The Most Bizarre Disappearance Ever Caught On Camera

It was the start of spring break 2006 for one 27-year-old second-year medical student seemingly at the height of his life. He had just excelled at his midterms and was only three days away from a big trip with his girlfriend that he was planning to propose to. Very gorgeous. I just want to say hi and tell you that you're an amazing woman and I love you. So, bye. Bye. So, to celebrate all of these exciting things in his life, Brian Schaefer goes out drinking with some of his friends. He's seen on CCTV footage walking into the bar, but he's never seen leaving and was never seen alive ever again. This is easily one of the most confusing missing persons cases that I have ever covered. A disappearance that has baffled the internet and detectives for over 20 years. This is one of those cases that you just never forget. And it weighs on you the rest of your life. Here's a picture of him. He's very important to me. He's so bright. This is a case that could drive any investigators insane because there is no logical explanation on how Brian Schaefer just disappeared into thin air. My name is Brianna and I'm hot on the case. Tammy regularly hauls stuff to her kids at college. That's why she shops at BJ's Wholesale Club, saving up to 25% off grocery store prices. Beef jerky, microwave meals, laundry pods, even they can't screw up. Have you met my kids? And with BJ's gas, she gets there for less. They call me the road warrior. This is your home, road warrior mom. Home of the save. Join for just $20 at BJs.com slash mesquite and save 10 cents per gallon for six months. Open soon. Limited time offer. New members. Only BJ's home of the save. I'm not giving up. I am selling the building. The final season of FX is the bear. The restaurant is flooded. Everything's either going to be okay. Or not. We are outgunned and we are outmanned, but we have each other. FX is the bear. The final season. All episodes. Now streaming on Disney+. Brian Schaefer was born on February 11th, 1979 to his parents, Randy and Renee. And he had a younger brother named Derek. The entire family was very, very close. And they grew up in Pickerington, Ohio, a small, well-off suburb outside of Columbus, Ohio. The family really seemed to have it all. Two parents that were well-off and very popular in the neighborhood. They lived in a big house. Their sons were really nice. Smart, good-looking, athletic boys. Growing up, Brian was popular. He was charming. He was really, really good in school. He was athletic. He was a really good baseball and tennis player. Some even said that he was good enough to go pro in tennis. Brian's mother, Renee, was a nurse. And she always pushed Brian into entering the medical field when it was time for him to go to college. After graduating from high school in 1997, Brian would attend Ohio State University. He got a bachelor's degree in 2003. And then stayed at OSU for medical school. Which Renee was very, very happy about. Brian was always an overachiever. And even while in medical school, which was really, really hard, Brian was one of the top 10 students in his class. But Brian's real passion in life was music. He was even in a band in high school. And always had a dream of starting another band and putting out a record one day. But Brian was being more practical, more realistic, I guess. Going into college. Just like his mom. But these dreams he had of wanting to play music. And, you know, his big rock star dreams. They were always still in the back of his mind. In 2005, Brian met and started dating his absolutely beautiful girlfriend named Alexis Wagner. Who was also a med student in his class. Brian and Alexis really seemed to be a golden couple. They were both extremely attractive. They were ambitious. They were successful. Brian's family absolutely adored Alexis. She seemed to like him. He seemed like a great catch. And they seemed like a great match. In December of 2005, for Christmas, Brian's mother, Renee, gifted the couple a trip to Miami for them to take over their spring break. Which was just in a few months. And they were really, really excited about it. And there were actually talks that Brian was planning to propose to Alexis on this spring break trip to Miami. He was asking his mom about where he should shop for engagement rings and how much money he should spend. So at this point in Brian's life, he really does seem to have a lot going on. He seems to have it all. He has a wonderful girlfriend, almost fiance. He's excelling in medical school with a great future and a great career ahead of him. But sadly, in early 2006, Brian's mother, Renee, was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer. And sadly, the cancer was very, very aggressive. And just a few months later, on March 6, 2006, Brian's mother, Renee, would pass away. This hit the Schaefer family very, very hard. As you can imagine, Brian's dad lost his wife. Him and his younger brother were both so young. Brian was only 27. His brother, Derek, was even younger than that. They were both still in school. Brian was also so close to his mom. He would say that she was the most wonderful person that he had ever met and that she was his hero. So the entire thing was just a very devastating loss for everyone. But according to people in his life, Brian was definitely grieving the loss of his mother. But he was holding himself together pretty well, all things considered. Brian's mother actually passed away. While he was studying for his midterms. So he was definitely under a lot of stress in those early few months of 2006. But despite everything, he still did really, really well in his exams. On Friday, March 31, 2006, midterms were finally over. And it was the last day of classes before spring break started. Which also meant that Brian and Alexa were going to leave for their big spring break trip to Miami in just three days. So after classes that Friday night, Brian planned to go to Miami. To celebrate, he made plans to go out bar hopping with some of his friends later that night. That weekend, Alexis would not be there with Brian because she was actually back home in Toledo, spending some time with family before her and Brian's big trip. Around 6 p.m. before going out bar