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BRILLIANT MED STUDENT DISAPPEARS FROM INSIDE A BAR: 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.
0:29
Speaker 2: A twenty seven year old medical student vanishes into thin air.
0:33
Speaker 2: Surveillance captures him entering a bar but never leaving.
0:38
Speaker 1: How does that happen? You enter a bar and you
0:41
Speaker 1: never come back. Now, if this was some sci fi movie,
0:45
Speaker 1: there would be a time warp and a space continuum
0:49
Speaker 1: in there. How he you know? And Harry Potter? How
0:52
Speaker 1: you transport from one place to the next just like that? Okay,
0:56
Speaker 1: that didn't happen. There is a logical explanation, but what
1:02
Speaker 1: is it. How can a brilliant medical student go into
1:06
Speaker 1: a bar to meet his friends and never emerge. And
1:11
Speaker 1: it's not just that witnesses don't see him emerge. He's
1:16
Speaker 1: not called on security surveillance cam, CCTV, nothing, He never
1:23
Speaker 1: leaves the bar, yet he vanished. Where is Brian? Thank
1:30
Speaker 1: you for being with us? Okay, let's go straight up
1:33
Speaker 1: to the moment we realize he has vanished. Listen.
1:37
Speaker 3: Saturday morning, Alexis Wagoner calls her boyfriend to nail down
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Speaker 3: some final plans for their upcoming vacation. It goes straight
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Speaker 3: to Brian Schaeffer's voicemail, but Wagoner assumes Schaeffer is sleeping
1:48
Speaker 3: off the night before. That afternoon, a second call from
1:51
Speaker 3: Wagoner goes to voicemail again. Schaeffer isn't answering his father either.
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Speaker 3: On Sunday, Derek Shaeffer heads to his brother's apartment. Brian's
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Speaker 3: call is parked outside and nothing's amiss inside the apartment,
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Speaker 3: but no Brian. Monday morning, Brian Shaeffer doesn't show up
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Speaker 3: 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
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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.
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Speaker 4: Explain well, Nancy. Friday night was the last day of
3:18
Speaker 4: classes before spring break at OSU Medical School. Brian met
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Speaker 4: with his father that evening to celebrate completing his finals,
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Speaker 4: and they had a steak dinner. He told his father
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Speaker 4: that he had plans to go out that night with
3:30
Speaker 4: some friends. His father did not approve of those plans,
3:33
Speaker 4: so he thought 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
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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 reoually assume started started at six pm. Okay, go forward.
4:19
Speaker 4: So from there, Brian goes back to Columbus about a
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Speaker 4: half hour drive, and at nine pm he meets his
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Speaker 4: former dorm meet William Clint Florence at the Ugly Tuna Saluna.
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Speaker 4: So this is the first time he's seen out with
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Speaker 4: 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 tun of Saluona. It's a bar
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Speaker 1: near Osu Ohio State University campus there in Columbus. Let
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Speaker 1: me remind everybody there was a one hundred thousand dollar
5:00
Speaker 1: a reward for information leading to the discovery of Brian's whereabouts.
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Speaker 1: What happens then, Sidney Sumner, So from.
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Speaker 4: The Ugly Tuna Saluna, Florence and Schaeffer start going to
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Speaker 4: different bars in the area. So they spend a couple
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Speaker 4: rounds at the Ugly Tuna Saluna, and then they move
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Speaker 4: on in their bar, hopping for several bars, and they
5:20
Speaker 4: end up in the Arena District where they meet with
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Speaker 4: 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 4: 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 4: Nancy, No, there isn't. There is no report of anything unusual,
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Speaker 4: and the two men are still happy, jovial, having a
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Speaker 4: 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. Their 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 4: So that one fifteen am surveillance footage is of Meredith, Brian,
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Speaker 4: and William Clint returning to the Ugly Tuna Saluna together.
7:02
Speaker 4: At one fifteen am, that's when we see Brian on
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Speaker 4: that surveillance video for the first time, coming up that escalator.
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Speaker 4: So the three enter the bar. There's a band playing.
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Speaker 4: It's already one fifteen. The bars close up too, so
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Speaker 4: they are here for one last round. Are going to
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Speaker 4: spend about forty five minutes in the bar. At one
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Speaker 4: five we see Brian again on that right side of
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Speaker 4: the screen and he's standing just outside the entrance of
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Speaker 4: the bar, and he speaks with two women for just
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Speaker 4: a few minutes, and then he walks off camera back
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Speaker 4: towards the entrance of the bar. So you would assume
7:35
Speaker 4: it's one fifty five am. He's trying to meet back
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Speaker 4: up with his friends Read and Florence, but they don't
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Speaker 4: find him. At two am, they're standing outside the entrance.
