voicemail, but she assumes he's sleeping off the
2:36
Speaker 1: night before. Okay, right there, Saturday morning, he's gone. That's
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Speaker 1: where we can officially start the timeline. Saturday morning with
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Speaker 1: me an all star panel to make sense of what
2:53
Speaker 1: we know. But first to Sydney Summer. Sidney Sumner Crimeonline
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Speaker 1: dot Com investigative reporter, Sydney, thank you for joining us.
3:02
Speaker 1: Tell me about the night before that Friday night girlfriend
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Speaker 1: reporting Saturday morning. He's not answering his phone. I'm deducing
3:12
Speaker 1: he goes missing sometime on Friday night. Explain well, Nancy.
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Speaker 3: Friday night was the last day of classes before spring
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Speaker 3: break at OSU Medical School. Brian met with his father
3:23
Speaker 3: that evening to celebrate completing his finals, and they had
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Speaker 3: a steak dinner. He told his father that he had
3:29
Speaker 3: plans to go out that night with some friends. His
3:31
Speaker 3: father did not approve of those plans, so he thought
3:34
Speaker 3: he should be wrestling a minute.
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Speaker 1: Sorry, Sandy Sumner, Okay, he has dinner with his father
3:39
Speaker 1: Friday night, kind of celebrating the end of Ohio State
3:45
Speaker 1: University's semester. This guy is a medical student, he's brilliant.
3:51
Speaker 1: His family is so proud, so they're having this celebration meal.
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Speaker 1: They go out in public to a restaurant. We know
4:01
Speaker 1: that witnesses spot him there. We know he's alive. Then
4:05
Speaker 1: the father has no reason to lie of course, so
4:08
Speaker 1: I can place him alive at what time, Sydney at
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Speaker 1: six pm? Nancy, six pm? The dinner started or ended?
4:15
Speaker 1: I really assume started started at six pm. Okay, go forward.
4:19
Speaker 3: So from there, Brian goes back to Columbus about a
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Speaker 3: half hour drive and at nine pm he meets his
4:25
Speaker 3: former dorm meet William Clint Florence at the Ugly Tuna Saluna.
4:31
Speaker 3: So this is the first time he's seen out with
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Speaker 3: his friends. Nine pm.
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Speaker 1: Okay, hold on, and I've got that on video. Let's
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Speaker 1: check out the video we obtained the surveillance video of
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Speaker 1: him going to the bar, meeting up with his friends.
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Speaker 1: It's a big night. They are just finishing classes. This
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Speaker 1: is at the Ugly Tunas Saluona. It's a bar near
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Speaker 1: osu Ohio State University campus there in Columbus. Let me
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Speaker 1: remind everybody there was a one hundred thousand dollar a
5:00
Speaker 1: reward for information leading to the discovery of Brian's whereabouts.
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Speaker 1: What happens then, Sidney Sumner, So.
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Speaker 3: From the Ugly Tuna Saluna, Florence and Schaeffer start going
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Speaker 3: to different bars in the area. So they spend a
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Speaker 3: couple rounds at the Ugly tun of Saluna and then
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Speaker 3: they move on in their bar hopping for several bars,
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Speaker 3: and they end up in the Arena District where they
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Speaker 3: meet with Florence's friend, Meredith Reid.
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Speaker 1: Got a question for you, Sidney Sumner. So they're pub crawling.
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Speaker 1: They leave the Ugly Tuna and meet up with other friends.
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Speaker 1: During that time, he calls the girlfriend. Ten pm. We've
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Speaker 1: got a confirmed call from Brian. He's alive.
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Speaker 3: That is correct.
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Speaker 1: Ten to twelve am. Ten pm, twelve am they pub crawl. Now, yes,
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Speaker 1: I can establish him alive at twelve am when he
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Speaker 1: goes back to Ugly Tuna. But in the interim tween
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Speaker 1: ten and twelve is anybody following him? Do we see
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Speaker 1: him get into an argument with anyone at a bar?
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Speaker 1: Anything unusual, Sidney Sumner?
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Speaker 3: Nancy, No, there isn't. There is no report of anything unusual,
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Speaker 3: and the two men are still happy, jovial, having a
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Speaker 3: good time when they run into Meredith Ree.
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Speaker 1: Okay, this guy seemingly goes into a bar and is
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Speaker 1: never seen alive again. Twelve am. They're bar hopping. Twelve am,
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Speaker 1: Brian and friend return to Ugly Tuna. All right. One
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Speaker 1: fifteen am we see Brian entering a bar. Which bar
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Speaker 1: is that Sidney Sumner. This is the Ugly Tuna.