hopping with friends, Brian meets his dad, Randy, for dinner at Outback Steakhouse. And it was a very emotional dinner for Brian's father, Randy. Outback was a restaurant that Renee and Randy used to go together all the time. It was one of the most popular restaurants in Miami. It was one of their favorite restaurants. Randy even ordered a meal that him and Renee used to always share together. And Renee had only passed away about three weeks earlier. So it was still very raw and a huge wave of emotions just hit Randy all at once while they were at Outback. And he actually started to cry at dinner. Brian comforted his father, telling him that it was going to be all right. And that he would be there for his father as much as possible. Brian also made plans with his father for the following morning to go through his mother's. stuff with his dad. He also told his dad about his plans to go out drinking that night with some of his friends. Randy didn't love the idea of Brian going out drinking that night because he could see that his son was so exhausted from all of the all-nighters studying for all of his exams. And he thought it would probably be better for Brian to just go home and get some sleep. But Randy could also see that his son Brian seemed really excited to go out drinking and all things considered, he seemed to be in good spirits. He wasn't depressed that night by any means. So I guess Randy saw it that like Brian had just lost his mom while also studying for these really stressful final exams. So maybe it would be good for his son to just go out and be carefree and just let loose a little bit. So by 9:30 PM, Brian is back at his apartment and his friend, William Clint Florence meets him at his apartment. And this friend goes by Clint. So that's how I'm going to refer to him for the rest of this episode. So Clint. And Brian are at Brian's apartment, just pre-gaming a little bit before going out bar hopping. Clint and Brian were really good friends. They were drinking buddies and actually used to be roommates not that long ago. And there's a lot more to Clint and his friendship with Brian that I will be going over later in this episode when we're discussing theories about Brian's disappearance. So if you think like I'm glossing over anything, just wait until we get to the theory aspect and we'll dive more into Brian's friendship with Clint after pre-gaming. A little bit Brian and Clint make a 10 minute walk to the South campus gateway. The gateway was this massive building near the Ohio state university campus that was built by the city to give students a safer place to hang out in a rather high crime area of the city. The gateway was this massive building. There were apartments, there was a parking garage and eight screen movie theater. There were restaurants, there were bookstores, and there was also. A very popular college bar called the ugly tuna saloona. The ugly tuna saloona was on the second floor and the only way to get to the bar was from an escalator and there was only one public entrance to this bar. As Brian and Clint are about to walk into the ugly tuna saloona, Brian sends a text to his girlfriend, Alexis at 9:52 PM to let her know how excited he was for their trip to Miami and that he loved her. Brian and Clint to start their crawl at the ugly tuna saloona. where they met up with a group of their friends. They all then went to the short, Tavern, and then to the Brothers Bar and Grill, having one shot of liquor at each bar. And at the Brothers Bar and Grill, Brian and Clint meet up with one of Clint's really, really good friends, a girl named Meredith Reed. And although the plan was to bar hop and have a shot at each bar, the group kind of just hangs out at the Brothers Bar and Grill for most of the evening. But closer to 1am, Brian, Clint, and Meredith decide that they're going to break away from the rest of the group and go back to the Ugly Tuna Saloon, just the three of them. They're seen on CCTV footage riding up the escalator to the bar at around 1.15am, and nothing seems weird at this point. Everything seems perfectly normal. And then the three of them are in the bar hanging out for a while drinking and just hanging out around a table. Brian seems to be having a really, really good time, and he actually didn't want the night to end. He brought up that he was interested in finding some kind of after party or would be interested in having a drink with his friends. And he said, in hosting one himself if other people were down. And at one point during the night at the Ugly Tuna Saloon, Brian is chatting up two girls named Amber and Brighton. He's seen talking to them right outside the Ugly Tuna Saloon in front of the escalators as the girls were getting ready to leave at 1.55am. Reportedly, Brian offers to walk the two girls to their car because it wasn't that safe of a neighborhood, but the girls politely decline. The girls said that Brian was pretty flirty and he even exchanged phone numbers with the girls. Brian said, no numbers with one of them before the girls left. And Brian turned and headed back into the bar outside of camera view. This is the last confirmed sighting of Brian Schaefer before he vanishes into thin air. Because as you can see in this footage, Brian goes to walk into the bar and he is never seen leaving again. Inside the bar, Clint and Meredith report that they were just chatting with Brian for a little bit as the bar was getting ready to close. In about five minutes, bars close at 2am. Brian, who we know was super into music, I guess was really liking the band that was playing that night at Ugly Tuna Saloon, so he told Clint and Meredith that he was going to go talk to the band. Within five minutes, the bar had already done its last call and were closing. Clint and Meredith are looking around the bar for Brian. Clint even goes into the men's bathroom to see if Brian is in there, but they can't find him. Just after 2am, Clint and Meredith are seen outside the Ugly Tuna Saloon on CCTV footage trying to call Brian, but at this point, he's either not answering his phone or his phone is turned off or dead because it just keeps going to voicemail. Meredith leaves a message asking Brian where the hell he is, but they get no answer. And eventually, the