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Speaker 4: They're watching people.
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Speaker 1: Okay, hold on this a moment. I want to analyze.
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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 4: William Clint is his nickname William Clint Florence and he
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Speaker 4: is Hey. He was Brian Schaefer's former dorm meat. So
8:02
Speaker 4: they're really close friends. They roomed together freshman year at college.
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Speaker 4: 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
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Speaker 1: the bar? Is it the foyer? Where is this?
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Speaker 4: Yeah? So this is just outside the entrance of the bar.
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Speaker 4: So you take this escalator up to the second floor.
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Speaker 4: You can get to several businesses on that second floor,
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Speaker 4: and the entrance of the Ugly to Tuna is just
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Speaker 4: behind that escalator. So when we see Brian standing to
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Speaker 4: the right of the escalator in this footage, that's just
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Speaker 4: 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. Yes, so we.
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Speaker 4: See the three of them, the trio, enter the bar
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Speaker 4: together and then at some point Shaper gives them some privacy.
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Speaker 4: We're not sure if they just got separated, if he
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Speaker 4: found some friends that he wanted to chat with, or
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Speaker 4: if maybe these two were kind of on a date
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Speaker 4: and he was giving them some alone time. So Shaper
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Speaker 4: separates from Reed and Florence, who stay together the entire
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Speaker 4: time they're at the Ugly Saluna Ugly Tuna Saluna, and
9:29
Speaker 4: they are supposed to join back 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 4: 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 4: I'm not sure. Maybe again, like we said, we saw
9:42
Speaker 4: him chatting with those two women outside the bar, So
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Speaker 4: maybe he ran into some friends that he knew from
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Speaker 4: class and decided, hey, I want to say hello to them.
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Speaker 4: So I think that's what happened.
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Speaker 1: Now, let me understand something. Guys. You're hearing Crime online
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Speaker 1: dot Com investigative 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 4: Those are two women that Shaffer was not out with
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Speaker 4: that night. They may have been class meets. Oh okay,
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Speaker 4: so coming up the escalator, Yes, that is Shaper in 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 4: It looks like Schaefer walks off camera back towards the
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Speaker 4: entrance of the bar. And it's one fifty five am
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Speaker 4: at this point, So I think Shafer is looking to
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Speaker 4: meet back up with Reid and Florence, sayas goodbyes before
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Speaker 4: they part nights for the evening. It's they know they
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Speaker 4: have five minutes until this bar is closing, Okay, and
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Speaker 4: we do know can we confirm Meredith and.
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Speaker 1: William are in the bar.
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Speaker 4: They waited for Shaper outside the bar for minutes and
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Speaker 4: minutes and minutes, and eventually they assumed that Shaffer just
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Speaker 4: went home. His apartment is located just six blocks away
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Speaker 4: from this gateway building where the Ugly Tuna Saluna is located,
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Speaker 4: so they assumed that it got late and he just
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Speaker 4: 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: additional cyber crime expert, author of investigating Internet crimes. Todd Shipley,
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Speaker 1: we would be able to tell, or an expert would
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Speaker 1: be able to tell, if this video, this surveillance video
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Speaker 1: we're looking at, had been doctored or edited in any way.
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Speaker 1: Isn't that true?
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Speaker 5: I think generally you're correct, because we have to look
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Speaker 5: at the time period when this occurred. The technology to
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Speaker 5: be able to fake that video didn't exist during that
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Speaker 5: time period, So I think we have to rely on
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Speaker 5: the fact that that video was actually correct and true,
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Speaker 5: and the police have never said It's not.
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Speaker 2: A night out with friends turns into a nightmare when
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Speaker 2: promising young med student Brian Shaeffer disappears.
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Speaker 1: By all accounts, Schaeffer 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. Okay, how
12:56
Speaker 1: did we get here? In order to evaluate a missing
13:00
Speaker 1: person or a murder case, you start with knowing your victim.
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Speaker 1: Everything you can find out about the victim, it may
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Speaker 1: have a huge impact on where they are and what
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Speaker 1: happened to him. So who is Brian Schaeffer listen?