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Speaker 3: So that one fifteen am surveillance footage is of Meredith, Brian,
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Speaker 3: and William Clint returning to the Ugly Tuna Saluna together
7:02
Speaker 3: her At one fifteen am, that's when we see Brian
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Speaker 3: on that surveillance video for the first time, coming up
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Speaker 3: that escalator. So the three enter the bar. There's a
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Speaker 3: band playing. It's already one fifteen. The bars close up too,
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Speaker 3: so they are here for one last round. Are going
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Speaker 3: to spend about forty five minutes in the bar. At
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Speaker 3: one five we see Brian again on that right side
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Speaker 3: of the screen and he's standing just outside the entrance
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Speaker 3: of the bar, and he speaks with two women for
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Speaker 3: just a few minutes, and then he walks off camera
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Speaker 3: back towards the entrance of the bar. So you would
7:34
Speaker 3: assume it's one fifty five am. He's trying to meet
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Speaker 3: back up with his friends Read and Florence, but they
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Speaker 3: don't find him. At two am, they're standing outside the entrance,
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Speaker 3: they're watching people.
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Speaker 1: Okay, hold on just a moment. I want to analyze.
7:48
Speaker 1: I want to analyze what you told me so far.
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Speaker 1: So he's there with Meredith. It's Meredith, Brian, And who's
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Speaker 1: the third.
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Speaker 3: William Clint is his nickname, William Clint Florence and hey
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Speaker 3: is Hey. He was Brian Schaefer's former dorm meat. So
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Speaker 3: they're really close friends. They roomed together freshman year at college.
8:06
Speaker 3: No bad blood, no none whatsoever.
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Speaker 1: Okay, the reason that Sidney Sumner is saying forty five minutes,
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Speaker 1: they're going to stay there forty five minutes. How do
8:15
Speaker 1: we know that because the bar closes at two. It
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Speaker 1: closes at two am. Now, Sidney, is this just outside
8:24
Speaker 1: the bar? Is it the foyer? Where is this?
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Speaker 3: Yeah? So this is just outside the entrance of the bar.
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Speaker 3: So you take this escalator up to the second floor.
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Speaker 3: You can get to several businesses on that second floor,
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Speaker 3: and the entrance of the Ugly to Tuna is just
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Speaker 3: behind that escalator. So when we see Brian standing to
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Speaker 3: the right of the escalator in this footage, that's just
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Speaker 3: outside the entrance of the bar.
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Speaker 1: Okay, we know he's going to be there at most
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Speaker 1: forty five minutes, and he knows the bar closes at two.
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Speaker 1: So Sidney Sumner are his friends Meredith and William in
9:00
Speaker 1: side the bar at the time. We're seeing him on
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Speaker 1: surveillance video.
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Speaker 3: Yes, so we see the three of them, the trio,
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Speaker 3: enter the bar together and then at some point Shaper
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Speaker 3: gives them some privacy. We're not sure if they just
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Speaker 3: got separated, if he found some friends that he wanted
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Speaker 3: to chat with, or if maybe these two were kind
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Speaker 3: of on a date and he was giving them some
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Speaker 3: alone time. So Shaper separates from Reed and Florence, who
9:24
Speaker 3: stay together the entire time they're at the Ugly Saluna
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Speaker 3: Ugly Tuna Saluna, and they are supposed to join back
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Speaker 3: up to leave together.
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Speaker 1: Okay, wait a minute, So are Meredith and William a couple.
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Speaker 3: No, that has not been confirmed. They are just friends.
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Speaker 1: Then why would he want to give them alone time?
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Speaker 3: I'm not sure. Maybe again, like we said, we saw
9:42
Speaker 3: him chatting with those two women outside the bar, So
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Speaker 3: maybe he ran into some friends that he knew from
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Speaker 3: class and decided, hey, I want to say hello to them.
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Speaker 3: So I think that's what happened.
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Speaker 1: Now, let me understand something. Guys. You're hearing crime Alone
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Speaker 1: dot Com investigator reporter Sydney Summer, and we're looking and
10:00
Speaker 1: video footage surveillance footage of Brian and the two people
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Speaker 1: with him in that video, Sidney, are Meredith and William.
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Speaker 3: Those are two women that Shafer was not out with
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Speaker 3: that night. They may have been classmates. Oh okay, so
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Speaker 3: coming up the escalator, Yes, that is Shaper and Force.
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Speaker 1: Okay, Sidney Sumner, you're saying he sees these two women.
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Speaker 1: They're laughing, they're talking, and it looks as if the
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Speaker 1: three of them go back into the bar. Sidney, correct, Nancy.
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Speaker 3: It looks like Shaefer walks off camera back towards the
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Speaker 3: entrance of the bar. And it's one fifty five am
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Speaker 3: at this point, So I think Shafer is looking to
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Speaker 3: meet back up with Reid and Florence, say goodbyes before
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Speaker 3: they partnight's for the evening. It's they know they have
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Speaker 3: five minutes until this bar is closing.
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Speaker 1: Okay, and we do know can we confirm Meredith and
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Speaker 1: William are in the bar.
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Speaker 3: Yes. They waited for Shaper outside the bar for minutes
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Speaker 3: and minutes and minutes, and eventually they assumed that Shaffer
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Speaker 3: just went home. His apartment is located just six blocks
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Speaker 3: away from this gateway building where the Ugly Tuna Saluna
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Speaker 3: is located, so they assumed that it got late and
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Speaker 3: he just started walking by himself.