bar completely closes and Clint and Meredith just assume that Brian left on his own. Apparently, Brian was known to Irish goodbye after a night of drinking, so they weren't really worried and they just go back home. So, they're going to go to the bar and they're going to go to the bar and they're going to go home and they get some sleep. The next morning, Meredith tries and calls Brian again to make sure that he got home safe, but again, there's no answer. Clint even claims that they drove over to his apartment the next morning, but he either wasn't home and was crashing somewhere else last night, or he was home but sleeping off a very serious hangover because he did not answer the door. But at this point, they're still not worried. Across town, Brian's father, Randy, is also trying to get a hold of Brian because they had plans that morning to get him home. But at this point, they're still not wanting to go through Brian's mother's stuff. But Brian never showed up and now he wasn't answering the phone. In Toledo, Brian's girlfriend, Alexis, who is still visiting family, is also trying to call and text Brian with no answer. And she is definitely getting stressed out because this is not like him. She knew that Brian and Clint were hanging out the night before, so she reaches out to Clint to see if maybe he's with Brian. And Clint tells Alexis what happened the night before, how they saw him, and then within five minutes, the bar closed and they couldn't find him. He was just gone. And other than that, Clint and Meredith had no clue what happened to Brian after that. So for two days, Alexis tries to get a hold of her boyfriend with no luck. On Sunday night, she traveled back and almost just straight goes to Brian's apartment where she found that he wasn't there. And it actually looked like Brian hadn't been home since Friday night when he went out drinking. So at this point, she calls Brian's dad, Randy, and she's absolutely panicked. Randy calls Brian's younger brother, Derek, to also go over to Brian's apartment. They confirm that Brian's not there and it looked like he hadn't been there in days. And then all three of them go to the police and report Brian missing. Unfortunately, the police responded like we see so often in cases like this by telling Brian's worried family and girlfriend that he would probably just show up soon. They really thought that even though Brian had gone out drinking two days prior, that he was still just crashing at someone's apartment. And just never charged his phone. But the next morning, it was Monday, April 3rd. Brian and Alexis were supposed to leave for the big spring break trip to Miami. But of course, Brian never shows up. And I guess this was enough for the police to agree that something was wrong. So Brian was officially reported missing and extensive searches began. But sadly, these searches started three days late and important witnesses and evidence was likely gone by now. Police did their best to try and find anyone that Brian might have come in contact with the night that he went missing, which included his friends, bar staff, those two girls, Amber and Brighton that he was talking to, the band that Brian said that he was going to talk to when he disappeared. And absolutely no one had any information about what might have happened to him. Probably the most confusing aspect of this case and possibly the reason that has gotten so much attention is the CCTV footage. At 1.55am, Brian is seen walking back into the bar and he is never seen leaving the bar on CCTV footage ever again. It's like he vanished into thin air five minutes later when the bar closed and his friends started looking for him. And the entrance slash exit that Brian is last seen walking into was the only publicly available entrance or exit of this bar. There was an emergency exit in the back of the bar, but if anyone used this exit, a very loud alarm would sound. And there was also a security camera that was pointed at him and said, at this exit. And Brian never walked out of it. There was also a third exit through a service door that unfortunately did not have a security camera pointed at it. But the service door led to a bunch of construction that was being done at the time and it was blocked off so no one could accidentally wander into this dangerous construction zone. So if Brian was super drunk and was feeling impulsive, maybe it's possible that he left through this service exit, but the two girls that Brian was talking to five minutes before he disappeared said that Brian didn't seem really that drunk at all. And like I said, this exit was blocked off. I've seen it either reported that there was a bunch of stuff put in front of it so people wouldn't accidentally walk in there or that there was a chain that went across the door so people would know not to use this exit. But either way, there really doesn't seem to be any explanation on how this man walked into a bar and is never seen leaving again and is just never seen ever again. And this is why this case has baffled so many people for so many years. Searches for Brian were extensive, like I said. They searched the entirety of the ugly tuna saloon and the gateway building, the construction zone outside the bar and the surrounding area, and they didn't find a single thing. They even brought cadaver dogs into the bar because maybe the reason that Brian was never seen leaving the bar is because something happened to him when he was still in the bar, but the dogs didn't get a hit on anything. They also brought cadaver dogs around the entire gateway building and the surrounding area, and again, they got no hits on anything. Scent tracking dogs were also brought in, and reportedly one dog did get a trail that led all the way to a Wendy's parking lot that was not too far away, but then the trail just ended. There was a river that was not that far away from the bar, and it was also not that far away from Brian's apartment, so this was also extensively searched. Just in case, Brian somehow managed to leave the bar and not be seen on security footage, and maybe he's walking home from the bar and he's super, super drunk and somehow managed to fall into the river, but again, there was no luck when these extensive searches were