WEBVTT - Season 09 Episode 26: In Through the Out Door 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:04.120 Hello, and welcome to Unexplained with Me your host, Richard 0:00:04.200 --> 0:00:07.960 mclin smith, where each week we explore another true tale 0:00:08.000 --> 0:00:11.320 of high strangeness. But first, a quick update on some 0:00:11.400 --> 0:00:15.080 things before we begin. As some of you may know, ironically, 0:00:15.120 --> 0:00:17.960 the biggest thing in podcasting right now is making videos. 0:00:18.600 --> 0:00:21.480 So I've finally bittened the bullet. As you will see 0:00:21.600 --> 0:00:24.880 if you're watching this here, I am for those listening 0:00:24.880 --> 0:00:27.800 and who will always prefer to listen. Don't worry, absolutely 0:00:27.880 --> 0:00:31.319 nothing will change from your perspective. Unexplained will always be 0:00:31.320 --> 0:00:34.239 available to listen to as a podcast, only now it 0:00:34.240 --> 0:00:37.080 will come with an accompanying video. If you do want 0:00:37.120 --> 0:00:40.160 to watch, you can find the podcast at YouTube dot 0:00:40.200 --> 0:00:44.040 com forward slash Unexplained pod. The video versions will also 0:00:44.120 --> 0:00:47.479 be available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts once my hosting 0:00:47.520 --> 0:00:50.840 company updates their system, so listen out for any announcements 0:00:50.920 --> 0:00:53.640 regarding that. If you're new here and you're a fan 0:00:53.720 --> 0:00:58.040 of expertly told, atmospheric stories about the strange and unexplained, 0:00:58.600 --> 0:01:01.400 then you've come to the right place, and please subscribe 0:01:01.440 --> 0:01:04.120 to the show if you haven't already done so. This 0:01:04.360 --> 0:01:09.000 is Unexplained, Season nine, episode twenty six in through the 0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:24.120 Outdoor The Brian Shaefer Mystery. Early on Friday evening in 0:01:24.200 --> 0:01:27.240 March of two thousand and six, there was a celebratory 0:01:27.280 --> 0:01:31.320 mood on the campus of Ohio State University. Classes had 0:01:31.360 --> 0:01:34.199 just finished for spring break, and the quad was packed 0:01:34.200 --> 0:01:37.840 with students ready to let loose. Twenty seven year old 0:01:37.880 --> 0:01:41.480 Brian Shaefer wove his way through the crowds, keeping his 0:01:41.560 --> 0:01:44.520 eyes fixed on the ground ahead of him. He heard 0:01:44.560 --> 0:01:47.160 a friend calling his name, trying to summon him over 0:01:47.240 --> 0:01:51.440 to join the celebrations, but he didn't look up. Brian 0:01:51.600 --> 0:01:54.560 was tired. He was midway through his second year of 0:01:54.600 --> 0:01:59.120 medical school, and the workload was crushing. He'd pulled multiple 0:01:59.160 --> 0:02:02.120 all night as that week ahead of his exams, trying 0:02:02.160 --> 0:02:06.400 to retain impossible volumes of information about the human endocrene 0:02:06.440 --> 0:02:09.600 and reproductive systems, and that was only the tip of 0:02:09.639 --> 0:02:12.920 the iceberg. The past month had been the hardest of 0:02:12.960 --> 0:02:16.240 Brian's life, and right then he was trying not to 0:02:16.280 --> 0:02:19.880 think about the deeper reason for his exhaustion. He'd locked 0:02:19.880 --> 0:02:22.840 that away firmly in a mental box, which he didn't 0:02:22.880 --> 0:02:26.600 plan to reopen until he was ready, definitely not until 0:02:26.639 --> 0:02:30.480 he'd passed his end of year board exams. Brian made 0:02:30.520 --> 0:02:32.040 it to the parking lot on the edge of the 0:02:32.080 --> 0:02:36.080 campus and got into his car. He'd barely used it 0:02:36.120 --> 0:02:39.400 in weeks. One of the perks of life at OSU 0:02:39.919 --> 0:02:44.200 was how walkable the university neighborhood was. He drove about 0:02:44.200 --> 0:02:48.280 fifteen minutes east to a nearby outback steakhouse, where he'd 0:02:48.280 --> 0:02:52.200 agreed to meet his father for dinner. Randy Shaeffer was 0:02:52.240 --> 0:02:57.040 already inside, waiting at a corner table. Brandy stood up 0:02:57.080 --> 0:03:00.720 to greet his son, immediately noticing the dark shadows under 0:03:00.720 --> 0:03:04.720 Brian's eyes, his pale complexion, and the way he wouldn't 0:03:04.800 --> 0:03:09.760 quite make eye contact. He looked absolutely exhausted. That wasn't 0:03:09.760 --> 0:03:13.400 a surprise, of course, the entire family was still in shock. 