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Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace joining me right now. In
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Speaker 1: addition to Sidney Sumner is Matthew Mangino, high profile lawyer,
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Speaker 1: Steve Fisher, missing person's private investigator, doctor Angela Arnold, renowned
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Speaker 1: psychiatrist in the Atlanta jurisdiction. And Todd Shipley, who is
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Speaker 1: a digital cyber crime expert, author of investigating Internet crimes.
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Speaker 1: Todd Shipley, we would be able to tell, or an
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Speaker 1: expert would be able to tell, if this video, this
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Speaker 1: surveillance video we're looking at, had been doctored or edited
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Speaker 1: in any way. Isn't that true?
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Speaker 4: I think generally you're correct, because we have to look
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Speaker 4: at the time period when this occurred. The technology to
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Speaker 4: be able to fake that video didn't exist during that
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Speaker 4: time period, So I think we have to rely on
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Speaker 4: the fact that that video was actually correct and true,
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Speaker 4: and the police have never said It's not.
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Speaker 5: A night out with friends turns into a nightmare when
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Speaker 5: promising young med student Brian Shaeffer disappears.
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Speaker 1: By all accounts, Schaefer goes right back in the door
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Speaker 1: into the ugly tune of Selena and you can see
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Speaker 1: him following the two women he meets just outside the door,
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Speaker 1: and there's only one place to go, going in that
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Speaker 1: direction into the bar. No one disputes that, Oh wait,
12:56
Speaker 1: how did we get here? In order to evaluate and
13:00
Speaker 1: missing person or a murder case, you start with knowing
13:04
Speaker 1: your victim. Everything you can find out about the victim,
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Speaker 1: it may have a huge impact on where they are
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Speaker 1: and what happened to him. So who is Brian Schaeffer? Listen?
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Speaker 2: Brian Schaefer grows up in Baltimore, Ohio, with his younger
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Speaker 2: brother Derek. After graduation, Shaeffer stays close to Homeford College,
13:25
Speaker 2: pursuing a degree in microbiology at the University of Ohio.
13:29
Speaker 2: Randy and Renee Schaeffer couldn't be more proud when their
13:32
Speaker 2: oldest son designs to attend medical school at his alma mater.
13:36
Speaker 2: In Brian Shaffer's second year, his mother diagnosed with a
13:39
Speaker 2: rare blood cancer. Three weeks before spring break, Renee succumbs
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Speaker 2: to the disease. While her death is hard on Schaeffer,
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Speaker 2: twenty seven friends say he seems to be handling it well.
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Speaker 1: The apple of his parents' eyes, Brian Schaeffer seemingly goes
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Speaker 1: into a bar and no one is disputing that, and
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Speaker 1: it never comes out. He vanishes. Impossible. There's got to
14:04
Speaker 1: be a logical explanation about what happened to Brian Schaeffer
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Speaker 1: straight out to Matthew Mangino, high profile lawyer joining US,
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Speaker 1: former prosecutor, author of the executioners told the crimes thereas trials, appeals,
14:20
Speaker 1: last meals, final words. Executions of forty six people across
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Speaker 1: the US. That's a mouthful. You're gonna have to work
14:27
Speaker 1: with that title. You can find them at Mattmangino dot com. Matt,
14:30
Speaker 1: thank you for being with us. There's so many theories
14:33
Speaker 1: out there, and it doesn't matter what case you're dealing with.
14:38
Speaker 1: It could be the Orenthal James Simpson double murder trial
14:42
Speaker 1: of j Simpson. It can be the Karing Reid prosecution
14:46
Speaker 1: for the murder the death let me say off for
14:49
Speaker 1: a longtime boyfriend of Boston comp it can be Scott Peterson.
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Speaker 1: The conspiracy theories that surround cases, especially when they're unsolved, abound.
15:02
Speaker 1: Just look online. So here we've got the same issue,
15:07
Speaker 1: a lot of conspiracy theories, but we use the defense
15:11
Speaker 1: a journey mean as a former prosecutor have to look
15:14
Speaker 1: at the hard evidence and make sense of it. This
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Speaker 1: is not the first case I've encountered where someone goes
15:23
Speaker 1: into a building and never comes out. What do you
15:26
Speaker 1: make of this surveillance video?
15:27
Speaker 6: Well, Nancy, I think the most crucial aspect of this
15:31
Speaker 6: is those five minutes between one point fifty five am
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Speaker 6: and when the bar closes at two am. You know,
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Speaker 6: he has two friends inside the bar who say they
15:43
Speaker 6: leave at two am looking for him, and they wait
15:46
Speaker 6: outside there. Now I don't know how big you know
15:51
Speaker 6: this this saloon is, but you know within five minutes
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Speaker 6: he's right outside the door, walking toward the door. They're
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Speaker 6: coming out, they're waiting for him. You know what transpires
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Speaker 6: in those five minutes that I think is the answer,
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Speaker 6: you know, to this, to this mystery. You know what
16:11
Speaker 6: did anybody else see?