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Speaker 3: Brian Shaffer grows up in Baltimore, Ohio, with his younger
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Speaker 3: brother Derek. After graduation, Shaeffer stays close to Homeford College,
13:25
Speaker 3: pursuing a degree in microbiology at the University of Ohio.
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Speaker 3: Randy and Renee Schaeffer couldn't be more proud when their
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Speaker 3: oldest son designs to attend medical school at his alma mater.
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Speaker 3: In Brian Shaeffer's second year, his mother diagnosed with a
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Speaker 3: rare blood cancer. Three weeks before spring break, Renee succumbs
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Speaker 3: to the disease. While her death is hard on Schaeffer,
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Speaker 3: 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, theres 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 Mattmanngino dot com.
14:30
Speaker 1: Matt thank you for being with us. There's so many
14:33
Speaker 1: theories out there, and it doesn't matter what case you're
14:37
Speaker 1: dealing with. It can be the Orenthal James Simpson double
14:42
Speaker 1: murder trial of j Simpson. It can be the Karen
14:44
Speaker 1: Reid prosecution for the murder the death let me say
14:49
Speaker 1: off for a longtime boyfriend of Boston comp it can
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Speaker 1: be Scott Peterson. The conspiracy theories that surround cases, especially
14:59
Speaker 1: when they're unsolved, abound. Just look online. So here we've
15:05
Speaker 1: got the same issue, a lot of conspiracy theories, but
15:10
Speaker 1: we use the defense A journey mean, as the former prosecutor,
15:13
Speaker 1: have to look at the hard evidence and make sense
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Speaker 1: of it. This is not the first case I've encountered
15:22
Speaker 1: where someone goes into a building and never comes out.
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Speaker 1: What do you 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
15:35
Speaker 6: and when the bar closes at two am.
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Speaker 7: You know, he has.
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Speaker 6: Two friends inside the bar who say they leave at
15:43
Speaker 6: two am looking for him, and they wait outside there.
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Speaker 4: Now.
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Speaker 8: I don't know how big you know this this saloon is,
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Speaker 8: but you know, within five minutes he's right outside the door,
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Speaker 8: walking toward the door.
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Speaker 6: They're coming out, they're waiting for him.
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Speaker 8: You know what transpires in those five minutes that I
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Speaker 8: think is the answer, you know, to this, to this mystery.
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Speaker 6: You know what 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.
16:23
Speaker 7: Listen, thank you.
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Speaker 1: The guys with the two women, the two women go
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Speaker 1: into the bar, He's following along behind him, and no
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Speaker 1: matter how much I have scoured through witness statements and
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Speaker 1: other surveillance video in the area. Ugly ten is not
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Speaker 1: the only one with a security can. There's no evidence
16:43
Speaker 1: at all he ever leaves the bar. How do you
16:47
Speaker 1: explain that.
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Speaker 7: It's literally like he turned into a ghost.
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Speaker 9: I mean, as an investigator, this has everything that you want,
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Speaker 9: Like you mentioned, it has surveillance of all the entrances
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Speaker 9: and exits, including the back, and all the surrounding businesses
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Speaker 9: have surveillance. He's not captured on any of it. It's bizarre.
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Speaker 9: 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
17:19
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
17:29
Speaker 1: is modeled, you start over and reexamine what you know. Listen.
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Speaker 10: Brian Schaefer makes the thirty minute drive from Columbus to
17:40
Speaker 10: celebrate the start of spring break with a steak dinner
17:43
Speaker 10: at his father's house. Over dinner, Brian excitedly discusses his
17:47
Speaker 10: upcoming vacation to Miami with girlfriend Alexis Wagner. Brian plans
17:52
Speaker 10: to propose. Brian also mentions his plans to go out
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Speaker 10: that evening with former roommate William Clint Florence. Randy Schaeffer
18:00
Speaker 10: thinks Brian should be resting after a long week of exams,
18:04
Speaker 10: but doesn't try to sway his son from his celebrations.
18:08
Speaker 2: A mysterious cell being a potential sighting in Mexico, but
18:13
Speaker 2: friends refuse to take polygraphs? What happened to Brian Schaeffer?
18:19
Speaker 2: What did happen to Brian?
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Speaker 1: Safer? Again? Not the first time a victim has gone
18:24
Speaker 1: into a building and never emerges. The family now desperate
18:30
Speaker 1: to find Brian. We are reviewing what we know to
18:35
Speaker 1: be true. We can see it with our own eyes,
18:38
Speaker 1: or can we listen?
