Welcome back to the Great Unsolved Podcast. I'm your host, Alexis, and this week we are talking about the Tyler Davis Disappearance from 2019. Before we get into it, make sure to follow at Great Unsolved on Twitter, at Great Unsolved Pod on Instagram, join our Facebook group, and like our Facebook page, both of which can be done by searching Great Unsolved on Facebook. We also have a Patreon where there are tons of Patreon-only episodes, a monthly bonus episode, I give you a shoutout when you join, you get early access and add free access to the episodes that come out to the public, and more.
Please be sure to rate Great Unsolved five stars on Apple Podcasts, or whatever you use to listen to podcasts. It just helps get us seen more and get these cases out to more people. So let's jump into the case of Tyler Davis. Like I said, Tyler Davis disappeared in 2019 on February 24th from Columbus, Ohio.
He was 29 years old at the time and would be about 3233 now. He was a father to one, a husband, and a manager at a fast food restaurant. He was last seen walking away from the Hilton Hotel. He is 5'10", 170 pounds, with short brown hair and brown eyes.
He has a red birthmark on his right arm that goes up to his neck, onto his chest, and down onto his right hand. At the time he disappeared, he was wearing dark blue jeans, a white T-shirt, a blue and green flannel, and white and black nikes. There has been no bank activity and no social media activity since he went missing on February 24th of 2019. So let's get into the actual timeline.
On February 23rd of 2019, Tyler got home in the very early morning as did his wife, I believe. She was a bartender so she worked late as well. They got a few hours of sleep and ended up waking up a little late actually. Tyler and his wife Brittany got up and brought their 19th month old son to meet Tyler's parents at a restaurant.
They had dinner and then they left their son with Tyler's parents because they were going to go out for the night. Tyler and Brittany went to Columbus, Ohio to go to East and Town Center in order to celebrate Brittany's birthday. They didn't get to go away often because they had a young son so this was exciting for them. Around 5 pm they arrived to the Hilton Hotel at East and Town Center and they were going to stay here overnight.
Around 8.30 pm, Tyler's friend met the two at the hotel and they went to the shopping center, East and Town Center for drinks and food. This shopping center is huge. It has over 270 stores, over 75 restaurants, a movie theater, two hotels, and even some condos. It was said to be a very nice part of town.
At midnight on February 24th of 2019 the bars began to close so Tyler, Brittany and the friend went to the dollhouse which was a strip club in the area. Originally, Brittany did not tell police this. Some people think it might be because she was embarrassed that they went to a strip club but others think it could be because she knows something about what happened to Tyler. There's no evidence of this but we got to mention where they went.
I believe the strip club closed at around 2.30 am and at the end of the night Brittany went to the bathroom and when she came out she saw Tyler and the friend arguing with the bouncer. Apparently they were trying to say like you know she's in the bathroom we're just waiting and the bouncer was trying to tell them that the strip club was closed and they had to leave kind of just seemed like a big misunderstanding. Eventually the employees gave the three water while they waited because they were waiting a while for an Uber and they probably felt bad about the interaction with the bouncer. So they waited about 30 minutes for the Uber and got in around 3 am to go back to the hotel.
Tyler fell asleep on the ride which makes sense. They had been drinking, might have been a little drunk, and he did not get much sleep the night before. When they got to the hotel they either woke up Tyler or he woke up on his own but he seemed confused and said that they weren't at the right place a few times. It is said that Tyler only had seven or eight drinks which Brittany and other people say isn't a lot for him so I mean it could be a lot we don't really know how strong they were but apparently Brittany and other state he was not that intoxicated this night but he was confused when they got to the hotel.
It's kind of unclear what happened from here if Tyler was like I'm gonna go walk to clear my head or Brittany or the friend were like you need to go walk to clear head but he went on a walk alone to clear his head. The friend did go after him but Brittany went up to their hotel room supposedly to use the bathroom and charge her phone. Between 3 20 and 3 30 ish am Brittany went back down to entrance of the hotel and the friend was walking back towards her and said that Tyler would be back in just a few minutes. Everywhere I read about the case it was stated that the friend said yeah he's just walking to clear his head and they say that multiple times most places where I've read about the case which is kind of confusing to me we already know he was walking to clear his head that's what was said initially so why is it repeated so many times through a witness testimony could be nothing but I thought it was very odd.
