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

Episode Date: July 16, 2024

Brian Shaffer makes the 30-minute drive from Columbus to celebrate the start of Spring Break with a steak dinner at his father’s house. Over dinner, Brian excitedly discusses his upcoming vacation to Miami with girlfriend, Alexis Waggoner. According to family, Brian plans to propose. Brian also mentions his plans to go out that evening with his former roommate, William “Clint” Florence. At 9:00 p.m, Brian Shaffer meets up with Clint Florence at the Ugly Tuna Saloona, a popular college bar on the second floor of the Gateway Building. Around 10:00 PM, Shaffer calls his girlfriend, Alexis Waggoner to check in before he and Florence leave for another bar in the Arena district. Shaffer and Florence each have a shot at several bars before meeting up with Florence’s friend, Meredith Reed, around midnight. The group heads back to the Ugly Tuna in Reed’s car for one last round. At 1:15 aa.m., Shaffer, Florence, and Reed head up the Gateway Building’s escalator to the Ugly Tuna and partake in one more round of shots while listening to the band. Shaffer gives Florence and Reed some time alone, and chats with two women just outside the bar until 1:55 a.m. Just 5 minutes later, the bar is closing and masses of patrons head down the escalator, but Florence and Reed can’t find Shaffer. The pair eventually assumes that Shaffer went home, likely walking to his off-campus apartment just six blocks away. Saturday morning, Alexis Waggoner calls her boyfriend to nail down some final plans for their upcoming vacation. It goes straight to Brian Shaffer’s voicemail, but Waggoner assumes Shaffer is sleeping off the night before.  That afternoon, a second call from Waggoner goes to voicemail. Shaffer isn’t answering his father either. On Sunday, Derek Shaffer heads to his brother’s apartment. Brian’s car is parked outside, and nothing’s amiss inside his apartment, but no Brian. Monday morning, Brian Shaffer doesn’t show at the airport. Randy Shaffer immediately reports his son missing. Investigators immediately look to surveillance footage at the Gateway building.  Shaffer is last seen walking off camera toward the Tuna’s entrance—but Shaffer never comes back down the escalator. Shaffer isn’t caught outside the building at an emergency exit, either. It appears Shaffer never left the building. The only other exit from the second floor is a service door not meant for public use. The service door leads to an area of the building under construction, where a temporary freight elevator is installed, but climbing down the service ladder would have been tough for a sober person, much less an intoxicated one. Surveillance cameras from nearby bars also should have spotted Shaffer leaving from that first floor exit. Columbus police search garbage that left the Gateway building, the sewers below, and use dogs to comb a miles-wide radius. There’s no sign of Brian Shaffer. JOINING NANCY GRACE TODAY:  Matthew Mangino – Attorney, Former District Attorney (Lawrence County); Author: “The Executioner’s Toll: The Crimes, Arrests, Trials, Appeals, Last Meals, Final Words and Executions of 46 Persons in the United States” Steve Fischer  – Missing Persons Private Investigator, Search & Rescue Specialist, & Owner of Search Investigations; X: @SF_Investigates (helping in the search for Riley) Dr. Angela Arnold – Psychiatrist, Atlanta GA. Expert in the Treatment of Pregnant/Postpartum Women, Former Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Obstetrics and Gynecology: Emory University, Former Medical Director of The Psychiatric Ob-Gyn Clinic at Grady Memorial Hospital Todd G. Shipley, CFE, CFCE– Cyber Crime Expert, and Author: “Investigating Internet Crimes: An Introduction to Solving Crimes in Cyberspace;” X: @webcase Sydney Sumner - CrimeOnline Investigative Reporter See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A brilliant med student goes missing in a bar. How do you go missing in a bar? This is how. He goes in and he never comes out. He vanishes. Where is Brian? Good evening. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us.