done. There were no signs of Brian, and there was no evidence to suggest that this is what happened to him. There was just literally nothing at all, and after going to the ugly tuna saloon, Brian's phone and his bank account had zero activity on it. There were just no breadcrumbs for the detectives or the investigators to follow. The only thing that police really had to go on were the people in Brian's life that he saw the night that he went missing, which were his father Randy and his friends Clint and Meredith. All three of them spoke with investigators, and nothing about their stories seemed suspicious, but to rule out the one and only lead that they had, they asked Randy, Meredith, and Clint to all take polygraph tests. Again, just to rule out this very slim possibility. Randy and Meredith agreed to take the polygraph, but Clint refused. Which really seemed weird to Brian's dad and brother. After questioning Clint's decision to not take the polygraph and rule himself out as a possibility, Clint all at once stopped talking to Brian's family, his girlfriend, the media, the police, and he got a lawyer. And very quickly after that, Clint's very good friend Meredith, who was also one of the last two people to ever see Brian alive, also stopped talking and also got a lawyer. Which I will admit, it's not a good look. But I don't have all the details on why they made this decision. But this fact has led a lot of people to side-eye them a lot. Especially since they were the last two people to see Brian Schaefer. Just a little over a month after Brian vanished, someone broke into his apartment. Obviously, they couldn't be 100% sure what was taken because a full inventory of Brian's belonging hadn't been done. But they could at least tell that some of Brian's DVDs had been stolen. Which is odd. But police did not believe that this break-in had anything to do with Brian's disappearance because there had been other break-ins in the area recently. But since this break-in was never solved, we can never be too sure. Following her boyfriend's disappearance, Alexis was distraught. For a year, every single night before bed, she would call Brian's phone. Of course, I would always go to voicemail. But it was really nice to at least hear Brian's voice, even if it was just his voicemail. It was surreal to me every single day to wake up and think that he's going to call. Or, you know, I can just run over to his apartment, knock on the door, and he'll give me his normal big smile and open the door and he's not there. I'm terrified somebody's not going to call and this could keep going on and on and on. Because this is hard, impossible to really deal with. But then about six months in, something strange happened. When Alexis called Brian's phone, instead of immediately going to voicemail, it rang three times before going to voicemail. So someone had charged his phone or turned it on six months after he vanished. Alexis immediately went to the police with this and the police reached out to Brian's cell phone provider. The cell phone provider told police that Brian's phone had actually pinged in a nearby town called Hilliard. But they believed that this ping and also the fact that Brian's phone rang was actually a glitch and not a real lead. But I'm pretty sure that there was no way of 100% confirming this. And this is just a lead. And Brian Schaefer's phone never rang again. In 2008, there was another tragedy in the Schaefer family. Home of the save. Join for just $20 at BJ's dot com slash mesquite and save 10 cents per gallon for six months. Open soon. Limited time offer. New members only. BJ's Home of the Save. I'm not giving up. No, stop. Or not. FX is the Bear. The final season. All episodes now streaming on Disney+. On September 14th, 2008, there was a very, very big storm in Ohio. Brian's father, Randy, was in his front yard when strong winds tore down a really big tree branch, which hit Randy in the neck and killed him in a freak accident. Meaning in the span of less than three years, Derek Schaefer lost his mom, lost his brother, and lost his father, his entire family. In central Ohio, now linked to last night's storm, neighbors discovered Randy Schaefer this morning in Baltimore pinned under a massive tree limb. You might recognize that name. Schaefer is the father of missing OSU student Brian Schaefer. ABC 6 reporter Shawn Cuellar joins us live from the OSU campus where Schaefer spent countless hours looking for his son. Shawn? Well Gabe, certainly many of us are familiar with the case of Brian Schaefer. He was last seen here at the Ugly Tunas Luna more than two years ago. His father organized many search efforts, one of the first right here at this location. And his father, Randy, never stopped searching. Hours after the storm, neighbors in this Baltimore neighborhood continue picking up the pieces. Not far from where this branch fell, a heavy limb came crashing down in Randy Schaefer's backyard. You can see where it split from the tree. It snapped Sunday night during the peak of the storm. This morning, two neighbors came out to see what happened and found the body of Randy Schaefer pinned underneath. Those who know the Schaefer's can understand why their family has been dealt another blow. An online obituary was posted for Brian and Derek's father, Randy, and someone left a comment on this obituary just a few days before Randy was meant to be buried in his funeral service. And this comment read, "Dad, I love you. Brian. Virgin Islands." This shocked people. Was Brian still alive somewhere? Police were able to track the IP address of this commenter, and it was not made in the Virgin Islands, but instead it was traced to a public library computer in Franklin County, Ohio. And it has been determined that this was very likely a sick, cruel hoax done to a family that was already dealing with so much pain and tragedy, and sadly, this troll has never been found. Now, before we dive into some of the newer updates in this case, let's first go over all the theories in this case, and there are many. The first theory is that Brian Schaefer was the victim of the Smiley Face Killers. The Smiley Face Killers is a theory that, at least 40 men whose dead bodies were found in bodies of water going all the way back