Around the same time Brittany tried to call Tyler and there was no answer and then at 3 37 a.m. Tyler called Brittany said he was just on a walk and would be back soon. Once again we're mentioning the walk which just seems really repetitive to me so I don't know what to make of that. Then some 30 minutes later around 4 10 a.m.
Tyler called Brittany again saying he was in the woods which is impossible we'll get to that in a second but saw the hotel and would be back in five minutes. Brittany says they were not outdoorsy people so she said Tyler could have been around a few trees and said it was the woods which also doesn't make sense to me he's a grown man he knows what the woods is even if you don't go camping even if you don't go in the woods you know what it is you're not going to call a few trees the woods. Also they were in the middle of the city in this huge shopping center very unlikely there was any woods but we'll get more into that later as well. Just a few minutes later Tyler's phone called Brittany again but once she answered no one was talking and the call ended about four seconds later.
This is the last kind of correspondence from Tyler to this day. After this his phone disconnected it either died was smashed it just it disconnected. Around 4 12 a.m. despite Tyler not being back and them not really knowing where he is and the odd phone call he left to go home the friend just left to go home which is interesting we'll get to that in the theories.
By 4 30 a.m. when Tyler is not back Brittany starts to panic she starts calling friends to see what she should do and they all kind of reassure he's fine he'll be back soon just wait it out. Obviously he was not back soon. So then a large fan of hours goes by and around 8 a.m.
Brittany talks to a friend that lived close not the friend from the night before it's worth noting another friend that lived close and he said he would drive up to the hotel to help her search for Tyler. I don't know why the friend from the night before was not called obviously he had been in the situation he might have a better idea of where Tyler would be because he did go after him when Tyler started walking away but he was not called. Around 10 30 a.m. Brittany calls Tyler's parents and tells them what happened so Tyler's dad goes to the hotel and the mom tells Brittany to call the police.
However first Brittany calls hospitals and jails to see if Tyler is there and he is not. By 11 15 a.m. Brittany finally calls the police and reports him missing. This is about 8 ish hours since he was last seen and 7 ish hours since he was last heard from just seems like a long time to wait.
I talked about this case with my husband and we both agreed if one of us was drunk and walked away we would not wait seven or eight hours to call the police even if we were out with one of our friends and they left and we couldn't find them we would call police quicker than that. I'm sure not everybody would but I just think seven or eight hours is a long time to wait and then the police don't show up for an hour and 15 minutes they don't show up until 12 30 but then they tell Brittany she has to wait 72 hours and the police department would later say this was a mistake on their part obviously. Around 5 p.m. that night Brittany picks her son up and goes back to the town center with friends to search.
She ends up going to security to get surveillance and around 4 15 a.m. on the security footage they think they see Tyler walking back towards the hotel however they later figure out it is the friend who left about three minutes earlier so at this point we have to ask why was he walking back towards the hotel three minutes after he left. Did he have more contact with Brittany that night and if so why did him or Brittany not tell the police that and if he did not have contact with her it's also very odd that he was walking back towards the hotel just a few minutes after he left. I believe the only actual footage they found of Tyler was when he walked away from the hotel initially.
He was walking diagonally away from the hotel and apparently from another podcast I listened to on this case you would have to walk diagonally because it was kind of in a U-shape so you couldn't just walk out if that makes any sense at all. Two days later on February 26th of 2019 the police department finally starts a search. They search some woods and water near where Tyler's phone last pinged. The phone does show he was walking around Huntington complex asking how to get to the hotel.
