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Welcome to Off the Record. I'm your host Nick Crime. It's good to be seen and it's good to [music] see you. Off the
00:01:17
record, thanks for listening. Thanks for telling a friend. >> True Crime podcast.
00:01:22
>> Be good, be kind, and don't crime. >> Gather around, [music] grab a chair, grab a beer. Let's talk some true crime.
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>> So, Kelly, you are similar to me and the colonel before we ever got involved in
00:01:38
creating podcast and talking about other cases. One of the cases that we were all
00:01:44
fascinated with was the disappearance of Brian Schaefer, mainly because it's local, but also it became a very huge
00:01:51
story in the Columbus area. So, you get involved with the Facebook page, March for the Missing. You then go on to
00:02:00
create a podcast series about the Schaefer case with Nicholas West. And then you go on to create your own
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Facebook page, Brian Schaefer, Dead or Live. talk a little bit about the early days of you looking into the Schaefer
00:02:14
case, but then what have you learned? Because once you have whether it's a podcast like True Crime Garage or you
00:02:22
have a Facebook page like Brian Schaefer, Dead or Alive, you then get information coming into you, whether
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that's credible information or just speculation, but you you're getting information all the time.
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>> Yeah, for sure. So, when I first started with Comeback in the early days, the the
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thing we really got into was the interviews. And one of the first interviews we did was with Kevin Miles,
00:02:47
the former president of Central Ohio Crimestoppers. Then we interviewed private investigator
00:02:54
Don Corbett. And then we eventually got to interview Sergeant John Hurst for the
00:02:59
podcast. Of course, we were getting all kinds of new information and our mind was just kind of blown at that point in
00:03:05
time and we just kept digging in and trying to find as much information as we could because as you both know there's
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there's a lot of rumors and speculation online about Brian's case, but there's not as many facts when it comes to
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Brian's case. >> Yeah. I believe initially when Dline reported about it, it was what a 9 10
00:03:24
minute long segment. >> Yeah. And that was recorded, I think, 6 weeks after Brian went missing. Lorie
00:03:30
Davis and I had decided that there had not been an event for Brian since 2010. So, we wanted to do something just to
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raise awareness and we created the March for the Missing. From the March for the
00:03:42
Missing, we were continuing to do comeback, but Nick and I had some scheduling issues. uh he was a longhaul
00:03:50
truck driver and I was a single mom and making time to meet was just next to impossible. So I felt like I still had
00:04:00
more that I could do and I wanted to do. So I created the Brian Schaefer dead or
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alive series and the group page and actually through that group page I have received several tips. A lot of them,
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you know, aren't really anything, but there are a few that I receive that I wouldn't say they're credible,
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but I feel like there is a >> there's some weight to them. >> Yes, there's some weight to these. Okay.
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So, the very first tip that I received was a picture that was sent to me of a homeless man. And the person that sent
00:04:37
it to me told me that this homeless man was living in between San Diego and Tijana, Mexico. The picture would I mean
00:04:46
it looked a lot like Brian. A more scruffy version or you know from living a rough life of being homeless, but it
00:04:54
definitely resembled Brian. >> And if the listeners want to see this photo, it's going to be on your Facebook
00:05:01
page, Brian Schaefer, Dead or Alive. Yeah, I'll send it to you guys as well so you guys can share it too.
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>> Perfect. And then I've seen this photo. Nick, have you seen this photo? >> Yes, I believe I've seen this one. This
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one made its uh way around and it was pretty readily available. >> Yeah. And he looks almost like a
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disheveled almost like he's u passed out cuz he's drunk or something. I can see an
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argument for it being Schaefer and I can see argument for it not being Schaefer.
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The thing that actually excited me about it is because this actually kind of supported the theory that Sergeant Hurst
00:05:39
had told me that he had that his theory was that Brian was living homeless and may not know who he is. Receiving a
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picture of a homeless man that looks a lot like Brian was very intriguing to me. So I immediately sent it into the
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Columbus Police Department. And a couple weeks went by and I hadn't heard anything. So throughout like working on
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Brian's case, I have met several members of the local media in Columbus and Angela Anne from Channel 10 News is one
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of them. And she's covered Brian's case since the very beginning and she actually grew quite close to Randy
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Schaefer. So I thought I would send it to her to see if maybe she could help me get some traction. And I basically
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created a flyer that we were trying to identify this homeless man. Well, thankfully
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Columbus Police Department took Angela an a little bit more serious than me and they actually dug into it and Detective
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Tucker at the time actually involved the FBI and she sent the image to a facial analyst expert.