to the '90s were murders committed by a group of serial killers. The victims are always found in water, their deaths are ruled as accidental drownings, and there's always a spray-painted smiley face found nearby. The men are typically college age that go missing after a night of drinking and are typically handsome, white, successful, and affluent and popular. Brian would definitely fit the victim profile, but his body has never been found, especially not in water, and the FBI are actually adamant that the Smiley Face Killers do not exist. The next theory is that Brian actually never left the Ugly Tuna Saloon, and his body is still hidden somewhere in the bar. I'm not going to go over this theory too much because I do not think that this theory is possible. Cadaver dogs went into the bar multiple times. The bar was extensively searched multiple times. It has also now been 20 years, and I think by now something would have been found, at least by the smell alone, and the Ugly Tuna Saloon also closed in 2018, so if Brian's body was there, I think during the closing process, they would have likely found it. There is also a theory that Brian somehow accidentally died inside of the Ugly Tuna Saloon, and the bar covered it up, and his body was then snuck out of the bar through a back entrance. There is also a theory that Brian was never seen leaving the bar, and apparently the Ugly Tuna Saloon also had a pretty sketchy reputation, like bouncers would let underage people come into the bar and drink. They also had a very intense happy hour deal where you could get mixed well drinks for $1, and there was a mandatory $10 minimum, so people have to buy like 10 alcoholic drinks within one hour to get this deal, which is a lot, and a lot of people would come get it. But really, really drunk for really, really cheap. Was it possible that Brian came to this bar, got too drunk, fell and hit his head, or maybe he was over-served and got alcohol poisoning of some kind, he accidentally dies in the bar, and the bar is scared of getting closed down for over-serving all of these college kids and maybe even underage kids, and they covered up Brian's death? I certainly think that this theory is possible, but also this case has so much attention on it, and if this theory is true. If this theory is true, so many people would know about it, and I feel like likely by now, 20 years later, someone would have talked by now, even if it was just anonymously. There is also a theory that somehow Brian was able to get out of the bar without being seen on security cameras, and on his walk home, he became the victim of a random attack, possibly a victim of a mugging slash murder. This theory is heavily speculated online because the area outside the Ugly Tuna Saloon was such a high-crime area. But I personally have a hard time believing this theory for two reasons. The first reason being that Brian would not be a likely victim for this sort of crime. For one thing, he was male, he was athletic, he was very, very tall, he was 6'2". Even with a weapon, I think that a perpetrator would be out looking for a victim of opportunity, wouldn't choose Brian. And also, if this is what happened to Brian, then where is Brian's body? In Muggings Gone Wrong, a perpetrator usually. immediately runs off to not get caught. I've never heard of a situation like this. where someone is trying to rob someone and the gun goes off or they kill them and the perpetrator just hangs out to try and hide their body. And again, Brian was a really big dude. He was athletic. He was over six foot tall. So hiding his body would not be an easy task, especially if it was dead weight. So I do not think that this theory is likely at all. The next theory that is talked about a lot online is that Brian brought an end to his own life. His mother had just passed away three weeks earlier and he was under a lot of stress with school and the thought of possibly proposing. But people in Brian's life say that he would never ever do this and I think that this is what happened, that his body again would have been found by now. The next theory, which is kind of similar in motive to the first theory, was that Brian is actually still alive and ran away to start a new life. And this theory actually does have some evidence to it. Brian always loved music and it was his real passion in life and going to med school was something that his mother had pushed him into and not something that he actually felt driven to do. Brian had a dream of playing music, living on a beach on an island somewhere. He even posted on MySpace once that becoming a doctor was just a job to him and it was temporary. And one day he wanted to play music, live on an island and live like Jimmy Buffett. A lot of people have taken this MySpace post that Brian made as evidence that this is in fact what happened, that he never wanted to go to med school. He always just wanted to be a beach bum, playing the guitar, playing music, living on an island and that that is what he's doing. He's on a beach somewhere with a pina colada in his hand. I, of course, did not know Brian Schaefer, but from personal opinion of someone who's posted online, in my opinion, this reads more as like, a sarcastic post that he made online, like a joke. I wouldn't think that anyone that's going to go through eight years of college, you know, four years in his bachelor degree and then four year in med school, just to call this as something being temporary for him. But of course, I did not know Brian and maybe this was insight into real desires that he had. And probably the biggest piece of evidence for him to be a beach bum, playing the guitar, playing the guitar, playing the guitar, this theory, about one week after his mother passed away and two weeks before Brian disappeared, Brian asked his girlfriend, Alexis, if she would run away with him and leave everything behind. This is very damning evidence. And apparently Alexis told Brian, no, that she didn't just want to run away and leave everything behind. I, of course, don't know all the details. If this is something that Brian meant, like temporary, like they just go on a trip, or if this is something that he wanted to do long term. But we also do know that this was something that Brian