OHIO — Nearly two decades after Ohio State University medical student Brian Shaffer vanished following a night out with friends, his disappearance remains one of the most puzzling unsolved cases in central Ohio.
Shaffer, then 27, was last seen between 1:30 and 2:00 a.m. on April 1, 2006, at the Ugly Tuna Saloona, a popular bar in Columbus’ South Campus Gateway area. He had gone out with his best friend, Clint Florence, and another friend to celebrate finishing midterm exams.
Police later reviewed surveillance footage showing Shaffer riding an escalator toward the bar’s main entrance at 1:15 a.m., and again outside the bar around 1:55 a.m.
The video then captured him moving back toward the entrance and off-camera — but he was never seen leaving the building. Despite extensive searches and interviews, no footage ever showed Shaffer exiting the bar, leading investigators to suspect he may have disappeared inside the complex or through an unmonitored exit.
Shaffer was scheduled to fly to Miami on April 3 for a spring break trip with his girlfriend but never arrived at the airport. His phone, credit cards, and bank accounts have shown no activity since that night.
At the time he went missing, Shaffer was described as a white male standing 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighing between 160 and 165 pounds, with brown hair. Born on February 25, 1979, he would be 46 years old today.
The case remains open under the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NAMUS) as case number MP1709. Investigators continue to encourage anyone with information to come forward in hopes of solving a mystery that has endured for 19 years.