18:40
Speaker 11: At one fifteen am, Schaeffer, Florence, and Reed head up
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Speaker 11: the Gateway Buildings escalator to the Ugly Tuna and partake
18:46
Speaker 11: in one more round of shots while listening to the band.
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Speaker 11: Shaeffer gives Florence and Reads some time alone and chats
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Speaker 11: with two women just outside the bar until one fifty
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Speaker 11: five am. Just five minutes later, the bar is closing
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Speaker 11: and masses of patrons head down escalator, but Florence and
19:01
Speaker 11: Reed can't find Schaeffer. The pair eventually assumes that Shaeffer
19:05
Speaker 11: went home, likely walking to his off campus apartment just
19:08
Speaker 11: six blocks away.
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Speaker 1: And isn't it true to Crime online dot Com investigative
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Speaker 1: reporter Sydney Sumner's that video evidence CCTV, all sorts of
19:21
Speaker 1: hard evidence, does not reveal Brian Schaefer ever leaving that bar,
19:29
Speaker 1: not going back down the escalator, which is where he
19:33
Speaker 1: came from. It came in that way, he doesn't go
19:36
Speaker 1: back down. He's not spotted by any of the other
19:39
Speaker 1: businesses going in either direction. He had to go into
19:43
Speaker 1: the bar on his way home. There are surveillance videos
19:47
Speaker 1: from various businesses. Nothing. He doesn't go back home, he
19:52
Speaker 1: doesn't go to his car, his ATM, his credit cards
19:56
Speaker 1: are not used. He didn't go anywhere. So do we
20:01
Speaker 1: have anything so far, any CCTV anything to suggest he
20:07
Speaker 1: left the.
20:08
Speaker 4: Bar, Nancy, There is nothing, And Columbus is actually it
20:12
Speaker 4: has more surveillance cameras than Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Toledo combined.
20:18
Speaker 4: So this entire city is covered in cameras, and we
20:22
Speaker 4: should have some indication as to where Shaper went. Police
20:27
Speaker 4: went to the Gateway building. They checked all of those cameras,
20:31
Speaker 4: They checked cameras at three other bars they had been
20:34
Speaker 4: out earlier that night.
20:36
Speaker 1: Nothing.
20:37
Speaker 4: There is just nothing to indicate that Shaper ever left
20:40
Speaker 4: 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 4: Yes, they have been identified, questioned and they were both
20:48
Speaker 4: cleared as suspects. They said that they spoke with Shafer
20:51
Speaker 4: very briefly. He left the conversation. They don't know where
20:55
Speaker 4: he went from there, and that's it. They have no
20:59
Speaker 4: information on whe 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 5: Well exactly. I mean, the video stands for itself. I
21:49
Speaker 5: don't think we can look at that and say that
21:51
Speaker 5: there was additional things at it or taken away because
21:53
Speaker 5: the video at the time was not sufficient to hide
21:59
Speaker 5: that kind of thing. And so the video they've got
22:01
Speaker 5: is the video that exists, and there's no evidence that
22:03
Speaker 5: he left. And that's the scary part. Where is he
22:06
Speaker 5: and how did he get out of.
22:08
Speaker 1: The bar Sidney Summer joining us Crime online dot Com Sidney,
22:11
Speaker 1: I'm only bringing up that back exit so everybody knows
22:15
Speaker 1: about it. He didn't go down the back exit, and
22:17
Speaker 1: I'll tell you why, Sidney. I've told you this once,
22:20
Speaker 1: I'll tell you again. And all the years I try cases,
22:23
Speaker 1: my single best witness I ever put on the stand
22:27
Speaker 1: was a dog. Yes, I put a dog on the stand,
22:31
Speaker 1: and I will tell you he survived cross examination. But
22:35
Speaker 1: that said dogs were brought in to pursue the Zamy
22:42
Speaker 1: theory that maybe, out of the blue, Brian Schaeffer goes
22:46
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
22:57
Speaker 1: brought in canines to look in the sewers, to look
23:01
Speaker 1: in the garbage to try to catch a scent. They didn't,
23:06
Speaker 1: And I guarantee you I would trust a dog even
23:09
Speaker 1: more than I would trust a surveillance video. So tell
23:13
Speaker 1: me about that back exit.