A 27-year-old medical student vanishes into thin air. Surveillance captures him entering a bar but never leaving. How does that happen? You enter a bar, but never leaving. How does that happen? You enter a bar and you never come back. Now, if this were some sci-fi movie, there would be a time warp and a space continuum in there. How he, you know, in Harry Potter, how you transport from one place to the next,

just like that. Okay, that didn't happen. There is a logical explanation, but what is it? How can a brilliant medical student go into a bar to meet his friends and never emerge? And it's not just that witnesses don't see him emerge. He's not caught on security surveillance, cam, CCTV, nothing. He never leaves the bar. Yet he vanished. Where is Brian? Thank you for being with us. Okay, let's go straight up to the moment we realize he has vanished. Listen. Saturday morning, Alexis Wagoner calls her boyfriend to nail down some final plans for their upcoming vacation.

It goes straight to Brian Schaefer's voicemail, but Wagoner assumes Schaefer is sleeping off the night before. That afternoon, a second call from Wagoner goes to voicemail again. Schaefer isn't answering his father either. On Sunday, Derek Schaefer heads to his brother's apartment. Brian's car is parked outside andfer heads to his brother's apartment. Brian's car is parked outside and nothing's amiss inside the apartment, but no Brian. Monday morning, Brian Schaefer doesn't show up at the airport. Randy Schaefer immediately reports his son missing. Okay, that's a lot of information, but most specifically, where do I start the timeline?

This starts with Saturday morning when Alexis Wagoner calls her boyfriend about final plans on a vacation they're taking. And when she calls, it goes straight to voicemail. But she assumes he's sleeping off the night before. Okay, right there, Saturday morning, he's gone. That's where we can officially start the timeline. Saturday morning. With me, an all-star panel to make sense of what we know. But first, to Sydney Sumner, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. Sydney Sumner, thank you

for joining us. Tell me about the night before that Friday night. Girlfriend reporting Saturday morning, he's not answering his phone. I'm deducing he goes missing sometime on Friday night. Explain. Well, Nancy, Friday night was the last day of classes before spring break at OSU Medical School. Brian met with his father that evening to celebrate completing his finals, and they had a steak dinner. He told his father that he had plans to go out that night with some friends. His father did not approve of those plans. He thought he should be resting. Wait a minute. Sorry, Cindy Sumner. Okay, he has dinner with his father Friday night, kind of celebrating the end of Ohio State University's semester. This guy is a medical student. He's brilliant.

His family is so proud. So they're having a celebration meal. They go out in public to a restaurant. We know that witnesses spot him there. We know he's alive then. The father has no reason to lie, of course. So I can place him alive at what time, Sydney? At 6 p.m., Nancy. 6 p.m. The dinner started or ended? I would assume started. Started at 6 p.m. Okay, go forward. So from there, Brian goes back to Columbus about a half hour drive, and at 9 p.m. he meets his former dorm mate, William Clint Florence, at the Ugly Tuna Saloon. So this is the first time he's seen out with his friends, 9 p.m.

Okay, hold on, and I've got that on video. Let's check out the video. We obtained the surveillance video of him going to the bar, meeting up with his friends. It's a big night. They are just finishing classes. This is at the Ugly Tuna Saloon. It's a bar near OSU, Ohio State University campus there in Columbus. Let me remind everybody there is a $100,000 reward for information leading to the discovery of Brian's whereabouts. What happens then, Sydney Sumner? So from the Ugly Tuna Saloon, Florence and Schaefer start going to different bars in the area. So they spend a couple rounds at the Ugly Tuna Saloon and then they move on and they're bar hopping for several bars and they end up in the arena district where they meet with Florence's friend Meredith Reed. Got a question for you Sydney Sumner. So they're pub crawling. They leave the Ugly Tuna and meet up with other friends. During that time he calls the girlfriend. 10 p.m., we've got a confirmed call from Brian. He's alive.