0:03:14.520 --> 0:03:18.880 Less than a month ago, Brandy's wife and Brian's mother, Renee, 0:03:19.360 --> 0:03:24.000 had died from an aggressive, fast moving cancer. Although Brian 0:03:24.040 --> 0:03:27.440 had been stoical about it on the surface, Randy knew 0:03:27.480 --> 0:03:30.880 his son was in pain. He tried to convince Brian 0:03:30.960 --> 0:03:34.520 to take some time off school. Surely the college would understand, 0:03:34.560 --> 0:03:38.680 he thought, but Brian wouldn't hear of it. He insisted 0:03:38.720 --> 0:03:41.800 that missing his exams would just derail his whole med 0:03:41.840 --> 0:03:47.160 school career and stress him out even more. Clearly, Brian 0:03:47.320 --> 0:03:50.000 needed to keep things as normal as possible in order 0:03:50.040 --> 0:03:53.720 to cope. That's why Randy had insisted on taking him 0:03:53.720 --> 0:03:56.400 out to dinner to celebrate the end of the semester. 0:03:57.080 --> 0:04:00.680 It was their tradition, after all. But they were here 0:04:01.200 --> 0:04:05.680 in their favorite steakhouse, Renee's absence felt all the more glaring, 0:04:06.600 --> 0:04:10.080 but neither of them wanted to acknowledge it. Instead, they 0:04:10.160 --> 0:04:13.520 just made small talk about the exams, which Brian said 0:04:13.560 --> 0:04:17.320 had gone pretty well all things considered, and they talked 0:04:17.360 --> 0:04:21.600 about Brian's vacation plans for spring break. At the end 0:04:21.640 --> 0:04:24.919 of their dinner, Randy was surprised when Brian said he 0:04:25.000 --> 0:04:27.080 was going to meet some friends for drinks at a 0:04:27.080 --> 0:04:31.279 local bar, considering how tired he clearly was. What he 0:04:31.400 --> 0:04:35.039 really needed was an early night, and Randy almost said so, 0:04:35.680 --> 0:04:39.760 but decided better of it. After all, maybe a night 0:04:39.800 --> 0:04:42.520 out with friends to blow off some steam was exactly 0:04:42.560 --> 0:04:46.640 what he needed. He couldn't possibly have known then it 0:04:46.760 --> 0:04:56.400 was the last time he'd ever see his son. Brian 0:04:56.480 --> 0:05:00.400 Schaeffer was born and raised in Pickerington, a suburb just 0:05:00.440 --> 0:05:04.720 outside of Columbus, Ohio. He was a bright, energetic kid 0:05:05.360 --> 0:05:08.640 who made friends easily and was good at almost everything 0:05:08.680 --> 0:05:13.279 he tried. He was a model student, played multiple sports, 0:05:13.760 --> 0:05:16.279 and as a teenager, had even taught himself how to 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:19.320 play the guitar. He loved it so much that he 0:05:19.360 --> 0:05:22.800 had dreams of starting his own alternative rock band one day, 0:05:23.279 --> 0:05:26.760 but it was never more than a passing fantasy. In truth, 0:05:27.440 --> 0:05:30.479 Brian was far too disciplined and sensible to do that. 0:05:31.520 --> 0:05:34.000 As the older of two brothers, he also had a 0:05:34.040 --> 0:05:38.200 strong sense of responsibility. Being the first child, he felt 0:05:38.200 --> 0:05:40.440 it was important to set a good example for his 0:05:40.560 --> 0:05:45.360 younger brother. His father, Randy, an electrician, and his mother, Renee, 0:05:45.400 --> 0:05:48.359 who was a nurse, had always encouraged him to choose 0:05:48.400 --> 0:05:52.400 a stable career path, and medicine seemed about as solid 0:05:52.440 --> 0:05:56.559 as they come. In two thousand and three, Brian earned 0:05:56.560 --> 0:06:02.040 his undergraduate degree in microbiology from Ohio State University before 0:06:02.080 --> 0:06:05.080 taking a place at their medical school. It seemed like 0:06:05.120 --> 0:06:08.160 a natural fit to his friends and family. He had 0:06:08.160 --> 0:06:11.000 the right mix of smarts and social skills to become 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:15.159 an excellent doctor. Despite the grueling pace of that first 0:06:15.240 --> 0:06:19.200 year at med school, Brian adapted well. He kept up 0:06:19.200 --> 0:06:21.800 