23:15
Speaker 4: Yeah, so that back exit. Realistically, we would have seen
23:18
Speaker 4: Shafer enter that door. And there's a freight elevator only
23:22
Speaker 4: operated by a key, so you could take the service
23:26
Speaker 4: ladder in that elevator shaft all the way down to
23:29
Speaker 4: the ground floor, but that would have been difficult for
23:32
Speaker 4: a sober person, much less and intoxicated. When we know
23:35
Speaker 4: that Shaper has had at least three or four shots
23:38
Speaker 4: on this pub crawl that he did with his friends
23:40
Speaker 4: last night. There's also cameras on the ground floor door,
23:43
Speaker 4: so we should have seen him coming out on the
23:45
Speaker 4: ground floor if that was his exit as well. So
23:49
Speaker 4: police start to theorize that maybe he left the building
23:52
Speaker 4: in the trash, if he was killed inside the building
23:55
Speaker 4: and his body was discarded in the trash, so they're
23:58
Speaker 4: searching garbage cans been maybe the sewer was he hid
24:03
Speaker 4: in somewhere else and he ended up below the building
24:06
Speaker 4: in the sewers, and there was no evidence that he
24:08
Speaker 4: was ever down there either, And you're right, dogs pick
24:11
Speaker 4: up no scent from Shaffer leaving the building. It just
24:16
Speaker 4: seems everything points to Shaffer not leaving this building.
24:20
Speaker 1: You know, City Cumner, You've been reporting for quite a
24:23
Speaker 1: while and he've always struck me as a very rational,
24:27
Speaker 1: logical reporter, and you analyze the facts very clearly. Did
24:32
Speaker 1: you just say that he could have been killed and
24:37
Speaker 1: thrown away in the trash?
24:39
Speaker 4: That's the first time we've heard of it, Nancy, where
24:42
Speaker 4: somebody went into a building, didn't leave and exited in
24:46
Speaker 4: a different manner. So how would he have gotten into
24:48
Speaker 4: the trash with all of these witnesses, There's no way.
24:52
Speaker 4: That makes no sense, right, But.
24:53
Speaker 1: How would he have gotten into a giant dumpster with
24:57
Speaker 1: nobody seeing it? How would his body had been put
25:01
Speaker 1: in the trash? And then what taken off to a landfill?
25:04
Speaker 1: I mean, they bring hold on, let me bring it
25:06
Speaker 1: Steve Fisher, because now I'm tormenting Sydney and she doesn't
25:09
Speaker 1: deserve that. Steve Fisher missing Person's private investigator? Do you
25:13
Speaker 1: believe if by this far Fisch theory and I'm only
25:16
Speaker 1: discussing it to appease the conspiracy theorists. Even if this
25:21
Speaker 1: far fetched theory is true, that he was killed and
25:23
Speaker 1: thrown out in the trash that would have been discovered
25:27
Speaker 1: by the dogs, there's no witness, nothing, that all the
25:32
Speaker 1: employees at the bar didn't realize anything had happened. They
25:35
Speaker 1: have been questioned tirelessly that did not happen.
25:40
Speaker 9: Explained, Yeah, the dogs simply would not miss that. I'm
25:44
Speaker 9: lucky that I get to train it sometimes at the
25:46
Speaker 9: National Training Center and they'll actually take tiny pieces of flesh,
25:49
Speaker 9: like you said, and they'll try to mask the scent
25:52
Speaker 9: with coffee grounds and stuff like that, and dogs just
25:56
Speaker 9: do not miss.
25:58
Speaker 7: So that theory.
26:00
Speaker 9: And also people start producing death scent, you know, right
26:03
Speaker 9: after death, so it doesn't have to be a long
26:05
Speaker 9: period of time. So the cadaver dogs would have picked
26:09
Speaker 9: that up. There's no way you can't mask it, you
26:11
Speaker 9: can't hide it. They're just that good.
26:14
Speaker 1: Well, not only that, Steve Fisher, cadaver dogs were brought
26:17
Speaker 1: in in addition to bloodhounds or scent dogs to pick
26:21
Speaker 1: up his scent, whether he was dead or alive. None
26:25
Speaker 1: of them picked up the scent of Brian Schaefer as
26:28
Speaker 1: going down that back entrance.
26:30
Speaker 9: Yeah, and I think law enforcements were very clear that
26:33
Speaker 9: they've ruled out that back interest. And also there was
26:36
Speaker 9: from I understand, there was a security guard stationed at
26:39
Speaker 9: the back entrance and that's where the band was playing,
26:41
Speaker 9: and he would have had to walk through the band
26:43
Speaker 9: to get to the door.