That is correct. 10 to 12 a.m., 10 p.m., 12 a.m., they pub crawl. Now, yes, I can establish him alive at 12 a.m. when he goes back to Ugly Tuna, but in the interim between 10 and 12, is anybody following him? Do we see him get into an argument with anyone at a bar? Anything unusual, Sidney Sumner? Nancy, no, there isn't. There is no report of anything unusual, and the two men are still happy, jovial, having a good time when they run into Meredith Reed. Okay this guy seemingly goes into a bar and is never seen alive again. 12 a.m. they're bar hopping. 12 a.m. Brian and friend return to Ugly Tuna.

All right. 1.15 a.m. We see Brian entering a bar. Which bar is that, Sydney Sumner? This is the Ugly Tuna. So that 1.15 a.m. surveillance footage is of Meredith, Brian, and William, Clint, returning to the Ugly Tuna Saloon together at 1.15 a.m. That's when we see Brian on that surveillance video for the first time coming up that escalator.

So the three enter the bar. There's a band playing. It's already 1.15. The bar's closed at 2. So they are here for one last round. They're going to spend about 45 minutes in the bar. At 1.55, we see Brian again on that right side of the screen, and he's standing just outside the entrance of the bar,

and he speaks with two women for just a few minutes, and then he walks off camera back towards the entrance of the bar. So you would assume it's 1.55 a.m. He's trying to meet back up with his friends uh reed and florence but they don't find him at 2 a.m they're standing outside the entrance they're watching people okay hold on just a moment i want to analyze i want to analyze what you told me so far so he's there with meredith it's meredith brian and who's the third william clint is his nickname will William Clint Florence. And who is he? He was Brian Schaefer's former dorm mate. So they're really close friends. They roomed together freshman year of college.

No bad blood? No, none whatsoever. Okay. The reason that Sidney Sumner is saying 45 minutes, they're going to stay there 45 minutes. How do we know that? Because the bar closes at 2. It closes at 2 a.m. Now, Sydney, is this just outside the bar? Is it the foyer? Where is this? Yes. So this is just outside the entrance of the bar. So you take this escalator up to the second floor. You can get to several businesses on that second floor. And the entrance of the Ugly Tuna is just behind that escalator. So when we see Brian standing to the right of the escalator in this footage that's just outside the entrance of the bar. Okay we know he's going to be there at most 45 minutes and he knows the bar closes at two. So Sidney Sumner are his friends Meredith and, inside the bar at the time we're seeing him on surveillance video?

Yes. So we see the three of them, the trio, enter the bar together. And then at some point, Shaper gives them some privacy. We're not sure if they just got separated, if he found some friends that he wanted to chat with, or if maybe these two were kind of on a date and he was giving them some alone time. So, Shaper separates from Reed and Florence who stay together the entire time they're at the Ugly Saloon, Ugly Tuna Saloon and they are supposed to join back up to leave together. Okay, wait a minute. So, are Meredith and William a couple? No, that has not been confirmed. They are just friends. Then why would he want to give them alone time? I'm not sure. Maybe again, like we said, we saw him chatting with those two women outside the bar. So maybe he ran into some friends that he knew from class and decided, hey, I want to say hello to them. So I think that's what happened. Now, let me understand something. Guys, you're hearing CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter sydney sumner and we're

looking at video footage surveillance footage of brian and the two people with him in that video sydney are meredith and william those are two women that shaper was not out with that night they may have been classmates oh okay So coming up the escalator, yes, that is Schaefer and Florence. Okay. Sidney Sumner, you're saying he sees these two women, they're laughing, they're talking, and it looks as if the three of them go back into the bar, Sidney. Correct, Nancy. It looks like Schaefer walks off camera back towards the entrance of the bar. And it's 1 55 a.m. at this point. So I think Schaefer is looking to meet back up with Reed and Florence, say his goodbyes before they part nights for the evening. They know they have

five minutes until this bar is closing. Okay. And we do know, can we confirm Meredith and William are in the bar? Yes, they waited for Schaefer outside the bar for minutes and minutes and minutes, and eventually they assumed that Schaefer just went home. His apartment is located just six blocks away from this gateway building where the Ugly Tuna Saloon is located, so they assumed that it got late and he just started walking by himself. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Joining me right now, in addition to Sidney Sumner, is Matthew Mangino, high-profile lawyer, Steve Fisher, missing persons private investigator, Dr. Angela Arnold, renowned psychiatrist in the Atlanta jurisdiction, and Todd Shipley, who is a digital cybercrime expert, author of Investigating Internet Crimes.