16:12
Speaker 1: I agree with you. Let me go straight up to
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Speaker 1: Steve Fisher joining us Missing Person Private Investigator and you
16:17
Speaker 1: can find him at Search Investigations dot org. Steve, thank
16:22
Speaker 1: you for being with us. Listen, thank you the guys
16:25
Speaker 1: with the two women, the two women go into the bar,
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Speaker 1: He's following along behind him. And no matter how much
16:32
Speaker 1: I have scoured through witness statements and other surveillance video
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Speaker 1: in the area. Ugly Tenan is not the only one
16:40
Speaker 1: with a security cam. There's no evidence at all he
16:44
Speaker 1: ever leaves the bar. How do you explain that. It's
16:49
Speaker 1: literally like he turned into a ghost.
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Speaker 7: I mean, as an investigator, this has everything that you want,
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Speaker 7: Like you mentioned, it has surveillance of all the entrances
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Speaker 7: and exits, including the back, and all the surrounding businesses
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Speaker 7: have surveillance. He's not captured on any of it. It's bizarre.
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Speaker 7: I mean he left, I mean he's not there.
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Speaker 1: It's extremely bizarre. Steve and again, and I'm gonna touch
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Speaker 1: on it later. This is not the first time I've
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Speaker 1: had a case where someone enters a building and has
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Speaker 1: never seen alive again. But Okay, when you don't know
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Speaker 1: which way to go and you're not getting anywhere everything
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Speaker 1: is modeled, you start over and reexamine what you know. Listen.
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Speaker 8: Brian Schaefer makes the thirty minute drive from Columbus to
17:40
Speaker 8: celebrate the start of spring break with a steak dinner
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Speaker 8: at his father's house. Over dinner, Brian excitedly discusses his
17:47
Speaker 8: upcoming vacation to Miami, with girlfriend Alexis Wagner, Brian plans
17:52
Speaker 8: to propose. Brian also mentions his plans to go out
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Speaker 8: that evening with former roommate William Clint Florence. Randy Schaeffer
18:00
Speaker 8: thinks Brian should be resting after a long week of exams,
18:04
Speaker 8: but doesn't try to sway his son from his celebrations.
18:08
Speaker 5: A mysterious cell being a potential sighting in Mexico, but
18:13
Speaker 5: friends refuse to take polygraphs? What happened to Brian Schaeffer?
18:19
Speaker 5: What did happen to Brian Schaefer?
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Speaker 1: Again? Not the first time a victim has gone into
18:25
Speaker 1: a building and never emerges. The family now desperate to
18:31
Speaker 1: find Brian. We are reviewing what we know to be true.
18:35
Speaker 1: We can see it with our own eyes, or can
18:39
Speaker 1: we listen?
18:40
Speaker 9: At one fifteen am, Schaeffer, Florence, and Reed head up
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Speaker 9: the Gateway buildings escalator to the Ugly Tuni and partake
18:46
Speaker 9: in one more round of shots while listening to the band.
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Speaker 9: Shaeffer gives Florence and Reads some time alone and chats
18:52
Speaker 9: with two women just outside the bar until one fifty
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Speaker 9: five am. Just five minutes later, the bar is closing
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Speaker 9: and masses of patrons head down the escalator, but Florence
19:01
Speaker 9: and Reed can't find Schaeffer. The pair eventually assumes that
19:04
Speaker 9: Shaffer went home, likely walking to his off campus apartment
19:07
Speaker 9: just six blocks away.
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Speaker 1: And isn't it true to crimeonline dot Com investigative reporter
19:12
Speaker 1: Sydney Sumners that video evidence CCTV, all sorts of hard evidence,
19:23
Speaker 1: does not reveal Brian Schaefer ever leaving that bar, not
19:30
Speaker 1: going back down the escalator, which is where he came from.
19:34
Speaker 1: It came in that way, he doesn't go back down.
19:37
Speaker 1: He's not spotted by any of the other businesses going
19:40
Speaker 1: in either direction. He had to go into the bar
19:44
Speaker 1: on his way home. There are surveillance videos from various businesses. Nothing.
19:50
Speaker 1: He doesn't go back home, he doesn't go to his car,
19:54
Speaker 1: his ATM, his credit cards are not used. He didn't
19:59
Speaker 1: go anywhere. So do we have anything so far, any
20:04
Speaker 1: CCTV anything to suggest he left the bar.
20:08
Speaker 3: Nancy, There is nothing. And Columbus is actually it has
20:13
Speaker 3: more surveillance cameras than Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Toledo combined. So
20:18
Speaker 3: this entire city is covered in cameras, and we should
20:22
Speaker 3: have some indication as to where Shaper went. Police went
20:27
Speaker 3: to the Gateway building. They checked all of those cameras,
20:31
Speaker 3: They checked cameras at three other bars they had been
20:34
Speaker 3: out earlier that night.
20:36
Speaker 1: Nothing.
20:37
Speaker 3: There is just nothing to indicate that Shaper ever left
20:40
Speaker 3: that building.
20:41
Speaker 1: And Sidney Sumner. What about those two women? Have they
20:44
Speaker 1: been questioned?