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They went through the picture and they determined that the image is not Brian Schaefer. However,
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I know that I should just say that that's accurate and take that tip out of my investigation, but through my
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investigation, I have met other members of government agencies and one of them being a facial analyst expert. And when
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he looked at the photo, he told me that the nose gives the same shadow and appears to have been broken in the same
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place as Brian's. That the ears are almost identical. And that without seeing this homeless man in person, he
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could not say the photo was not Brian Schaefer. >> And also, I mean, the size of the
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individual and also the weight of the individual. And Brian was already a pretty fit guy, low body fat, and this
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guy appears to have even less what you would expect if he's living homeless. >> So, the person that sent me the picture,
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I continued to communicate with and she took it upon herself to actually track down the homeless man. And when she was
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talking to him, he told her his name was Brian, but he doesn't remember anything
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else. So she decided to ask him if he has any tattoos because at this point she knew who I thought it could be. So
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she was trying to just get any more information that she could for me. And when she asked him about the tattoo, the
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man got very upset and began yelling at her. So for her safety, she decided to leave.
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>> Yeah. So just for people that don't know, Brian Schaefer and all of his missing posters, they they tell you his
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height. They tell you his weight. They tell you what he could possibly look at, possibly look like. The problem with
00:08:45
Brian was he changed often, you know, whether he had facial hair or not facial hair. Sometimes he had long hair, but
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one of the things that was consistent was he had a Pearl Jam tattoo and he didn't have a bunch of tattoos. So, this
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would be a identifying mark that one could couldn't easily remove. So, unfortunately, I, you know, I didn't
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gain any more information about it, but the homeless man is actually a tip that I leave open in my investigation.
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>> I mean, it's a it's a tricky thing here. I don't think that the picture is of
00:09:20
Brian Schaefer, but it's also a very easy statement to throw out there because if you're going to play the
00:09:26
percentages and anybody could do that, the smart answer would be that it's not Brian Schaefer. You know, it's a million
00:09:32
to one shot. and then tracking down the man. That's the the the right way to do this. But yeah, I don't have any great
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thoughts on it. >> Well, this next tip, like I've said multiple times on the show, I feel like
00:09:45
uh we've had consistent calls about the Schaefer case and working through some possible thoughts and ideas for at least
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the last year. And this this tip is something that we just recently discussed, but you've had this tip for a
00:10:01
while now. Yeah, I've had this tip since 2019 and I actually don't think I've ever discussed it before. It's not
00:10:08
because I don't think it's important. It's just because I don't have a lot of information on it. Through the group
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page that I started, I had a lady reach out to me and she she kept asking me for
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my phone number that she had something she wanted to tell me on Brian's case. Of course, I was a little skeptical, but
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I was talking to Detective Hurst at the time, and I told him who it was, and he told me that he had actually already
00:10:36
interviewed her in 2006 when she called in the tip to Columbus Police Department. So, he was curious to see if
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she would tell me the same thing that she had told them. So, she told me in 2006,
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her, a coworker, and her boyfriend were all playing cards and drinking, and the news channel flashed on, and it started
00:11:00
showing Brian's disappearance. Now, this was within the first couple weeks of Brian going missing. So, the coworker
00:11:08
asked her if she had heard about the case, and she said yes, and that something along the lines that she felt
00:11:14
bad for his dad or something like that. So the coworker then laughed, took a sip
00:11:21
of beer, and said, "Yeah, they're never going to find him." Now, he didn't say anything incriminating in that
00:11:29
statement. But the lady that told me about the tip was very concerned, and evidently it creeped her out enough that
00:11:38
she went to the Columbus Police Department. When I continued talking to her, she told me that they all worked
00:11:44
for a landscaping company and that they had access to heavy equipment. Now, I do
00:11:50
know Columbus Police Department brought this coworker in to talk to him about the tip, but it didn't lead anywhere,
00:11:58
but I do know at least one location was searched based on this tip. Yeah, at first it kind of seems like a nothing
00:12:06
burger, but obviously it sparked her Spidey senses and then also there's some I guess am I correct in saying that that
00:12:14
there was some strange interactions enough to cause her again like you said I need to call this tip in and then
00:12:22
eventually she's going to stop working with this individual cuz she feels uncomfortable. Yes, she did all of that.
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And the thing that actually caused her to call Columbus Police Department is that she went back through her text to
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see if she could find where this coworker was the night that Brian went missing. And he was actually at a party
00:12:43
on Pearl Alley. And for anyone that doesn't know, that is the alley that runs directly behind the Ugly Tuna
00:12:49
Saloona and the Gateway Plaza. >> Do you have any idea? And I don't know that they would have shared this
00:12:55
information with you, but do you have any idea if Hurst or any of CPD had discussed this location, this party
00:13:05
with Clint or Meredith or anybody that would have been hanging out with Brian on the night in question?