Todd Shipley, we would be able to tell, or expert would be able to tell if this video, this surveillance video we're looking at had been doctored or edited in any way. Isn't that true? I think generally you're correct, because we have to look at the time period when this occurred. The technology to be able to fake that video didn't exist during that time period. So I think we have to rely on the fact that that video didn't exist during that time period. So I think we have to rely on the fact that that video was actually correct and true. And the police have never said it's not. A night out with friends turns into a nightmare when promising young med student Brian Schaefer disappears. By all accounts, Schaefer goes right

back in the door into the ugly tuna, Selena. And you can see him following the two women. He meets just outside the door and there's only one place to go. Going in that direction into the bar. No one disputes that. Okay. How did we get here? In order to evaluate a missing person or a murder case, you start with knowing your victim. Everything you can find out about the victim. It may have a huge impact on where they are and what happened to them. So who is Brian Schaefer? Listen.

Brian Schaefer grows up in Baltimore, Ohio with his younger brother, Derek. After graduation, Schaefer stays close to home for college, pursuing a degree in microbiology at the University of Ohio. Randy and Renee Schaefer couldn't be more proud when their oldest son decides to attend medical school at his alma mater. In Brian Schaefer's second year, his mother diagnosed with a rare blood cancer. Three weeks before spring break, Renee succumbs to the disease. While her death is hard on Schaefer, 27, friends say he seems to be handling it well. The apple of his parents' eyes, Brian Schaefer seemingly goes into a bar, and no one is disputing that that and he never comes out. He vanishes. Impossible.

There's got to be a logical explanation about what happened to Brian Schaefer. Straight out to Matthew Mangino, high profile lawyer, joining us, former prosecutor, author of The Executioner's Toll, The Crimes, Arrests, Trials, Appeals, Last Meals, Final Words, Executions of 46 People Across the U.S. That's a mouthful. You're going to have to work with that title. You can find them at mattmangino.com. Matt, thank you for being with us. There's so many theories out there, and it doesn't matter what case you're dealing with. It could be the Orenthal James Simpson double murder trial of O.J. Simpson. It could be the Karen Reed prosecution for the murder, the death, let me say, of her longtime boyfriend, a Boston cop. It can be Scott Peterson.

The conspiracy theories that surround cases, especially when they're unsolved, abound. Just look online. So here we've got the same issue. A lot of conspiracy theories. But we, you as a defense attorney, me as a former prosecutor, have to look at the hard evidence and make sense of it. This is not the first case I've encountered where someone goes into a building and never comes out. What do you make of this surveillance video? Well, Nancy, I think the most crucial aspect of this is those five minutes between 1 55 a.m. and when the bar closes at 2 a.m. You know, he has two friends inside the bar who say they leave at 2 a.m. looking for him and they wait outside there.

Now, I don't know how big, you know, this this saloon is, but, you know, within five minutes, he's right outside the door walking toward the door. They're coming out. They're waiting for him. You know, what transpires in those five minutes? That, I think, is the answer, you know, to this to this mystery. You know, what did anybody else see? I agree with you.

Let me go straight up to Steve Fisher joining us, missing person, private investigator. And you can find him at searchinvestigations.org. Steve, thank you for being with us. Listen. Thank you. The guys with the two women, the two women go into the bar. He's following along behind him.

And no matter how much I have scoured through witness statements and other surveillance video in the area, Ugly Toon is not the only one with a security cam. There's no evidence at all he ever leaves the bar. How do you explain that? It's literally like he turned into a ghost. I mean, as an investigator, this has everything that you want.