20:45
Speaker 3: Yes, they have been identified, questioned and they were both
20:48
Speaker 3: cleared as suspects. They said that they spoke with Shaper
20:51
Speaker 3: very briefly. He left the conversation. They don't know where
20:55
Speaker 3: he went from there, and that's it. They have no
20:59
Speaker 3: information on the Shaper went.
21:00
Speaker 1: Okay to Todd Shipley, joining US digital cybercrime expert, former
21:06
Speaker 1: detective sergeant, author of investigating Internet crimes, and you can
21:10
Speaker 1: find him at dark intel dot info. Todd Shipley. We
21:15
Speaker 1: can very easily make out him and his friends coming
21:20
Speaker 1: up the escalator, even if he had on a hat,
21:23
Speaker 1: which there's no evidence he put on a hat, Even
21:25
Speaker 1: if he took off the pull over, which there's no
21:27
Speaker 1: evidence he did that, either, we would have seen him
21:32
Speaker 1: going down the escalator or leaving the bar. Feeding into
21:38
Speaker 1: those theories, again, those are just wild conspiracy theories. There's
21:42
Speaker 1: no evidence either of those things happen that he put
21:44
Speaker 1: on a hat or change his shirt.
21:46
Speaker 4: Well exactly. I mean, the video stands for itself. I
21:49
Speaker 4: don't think we can look at that and say that
21:51
Speaker 4: there was additional things at it or taken away, because
21:53
Speaker 4: the video at the time was not sufficient to hide
21:59
Speaker 4: that kind of thing. And so the video they've got
22:01
Speaker 4: is the video that exists, and there's no evidence that
22:03
Speaker 4: he left. And that's the scary part. Where is he
22:06
Speaker 4: and how did he get out of the bar?
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Speaker 1: Sidney Summoner joining us clime online dot com, Sydney. I'm
22:11
Speaker 1: only bringing up that back exit so everybody knows about it.
22:16
Speaker 1: He didn't go down the back exit, and I'll tell
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Speaker 1: you why, Sidney. I've told you this once, I'll tell
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Speaker 1: you again. And all the years I try cases, my
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Speaker 1: single best witness I ever put on the stand was
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Speaker 1: a dog. Yes, I put a dog on the stand,
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Speaker 1: and I will tell you he survived cross examination. But
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Speaker 1: that said dogs were brought in to pursue the Zamy
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Speaker 1: theory that maybe out of the blue, Brian Schaeffer goes
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Speaker 1: out this service door that leads to a construction area
22:52
Speaker 1: and you have to climb down a ladder and they
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Speaker 1: brought in canines to look in this sewers to look
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Speaker 1: in the garbage to try to catch a scent. They didn't.
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Speaker 1: And I guarantee you I would trust a dog even
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Speaker 1: more than I would trust a surveillance video. So tell
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Speaker 1: me about that back exit.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, so that back exit. Realistically, we would have seen
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Speaker 3: Shaper enter that door. And there's a freight elevator only
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Speaker 3: operated by a key, so you could take the service
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Speaker 3: ladder in that elevator shaft all the way down to
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Speaker 3: the ground floor, but that would have been difficult for
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Speaker 3: a sober person, much less and intoxicated. When we know
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Speaker 3: that Shaper has had at least three or four shots
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Speaker 3: on this pub crawl that he did with his friends
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Speaker 3: last night. There's also cameras on the ground floor door,
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Speaker 3: so we should have seen him coming out on the
23:45
Speaker 3: ground floor if that was his exit as well. So
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Speaker 3: police start to theorize that maybe he left the building
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Speaker 3: in the trash, if he was killed inside the building
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Speaker 3: and his body was discarded in the trash, So they're
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Speaker 3: searching garbage cans been maybe the sewer was he hid
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Speaker 3: in somewhere else and he ended up below the building
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Speaker 3: in the sewers. And there was no evidence that he
24:08
Speaker 3: was ever down there either. And you're right, dogs pick
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Speaker 3: up no scent from Shafer leaving the building. It just
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Speaker 3: seems everything points to Shaper not leaving this building.
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Speaker 1: You know, City Cumer, you've been reporting for quite a
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Speaker 1: while and you've always struck me as a very rational,
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Speaker 1: logical reporter, and you analyze the facts very clearly. Did
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Speaker 1: you just say that he could have been killed and
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Speaker 1: thrown away in the trash?
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Speaker 3: That's the first time we've heard of it, Nancy, where
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Speaker 3: somebody went into a building, didn't leave and exited in
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Speaker 3: a different manner.
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Speaker 1: So how would he have gotten into the trash.
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Speaker 3: With all of these witnesses, There's no way. That makes
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Speaker 3: no sense, right, But how would.
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Speaker 1: He have gotten into a giant dumpster with nobody seeing it?
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Speaker 1: How would his body had been put in the trash?
25:02
Speaker 1: And then what taken off to a landfill? I mean,
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Speaker 1: they bring hold on, let me bring it Steve Fisher,
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Speaker 1: because now I'm tormenting Sydney and she doesn't deserve that.