00:13:12
>> Not that I'm aware of. >> I think the difficult thing about this case too is, and I don't want to get
00:13:17
into the weeds about this, but John Hurst is put on this case. He's the lead detective. So, you have spoke with Hurst
00:13:26
many times. I' I've been fortunate enough to speak with Hurst as well, but a lot of the interviews and a lot of the
00:13:33
groundwork, if you will, was done by other members. So, sometimes when you're talking to Hurst, he'll say, "Oh, yeah.
00:13:42
Well, you know, we interviewed them, but he might not have spoke with them directly." And then some of the
00:13:48
detectives that worked on this case for a time period either moved on to different departments or they pulled
00:13:54
them off this investigation. >> Yeah. I I actually think that since Hurst retired, Brian's had like I want
00:14:02
to say like six or seven detectives since uh Hurst has retired. >> Yeah. So, a lot of what they're going
00:14:07
off of is information that was gathered by other individuals and not and not information that they gathered directly
00:14:16
themselves. >> Yeah. Hurse wasn't so much boots on the ground. He was overseeing everything.
00:14:22
But I do know that Hurst personally interviewed this this lady that I spoke with.
00:14:28
>> Yeah. And to expand on that information a little bit again because I don't have
00:14:34
detailed information in front of me or you know the written statement or what she said uh when when brought in but
00:14:41
Pearl Street is a lengthy road. I mean it's not it's not just an alleyway that is limited to directly behind the ugly
00:14:53
tuna saloona. It's it's I I wouldn't go as far to say that it's a a very expansive road, but it it does it does
00:15:01
expand. It's not just a few blocks. It's it's dozens of of blocks. I believe you
00:15:07
have to look at the Ohio State University as its own city in a sense. Yes, it's a part of Columbus, but it's
00:15:16
its own little city. And some of the roads that are very significant with that area would be High Street, Summit
00:15:24
Street, and then this, and it's really hard to call it like a a street. It's more of a an alley that goes behind
00:15:36
everything. So, it becomes another significant part. But again, like Nick said, I think it's important to point
00:15:43
out that it's not just behind the complex where the ugly tuna was. It's behind so many other buildings. But it's
00:15:52
also a road that if you were walking somewhere and you're trying to get from A to B, you might not walk down High
00:15:59
Street cuz there's a lot of people. You might walk down the alleyway. Your first
00:16:06
tip is about this picture of a homeless guy that could be Brian, could not be Brian. There's another pick that could
00:16:14
be Brian or could not be Brian. >> Yeah. And it's not so much of if it's Brian or not. It's some of the other
00:16:22
details surrounding it that make it intriguing to me. So, while I was going through Brian's cell phone records, I
00:16:30
was trying to put a name with every phone number that was on there. just trying to figure out who Brian was
00:16:37
speaking to. Well, the very last number that Brian spoke to was a guy named Jason Fistic. I immediately found Jason
00:16:45
on social media and I sent him a message. I basic questions like, "How did you know Brian? You know, could I
00:16:52
speak to you?" Things along those lines. Well, Jason eventually messaged me back, but in the meantime, I
00:17:00
was being a little nosy, so I was going through his profile page, and I stumbled
00:17:06
upon a picture. The picture has someone that looks similar to Brian. >> And in the picture, there's four
00:17:13
individuals, and this guy that could be Brian would be on the right hand side of
00:17:18
the picture. And he looks like he's gi wearing some giant uh Jackie Onasses type glasses.
00:17:26
>> Yeah, they all are wearing those big sunglasses in the picture. But the interesting part is the other three
00:17:32
people in that photo are some of Brian's last calls from that evening that he went missing. So I, as I said, Jason
00:17:40
messaged me back and he told me that that night was the very first night that he had ever met Brian and that he was
00:17:49
out with his friend Brandon Chatuni, who happened to be a co-ed of Brian's. They
00:17:56
were going out to celebrate medical school accomplishments. So, we talk back and forth a little bit, just basic
00:18:02
questions, and I asked him how Brian and him had each other's phone numbers if they had just met that night, and I was
00:18:12
immediately blocked. He blocked me on Messenger, and so I didn't get any further, but I did try to reach out to
00:18:19
the other two people in the photo as well, and I have never heard from them at all.