Like you mentioned, it has surveillance of all the entrances and exits, including the back one. And all the surrounding businesses have surveillance. He's not captured on any of it. It's bizarre. I mean, he left. I mean, he's not there. It's extremely bizarre, Steve.

And again, and I'm going to touch on it later. This is not the first time I've had a case where someone enters a building and is never seen alive again. But, okay, when you don't know which way to go and you're not getting anywhere, everything is muddled, you start over and re-examine what you know. Listen. Brian Schaefer makes the 30-minute drive from Columbus to celebrate the start of spring break with a steak dinner at his father's house. Over dinner, Brian excitedly discusses his upcoming vacation to Miami with girlfriend Alexis Wagner. Brian plans to propose.

Brian also mentions his plans to go out that evening with former roommate William Clint Florence. Randy Schaefer thinks Brian should be resting after a long week of exams, but doesn't try to sway his son from his celebrations. A mysterious cell ping, a potential sighting in Mexico, but friends refuse to take polygraphs. What happened to Brian Schaefer? What did happen to Brian Schaefer? Again, not the first time a victim has gone into a building and never emerges. The family now desperate to find Brian. We are reviewing what we know to be true. We can see it with our own eyes, or can we? Listen. At 1.15 a.m., Schaefer, Florence, and Reed head up the Gateway Building's escalator to the Ugly Tunip and partake in one more round of shots while listening to the band. Schaefer gives Florence and Reed some time alone and chats with two women just outside the bar until 1.55 a.m. Just five minutes later, the bar is closing

and masses of patrons head down the escalator. But Florence and Reed can't find Schaefer. The pair eventually assumes that Schaefer went home, likely walking to his off-campus apartment just six blocks away. And isn't it true to CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter Sydney Sumners that That video evidence, CCTV, all sorts of hard evidence does not reveal Brian Schaefer ever leaving that bar, not going back down the escalator, which is where he came from. He came in that way. He doesn't go back down. He's not spotted by any of the other businesses going in either direction. He had to go into the bar. On his way home, there were surveillance videos

from various businesses. Nothing. He doesn't go back home. He doesn't go to his car. His ATM, his credit cards are not used. He didn't go anywhere. So do we have anything so far, any CCTV, anything to suggest he left the bar? Nancy, there is nothing. And Columbus is actually, it has more surveillance cameras than Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Toledo combined. So this entire city is covered in cameras and we should have some indication as to where Schaefer went. Police went to the Gateway building. They checked all of those cameras. They checked cameras at three other bars they had been at earlier that night. Nothing. There is just nothing to indicate that Schaefer ever left that building. And Sydney Sumner, what about those two women? Have they been questioned?

Yes, they have been identified, questioned, and they were both cleared as suspects. They said that they spoke with Schaefer very briefly. He left the conversation. They don't know where he went from there. And that's it. They have no information on where shaper went okay to todd shipley joining us digital cyber crime expert uh former detective sergeant author of investigating internet crimes and you can find him at dark intel.info todd shipley we can very easily make out him and his friends coming up the escalator even if he had on a hat which there's no evidence he put on a hat even if he took off the pullover which there's no evidence he did that either we would have seen him going down the escalator or leaving the bar feeding into

those theories again those are just wild conspiracy theories. There's no evidence either of those things happened, that he put on a hat or changed his shirt. Well, exactly. I mean, the video stands for itself. I don't think we can look at that and say that there was additional things added or taken away because the video at the time was not sufficient to hide that kind of thing. And so the video they've got is the video that exists and there's no evidence that he left. And that's the scary part. Where is he and how did he get out of the bar? Sidney Sumner joining us, CrimeOnline.com. Sidney, I'm only bringing up that back exit so everybody knows about it. He didn't go down the back exit. And I'll tell you why.