with all of his course work while still carving out 0:06:21.839 --> 0:06:24.800 some time for a social life and the occasional guitar 0:06:24.920 --> 0:06:28.200 jam session. In the fall of two thousand and five, 0:06:28.800 --> 0:06:32.159 right at the beginning of his second year, Brian started 0:06:32.240 --> 0:06:37.400 dating fellow medical student Alexis Wagoner. Things quickly got serious 0:06:37.400 --> 0:06:42.000 between them, in part because soon after they met, Brian 0:06:42.160 --> 0:06:47.320 was shaken by some devastating news from home. His mother, Renee, 0:06:47.839 --> 0:06:51.279 was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of blood cancer. 0:06:52.600 --> 0:06:55.479 Brian had always been close to his mum. She was 0:06:55.520 --> 0:06:58.960 his closest confidante, and the idea of life without her 0:06:59.120 --> 0:07:03.240 was unthinkable. But Renee didn't want Brian to worry, so 0:07:03.360 --> 0:07:05.560 she did what she could to play down her condition. 0:07:06.520 --> 0:07:09.840 But with Brian now a med student, he couldn't be fooled. 0:07:10.320 --> 0:07:15.040 He understood the prognosis too well. Even so, the speed 0:07:15.080 --> 0:07:19.480 of his mother's decline still stunned him. In early March 0:07:19.560 --> 0:07:24.560 of two thousand and six, only six months after her diagnosis, 0:07:24.600 --> 0:07:30.080 Renee passed away in hospital, surrounded by her family. Brian 0:07:30.280 --> 0:07:33.400 was shattered by the loss, but he was also determined 0:07:33.400 --> 0:07:36.280 not to let it derail him, so rather than take 0:07:36.320 --> 0:07:39.320 any time off school, he doubled down in his studies 0:07:39.320 --> 0:07:42.160 in his mum's honor, trying to do what he thought 0:07:42.200 --> 0:07:44.600 she would want, or, as he put it on his 0:07:44.720 --> 0:07:48.440 MySpace page, she will always inspire me to do my best, 0:07:49.040 --> 0:08:00.680 and I don't want to let her down. As Brian's 0:08:00.720 --> 0:08:03.320 friends could tell, he was handling the loss of his 0:08:03.400 --> 0:08:07.400 mother about as well as could be expected. He planned 0:08:07.400 --> 0:08:09.800 to just stay focused until his exams were out of 0:08:09.840 --> 0:08:12.560 the way, and then he could take some much needed 0:08:12.600 --> 0:08:15.680 time to try and process it all during spring break, 0:08:16.200 --> 0:08:19.080 when he and Alexis had booked a vacation to Florida. 0:08:20.080 --> 0:08:23.679 By then, the couple's friends and family were pretty sure 0:08:23.720 --> 0:08:28.239 that Brian was planning to propose during that trip. Between 0:08:28.320 --> 0:08:31.320 grief and the pressures of med school, it seemed that 0:08:31.360 --> 0:08:33.520 Brian had grown up a lot in the past year, 0:08:34.080 --> 0:08:36.719 and maybe the idea of settling down appealed to him, 0:08:37.320 --> 0:08:40.280 being a chance to get some stability and control back 0:08:40.280 --> 0:08:44.760 into his life. Besides, as some of them figured, it 0:08:44.840 --> 0:08:47.560 was probably what his mum would have wanted for him. 0:08:48.000 --> 0:08:51.520 On March thirty first, the final day of classes before 0:08:51.559 --> 0:08:56.960 spring break, back in Brian's home, his father Randy Shaeffer 0:08:57.400 --> 0:09:01.640 stood in the doorway of his bedroom, still utterly devastated 0:09:01.679 --> 0:09:04.600 by his wife's death. He hadn't been able to bring 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:08.120 himself to touch any of her belongings. Her clothes were 0:09:08.160 --> 0:09:11.599 still draped over a chair, her jewelry still out on 0:09:11.679 --> 0:09:14.760 her make up table. Even the books she'd been reading 0:09:14.800 --> 0:09:18.800 when she died was still on her nightstand. Randy took 0:09:18.840 --> 0:09:21.760 it all in and then switched off the light and 0:09:21.800 --> 0:09:25.960 headed out to meet his son. That night, he drove 0:09:26.000 --> 0:09:29.080 over to the Outback steakhouse in the city of Reyneldsburg, 0:09:30.000 --> 0:09:33.760 Situated almost exactly half way between the shaef A home 0:09:34.080 --> 0:09:37.440 and the Ohio State University campus. It had become the 0:09:37.480 --> 0:09:42.160 family's favorite meeting spot ever since Brian started his undergrad studies. 