00:18:24
>> So, there's four people in the photo. One could be Brian. The other three were
00:18:29
individuals that Brian was with the night he went missing. So, there's a lot there's a lot to unpack here because
00:18:36
with Jason Fistic, you talk to Hurst about him and and Hurst tells you the same thing. Well, yeah, I talked to
00:18:43
Jason and he just met Brian that night. Well, when you have phone records of this guy calling Brian, to me, that's a
00:18:51
very odd thing to do. Why would you be if you're in a group of friends and everybody knows Brian but you? Why would
00:18:59
you call Brian? It doesn't make a lot of sense. >> It doesn't. I was actually confused
00:19:04
immediately because one, what did I say to get blocked? And two, why are we just
00:19:11
now hearing that there were four other people out with Brian that night when it's been so widely reported that Brian
00:19:18
was out with Clinton Meredith that night when that's simply not the case. >> Brian, like I said, with talking to you,
00:19:26
it really kind of opened up my eyes because we go, "Okay, Brian, Clint, and Meredith, they go to the ugly tuna."
00:19:33
Well, the story was just always told that they they're going by themselves and then Brian talks to these two girls,
00:19:39
Amber and Brighton. Well, who are they? Well, they're just some random girls. Well, then you eventually learn that
00:19:45
Amber is in one of the classes that Clint teaches. So, then you can make an argument that all five of these
00:19:53
individuals are connected. And like you were talking about the timeline, you say, "Well, Amber shows up to the bar,
00:19:59
Brighton shows up to the bar, but they're also with another girl and she leaves the bar." So, we're calling that
00:20:06
girl a mystery girl because we have presented video footage to Amber in Brighton, and they can't tell us who
00:20:13
this individual is, which we also find strange. And then through talking with you, I I was curious, do we have a
00:20:22
reason why they went back to the spar? and you said yes. And it's to meet these four individuals. And those four
00:20:27
individuals weren't questioned that hard or asked to take polygraph tests from Columbus PD.
00:20:34
>> Correct. >> And again, the my other problem with that with the work of the investigation
00:20:41
is that we also have it's not just that they met them at the bar. It's the fact that they're in communication with Brian
00:20:48
through through his phone records. We can prove that. So, why weren't these people looked at? And also, why weren't
00:20:55
these people ever talked about? Because they weren't talked about 20 years ago. They weren't talked about 10 years ago.
00:21:03
Do we have the identity of all four individuals? >> Yes, I do. >> So, it's not just
00:21:12
Jason Fistic that wasn't questioned. It was who who else wasn't questioned? >> It was Brandon Chhatuni. It was Jeremy
00:21:21
Douglas and it was Graham Davis. >> And who do we believe is in this photo that could possibly be Brian Schaefer.
00:21:28
>> Uh so I know for certain that the other three gentlemen are Jason Fistic, Jeremy
00:21:34
Douglas, and Graham Davis. And personally, when I saw this photo and then through I believe it was through
00:21:42
Nicholas West, I was able to talk with Don Corbett, which we'll talk more about Don Corbett, but Don Corbett was a
00:21:49
private investigator that worked, and I'm going to say worked with Brian Schaefer's dad, Randy, because I don't
00:21:57
think Randy ever paid him. Uh, I don't think it was like a hired situation. I could be wrong about that. No, Don 100%
00:22:05
worked for free. >> When I initially talked to Don years ago, he never heard of this photo, so I
00:22:10
sent it to him. I don't know if it's Brian or not. Messed things up. But here's where it
00:22:18
gets fishy to me with old Fist Stick is if it is Brian in the photo and the photo was taken before Brian went
00:22:29
missing, then Jason is lying about his relationship with Brian Schaefer. If the photo is taken after Brian went missing,
00:22:41
well then it's three guys partying with somebody that is known to be missing. So, the one thing that I do know is that
00:22:50
the picture would have been taken after Brian went missing. From my research, I was able to track down the label on the
00:22:59
beer sitting on the table. And that label, that specific label was not used until I I want to say between 2008 to
00:23:10
2010 is when that label change happened for that beer company. The other problem
00:23:15
with this photo too is the person to the right. Uh maybe they're wearing a wig, maybe
00:23:23
they're not, but they're clearly making a face. So, it's just really kind of hard. Again, we'll post this picture for
00:23:31
people to see. It'll be on our social media pages, but it'll also be on Brian Schaefer, Dead or Alive. I mean, it
00:23:38
doesn't help, Jason, that he's not willing to explain or talk about the picture, right? Do I
00:23:45
have that right? >> Yeah, absolutely. And honestly, I think the picture resembles Brian, but
00:23:51
I've seen other pictures that look much more like Brian to me. So, I don't even know if I would have been as suspicious
00:23:58
of this photo had it not been for Jason's actions. >> Yeah. But you can tell he's a tall guy.