Sidney, I've told you this once. I'll tell you again. And all the years I tried cases, my single best witness I ever put on the stand was a dog. Yes, I put a dog on the stand. And I will tell you, he survived cross But that said, dogs were brought in to pursue the Zany theory that maybe out of the blue, Brian Schaefer goes out this service door that leads to a construction area and you have to climb down a ladder and they brought in canines to look in the sewers, to look in the garbage, to try to catch a scent. They didn't. And I guarantee you, I would trust a dog even more than I would trust a surveillance video. So tell me about that back exit. Yeah, so that back exit, realistically, we would have seen Schaefer enter that door.

And there's a freight elevator only operated by a key. So you could take the service ladder in that elevator shaft all the way down to the ground floor. But that would have been difficult for a sober person, much less an intoxicated one. We know that Schaefer has had at least three to four shots on this pub crawl that he did with his friends that night. There's also cameras on the ground floor door. So we should have seen him coming out on the ground floor if that was his exit as well. So police start to theorize that maybe he left the building in the trash. If he was killed inside the building and his body was discarded in the trash. So they're searching garbage cans. Then maybe the sewer. Was he hidden somewhere else? And he ended up below the building in the sewers. And there was no evidence that he was ever down there either. And you're right. Dogs pick up no scent from

Schaefer leaving the building. It just seems everything points to Schaefer not leaving this building. You know, Cindy Sumner, you've been reporting for quite a while, and you've always struck me as a very rational, logical reporter, and you analyze the facts very clearly. Did you just say that he could have been killed and thrown away in the trash? It's not the first time we've heard of it, Nancy, where somebody went into a building, didn't leave, and exited in a different manner. So how would he have gotten into the trash? With all of these witnesses, there's no way.

That makes no sense, right? But how would he have gotten into a giant dumpster with nobody seeing it? How would his body have been put in the trash and then what, taken off to a landfill? I mean, they bring, hold on, let me bring in Steve Fisher because now I'm tormenting Sidney and she doesn't deserve that. Steve Fisher, missing persons, private investigator. Do you believe if by this far-fetched theory, and I'm only discussing it to appease the conspiracy theorists, even if this far-fetched theory, and I'm only discussing it to appease the conspiracy theorists, even if this far-fetched theory is true, that he was killed and thrown out in the trash, that

would have been discovered by the dogs. There's no witness, nothing. All the employees at the bar didn't realize anything had happened. They have been questioned tirelessly. That did not happen explain yeah the dogs simply would not miss that i'm lucky that i get to train at sometimes at the national training center and they'll actually take tiny pieces of flesh like you said and they'll try to mask the scent with coffee grounds and stuff like that and the dogs just do not miss. So that theory, and also people start producing death scent right after death.

So it doesn't have to be a long period of time. So the cadaver dogs would have picked that up. There's no way. You can't mask it. You can't hide it. They're just that good. Well, not only that, Steve Fisher, cadaver dogs were brought in in addition to bloodhounds or scent dogs to pick up his scent, whether he was dead or alive.

None of them picked up the scent of Brian Schaefer as going down that back entrance. Yeah, and I think law enforcement was very clear that they ruled out that back entrance. And also, from what I understand, there was a security guard stationed at the back entrance, and that's where the band was playing, and he would have had to walk through the band to get to the door. Brian's disappearance remains a perplexing mystery to the city of Columbus almost two decades later. Not only would Brian Schaefer have to go down a ladder or have a key to a freight elevator, which he did not. Scent dogs and cadaver dogs do not pick up on his scent going down that back exit. And according to Steve Fisher, who is correct, he would have to have passed a security guard and a band.

That did not happen. I'd like to also point out, and Sidney, correct me if I'm wrong, that the dogs also looked at paths leading from the bar. That is correct. We've got nothing. Nothing. Okay. She's nodding her head yes. Dr. Angie Arnold joining me.