apparently had done in the past. During his first year of medical school, Brian got up, he took a trip to the Caribbean and didn't tell anyone. But he did actually call his family after he landed. But still, he just got up and went to the Caribbean without telling anyone. Was it possible that Brian was out there somewhere, just living on a beach? Maybe he wasn't dealing with his mother's death as well as everyone thought he was. And medical school was something that reminded him of his mother. And his trip to Miami in just a few days was a trip that his mother got him. And he had these plans to propose, plans that he made with his mother. So maybe after a night out drinking, Brian just got to thinking and he got in his emotions and decided that he was just going to leave. I think this is something that I think is very, very important. I think this is something possible, but not probable. For one thing, I don't think he would be able to pull this off without his car, without his phone, without the money in his bank account. Like you're telling me, he just left with the clothes on his back and was able to successfully do that after going out drinking. Like he was drunk when he would have had to have done this. And he was able to successfully do this for 20 years. And also his case has gotten so much attention. So he's done this for 20 years. And he's been doing this for 20 years. And no one has ever found him. I also think this is something that would be out of character for Brian, considering everything that I have heard about him and read about him, that he would just leave his girlfriend a few days before they're supposed to go on this trip that he was planning to ask her to marry him at. Also, I think that he wouldn't do this to his family. His father and his brother were really devastated. We know that his father was especially extremely devastated. They went out to dinner the night that he disappeared and his father was crying about his mother. And Brian even says to his dad, it's okay. And I will be here for you as much as possible. Would he really say that to his father, knowing that he was going to just run away? I know some people think that maybe that last dinner with his dad was like a goodbye for Brian because he knew that he was going to leave. But I just really struggle with the logistics on how he would be able to pull something like this off. Brian Hall's stuff to her kids at college. Home of the save. Open soon. Limited time offer, new members only. BJ's, home of the save. There's another theory that I actually find very interesting. And this is the theory that Brian left with the band after the Ugly Tuna Saloon closed and whatever happened to Brian happened to him afterwards. I'm going to start off by saying that this is the first theory that I'm telling you about that I actually do believe is possible. So if we're going to believe what Meredith and Clint said is true, that means the last time they ever saw Brian, he was going to go talk to the band that was playing at the Ugly Tuna Saloon that night. Well, according to the band, after they finished up their set and left the Ugly Tuna, they left with a large group of people out the service door. If you remember, the service door was the only exit that didn't have a security camera monitoring it. I'm a little confused by this because every source I've read said that the service door led directly to a dangerous, dark, hard to navigate construction zone. But maybe it's possible that there was some sort of parking lot that led to the Ugly Tuna Saloon and that led off of the construction zone where the band might have parked their van and they used the service door to load in and load out all of their equipment. Now, if you remember, Brian was really interested in keeping the party going that night after the bar closed. He was talking about trying to find an after party or maybe even hosting people after the bar closed at his apartment. Is it possible that maybe after the bar was closing, Brian followed the band out with this big group of people? I'm going to start by saying that the band was really interested in trying to find a way to keep the party going. I'm going to start by saying that the to the construction area, and most likely got exited out of there. But again, we don't have anything that's on video to support that. It's just speculation at this time. And he walks out the service door, and it leads to, like I said, this very dangerous, dark, hard-to-navigate construction zone. And he wanders into this construction zone because he can't see anything. Everyone said it was very, very dark and very, very dangerous. And maybe he got injured or even possibly died. Reportedly, concrete was going to be poured in this construction zone the very next morning. And maybe the reason Brian's body has never been found is because it was covered up by concrete. I will admit that this theory does have quite a few holes in it. One being the construction workers would have probably looked where they were pouring concrete before they actually went and poured it. And the next being that cadaver dogs were brought in just a few days later. And I did a little researching, and apparently cadaver dogs would have still found Brian's body, even if concrete was poured on top of it. They would have alerted to human remains. But this theory would explain why his body has never been found and how Brian could have left the bar without being seen on any cameras. The next and last theory is probably the one that is talked about the most online. And that is the theory that Brian's friend, Clint, knows more about what happened to Brian that he is led on and possibly Clint did something to Brian. This theory is brought up so much because Clint isn't talking but there is more to this theory than just that and there is a lot of information in this theory that is not confirmed so I just want to put this out there that most if not everything I'm about to tell you is not confirmed. It's just speculation and there's not a lot of details to even the things that we do know. Just putting that out there. So I've already briefly mentioned that Brian and Clint used to be roommates but I didn't tell you what happened and to be honest like I just said there's not a