00:24:03
He's slender. So, I I don't think it puts it out of the realm of possibilities that it could
00:24:10
be Brian. And again, when you're talk, look, I don't want to throw Jason under the bus completely because like you
00:24:19
said, you get these tips, people are calling in. You're looking for information. People are saying, "Hey,
00:24:24
here's my number. Give me a call." You're skeptical of calling these individuals. So, he doesn't know who you
00:24:30
are. And I think a lot of times when you're on the internet, we go, "Well, people are crazy, right?" So now we got
00:24:38
this person looking into this missing person case and it could just be simply like, "I don't know how they got my
00:24:45
information, especially because he h he wasn't talked about." And this is, you know, one of my problems with the
00:24:54
investigation is we go Clint and Meredith were there and we we really kind of hone in on them and Meredith
00:25:01
takes a polygraph test and the these other individuals are just never named. So, the fact that you're even messaging
00:25:11
this guy and going, "Hey, I know you were there the night Brian Schaefer went missing. That That's
00:25:19
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>> [music] >> And again, it's a tough situation cuz if uh this guy in the picture [music] had
00:27:48
these weird glasses and I don't know if it's a wig or if it's just somebody grew
00:27:52
out their hair, you go, "Well, it'd be nice if he was, [laughter] this is the first time I said this
00:28:00
today, but it'd be nice if this guy was shirtless so we could see if he had a Pearl Jam tattoo,
00:28:06
>> right? [laughter] >> If you're questioning why why are you putting this out there? We don't even
00:28:10
know if it's Brian or not. We're putting this out there so people can help further this investigation
00:28:20
and maybe somebody knows Jason. Maybe they've talked him talked to him about it. This picture because of Kelly has
00:28:29
made its rounds throughout the internet and we haven't had anybody come forward and say, "I know who that guy is in the
00:28:36
picture." So maybe this will put a little pressure on Jason to contact us to tell us who are these guys in the
00:28:44
pictures. Who are the guys in the pictures? Can you confirm who they are? Can you confirm when this picture was
00:28:50
taken? >> Yeah, absolutely. By no means am I saying that I think any of these guys
00:28:54
are responsible for Brian's disappearance. I would just like to talk to them about the night Brian
00:29:01
disappeared, the time they spent with him, maybe his demeanor, anything like that. So, yeah.
00:29:07
>> And and this also goes back to if anybody's listened to our coverage or other people's coverage on this case,
00:29:15
Meredith takes a polygraph test. The cops believe she's being completely truthful. Clint doesn't take a polygraph
00:29:22
test. A lot of people have speculated he's involved somehow, but we know his movements and his whereabouts. He was
00:29:29
with Meredith. So, if Meredith is telling us the truth on key items like did you have anything to do with his
00:29:36
disappearance? Did you did you do anything to Brian? and they believe her statements and the polygraph test she
00:29:44
passed, then she establishes an alibi for Clint, at least the night that Brian went missing.
00:29:52
>> Well, I mean, we did talk about the fact that Meredith was his alibi for Friday
00:29:58
night going into Saturday and then most of Saturday evening, but Alexis is actually his alibi for
00:30:07
Sunday. >> Yeah. So maybe it was somewhere along those lines. I'm not sure. >> And so a lot of people that have looked
00:30:14
into this case, they can make speculations on the band or they can make speculations on Clint, but there's
00:30:22
all these other individuals that we just never talked about. Just just never was discussed. And but one of
00:30:32
the things that Clint said because eventually Clint lawyers up and again people then throw Clint under the bus
00:30:40
because he lawyered up. But his lawyer was stayed in um in cooperation with the investigation and said, "Hey, you submit
00:30:49
questions to us, we'll answer them." And what was the weird statement that his lawyer made? Uh so his attorney made a
00:30:57
statement that it is his understanding that Brian is the one responsible for his
00:31:05
disappearance and the family should ask Brian instead of Clint because Clint has
00:31:10
given all the information that he knows. >> You know, me and Nick have looked into a
00:31:13
lot of missing person cases. There's not that many that have much evidence pointing to somebody
00:31:21
leaving and starting a new life somewhere else. I think this case probably has the biggest amount of
00:31:27
evidence I've seen towards that. Whether you want to whether that homeless picture is him or not or this other
00:31:33
picture, but we have all these other sightings and we also have all these other rumors. So, I think there's it's
00:31:41
building a case that maybe he started a life somewhere else. >> Yeah. Yeah. I think that it's definitely
00:31:48