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Speaker 1: Steve Fisher, a missing person's private investigator. Do you believe
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Speaker 1: if by this far Fisch theory and I'm only discussing
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Speaker 1: it to appease the conspiracy theorists. Even if this far
25:21
Speaker 1: fetched theory is true, that he was killed and thrown
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Speaker 1: out in the trash that would have been discovered by
25:28
Speaker 1: the dogs, there's no witness, nothing, that all the employees
25:32
Speaker 1: at the bar didn't realize anything had happened. They've been
25:36
Speaker 1: questioned tirelessly that did not happen.
25:40
Speaker 7: Explained, Yeah, the dogs simply would not miss that. I'm
25:44
Speaker 7: lucky that I get to train it sometimes at the
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Speaker 7: National Training Center, and they'll actually take tiny pieces of flesh,
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Speaker 7: like you said, and they'll try to mask the scent
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Speaker 7: with coffee grounds and stuff like that, and the dogs just.
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Speaker 3: Do not miss.
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Speaker 9: So that theory.
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Speaker 7: And also people start producing death scent, you know, right
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Speaker 7: after death, so it doesn't have to be a long
26:05
Speaker 7: period of time. So the cadaver dogs would have picked
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Speaker 7: that up. There's no way you can't mask it, you
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Speaker 7: can't hide it. They're just that good.
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Speaker 1: Well, not only that, Steve Fisher, cadaver dogs were brought
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Speaker 1: in in addition to bloodhounds or scent dogs to pick
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Speaker 1: up his scent, whether he was dead or alive. None
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Speaker 1: of them picked up the scent of Brian Schaeffer as
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Speaker 1: going down that back entrance.
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Speaker 7: Yeah, and I think law enforcements were very clear that
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Speaker 7: they've ruled out that back interest. And also from I understand,
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Speaker 7: there was a security guard stationed at the back entrance
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Speaker 7: and that's where the band was playing, and he would
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Speaker 7: have had to walk through the band to get to
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Speaker 7: the door.
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Speaker 5: Brian's disappearance remains a perplexing mystery to the city of
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Speaker 5: Columbus almost two decades later.
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Speaker 1: Not only would Brian Shafer have to go down a
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Speaker 1: ladder or have a key to a freight elevator which
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Speaker 1: he did not send dogs and cadaver dogs do not
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Speaker 1: pick on his scent going down that back exit, And
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Speaker 1: according to Steve Fisher, who is correct, he would have
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Speaker 1: to have passed a security guard and a band that
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Speaker 1: did not happen. I like to also point out, and
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Speaker 1: Sidney correct me if I'm wrong, that the dogs also
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Speaker 1: looked at pass leading from the bar. We've got nothing, Okay,
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Speaker 1: she's not in her hand, yes, Doctor Angie Arnold joining
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Speaker 1: me renown psychiatrist out of the Atlanta jurisdiction at Angelo
27:35
Speaker 1: Arnold MD dot com. Why do conspiracy theorists exist? Because yes,
27:43
Speaker 1: there haven't been there have been a few conspiracies that
27:46
Speaker 1: actually worked, but for the most part they don't work.
27:50
Speaker 1: I promise you the LAPD did not join in on
27:54
Speaker 1: a really big conspiracy to frame a beloved football star,
28:00
Speaker 1: Oj Simpson. That did not happen. It did not happen.
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Speaker 1: Don't you know that one of them would have made
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Speaker 1: a deal with a publisher by now a two three
28:09
Speaker 1: million dollar deal to tell the truth about the murders.
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Speaker 1: Same thing here. Why do conspiracy theorists do what they do?
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Speaker 10: Well, Nancy, think about who conspiracy theorists are. There are
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Speaker 10: always people out there that live on the fringes that
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Speaker 10: they want to come up with the craziest, most off
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Speaker 10: the wall idea that they can sometimes in the hopes.
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Speaker 1: Of their own notoriety.
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Speaker 10: And that's why I believe conspiracy theorists exists. And then unfortunately,
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Speaker 10: with some conspiracy theorists, they become delusional and they believe
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Speaker 10: what they're saying, and they go down a rabbit hole
28:46
Speaker 10: and they stay there. But when you think of when
28:49
Speaker 10: you think of the continuum of the types of people
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Speaker 10: that exist on the Earth, not everybody falls under the
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Speaker 10: Bell curve, and so there are always people on the
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Speaker 10: edges of the Bill curve that want to think of
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Speaker 10: the craziest scenarios that they can.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, well, you can't put that in front of a jury. Guys.
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Speaker 1: Local police dotted their eyes and crossed their teas. Listen,
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Speaker 1: Columbus PD holygraphs. Those who last saw Brian Shaeffer, including
29:18
Speaker 1: Randy Schaeffer and Meredith Read both pass and are cleared
29:22
Speaker 1: as suspects. However, Clint Florence refuses to submit to the
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Speaker 1: light detector test. Investigators theorize that perhaps Brian Shaeffer, still
29:32
Speaker 1: grieving the death of his mother, left town for some solitude,
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Speaker 1: but with no activity on his cell phone or bank accounts,
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Speaker 1: there's no indication to where he might have gone. Okay,
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Speaker 1: that's bs right there. He did not leave town for
29:47
Speaker 1: a long time. He just met with his father for dinner.