We're now psychiatrists out of the Atlanta jurisdiction at AngelaArnoldMD.com. Why do conspiracy theorists exist? Because yes, there have been a few conspiracies that actually worked, but for the most part, they don't work. I promise you, the LAPD did not join in on a really big conspiracy to frame a beloved football star, OJ Simpson. That did not happen. It did not happen. Don't you know that one of them would have made a deal with a publisher by now, a two, three million dollar deal to tell the truth about the murders? Same thing here. Why do conspiracy theorists do what they do? Well, Nancy, think about who conspiracy theorists are. There are always people out there that live on the fringes that they want to come up with the craziest, most off-the-wall idea that they can, sometimes in the hopes of their own notoriety.

And that's why I believe conspiracy theorists exist. And then unfortunately, with some conspiracy theorists, they become delusional and they believe what they're saying and they go down a rabbit hole and they stay there. But when you think of the continuum of the types of people that exist on the earth, not everybody falls under the bell curve. And so there are always people on the edges of the bell curve that want to think of the craziest scenarios that they can. Yeah, well, you can't put that in front of a jury. Guys, local police dotted their I's and crossed their T's. Listen. Columbus PD polygraphs those who last saw Brian Schaefer, including Randy Schaefer and Meredith Reed. Both pass and are cleared as suspects. However, Clint Florence refuses to submit to the lie

detector test. Investigators theorize that perhaps Brian Schaefer, still grieving the death of his mother, left town for some solitude. But with no activity on his cell phone or bank accounts, Okay, that's BS right there. He did not leave town for alone time. He just met with his father for dinner. He would not have done that to his father. There's no indication that happened. More conspiracy theories. No ATM use.

No credit card use. No nav on his car, nothing, nothing to support that theory. But listen to this weird fact. Alexis Wagoner called Brian Schaefer's cell phone at least once a day before going to bed, at most hoping he might answer, at least getting to hear his voicemail. Six months after his disappearance, Schaefer's voicemail doesn't immediately play. Instead, the phone rings three times. Wagoner immediately reports it to police and investigators find that the phone pinged in Hilliard, a suburb of Columbus, 14 miles northwest. Schaefer's cell phone company says the activity is likely just a glitch,

but family and friends hope it is an indication that Brian is alive. Holding on to any, any scintilla of evidence that Brian could be alive, the theories that he is alive only deepen after this. Two years after Brian Schaefer's disappearance, a large storm blows through Baltimore, Ohio. Randy Schaefer tries to cross his yard to retrieve something from his tool shed when a tree branch snaps, hitting him and killing him. Days after his death, Randy Schaefer's online obituary gets a comment reading, I love you, Dad. Love, Brian. U.S. Virgin Islands. Investigators believe they've gotten their break. Did Schaefer leave the country and start a band? Plans he had jokingly mentioned to med school friends?

The message turns out to be a cruel hoax, leading only to yet another dead end. You know, I could spend a whole hour talking about what jackass did that, writing a note from Brian on his online obituary, to his father. That said, another dead end. I keep talking about another case where someone goes in a building and never comes out. I'm talking about Annie Lee. Listen.

When police learn Annie Lee was never seen leaving the Amistad Street building, they must assume Lee is still inside. Investigators comb the building, discovering bloody clothes hidden above a ceiling tile. Three days after Annie Lay is reported missing and the day of her planned wedding, Lay's body is found stuffed in a cable chassis in a basement laboratory. Lay had been strangled. A 27-year-old medical student vanishes into thin air. Surveillance captures him entering a bar, but never leaving.

Where is Brian Schaefer? In the last months, another young man disappears en route to a bar. Listen. Who is it that you're wanting to report is missing? We're here on a fraternity formal trip. It's one of my good buddies. Okay. What is his name? His name is Riley Strain. Riley, R-I-L-E-Y, Strain, S-T-R-A-I-N. And what was he last seen wearing? Outside of Luke Bryan's bar last night at like 10. And then the last time his location on his phone was by the sheriff's office at like 11 p.m.