26:44
Speaker 2: Brian's disappearance remains a perplexing mystery to the city of
26:48
Speaker 2: Columbus almost two decades later.
26:53
Speaker 1: Not only would Brian Schaefer have to go down a
26:56
Speaker 1: ladder or have a key to a freight elevator which
26:59
Speaker 1: he did not send dogs and cadaver dogs do not
27:02
Speaker 1: pick on his scent going down that back exit, And
27:06
Speaker 1: according to Steve Fisher, who is correct, he would have
27:09
Speaker 1: to have passed a security guard and a band that
27:13
Speaker 1: did not happen. I like to also point out, and
27:16
Speaker 1: Sidney correct me if I'm wrong, that the dogs also
27:21
Speaker 1: looked at pass leading from the bar. We've got nothing, Okay,
27:29
Speaker 1: she's not in her hand, yes, Doctor Angie Arnold joining
27:32
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.
28:04
Speaker 1: Don't you know that one of them would have made
28:06
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.
28:13
Speaker 1: Same thing here. Why do the conspiracy theorists do what
28:17
Speaker 1: they do?
28:18
Speaker 12: Well, Nancy, think about who conspiracy theorists are. There are
28:22
Speaker 12: always people out there that live on the fringes that
28:26
Speaker 12: they want to come up with the craziest, most off
28:30
Speaker 12: the wall idea that they can sometimes in the hopes.
28:34
Speaker 1: Of their own notoriety.
28:36
Speaker 12: And that's why I believe conspiracy theorists exists. And then unfortunately,
28:40
Speaker 12: with some conspiracy theorists, they become delusional and they believe
28:44
Speaker 12: what they're saying, and they go down a rabbit hole
28:46
Speaker 12: and they stay there. But when you think of when
28:49
Speaker 12: you think of the continuum of the types of people
28:52
Speaker 12: that exist on the earth, not everybody falls under the
28:55
Speaker 12: Bell curve, and so there are always people on the
28:59
Speaker 12: edges of the bell curve. That want to think of
29:03
Speaker 12: the craziest scenarios that they can.
29:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, you can't put that in front of a jury, guys.
29:09
Speaker 1: Local police dotted their eyes and crossed their teas.
29:13
Speaker 10: Listen Columbus PD polygraphs. Those who last saw Brian Shaeffer,
29:17
Speaker 10: including Randy Shaeffer and Meredith Reid, both pass and are
29:22
Speaker 10: cleared as suspects. However, Clint Florence refuses to submit to
29:26
Speaker 10: the light detector test. Investigators theorize that perhaps Brian Shaeffer,
29:32
Speaker 10: still grieving the death of his mother, left town for
29:35
Speaker 10: some solitude, but with no activity on his cell phone
29:39
Speaker 10: or bank accounts, there's no indication to where he might
29:42
Speaker 10: have gone.
29:43
Speaker 1: Okay, that's bs right there. He did not leave town
29:46
Speaker 1: for a long time. He just met with his father
29:49
Speaker 1: for dinner. He would not have done that to his father.
29:52
Speaker 1: There's no indication that happened. More conspiracy theories. No atm us,
29:57
Speaker 1: no credit card, use, nav on his car, nothing, nothing
30:03
Speaker 1: to support that theory. But listen to this weird fact.
30:08
Speaker 3: Alexis Wagoner called Brian Shaeffer's cell phone at least once
30:11
Speaker 3: a day before going to bed, at most hoping he
30:14
Speaker 3: might answer, at least getting to hear his voicemail. Six
30:18
Speaker 3: months after his disappearance, Shaeffer's voicemail doesn't immediately play. Instead,
30:23
Speaker 3: the phone rings three times. Wagoner immediately reports it to police,
30:27
Speaker 3: and investigators find that the phone pinged in Hilliard, a
30:31
Speaker 3: suburb of Columbus, fourteen miles northwest. Shaeffer's cel phone company
30:35
Speaker 3: says the activity is likely just to glitch, but family
30:38
Speaker 3: and friends hope it is an indication that Brian is alive.
30:42
Speaker 1: Holding on to any innycentilla of evidence that Brian could
30:47
Speaker 1: be alive, the theories that he is alive only deepen
30:53
Speaker 1: after this.