0:09:42.960 --> 0:09:46.280 That night, Randy was determined to put on a brave 0:09:46.360 --> 0:09:49.960 face for Brian, and the reverse was also true, so 0:09:50.000 --> 0:09:52.720 they both made an effort to keep things light as 0:09:52.720 --> 0:09:57.120 they ate their rebbied steaks. At some point, Randy asked 0:09:57.120 --> 0:10:01.440 Brian about his upcoming trip to Miami with Elector. Brian 0:10:01.520 --> 0:10:04.520 had always loved Florida. In fact, he loved anywhere with 0:10:04.559 --> 0:10:08.120 a beach and a tropical climate. Before he'd committed to 0:10:08.160 --> 0:10:11.760 medical school. It sometimes joked about leaving it all behind 0:10:12.360 --> 0:10:15.520 and moving to an island where he could make music 0:10:15.720 --> 0:10:20.200 and drink margarita's all day. This vacation, he thought, would 0:10:20.240 --> 0:10:24.360 give him at least a taste of that dream. Then, 0:10:25.000 --> 0:10:28.320 when the night was over, Randy paid the bill and 0:10:28.360 --> 0:10:31.400 said goodbye to his son. He gave him a quick 0:10:31.480 --> 0:10:35.200 hug and jokingly told him, don't do anything I wouldn't do. 0:10:36.280 --> 0:10:39.520 And in that moment, as he watched his son walk 0:10:39.559 --> 0:10:43.000 away into the night, Randy would later say that he 0:10:43.080 --> 0:10:47.360 suddenly felt an all consuming sense of foreboding and had 0:10:47.400 --> 0:10:50.640 the sudden urge to run after Brian and hold him back, 0:10:51.280 --> 0:10:53.600 as if he somehow saw the city for what it 0:10:53.760 --> 0:10:58.360 was in that moment, a gaping, snarling mouth about to 0:10:58.440 --> 0:11:03.480 swallow his son whole. Whether that was true or just 0:11:03.559 --> 0:11:06.880 the distorted way that he remembered that night in the 0:11:06.920 --> 0:11:10.719 aftermath of what was to come. Either way, if it 0:11:10.800 --> 0:11:13.600 had been true, it would have been with good reason. 0:11:20.840 --> 0:11:24.120 After dinner, Brian drove back home to his apartment on 0:11:24.160 --> 0:11:27.920 campus where he lived alone, to park his car, and 0:11:27.960 --> 0:11:31.240 then walked a few blocks to OSU's South campus gateway, 0:11:31.720 --> 0:11:35.960 A sprawling shopping and entertainment complex for students. There, he 0:11:36.040 --> 0:11:39.600 met up with his former roommate William Florence, also known 0:11:39.640 --> 0:11:43.560 as Clint, at the Ugly Tuna saloona a busy college bar. 0:11:44.600 --> 0:11:47.559 The place was packed with students celebrating the start of 0:11:47.640 --> 0:11:50.679 spring break, and there was a restless kind of excitement 0:11:50.760 --> 0:11:54.880 in the air, laughter and chatter almost drowning out the music. 0:11:56.320 --> 0:11:58.880 Brian and Clint both drank a beer and had a shot, 0:11:59.240 --> 0:12:02.679 taking advantage of that night's special offer, and talked about 0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:06.400 how their exams had gone. A bit before ten pm, 0:12:06.840 --> 0:12:10.000 Brian stepped outside to make a phone call, and he 0:12:10.080 --> 0:12:13.720 dialed Alexis, who was visiting her family in Toledo that weekend. 0:12:14.400 --> 0:12:17.600 The pair finalized their travel plants and agreed to meet 0:12:17.600 --> 0:12:20.800 at Columbus Airport on Monday morning to catch their flight 0:12:20.840 --> 0:12:24.960 to Miami. Brian told Alexis he loved her and told 0:12:25.000 --> 0:12:28.120 her to say hi to her parents from him. Just 0:12:28.160 --> 0:12:31.120 as Brian was finishing his call, Clint emerged from the 0:12:31.160 --> 0:12:34.120 bar and suggested they get started on their bark crawl. 