lot of information but what I do know is for whatever reason Brian and Clint decided to move out and stop being roommates and ended their lease early. It has also been reported that on St. Patrick's Day, so just a few weeks before Brian disappeared, Brian and Clint went out drinking and they got into a pretty big fight and I don't know what this fight is about but I have seen it reported that it was a physical altercation but the night that they went out drinking, the night that Brian disappeared, was the first time they hung out since this big fight that they had. So clearly there's something going on between these guys and this friendship that they have. They're fighting, they stop being roommates, they end their lease early. There has also been some speculation, some rumors, and there has been some speculation, some rumors, rumors that even detectives on this case have floated around and these rumors are dealing with Brian and Clint's sexuality and maybe that they were more than friends. Personally, I don't feel comfortable speculating on this, especially because there is no information or evidence and it's just rumors, but I knew if I didn't bring this up that the comments definitely would have. There's also been a lot of speculation that maybe Brian was a serial cheater and this was the reason that him and Clint were fighting. About a month before Brian disappeared, Clint posted on Brian's MySpace telling girls not to trust him and that Brian was only interested in ass. He also made a few comments after Brian disappeared, specifically about the girls that Brian was talking to the night that he disappeared and how Brian was doing what he always did, talking to girls. Paired that with the fact that Brian was also apparently flirting with these two girls right before he disappeared and that he even gave them his phone number. Is it possible that Brian was a serial cheater, that he was always cheating on his girlfriend? Maybe the reason that Clint and Brian stopped being roommates and ended their early wasn't because Brian was upset with Clint, but because Clint was obsessed with Brian. He was upset with Brian. Maybe Brian was always bringing girls back to their apartment. Maybe the reason that they fought on St. Patrick's Day was because Brian was always bringing girls back to their apartment, because Brian was flirting with girls, doing what Brian always did. And on this night specifically, Clint was really upset with Brian because Brian was flirting with these two girls, gave one of them his phone number. I also saw it reported that Brian kissed one of them on the neck and maybe Clint was really upset with Brian because Clint knew that him and his girlfriend were about to leave on this big trip in just a few days, a trip that Brian was actually possibly going to propose to his girlfriend on. Again, this is all speculation and there is zero evidence that Brian ever cheated on his girlfriend. A lot of people that disagree with the theory that Clint did something to Brian point to the fact that Brian is seen on security cameras outside the bar and walking back into the bar at 1.55 a.m. and Clint and Meredith are seen back outside the bar just a little over five minutes later trying to call him and find him. How could Clint have done something to Brian and hide his body in five minutes? It does not seem likely, but it could be possible that somehow Brian got out of the bar without being seen on security cameras and on his walk back home ran into Clint or maybe Clint showed up at Brian's apartment after the bar and something happened then. I definitely think that that is very possible, but again, there's no evidence and Clint has never been publicly named as a person of interest in this case. But again, a lot of people don't know that. So, I'm not sure if it's true or not. I don't think so. I don't think so. I don't think so. I don't think so. I don't think so. I don't have a hard time dealing with the fact that Clint's one of the last people that ever saw Brian and then he is refusing to talk to Brian's family, refusing to talk to the media or the police and got a lawyer and refused to take a polygraph test. We do have a few recent updates in this case and by recent, I mean in the last handful of years and there was also something extremely interesting that happened regarding this case in just the last handful of months and that's something I will get into at the very end of this episode. So, in 2020, a photo of Clint and Meredith were taken to a police station in New York City and a photo of a homeless man in Mexico was sent to the FBI because it looked a lot like the missing Brian Schaefer. The FBI would later determine that this man was not Brian after doing a facial recognition analysis on the photo but have confirmed that they never actually found the man and they never spoke to him. In March of 2021, an age progression photo was released of what Brian Schaefer might look like in his 40s. If you're watching the video version of this, please take a look at the photo and if you're only listening to the audio version, I would highly recommend checking out this photo to see if you recognize him. Now, this is the most recent update in Brian Schaefer's disappearance and it only happened a few months ago. To spread additional awareness for the 20th anniversary of Brian Schaefer's disappearance, a true crime podcast called The True Crime Garage put out a six-part series on Brian's disappearance and they worked with the owner of a Facebook page on Brian's case called Brian Schaefer's Disappearance. While working on this six-part series, they received a tip about Brian's case. The details of this tip are unknown but it did include a timeline, a full timeline, and a bunch of details on the case that were not released to the public. The tip also included a name that has also never been released to the public. When they brought this tip to the investigators, they were absolutely shocked and reportedly the homicide detective on the case said, holy hell, how did you get that name? Reportedly, the name that this tip Tammy regularly hauls stuff to her kids at college. Home of the save. Open soon. Hello. Look what TJ Maxx dragged in. The Devil Wears Prada 2 is now streaming on Disney Plus and Hulu. We