one of the leading theories in Brian's case. So, another tip that came in to me through the group actually came from an
00:31:55
Ohio man who was vacationing in Porto Viarda. Tom said that while he was at a restaurant in Porto Viarda, he decided
00:32:03
that he had to use the restroom. So, he went to back to the restroom and when he
00:32:08
came out, he noticed that there was a second dining room and there were two men eating inside. Tom was a well Tom is
00:32:16
a huge Ohio State Buckeyes fan and he was wearing um what he described to me as a Jim Trestle sweater vest and I'm
00:32:25
sure you guys know what that is. One of the two men noticed Tom and appeared to be a little nervous at the sight of him
00:32:32
or Tom shirt. At that moment, Tom realized that he had seen the man's face before and he mouthed the words Brian
00:32:42
Schaefer. And in return, the man sitting at the table picked up his napkin in an attempt
00:32:51
to wipe his mouth, but Tom described it more as he was trying to hide his face. So Tom walked through the dining room
00:33:00
and went out the door and had a cigarette. When he came back in, he told his wife and their friends about it and
00:33:07
they were just all chitchatting about it because the one thing I didn't mention is they are big true crime buffs, but
00:33:14
Tom's family members are also law enforcement. So, he was really into it. So, his wife was so intrigued because
00:33:22
she knew Brian's case, too. And they decided that they were going to walk back there again so she could see the
00:33:29
guy sitting at the table. But when they got close to the dining room, two staff members stepped in front of them and
00:33:37
would not let them go any further and would not let them back there to see the two gentlemen.
00:33:43
So, what was weird to him is that the dining room only had those two diners in it when there was a whole line of people
00:33:52
waiting to get in the restaurant and all the tables were filled in the other dining room. So he was very intrigued
00:34:00
that two men had a dining room to themselves and that the staff would not let him go back there. So when Tom got
00:34:07
home from his vacation in Porttoarda, he called the Columbus Police Department and left several voicemails with the tip
00:34:15
and trying to tell them what he had seen. And he was determined that who he saw was Brian Schaefer. Well, when
00:34:22
Columbus Police Department did not get back to him, that's when Tom posted in my group and a couple other groups of
00:34:29
everything that he had seen. >> I tend to think that sightings of missing people are all bunk. Sorry.
00:34:37
Sorry, guys. >> No, it's okay. I feel the same way about most of them, too. >> No, I I normally do, too. But the the
00:34:43
reason why I like this one a little bit is cuz one, as I'm seeing this guy, I mouth to him, Brian Schaefer. Brian, are
00:34:52
you Brian Schaefer? And it's he doesn't wait till he gets back home to tell anybody about this. He's telling people
00:35:01
at the restaurant in that moment that he saw it. So, I'm not saying he saw Brian
00:35:07
Schaefer, but he believes he saw Brian Schaefer. And I think we have, you see what I'm saying? Like there's
00:35:14
>> And it's not just like >> Well, yeah. I'm I'm not questioning that part of it. I don't question that part
00:35:19
of it. It's just there's been a lot of things that I've thought that I've seen at some point in my life. And um and I
00:35:26
can sit here today and say I probably didn't see what I thought I saw in that moment. Yeah. I'm not questioning that
00:35:30
part of it. I I do the part that I do question is I think I would have thrown out the law enforcement card there. I
00:35:38
think I would have said to the weight staff, bus boy, whoever is telling me I can't talk to that person or I can't go
00:35:46
in that room. I'm going to then even though I'm way out of my jurisdiction, I'm throw if I if I am of that level of
00:35:54
concern or that level of suspicion, I think I'm I think I'm pulling out my badge and or I'm pulling out my law
00:36:01
enforcement card there just to see what happens. And the and the thing I don't like about this tip is he sees the
00:36:08
individual one time and they're not able to confirm it. And look, I applaud him.
00:36:13
I applaud his wife. I applaud everybody at the table to go, "Hey, I know we're sitting around talking about that. I I
00:36:20
know we're sitting around talking about this, but let's go look at him again. Let's get somebody else to see what you
00:36:27
think you saw." But the again, the problem with this tip is they weren't able to go back, see the guy, uh, at
00:36:37
least confirm their suspicion cuz, and this happens, I'm sure, with a lot of people, but I've had several
00:36:46
listeners go, "I think I saw you in a bar in Texas. Were you in Texas this weekend?" "No, I wasn't." And they go,
00:36:54
"Well, I actually took a picture of the person." and they send it to you and you
00:36:58
go, "Well, that's a white guy with a beard, but but to me, I'm going that looks nothing like me, but he has a hat
00:37:06
on and has a beard and he's white, so therefore he must be the captain from True Crime Garage."