0:12:34.880 --> 0:12:38.760 They worked their way gradually southwards across the city, stopping 0:12:38.800 --> 0:12:41.960 every now and again along the way at every bar, 0:12:42.559 --> 0:12:45.640 they each had a single shot of hard liquor, never 0:12:45.760 --> 0:12:49.480 lingering long before moving on. Two hours and as many 0:12:49.520 --> 0:12:53.160 miles later, they reached a bar in the Short North neighborhood, 0:12:53.640 --> 0:12:55.760 where they met up with a friend of Clint's called 0:12:55.840 --> 0:12:59.520 Meredith Reid. But it was getting close to midnight and 0:12:59.600 --> 0:13:02.680 Brian was beginning to succumb to all the sleepless nights 0:13:02.720 --> 0:13:06.199 and stresses of the exam week. Sensing that the night 0:13:06.320 --> 0:13:09.440 was winding down, Meredith offered to give the guys a 0:13:09.559 --> 0:13:12.720 ride back to the University district and get one last 0:13:12.760 --> 0:13:16.559 drink there with them. A short time later, at one 0:13:16.720 --> 0:13:20.280 fifteen am, the three of them rode up the escalator 0:13:20.400 --> 0:13:23.880 to the main entrance of the Ugly Tuna Saluna, where 0:13:23.920 --> 0:13:27.559 Brian and Clint had begun earlier in the night. Both 0:13:27.600 --> 0:13:30.760 were several drinks deep at this point, but weren't visibly 0:13:30.840 --> 0:13:34.480 drunk or out of control. By then. The bar was 0:13:34.559 --> 0:13:37.000 much less packed than it had been earlier, but the 0:13:37.040 --> 0:13:39.920 atmosphere was still buzzing and a life band was playing. 0:13:40.960 --> 0:13:45.360 The trio mingled and danced. Then at some point Brian 0:13:45.480 --> 0:13:55.400 got separated from the others. It's been suggested that shortly 0:13:55.440 --> 0:13:59.480 After re entering the Ugly Tuna Saluna, Brian and Clint 0:13:59.559 --> 0:14:02.320 got in to an argument, but this has never been 0:14:02.400 --> 0:14:06.600 confirmed in any case. By the time the bar closed 0:14:06.640 --> 0:14:10.760 at two am, Clint and Meredith appeared to have completely 0:14:10.800 --> 0:14:14.760 lost Brian. They both lingered by the exit as other 0:14:14.840 --> 0:14:19.160 patrons descended the escalator, wondering if perhaps Brian was still 0:14:19.160 --> 0:14:22.680 in the bar, maybe using the restroom or finishing up 0:14:22.680 --> 0:14:26.680 a conversation with someone. They tried texting and calling him 0:14:26.920 --> 0:14:29.400 as they scanned the faces of the thinning crowd of 0:14:29.440 --> 0:14:32.320 people as they emerged one by one from the bar, 0:14:33.520 --> 0:14:37.160 but Brian didn't respond, and neither did he appear to 0:14:37.200 --> 0:14:41.880 emerge from the bar Barely a few minutes later, the 0:14:41.960 --> 0:14:46.360 Ugly Tuna saloona turned out its lights and locked its doors. 0:14:47.360 --> 0:14:52.200 A security guard confirmed that there was nobody left inside. Confused, 0:14:52.760 --> 0:14:56.120 Clint and Meredith assumed that Brian must have simply gone 0:14:56.120 --> 0:14:59.520 home without them. It was a little strange, but he 0:14:59.560 --> 0:15:02.120 wouldn't be the first person to pull a French exit 0:15:02.200 --> 0:15:06.440 when he got tired. The next morning, Brian's dad, Randy, 0:15:06.840 --> 0:15:09.480 knew better than to try calling his son so soon 0:15:09.520 --> 0:15:13.000 after a night out, even when he finally shot off 0:15:13.000 --> 0:15:16.360 a text to him on Saturday afternoon, how was last night? 0:15:16.960 --> 0:15:22.000 He wasn't surprised not to get a reply. Brian's girlfriend, Alexis, 0:15:22.280 --> 0:15:24.640 who was busy with her family and Toledo for most 0:15:24.640 --> 0:15:27.680 of Saturday, had tried calling him earlier in the day 0:15:27.760 --> 0:15:30.720 to check in, but her call went straight to voicemail, 0:15:31.120 --> 0:15:33.560 so she figured he was just sleeping off a hangover. 0:15:34.520 --> 0:15:37.880 She tried again that evening, but again it went to voicemail. 0:15:39.080 --> 0:15:41.840 A thread of unease began to twist in her stomach, 0:15:42.200 --> 0:15:46.080 but she tried to shake it off. They'd already finalized 0:15:46.120 --> 0:15:48.920 their plans and agreed to meet at the airport on 0:15:49.000 --> 0:15:52.480 Monday morning, so there wasn't anything pressing they needed to 0:15:52.480 --> 0:15:57.920 talk about. Even still, Brian had always been communicative, and 0:15:58.000 --> 0:15:59.640 it was rare for them to go a full day 0:15:59.680 --> 0:16:04.920 without any contact. On Sunday, she tried him again, but 0:16:05.080 --> 0:16:09.840 yet again, it went to voicemail. By now, Alexis was 0:16:09.920 --> 0:16:14.080 beginning to wonder if Brian had lost or broken his phone. 