30:54
Speaker 11: Two years after Brian Shaffer's disappearance, a large storm blows
30:58
Speaker 11: through Baltimore, Ohio. Ry Shaeffer tries to cross his yard
31:02
Speaker 11: to retrieve something from his tool shed when a tree
31:04
Speaker 11: branch snaps, hitting him and killing him. Days after his death,
31:08
Speaker 11: Randy Shaffer's online obituary gets a comment reading, I love
31:11
Speaker 11: you Dad, Love Brian. Us Virgin Islands investigators believe they've
31:16
Speaker 11: gotten their break. Did Shaeffer leave the country and start
31:19
Speaker 11: a band, plans he had jokingly mentioned to med school friends.
31:23
Speaker 11: The message turns out to be a cruel hoax, leading
31:26
Speaker 11: only to yet another dead end.
31:28
Speaker 1: You know, I could spend a whole hour talking about
31:31
Speaker 1: what jackass did that writing a note from Brian on
31:36
Speaker 1: his online obituary to his father that said, another dead end.
31:43
Speaker 1: I keep talking about another case where someone goes in
31:46
Speaker 1: and building and never comes out. I'm talking about Annie Lee. Listen.
31:51
Speaker 13: When police learn Annie Lay was never seen leaving the
31:54
Speaker 13: Amistade Street building, they must assume Lay is still inside.
31:58
Speaker 13: Investigators combed the build, discovering bloody clothes hidden above a
32:02
Speaker 13: ceiling tile. Three days after Annie Lay is reported missing,
32:06
Speaker 13: and the day of her planned wedding, Lay's body is
32:09
Speaker 13: found stuffed in a cable chassis in a basement laboratory.
32:13
Speaker 2: Lay had been strangled. A twenty seven year old medical
32:25
Speaker 2: student vanishes into thin air. Surveillance captures him entering a
32:30
Speaker 2: bar but never leaving.
32:33
Speaker 1: Where is Brian Schaeffer? In the last months, another young
32:40
Speaker 1: man disappears en route to a bar.
32:43
Speaker 14: Listen, it is it that you're wanting to report us missing.
32:47
Speaker 14: We're here on a fraternity formal trip. It's one of.
32:49
Speaker 7: My good buddies. Okay, what is his name?
32:53
Speaker 14: His name is Riley Straane Riley ri I L E.
32:57
Speaker 14: Y Strane str And what was he last being wearing
33:02
Speaker 14: outside of Luke Brian's Bar last night at Lake ten
33:07
Speaker 14: and then the last time his location on his phone
33:10
Speaker 14: was by the Sheriff's office, I like eleve them.
33:14
Speaker 1: Riley's train leaving Luke's Bar wasn't seen alive again. Quite
33:21
Speaker 1: a period of time passed before his body was found
33:25
Speaker 1: in a body of water, still under mysterious circumstances. And
33:30
Speaker 1: He's not the only one. What about Andy Tinch.
33:34
Speaker 3: Andy Tinch has plans to spend the night out in Charlotte,
33:36
Speaker 3: North Carolina, to celebrate his thirty first birthday. Monday morning,
33:40
Speaker 3: Tinch misses his shift at his nursing job. His family
33:44
Speaker 3: immediately reports him missing. Later that night, Tench's car is
33:47
Speaker 3: found abandoned in Monroe. As the investigation continues, police get
33:52
Speaker 3: a tip that Tinch was seen at Bar three sixteen
33:55
Speaker 3: around twelve thirty am. This is the last known sighting
33:59
Speaker 3: of Andy tent So Andy Tinch seemingly goes into a
34:02
Speaker 3: bar and never comes out. I know the answer to
34:06
Speaker 3: that riddle. Tench was murdered.
34:09
Speaker 1: His body was disposed of in the garbage. That theory
34:14
Speaker 1: has been researched and investigated extensively. In Brian Schaffer's case,
34:19
Speaker 1: that did not happen. Take a listen to this.
34:22
Speaker 13: Over the years, many have theorized about what happened to
34:25
Speaker 13: Brian Schaeffer. Did Schaeffer change closed and simply wasn't recognized
34:29
Speaker 13: coming down the escalator? Was he killed and dismembered hidden
34:32
Speaker 13: in an empty keg, did a member of the band
34:34
Speaker 13: stuff his body into an instrument case? Or was he
34:37
Speaker 13: hidden in the building's infrastructure concealed by the ongoing construction.