Apparently they got recordings from his phone somehow that he was asking his phone like how do I get to this hotel? How do I get here? So he was asking for directions he seemed coherent but he obviously never made it back to the hotel. When he was in a parking lot nearby as food his phone cut off or went dead and this is where the phone pretty much disconnected completely.
His parents somehow pulled his browser history from his phone and it shows he was playing videos and music well walking around that night so he seemed pretty relaxed it didn't seem like he was in trouble just worth noting. One more thing before I get into the phone pings map Brittany passed a polygraph and the friend that was with them that night refused to take a polygraph and lawyered up which is obviously suspicious but it's exactly what I would do polygraphs are not a science they don't mean anything you can't use them in court it's not worth taking one also if you're in a case with a missing person and you don't know where they are make sense to lawyer up because you're going to be some of the first people looked at if you were with that person right before they went missing so while it looks kind of suspicious it's also what I would do so let's get into the map of his phone pinged was that night at 3 20 a.m. he was in front of the hotel around 3 30 a.m. he starts south down chagrin drive towards easton he was at the corner there by the hotel I believe 3 37 a.m.
he calls Brittany and is across south stelzer road on east comms road about three ish blocks from the hotel at 3 40 a.m. he is in the largest green area around it seems like it's a little park in the middle of the commons there's a lot of trees but it's not a huge area so once again I don't know if I would consider that the woods I don't think anyone standing in that area of trees would consider it the woods but hey ontario come on down to bedm gm casino and check out our newest exclusive the price is right fortune pick don't miss out play exciting casino games based on the iconic game show only at bedm gm access to the price is right fortune pick is only available at bedm gm casino bedm gm game sets remind you to play responsibly 19 plus away to ontario only please play responsibly if you have questions or concerns about your family or someone close to please contact conniks ontario at 1 8 6 5 3 1 2 6 hundred to speak to an advisor free of charge bedm gm operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming ontario it's probably the greenest area around so that might be what he considered the woods at 3 45 a.m he is south of the greenery area by huntington national bank on the east side at 3 50 a.m he is south of the bank in the parking lot across morse crossing morse crossing is a road and at 3 53 a.m the ping map stops as he is still in this parking lot but seeming to go back northeast kind of back towards where the hotel actually is so just to recap that he goes south from the hotel for 10 minutes which was about twoish blocks they're little bigger blocks they're city blocks this was between 320 and 330 a.m then he goes east for 12 minutes which is about three large blocks into east and commons between 330 and 342 a.m then he goes south again for seven minutes 342 through 349 a.m and then back northeast from 349 to 353 a.m when his phone map stops so that's really all we have in this case there's a lot of questions out there because this is not a solid timeline there's a lot of time missing he obviously called after the phone map ends so maybe police have that information but it is not out to the public there's just a lot we do not know about the case so with that being said let's go into the theories one big theory here is he had an accident he was part of an accident some people say he could have fell into a sewer that didn't have a grate or he fell into a construction area either way he could have gotten injured and then succumbed to the elements it was february in ohio pretty cold or when he fell he could have injured himself so bad that it killed him either way it was dark he could have easily fell into a sewer and not seen it or fallen into a construction area and not seen it however i don't know how many lights are in the area i know when we lived in milwaukee all the big shopping centers like that had a lot of street lights that were on all night so i don't know if the east and commons has lights on all night or if it was pitch black when looking at the map there is spots where it would make sense for him to cut through the grass rather than stay on the streets or even cut through a construction area because it would be much faster we don't know if he did this obviously but if he did cut through areas it would make a lot more sense that he could have fallen into something that he did not see was there and then the maintenance people could have closed up the sewer grate or finished the construction without realizing there was a body there because they did have to wait two-ish three-ish days to report tyler missing so there was no official missing person at this point and his body could have been covered up before there was an official missing person another idea of an accident is just exposure he got lost he ended up in the cold all night or maybe he heard his leg or something and ended up in the cold all night he wandered too far from the hotel and couldn't find his way back it was february in ohio and they say he was wearing jeans a t-shirt and a flannel no coat so it was probably pretty cold that could really give you hypothermia quickly and it could kill you easily however his body has never been found and no sign of