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Speaker 1: He would not have done that to his father. There's
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Speaker 1: no indication that happened. More conspiracy theories. No atm us,
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Speaker 1: no credit card, use, nav on his car, nothing, nothing
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Speaker 1: to support that theory. But listen to this weird fact.
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Speaker 2: Alexis Wagoner called Brian Shaeffer's cell phone at least once
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Speaker 2: a day before going to bed, at most hoping he
30:14
Speaker 2: might answer, at least getting to hear his voicemail. Six
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Speaker 2: months after his disappearance, Shaeffer's voicemail doesn't immediately play. Instead,
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Speaker 2: the phone rings three times. Wagoner immediately reports it to police,
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Speaker 2: and investigators find that the phone pinged in Hilliard, a
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Speaker 2: suburb of Columbus, fourteen miles northwest. Shaeffer's cel phone company
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Speaker 2: says the activity is likely just to glitch, but family
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Speaker 2: and friends hope it is an indication that Brian is alive.
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Speaker 1: Holding on to any any scentilla of evidence that Brian
30:47
Speaker 1: could be alive, the theories that he is alive only
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Speaker 1: deepen after this.
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Speaker 9: Two years after Brian Shaeffer's disappearance, a large storm blows
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Speaker 9: through Baltimore, Ohio. Randy Shaeffer tries to cross his yard
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Speaker 9: to retrieve something from his tool shed when a tree
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Speaker 9: branch snaps, hitting him and killing him. Days after his death,
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Speaker 9: Randy Shaffer's online obituary gets a comment reading, I love
31:11
Speaker 9: you Dad, Love Brian. Us Virgin Islands investigators believe they've
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Speaker 9: gotten their break. Did Shaeffer leave the country and start
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Speaker 9: a band, plans he had jokingly mentioned to med school friends.
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Speaker 9: The message turns out to be a cruel hoax, leading
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Speaker 9: only to yet another dead end.
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Speaker 1: You know, I could spend the whole hour talking about
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Speaker 1: what Jackass did that writing a note from Brian on
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Speaker 1: his online obituary to his father that said, another dead end.
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Speaker 1: I keep talking about another case where someone goes in
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Speaker 1: and building and never comes out. I'm talking about Annie Lee. Listen.
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Speaker 11: When police learn Annie Lay was never seen leaving the
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Speaker 11: Amistade Street building, they must assume Lay is still inside.
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Speaker 11: Investigators comb the build, discovering bloody clothes hidden above a
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Speaker 11: ceiling tile. Three days after Annie Lay is reported missing
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Speaker 11: and the day of her planned wedding, Lay's body is
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Speaker 11: found stuffed in a cable chassis in a basement laboratory.
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Speaker 11: Lay had been strangled. A twenty seven.
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Speaker 5: Year old medical student vanishes into thin air. Surveillance captures
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Speaker 5: him entering a bar but never leaving. Where is Brian Schaeffer?
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Speaker 1: In the last months, another young man disappears en route
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Speaker 1: to a bar.
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Speaker 3: Listen, it is it's that you're wanting to report us missing.
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Speaker 9: We're here on a fraternitey formal trip.
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Speaker 7: It's one of my good buddies. Okay, what is his name?
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Speaker 1: His name is Riley Straane Riley r I l e
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Speaker 1: y Strane.
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Speaker 3: St r A And what was he last man wearing.
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Speaker 7: Outside of Luke Brian's Bar last night at Lake ten
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Speaker 7: and then the last time his location on his phone
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Speaker 7: was by the Sheriff's office.
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Speaker 8: I like a lot of them.
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Speaker 1: Riley's Strain leaving Luke's Bar wasn't seen alive again. Quite
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Speaker 1: a period of time passed before his body was found
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Speaker 1: in a body of water, still under mysterious circumstances. And
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Speaker 1: He's not the only one. What about Andy Tinch?
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Speaker 2: Andy Tinch has plans to spend the night out in Charlotte,
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Speaker 2: North Carolina, to celebrate his thirty first birthday. Monday morning,
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Speaker 2: Tinch misses his shift at his nursing job. His family
33:44
Speaker 2: immediately reports him missing. Later that night, Tench's car is
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Speaker 2: found abandoned in Monroe. As the investigation continues, police get
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Speaker 2: a tip that Tinch was seen at Bar three sixteen
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Speaker 2: around twelve thirty am.
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Speaker 1: This is the last known sighting of Andy tent So
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Speaker 1: Andy Tinch seemingly goes into a bar and never comes out.
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Speaker 1: I know the answer to that, Reddle Tench was murdered.
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Speaker 1: His body was disposed of in the garbage. That theory
34:14
Speaker 1: has been researched and investigated extensively. In Brian Schaeffer's case,
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Speaker 1: that did not happen. Take a listen to this.