00:37:13
>> So, what I will say is that after they left the restaurant, they did hang around outside trying to catch a glimpse
00:37:20
of this guy again. And Tom said that his friends were getting a little restless,
00:37:26
so they eventually walked away, but he did attempt to try to see the guy again. >> And [clears throat] that's where I
00:37:32
applaud them because some people go, "I was in this bookstore and and I thought I saw somebody that I was a missing
00:37:40
person from my area." And then you question them and go, "Well, why didn't you go back?" If you really thought you
00:37:46
saw this person, why didn't you go back? Oh, I don't know. But that's what I like
00:37:50
about the story is he tells the people he's with right away they are suspicious of this. So they go, "Let's go find the
00:38:00
guy and let's try to get a good look at him." Cuz could you imagine if they actually did see him and then you have
00:38:08
people that are in law enforcement and him and his wife, then it becomes not just one person saying, "I think I
00:38:15
recognized the missing person." It's now a group of people that think they recognized the missing person.
00:38:20
>> And you know, I I didn't see what Tom saw, so of course I can't say it's 100%
00:38:26
true, but I do believe that Tom 100% believed everything he was telling me. And he was so adamant that he found the
00:38:37
name of the restaurant they were at by going back through his bank statements. And he sent me the name of the
00:38:43
restaurant, which I contacted And I emailed them a photo of Brian and asked them if they had seen him or anything.
00:38:53
And the owner of the restaurant messaged me back and told me that he had never seen Brian, but he would show the photo
00:39:01
around to some of the employees to see if anyone else recognized him, but I had not ever heard back.
00:39:06
>> Yeah. I again I applaud you for taking instead of just taking down the tip. I
00:39:12
applaud people that go the extra step to try to further an an investigation. >> Yeah, it was just really how he was
00:39:19
telling me. You know, I I mentioned that I've talked to so many people about Brian's case, but most of the time you
00:39:25
can tell pretty early on if the information is credible or not. And Tom just really had me thinking that this
00:39:34
could be a possible sighting just based on his actions and reactions. >> Well, so again, we're going to be
00:39:40
talking about another photo uh which is a little bizarre because we have like we said the the homeless
00:39:49
picture of the homeless guy could be Brian. We have this picture of a individual that could be Brian at a
00:39:56
party and then we have a picture of a guy and I I'll just let you describe it. >> Yeah. So, this picture looks like I mean
00:40:03
the best way I can describe it is he looks like he's in a an 80s hair cover band and a long black wig with
00:40:13
sunglasses and denim with leather chaps over top and just a plain t-shirt basically. Um, but he's on a stage at
00:40:23
what appears to be a festival and he is playing the guitar. Now, this picture was sent to me. I
00:40:31
guess it was found on Web Sleuths or Reddit. And as soon as I saw the picture, I mean, I was kind of floored
00:40:38
because in my opinion, this image is the one image that I have received of someone supposedly being Brian that I
00:40:47
can't dispute it really. It looks so much like him, if that makes sense. >> It definitely looks like it could be
00:40:52
Brian, but he definitely put on some more muscle mass. >> Yeah. And he was very much into his
00:40:59
health and working out and stuff. So, I think that that is a possibility. So, there was a guy that I used to work with
00:41:06
on Brian's case and one of the best researchers I've ever met in my life. He supposedly found this
00:41:15
picture or it was sent to him. And there were two pictures sent to him. One of the guy in costume of the p I
00:41:22
just sent you and one of the guy out of costume sitting on a couch. So Jim, the guy I used to work with, and
00:41:32
I always had this deal that if we ever found Brian, we necessarily wouldn't tell anyone, but we would just quit
00:41:40
looking silently, basically. And that's pretty much what Jim has done. And based
00:41:45
on what he said about the second picture is that looking at the second picture, you can tell it's Brian Schaefer.
00:41:53
>> But have you ever seen that picture? >> No, he hasn't shared it with anyone. And
00:41:57
so I quit working with Jim when I found out he was arrested on drug trafficking charges.
00:42:03
>> Do you have the second Do you have the non- costume picture? The no costume picture?
00:42:08
>> I do not. He he never shared that one with anyone >> because I I'll the the chin is the same.