0:16:14.400 --> 0:16:17.320 She thought about calling his dad, but the family had 0:16:17.320 --> 0:16:19.880 been through so much recently that she didn't want to 0:16:19.920 --> 0:16:25.280 worry him unnecessarily. On Monday morning, Alexis arrived at the 0:16:25.320 --> 0:16:29.080 airport as planned, but Brian was nowhere to be seen. 0:16:30.520 --> 0:16:34.280 Alexis could only wait at the security gate, watching as 0:16:34.320 --> 0:16:37.960 one after another passenger filed pass to get onto their flight. 0:16:39.080 --> 0:16:42.480 On the huge illuminated departures board above her head, she 0:16:42.600 --> 0:16:45.800 watched as the status of their flight to Miami moved 0:16:45.840 --> 0:16:51.440 from go to gate, to boarding to final call. Then 0:16:51.480 --> 0:16:54.680 she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket, and for 0:16:54.720 --> 0:16:59.000 a second her heart leapt. But it wasn't Brian, it 0:16:59.120 --> 0:17:09.520 was his dad. As Alexus answered the phone call, she 0:17:09.640 --> 0:17:12.440 realized for the first time that her hands were shaking. 0:17:13.200 --> 0:17:17.199 Her voice came out strangled with panic, and finally she 0:17:17.320 --> 0:17:21.480 told Randy everything. She told him that Brian was missing. 0:17:22.880 --> 0:17:26.000 For Andy, it was almost a relief to finally hear 0:17:26.040 --> 0:17:30.040 the words out loud. Like Alexus, he'd been desperately trying 0:17:30.080 --> 0:17:33.520 to convince himself that everything was okay, even as his 0:17:33.560 --> 0:17:37.879 texts and calls went unanswered. Now finally he could spring 0:17:37.960 --> 0:17:41.040 into action. As soon as he got off the phone 0:17:41.040 --> 0:17:45.160 with Alexis, Randy reported Brian missing to the Columbus Police 0:17:45.600 --> 0:17:48.360 and told them everything he knew about his son's Friday 0:17:48.440 --> 0:17:53.000 night plans. The cops began by interviewing Clint, who gave 0:17:53.080 --> 0:17:56.480 them a rough timeline of the evening. As he explained 0:17:56.480 --> 0:17:59.399 it to them, he'd last seen Brian inside the Ugly 0:17:59.440 --> 0:18:03.760 tunis Lie around one forty am, but hadn't been able 0:18:03.760 --> 0:18:07.119 to find him when the bar closed at two. This 0:18:07.240 --> 0:18:11.040 location was good news for the investigation thanks to high 0:18:11.040 --> 0:18:14.600 crime rates in the surrounding neighborhood. The South Campus Gateway 0:18:14.640 --> 0:18:18.960 complex where the bar was located, had numerous security cameras. 0:18:19.520 --> 0:18:24.280 When the police reviewed the security footage, they quickly identified Brian, Clint, 0:18:24.280 --> 0:18:27.680 and Meredith going up the escalator towards the bar at 0:18:27.720 --> 0:18:31.600 one fifteen am. This matched the timeline that Clint had 0:18:31.640 --> 0:18:35.560 given them, which lent credibility to his statement, but otherwise 0:18:35.640 --> 0:18:39.280 didn't give them much to go on. And then at 0:18:39.320 --> 0:18:44.960 one fifty five am, just five minutes before the bar closed, incredibly, 0:18:45.640 --> 0:18:49.840 Brian was picked up on CCTV emerging from the bar 0:18:50.080 --> 0:18:53.920 into the street outside. He appeared to talk to two 0:18:54.000 --> 0:18:58.600 young women there before heading back into the bar. The 0:18:58.640 --> 0:19:03.320 CCTV footage then revealed Clinton Meredith leaving a few minutes later, 0:19:03.880 --> 0:19:06.840 along with the rest of the bar's remaining punters. That night, 0:19:07.920 --> 0:19:13.760 but Brian wasn't among them. Despite scourring the footage again 0:19:13.800 --> 0:19:17.080 and again, the police couldn't find a glimpse of him 0:19:17.200 --> 0:19:20.760 leaving the club. No one in the footage really looked 0:19:20.800 --> 0:19:23.480 like him or was wearing the same clothes as him 0:19:23.480 --> 0:19:27.760 that night. The position of the camera also eliminated any 0:19:27.760 --> 0:19:32.240 blind spots. It was inconceivable that anyone could have used 0:19:32.280 --> 0:19:36.320 that main entrance without showing up on the footage, which 0:19:36.480 --> 0:19:42.000 left two possible explanations. Either Brian had deliberately disguised himself 0:19:42.119 --> 0:19:44.840 by changing his clothes and hiding his face from the 0:19:44.840 --> 