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Speaker 11: Over the years, many have theorized about what happened to
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Speaker 11: Brian Schaeffer. Did Schaeffer change closed and simply wasn't recognized
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Speaker 11: coming down the escalator. Was he killed and dismembered hidden
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Speaker 11: in an empty keg, did a member of the band
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Speaker 11: stuff his body into an instrument case? Or was he
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Speaker 11: hidden in the building's infrastructure concealed by the ongoing construction.
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Speaker 11: Columbus PD hopes to one day have the answer for
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Speaker 11: Schaeffer's loved ones and is still asking the public for
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Speaker 11: any information they might have. Central Ohio Crime Stoppers is
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Speaker 11: offering a one hundred thousand dollars reward for tips that
34:54
Speaker 11: help locate Brian Schaeffer.
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Speaker 1: A one hundred thousand dollars reward tip line sixty one
34:59
Speaker 1: four four five four six two four. What happened to Brian?
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Speaker 1: To Matthew men Gino, best theory.
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Speaker 6: Well, you absolutely supernatural. He either walked out, was carried out,
35:13
Speaker 6: or is still there.
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Speaker 1: I mean that there.
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Speaker 6: Aren't any other options than that, and that's where the
35:20
Speaker 6: bizarre unsolved aspect of thisness.
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Speaker 1: Walked out, carried out or never leaves. What about it,
35:27
Speaker 1: Steve Fisher.
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Speaker 7: I think he gets out of the building. I think
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Speaker 7: somehow there's a blind spot in the surveillance, and not
35:32
Speaker 7: on purpose, but I think he, you know, gets out
35:35
Speaker 7: and then and something happens to him and most likely
35:38
Speaker 7: ends up, you know, in the water or something like that.
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Speaker 7: Much like rither Stream.
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Speaker 1: Good theory is Steve Fisher, except for the friends were
35:46
Speaker 1: waiting for him just outside the building. Doctor Angie Arnold
35:51
Speaker 1: jump in.
35:52
Speaker 10: You know, Nancy, medical school is very stressful. His mother
35:56
Speaker 10: dying was very stressful. I have this gut feeling that
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Speaker 10: he disappeared and he's living his life somewhere else.
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Speaker 3: That's really what I think, Nancy.
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Speaker 1: All right, Doctor Angie, I thought you were going to
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Speaker 1: go down that route. I thought you might go with suicide.
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Speaker 1: So you're saying that he is left behind the fiance,
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Speaker 1: all of his relatives and his father to suffer because
36:23
Speaker 1: he wanted alone time.
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Speaker 10: I didn't say because he wanted alone time, Nancy, I said,
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Speaker 10: because maybe he wanted to disappear. Maybe he didn't want
36:30
Speaker 10: to be a doctor anymore. Maybe he didn't want to
36:33
Speaker 10: marry his fiance anymore. Maybe the stress of his mother
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Speaker 10: dying pushed him over the edge after the stress of
36:39
Speaker 10: going to medical school. Nancy, it's a theory that has
36:42
Speaker 10: to be considered.
36:43
Speaker 1: Okay, let me circle back to Sidney Sumner. Sidney Sumner, Yes, No,
36:48
Speaker 1: didn't this occur in April of two thousand and six.
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Speaker 3: That is completely correct. Eighteen years, two months and three
36:56
Speaker 3: days ago.
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Speaker 1: Todd Shiffley's joining me digital cybercrime. For Todd Shipley, this
37:02
Speaker 1: guy would have to have some sort of a digital imprint. Now,
37:08
Speaker 1: there would have to be a fingerprint, a something showing
37:12
Speaker 1: that he was still alive.
37:14
Speaker 4: Well, cell phones are uniquely identified in the system by
37:19
Speaker 4: their serial number, their IEMEI number, And so when that
37:22
Speaker 4: rings six months later and they're identifying that ping fourteen
37:27
Speaker 4: miles away in Hilliard, something occurred. I can't believe that
37:30
Speaker 4: it was actually just a glitch. And in fact, there's
37:34
Speaker 4: a recycling company that is up there in Hilliard and
37:37
Speaker 4: started about a year before he went missing, So somebody
37:40
Speaker 4: could have turned the phone in and they happened to
37:42
Speaker 4: turn it on for whatever reason, and it happened I
37:44
Speaker 4: think there's some evidence that we haven't found surrounding that phone,
37:48
Speaker 4: and we need to find City.
37:49
Speaker 1: Summer joining us crime online dot com. The phone disappeared
37:53
Speaker 1: along with him. Correct. That is correct.
37:55
Speaker 3: Brand's car was found outside of his sportman.
37:58
Speaker 1: Ah Okay, So we would I have to believe, logically speaking,
38:03
Speaker 1: that he became separated from his phone and that the
38:06
Speaker 1: phone somehow activated. I'm thinking long and hard about that,
38:13
Speaker 1: and I've got to reconcile it with the fact that
38:15
Speaker 1: I do not believe he would have left his father, relatives, friends,
38:22
Speaker 1: fiance behind and suffering to have alone time or to disappear.
38:29
Speaker 1: He was more determined to get through med school after
38:32
Speaker 1: his mother's death than ever. That was his mission. I'm
38:36
Speaker 1: not buy it, needs he Gray, signing off goodbye friend,