00:42:14
The chin in this the the rocker guy looks like a I would I would describe this as a superfly Jimmy Snooka rock and
00:42:23
roll costume um with that hair and the headband. The chin is the same. >> Yeah. But here's what gets me in this
00:42:30
and I think I've talked to Kelly about this before. His hands, his his arms, his forearm and
00:42:38
his biceps are clearly bigger than Brian Schaefer's forearms and biceps at the time he went missing. But is it possible
00:42:49
that he, like I said, he put on muscle mass? Sure. But what gets me is I think his hands look similar
00:42:56
to Brian's always making like a certain hand gesture in a lot of his photos. >> Yeah. And actually for me, um, I looked
00:43:09
at the hands as well and I even went as far as finding a picture of Brian playing the guitar and zoomed in on the
00:43:17
hands and as crazy as it sounds, even the nail beds look the same. The problem with the rocker picture is the right
00:43:28
sleeve. His right sleeve are on our left when we look at it is short enough that I
00:43:36
>> you should see a tattoo. >> I would think that you would see a at least it peeking out. Um, I it's it's
00:43:43
just long enough that I wonder if it's covering it up, but but I'm looking at another photo of him wearing a very, you
00:43:51
know, wearing a t-shirt and the the bottom portion of his Pearl Jam tattoo is clearly very visibly peeking out.
00:44:00
>> Yeah. I feel like you should be able to see the tip. You should be able to see
00:44:04
the tip. Just the tip. >> The feet of that little because it's a little guy, right? The tattoos of a
00:44:10
little guy. And um and I think you would see the feet hanging out just like I do
00:44:16
in in this picture that I'm looking at that is Brian Sha. So, I actually thought the same thing and my friend
00:44:22
Meredith, who actually runs the Brian Schaefer Dead or Alive group with me, um, she spent a lot of time analyzing it
00:44:30
and she has done some different things with it and zoomed in and there are some marks that clearly look like there could
00:44:41
have been something there. Have you ever seen a tattoo removal and the yellowing
00:44:45
that it gets when you remove a tattoo? Well, when you zoom in on that picture there, you can see some yellowing that
00:44:53
almost looks like there was something there. But again, maybe we just want to see that.
00:44:57
>> I I don't see it, but I am also not I don't have a great deal of experience with that. Um my my circle of friends
00:45:06
when they get a tattoo they don't love, they tend to cover it up with another tattoo. I did have the photo analyzed to
00:45:12
see if it was photoshopped or anything like that. And the person that analyzed it came back and told me that it was not
00:45:19
photoshopped, but it had been cropped from its original picture. So, there was something cropped out of it when it was
00:45:26
sent to me, but it definitely was not photoshopped. I don't have any more information about this image, but if the
00:45:33
original person is out there that shared these images, I would absolutely love if
00:45:39
you would send them to me, send them to True Crime Garage, send them to the Columbus Police Department. Just get
00:45:46
them into someone's hands where we can analyze it and say for sure if this is Brian Schaefer or not.
00:45:52
>> Well, that's the thing. And when we post these pictures, so we have the picture
00:45:56
of the homeless guy, we have the picture at the party and we have this rocker guy
00:46:00
picture. And as we post these on social media, it's you don't have to be the person. You can just go, "Hey, I I know
00:46:10
that guy. I played in a band with him, right? That his name is uh whatever." >> Yeah. the Jimmy Snooker rocker guy, you
00:46:21
would remember playing in a band with him. You would very likely remember being in an audience where he's playing.
00:46:29
I would remember that guy because I would be pointing and I want to I would be laughing in a fun way, not poking fun
00:46:35
at the guy, but just like look at this guy. Like like I dig I dig people that are that are well I dig people that are
00:46:42
flamboyant, especially in moments when they should be, right? when they like, hey, I don't mind making a bit of a
00:46:49
spectacle of myself, but why wouldn't I? I'm up on stage or I'm rocking in front
00:46:54
of a bunch of people. Why wouldn't I want to stand out? And so that like I to me grabs my attention and it gets me
00:47:01
going and it gets me going thinking like that guy, I'd like to buy him a beer. I
00:47:06
would love to buy him a beer just to see what comes out of his mouth. Um, yeah. So I I would remember this dude. Yeah,
00:47:15
somebody knows who this is. And that and I think look, the people that are really
00:47:20
into true crime know this. I mean, you take a a photo, you take a a video and you and you share that. You take any
00:47:30
true crime podcast that is saying, "Hey, I have some information. Share this information."
00:47:36
We will get answers. We will get tips. Well, okay, let me say that again. We'll definitely get tips. which hopefully
00:47:45
leads to [music] some answers. [music] Want to thank everybody for joining us here in the garage each and every week
00:48:03
for everything true crime. Check out true crimegar.com. Until the next episode, be good, be
00:48:11
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