him has ever been found so it's very unlikely that he just died of exposure however we can look at cases like the case of Brandon Lawson who went missing in 2013 in san angel of texas and his remains were found at this past february in i believe the same area they had searched before so it is possible it's just unlikely the other theory is obviously foul play now one theory is that the foul play was done by a stranger tyler was a little intoxicated at least very tired so he could have been not noticing things and he was alone he could have been picked up under the guise of oh yeah i'll take you back to the hotel and then they took him and killed him and hit the body or somebody could have just come across him and attacked him there's not a clear theory for a stranger foul play theory but it's possible now we get into the alleged theories of a friend being part of the foul play tyler's friend didn't seem very concerned and he left before tyler came back i think if you were a very good friend of somebody you would be more concerned especially when his phone called his wife just minutes before you left and no one answered and then he wasn't back even though he said he would be back it just seems like he wasn't concerned enough for his friend and he left without waiting for his friend to get back which i guess he could have just been tired but it seems like something you wouldn't do if you were good friends he also refused a lie detector and loyered up which like i said that's exactly what i would do that's what i tell people to do if they're in a situation like this but it is suspicious within itself a lot of internet sleuths have stated that they believe britany knows more they believe she might have been involved or she at least knows something this is obviously all alleged there is nothing to point towards her having to do with his disappearance she passed a polygraph which isn't much because polygraphs aren't admissible in the court of law and they're not a science you know but there's nothing to suggest she had anything to do with his disappearance but a lot of people think she did many appointed to inconsistencies or different stories along the way a lot of people have pointed out she didn't tell others about the strip club right away she didn't tell the police about it which if your husband goes missing and you're actually worried about him who cares if you write a strip club just tell the police so they know where to backtrack to i don't know i don't think it's that big of a deal to be like oh yeah we want to strip club and then we came back to the hotel it's not people go strip clubs it's not that weird but she didn't tell them for some reason and a lot of people think it might be because she was embarrassed i don't know i don't really buy that there are also just lots of questions in the case like i said there's a lot of gaps in the timeline there's a lot of times where it seems britney should have done something and she didn't like she should have called the police earlier she should have looked for him earlier obviously that friend shouldn't have left he should have helped look as well but different things like that there's not really a lot of answers to any of the questions either which puts suspicion towards her in any case you're going to look at the people closest to the victim whether it be husband wife child parent friend they were with you're going to look at those people closest and i think that's why she's under the microscope but there is a lot unexplained in this case they had been drinking maybe they don't remember but so tyler has been presumed that since december 15th of 2021 so police and a judge thought there was enough to state that tyler was dead and he was declared dead so it just kind of ends the case but there's really no end because nobody knows what happened to him he could still be alive somewhere we don't know he has a son who doesn't remember him now because he was 19 months old when his father disappeared so it's a sad conclusion to the story it seems the family used to have a website called find tylerdavis.com but when i looked for it it was nowhere on the internet there are some facebook groups that i believe were set up by his wife Brittany to search for him and get information that anyone may know but there's not a whole lot on the internet about this case or helping this case so that brings us to the end of the disappearance of tyler davis like i said there's not much about it and there's really no conclusion there's not even many theories most plausible easiest one to believe is that he fell into a construction site or a sewer and it was sealed up or concrete was poured or something along those lines before people realized there was somebody missing and because of this he might never be found there are some oddities with Brittany and the friend but nothing to really point towards they did something or they know something they might know a little more than they're saying or they might not either way as possible but remember to follow us at great unsolved on twitter at great unsolved pot on instagram join our facebook group and like our facebook page both of which can be done by searching great unsolved on facebook we also have a patreon where there's tons of patreon only episodes monthly bonus episode and you get early ad-free access to these public episodes if you have the time please rate us five stars on apple spotify google wherever you listen to podcasts because it helps us show up more and get these stories out to more people thank you for diving into the case of tyler davis with me and have a safe and great rest of your week