Ep. 14: The Disappearance of Brian Shaffer

This week on Friends Who Crime, I’m joined by my friend Christian to unravel one of the most haunting missing persons cases I’ve ever researched: the 2006 disappearance of Brian Shaffer. Brian was a 27-year-old med student who seemed to vanish into thin air after a night out in Columbus, Ohio. No evidence, no suspects, and no footage of him ever leaving the bar. We go through the timeline, dig into the theories, and talk about how a person could disappear in a place surrounded by security cameras. Also—sorry this episode is a day late, y’all! Life happens.

Sources:

• ABC News: "Ohio State Student Still Missing After Bar Visit"

• Columbus Monthly: “What Happened to Brian Shaffer?”

• Dateline NBC: Missing in America: Brian Shaffer

• FBI Missing Persons Database: Brian Shaffer Case File

• Nancy Grace Podcast: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace: The Vanishing of Brian Shaffer

• Oxygen.com: “The Strange Case of Brian Shaffer’s Disappearance”

• Reddit: r/UnresolvedMysteries and r/BrianShaffer

• The Lantern (Ohio State University’s Student Paper): “Still No Answers in Shaffer Case”

• True Crime Garage Podcast: Brian Shaffer Parts 1 & 2

• WBNS 10TV Columbus: “Brian Shaffer Disappearance Timeline”