0:19:48.000 cameras sneaking out with the crowd at two a m. 0:19:49.280 --> 0:20:02.320 Or else he'd left by a different route. Officially, the 0:20:02.440 --> 0:20:05.760 Ugly Tuna Saloona's main entrance was the only way in 0:20:05.880 --> 0:20:08.520 and out of the building, but there was a service 0:20:08.600 --> 0:20:11.159 door tucked away in the side of the bar, not 0:20:11.320 --> 0:20:13.920 far from the spot where Brian had last been seen. 0:20:14.840 --> 0:20:17.720 It led to a first floor hallway, which in turn 0:20:17.920 --> 0:20:21.199 led to a construction area there wasn't technically open to 0:20:21.240 --> 0:20:25.600 the public, but wasn't locked either. There were security cameras 0:20:25.600 --> 0:20:28.320 in that area too, and when the police reviewed that 0:20:28.400 --> 0:20:32.960 footage there was no sign of Brian there either, but 0:20:33.040 --> 0:20:36.240 the camera coverage there was much more patchy and had 0:20:36.320 --> 0:20:39.800 multiple blind spots, so it was entirely possible that he 0:20:39.840 --> 0:20:44.080 could have slipped past unrecorded. Still, there was no mistaking 0:20:44.200 --> 0:20:47.560 that service door for a public exit. If Brian had 0:20:47.640 --> 0:20:50.560 chosen to leave the bar that way, it was because 0:20:50.600 --> 0:20:54.560 he didn't want to be seen, because he wanted to disappear. 0:20:56.000 --> 0:20:59.760 Even though multiple bars in the area had security cameras too, 0:21:00.200 --> 0:21:04.320 Brian wasn't visible on any of them. After one fifty 0:21:04.400 --> 0:21:08.000 five a m. On the morning of April first, there 0:21:08.080 --> 0:21:11.679 wasn't a glimpse of him anywhere in the city. In 0:21:11.720 --> 0:21:15.560 the days following Brian's disappearance, the police mounted a vast 0:21:15.560 --> 0:21:19.360 search effort, which spiraled outwards from the Ugly Tuna SALOONA 0:21:19.680 --> 0:21:24.440 and Brian's apartment nearby. As many as fifty officers went 0:21:24.520 --> 0:21:29.000 door to door asking for information. They searched local hospitals 0:21:29.040 --> 0:21:32.640 and homeless shelters, while police docks were used to comb 0:21:32.720 --> 0:21:37.800 through dumpsters, landfills, and abandoned buildings for any evidence of Brian, 0:21:38.520 --> 0:21:43.080 but there was nothing. They questioned Brian's family, friends and 0:21:43.160 --> 0:21:47.120 fellow students, hoping to uncover some dark secret that might 0:21:47.200 --> 0:21:51.959 offer a clue a drug habit perhaps, or gambling debts, 0:21:52.040 --> 0:21:55.520 or even a known enemy. But yet again they came 0:21:55.600 --> 0:21:59.920 up empty handed. Nobody had anything bad to say about Brian, 0:22:00.640 --> 0:22:05.000 nor any clue where he might have gone. Brian's own 0:22:05.000 --> 0:22:09.560 apartment offered no leads either. His car was still parked outside, 0:22:09.880 --> 0:22:13.119 so wherever he'd gone, he hadn't used his own vehicle 0:22:13.200 --> 0:22:17.920 to get there. This was significant because detectives were considering 0:22:17.960 --> 0:22:23.639 the possibility that Brian had disappeared voluntarily. By anyone's standards, 0:22:24.200 --> 0:22:28.080 he'd been under intense stress before he disappeared. There was 0:22:28.119 --> 0:22:31.719 the fresh grief of his mother's death, the sleep deprivation 0:22:31.960 --> 0:22:35.240 and stress from his exams, maybe even the pressure he'd 0:22:35.280 --> 0:22:39.200 felt to propose to Alexis. But Brian's friends and family 0:22:39.320 --> 0:22:42.560 dismissed this out of hand, and even the detective who 0:22:42.600 --> 0:22:45.680 thought it was possible had to admit that Brian didn't 0:22:45.680 --> 0:22:52.119 fit the profile. Typically, people who deliberately disappear tend to 0:22:52.160 --> 0:22:56.800 do so to escape financial ruin abuse, or a similarly 0:22:56.920 --> 0:23:02.480 unbearable and inescapable situation. Despite everything that Brian had been through, 0:23:02.920 --> 0:23:05.800 he had a stable life and a loving family. He 0:23:05.880 --> 0:23:16.159 was close to it just didn't feel right if Brian 0:23:16.280 --> 0:23:20.120 hadn't intended to disappear, The police figured there were only 0:23:20.200 --> 0:23:23.800 two real possibilities to