are digital. We are downloadable. We are streamable. The fashion event of the year is certified fresh. Pull yourself together. We have work to do. Critics say it's smart and witty and the perfect secret. That's all. Get runway ready for the Devil Wears Prada 2 on Disney Plus and Hulu. Rated PG-13. Gave this podcast and this Facebook group was actually a name that was given in a tip at the very start of this case 20 years ago, 2006, from one of Brian's friends. But again, the details of this is unknown. But from what we do know, it does make me believe that detectives on this case believe this name is at least a person of interest. This name was given to them by one of Brian's friends at the start of Brian's disappearance in 2006. And then they never released it to the public, which also makes me think that it's a person of interest and they don't want to cloud their investigation. And then 20 years later, there's another tip by a completely separate person. So two sources given the same name. And in this brand new tip, there's a bunch of details that were also not released to the public. It makes it very likely that the detectives believe that Brian Shafer did meet foul play. But unfortunately, this is all the information that we really know about this tip. But I am extremely hopeful that this tip does bring a conclusion, that it brings closure, and it brings justice. So I'm just spitballing here. And these are my thoughts about this new update and this tip and this name of this possible person of interest. But knowing no details about it. So again, just spitballing, this is not fact. Considering that one of Brian's friends 20 years ago gave the police a name, and then 20 years later, another person gives the exact same name, I think it's extremely possible that this name is someone that Brian knew, possibly one of his friends. And if this name did something to Brian and it's foul play, could it be possible that this person broke into Brian's apartment when Brian's apartment was broken into a month after he disappeared to maybe clean up some evidence or take something that maybe had their name on it or something like that? And maybe just stealing the DVDs was a way to cover up what they were actually trying to do in the apartment. Additionally, is it possible that whoever did something to Brian, if they knew Brian, that they were the person that made that comment, on Randy, Brian's father's obituary, to make it seem like Brian was stealing the DVDs? still alive. One of the main reasons that detectives believe that this was a hoax troll comment was because Brian's case has so many eyes on it. So they think it was someone just trying to pull, you know, a sick prank. But I do think it's interesting that this comment was made on a public computer in a library in Ohio, where Brian lived his whole life and where he disappeared from. Is it possible that whoever did something to Brian, if someone did do something to Brian, that that was the person that made that comment to make it seem like Brian was still alive? It's possible. I think that's very, very interesting. Brian Schaefer has now been missing for over 20 years. If he is alive today, he would be 47 years old. He's six foot two. He has brown hair. He's a Pearl Jam tattoo on his upper right arm and has a dot in his left iris. A young man named Brian Schaefer kind of went missing. He looks like he's in his 20s. He's 6'2", real handsome guy. If you look into this, it's out there. Findbrianschaefer.com. That's his name, Brian Schaefer. It feels like he's one of our own. If you have any information, there is a reward, you can also remain anonymous by calling Crimestoppers Ohio. There's information on NBC4. And like I said, he's one of us. And we miss him here tonight. And hopefully we can have a happy ending to this. If you have any information or idea, we're friends. If you're wondering about Brian's girlfriend, Alexis, she did marry in 2009 and she has two kids. You know, you can't put away the other parts of your life when something bad happens. As easy as it would have been, because it would have been very easy to crawl into bed. And the days when there was no other things to pass out, when there were no other people to talk to, I think initially it would have been really easy to have done that. I mean, since that point, I got married in 2009 and I've had two little boys since then who are wonderful. I live in Toledo now. And I have a wonderful practice that I work with. I've had the chance to step away and not have that as a focus forever. Brian was legally declared dead, even though they never found him and never found a body. Brian's younger brother, Derek, the only presumed surviving member of his family, still wants answers. And I'm absolutely devastated for him. And just. my heart and all my thoughts go out to Derek. If you have information regarding the disappearance of Brian Schaefer, submit your tips directly to the Columbus Division of Police at 614-645-4545 or reach out to the Central Ohio Crime Stoppers Anonymous tip line at 614-461-8477. I'm so interested to hear all of your thoughts, theories, and opinions on this case. I try to find all the theories that are talked about the most online. But if there's a theory that you believe, please drop it for everyone to read down in the comments. You guys are always coming up with things in your head and piecing things together that I would never put together. So I'm so interested to hear all your thoughts and theories on this case. What theory do you believe the most? Personally, I feel like they all just seem equally or not equally, but they all seem unlikely. But something had to have happened. You know, people don't just vanish. I will say, I think it's very likely that someone knows something, which is why when it comes to these cases, even though this happened 20 years ago, I think it's so important to keep talking about missing persons cases and unsolved cases. Get this information out there to even more people. So please let me know all your thoughts and theories in the comments. But that is all I have left for this week's investigation. And I will see you guys all next time when we are hot in the case once again. The final season. All episodes now streaming on Disney+.