34:41
Speaker 13: Columbus PD hopes to one day have the answer for
34:43
Speaker 13: Shaffer's loved ones and is still asking the public for
34:46
Speaker 13: any information they might have. Central Ohio Crime Stoppers is
34:50
Speaker 13: offering a one hundred thousand dollars reward for tips that
34:54
Speaker 13: help locate Brian Schaeffer.
34:55
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?
35:05
Speaker 1: To Matthew men Gino, best theory, well, absolutely supernatural.
35:10
Speaker 6: He either walked out, was carried out, or is still there.
35:14
Speaker 6: I mean that there aren't any other options than that,
35:18
Speaker 6: and that's where the bizarre unsolved aspect of.
35:23
Speaker 1: Biness, walked out, carried out, or never leaves. What about it,
35:27
Speaker 1: Steve Fisher.
35:28
Speaker 7: I think he gets out of the building.
35:29
Speaker 9: I think somehow there's a blind spot in the surveillance,
35:31
Speaker 9: and not on purpose, but I think he, you know,
35:35
Speaker 9: gets out and then and something happens to him and
35:37
Speaker 9: most likely ends up, you know, in the water or
35:40
Speaker 9: something like that.
35:41
Speaker 7: Much like Riley Stream good.
35:43
Speaker 1: Theory, Steve Fisher, except for the friends were waiting for
35:47
Speaker 1: him just outside the building. Doctor Angie Arnold jump in.
35:51
Speaker 12: You know, Nancy, medical school is very stressful. His mother
35:56
Speaker 12: dying was very stressful. I have this gut feeling that
36:01
Speaker 12: he disappeared and he's living his life somewhere else.
36:06
Speaker 4: That's really what I think, Nancy.
36:08
Speaker 1: All right, Doctor Angie, I thought you were going to
36:12
Speaker 1: go down that route. I thought you might go with suicide.
36:15
Speaker 1: So you're saying that he is left behind the fiance,
36:19
Speaker 1: all of his relatives and his father to suffer because
36:23
Speaker 1: he wanted alone time.
36:24
Speaker 12: I didn't say because he wanted alone time, Nancy, I
36:27
Speaker 12: said because maybe he wanted to disappear. Maybe he didn't
36:30
Speaker 12: want to be a doctor anymore. Maybe he didn't want
36:33
Speaker 12: to marry his fiance anymore. Maybe the stress of his
36:35
Speaker 12: mother dying pushed him over the edge, after the stress
36:39
Speaker 12: of going to medical school. Nancy, it's a theory that
36:42
Speaker 12: has 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.
36:53
Speaker 4: That is completely correct. Eighteen years, two months and three
36:56
Speaker 4: days ago.
36:57
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 5: Well, cell phones are uniquely identified in the system by
37:19
Speaker 5: their serial number, their Imei number, and so when that
37:22
Speaker 5: rings six months later and they're identifying that ping fourteen
37:27
Speaker 5: miles away in Hilliard, something occurred. I can't believe that
37:30
Speaker 5: it was actually just a glitch. And in fact, there's
37:34
Speaker 5: a recycling company that is up there in Hilliard and
37:37
Speaker 5: started about a year before he went missing. So somebody
37:40
Speaker 5: could have turned the phone in and they happened to
37:42
Speaker 5: turn it on for whatever reason, and it happened. I
37:44
Speaker 5: think there's some evidence that we haven't found surrounding that phone,
37:48
Speaker 5: and we need to find.
37:49
Speaker 1: City Summer joining us crime online dot Com. The phone
37:52
Speaker 1: disappeared along with him. Correct, it is correct.
37:55
Speaker 4: Brand's car was found outside of his spertman.
37:58
Speaker 1: Ah Okay, so we would have I have to believe,
38:01
Speaker 1: logically speaking, that he became separated from his phone and
38:05
Speaker 1: that the phone somehow activated. I'm thinking long and hard
38:12
Speaker 1: about that, and I've got to reconcile it with the
38:15
Speaker 1: fact that I do not believe he would have left
38:18
Speaker 1: his father, relatives, friends, fiance behind and suffering to have
38:26
Speaker 1: alone time or to disappear. He was more determined to
38:31
Speaker 1: get through med school after his mother's death than ever.
38:34
Speaker 1: That was his mission. I'm not buying it, you see,
38:38
Speaker 1: Gray signing off, goodbye friend,