explain what had happened to him. 0:23:24.280 --> 0:23:28.160 Either he'd fallen victim to an accident, or a deliberate 0:23:28.240 --> 0:23:32.240 act of violence. Because that service door from the bar 0:23:32.480 --> 0:23:36.000 led into a construction area which wasn't well lit at night, 0:23:36.840 --> 0:23:40.119 investigators thought it might be possible that Brian had fallen 0:23:40.160 --> 0:23:44.560 there and somehow died, but after an exhaustive search of 0:23:44.600 --> 0:23:48.760 the whole site, no body was ever found. As for 0:23:48.800 --> 0:23:51.399 an act of violence, there was no sign of a 0:23:51.440 --> 0:23:55.080 struggle or foul play at the bar, and Brian was 0:23:55.119 --> 0:23:58.800 a strong, athletic young man who was more than capable 0:23:58.840 --> 0:24:03.120 of defending himself even after several drinks. It is hard 0:24:03.160 --> 0:24:06.159 to fathom how he could have been overpowered and taken 0:24:06.200 --> 0:24:11.000 against his will without anybody noticing, and without any video evidence, 0:24:12.200 --> 0:24:17.960 every possibility seemed equally implausible. Before long, the police began 0:24:18.040 --> 0:24:21.959 to wonder if Clint or Meredith were hiding something. They 0:24:22.000 --> 0:24:26.320 asked the pair to take polygraph tests. Meredith agreed happily 0:24:26.440 --> 0:24:31.520 and passed the test, but Clint refused such tests. Are 0:24:31.520 --> 0:24:36.760 notoriously unreliable, so perhaps Clint figured not unreasonably, that he 0:24:36.800 --> 0:24:41.120 didn't want to subject himself to something so unpredictable, especially 0:24:41.160 --> 0:24:44.920 if he didn't have anything to hide. Either way, there 0:24:44.960 --> 0:24:47.760 was no evidence to suggest that Clint had anything to 0:24:47.840 --> 0:24:52.200 do with Brian's disappearance, and the security footage clearly showed 0:24:52.280 --> 0:24:55.399 him leaving the bar with Meredith after they appeared to 0:24:55.440 --> 0:25:00.160 have innocently failed to find him. All the while, brian 0:25:00.280 --> 0:25:05.679 father Randy continued to search relentlessly for his son. Losing 0:25:05.720 --> 0:25:09.000 his son so soon after his wife's death without any 0:25:09.040 --> 0:25:12.920 closure was too much for him to bear. Throwing himself 0:25:12.920 --> 0:25:15.080 into the search was just about all he could do 0:25:15.200 --> 0:25:19.040 to keep it together, and so as the official investigation 0:25:19.200 --> 0:25:23.280 began to lose steam, he wrapped up his own. He 0:25:23.320 --> 0:25:26.199 and Brian's younger brother Derek formed a search party with 0:25:26.280 --> 0:25:30.160 some of their neighbors, and together they spent hours trudging 0:25:30.160 --> 0:25:33.480 along the shores of the Olan Tangy River searching for 0:25:33.560 --> 0:25:38.800 any sign of Brian. Meanwhile, Alexis would repeatedly call Brian's 0:25:38.840 --> 0:25:41.800 cell phone, in part just so she could hear his 0:25:41.920 --> 0:25:45.159 voice on the voicemail, but also in the hope that 0:25:45.320 --> 0:25:49.920 one day somebody might answer, and for months it went 0:25:50.000 --> 0:25:54.520 straight to voicemail. But then one night she called Brian's 0:25:54.560 --> 0:26:05.240 phone again and it began to ring. As Alexis sat 0:26:05.320 --> 0:26:09.920 listening to that ring tone, she was instantly seized by hope. 0:26:09.960 --> 0:26:13.240 But after only a few rings, the call once again 0:26:13.400 --> 0:26:18.600 went to voicemail as usual. Investigators determined that this was 0:26:18.640 --> 0:26:21.680 probably just caused by a glitch on the cell phone network, 0:26:22.359 --> 0:26:26.680 but then Brian's phone from that exact call was later 0:26:26.760 --> 0:26:30.320 found to have pinged a tower in Hilliard, a northwestern 0:26:30.359 --> 0:26:35.200 suburb of Columbus. This cell phone ping is the closest 0:26:35.200 --> 0:26:38.600 thing to new evidence that submerged since Brian went missing, 0:26:39.520 --> 0:26:43.600 but in the end, just like everything else, it led nowhere. 0:26:44.680 --> 0:26:47.159 Although dozens of tips came in from members of the 0:26:47.160 --> 0:26:51.240 public claiming to have seen Brian in locations as far 0:26:51.320 --> 0:26:55.280