Riley Shrain leaving Luke's bar wasn't seen alive again. Quite a period of time passed before his body was found in a body of water, still under mysterious circumstances. And he's not the only one. What about Andy Tinch? Andy Tinch has plans to spend the night out in Charlotte, North Carolina to celebrate his 31st birthday. Monday morning, Tinch misses his shift at his nursing job. His family immediately reports him missing. Later that night, Tinch's car is found abandoned in Monroe. As the investigation continues, police get a tip that Tinch was seen at Bar 316 around 1230 a.m. This is the last known sighting of Andy Tench. So Andy Tench seemingly

goes into a bar and never comes out. I know the answer to that riddle. Tench was murdered. His body was disposed of in the garbage. That theory has been researched and investigated extensively in Brian Schaefer's case. That did not happen. Take a listen to this. Over the years, many have theorized about what happened to Brian Schaefer. Did Schaefer change clothes and simply wasn't recognized coming down the escalator? Was he killed and dismembered, hidden in an empty keg? Did a member of the band stuff his body into an instrument case? Or was he hidden in the building's infrastructure, concealed by the ongoing construction? Columbus PD hopes to one day have the answer for Schaefer's loved ones and is still asking the public for any information they might have. Central Ohio

Crime Stoppers is offering a $100,000 reward for tips that help locate Brian Schaefer. A $100,000 reward. Tip line 614-645-4624. What happened to Brian? To Matthew Mangino, best theory? Well, absent the supernatural, he either walked out, was carried out, or is still there. There aren't any other options than that. That's where the, you know, bizarre, unsolved aspect of this is. Walked out, carried out, or never leaves. What about it, Steve Fisher? I think he gets out of the building. I think somehow there's a blind spot in the surveillance

and not on purpose, but I think he, you know, gets out and then something happens to him and most likely ends up in, you know, in the water or something like that. Much like Riley Strain. Good theory, Steve Fisher, except for the friends were waiting for him just outside the building. Dr. Angie Arnold, jump in. You know, Nancy, medical school is very stressful. His mother dying was very stressful. I have this gut feeling that he disappeared and he's living his life somewhere else. That's really what I think, Nancy. All right, Dr. Angie, I thought you were going to go down that route. I thought you might go with suicide. So you're saying that he has left behind the fiance, all of his relatives and his father

to suffer because he wanted alone time. I didn't say because he wanted alone time, Nancy. I said, because maybe he wanted to disappear. Maybe he didn't want to be a doctor anymore. Maybe he didn't want to marry his fiance anymore. Maybe the stress of his mother dying pushed him over the edge after the stress of going to medical school. Nancy, it's a theory that has to be considered. Okay. Let me circle back to Sidney Sumner. Sidney Sumner, yes, no.

Did this occur in April of 2006? That is completely correct. 18 years, two months, and three days ago. Todd Shipley joining me, digital cybercrime expert. Todd Shipley, this guy would have to have some sort of a digital imprint now. There would have to be a fingerprint, a something showing that he was still alive. Well, cell phones are uniquely identified in the system by their serial number, their IMEI number. And so when that rings six months later and they're identifying that ping 14 miles away in Hilliard, something occurred.

I can't believe that it was actually just a glitch. And in fact, there is a recycling company that is up there in Hilliard and started about a year before he went missing. So somebody could have turned the phone in and they happened to turn it on for whatever reason and it happened. I think there's some evidence that we haven't found surrounding that phone and we need to find. Cindy Sumner joining us, CrimeOnline.com. The phone disappeared along with him, correct? That is correct. Brian's car was found outside his apartment. Ah, okay. So we would have to believe, logically speaking, that he became separated from his phone and that the phone somehow activated. I'm thinking long and hard about that.

And I've got to reconcile it with the fact that I do not believe he would have left his father, relatives, friends, fiance behind and suffering to have alone time or to disappear. He was more determined to get through med school after his mother's death

than ever. That was his mission. I'm not buying it. Nancy Grace signing off. Goodbye, friend. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.