Lauren Spierer disappeared mysteriously in the wee hours of June 3, 2011, in Bloomington, Indiana, after a night out with her friends. She was last seen leaving a friend’s apartment around 4:30 a.m. to walk home alone. She was never found again. An ongoing investigation has failed to solve her disappearance so far.
A student of textile merchandising at Indiana University, Lauren Spierer was a vivacious 20-year-old girl from Edgemont, New York. Lauren was an active member of the Jewish community at Indiana University. She had spent the previous spring break on a plantation campaign in Israel on behalf of the Jewish National Fund.
Lauren Spierer met her boyfriend Jesse Wolff and her friend Jay Rosenbaum years earlier at a summer camp in Honesdale, Pennsylvania. At this camp, she also met various other future Indian University students who later became her circle of friends when she enrolled there in 2009.
Reconstruction of events on the night of Lauren Spierer’s disappearance –
Friday, June 3, 2011
12:30 a.m. – Lauren left her apartment with David Rohn, her friend. Lauren and David then went to a party hosted at their friend, Jay Rosenbaum’s townhouse. At the party, she met Cory Rossman, the neighbor of Rosenbaum.
1:46 a.m. – Spierer visits Kilroy’s Sports Bar with Rossman.
2:27 a.m. – Spierer leaves the bar with Rossman and they walk back to Smallwood Plaza, her apartment complex. She leaves her phone at the bar.
2:30 a.m. –Spierer and Rossman enter Smallwood Plaza apartments.
2:48 a.m. – They leave the Smallwood Plaza and enter an alley that runs between College Avenue and Morton Street.
2:51 a.m. – They exit the alley and arrive at Rossman’s apartment. Michael Beth, Rossman’s roommate is present at the apartment. Rossman and Spierer were heavily intoxicated. Michael helps Rossman to bed. Michael then requests Spierer to sleep at the apartment as it is not safe for her to move around in an intoxicated state at this hour. Spierer turns down Michael’s requests and insists on returning to her apartment.
3:30 a.m. – Michael Beth phones his neighbor, Jay Rosenbaum, and requests him to take care of Spierer. Spierer goes to Rosenbaum’s apartment.
4:30 a.m. – Spierer leaves Rosenbaum’s apartment and walks towards her apartment at the Smallwood complex. Rosenbaum sees Spierer from his balcony at the intersection of 11th Street and College Avenue.
The surveillance camera captures Spierer barefoot, wearing black leggings and a white shirt. This is her last sighting before she vanished forever.
Credit – Findlauren.com
Wolff was not with Spierer on the night of her disappearance. He was apparently at his apartment watching a live basketball game on television.
June 4, 2011
Later in the morning, Spierer’s boyfriend Jesse Wolff sent Spierer a text that was replied to by an employee at Kilroy’s Sports Bar. Sensing trouble, Jesse reports Spierer missing to the Bloomington police.
Lauren’s parents, Robert and Charlene Spierer arrive in Bloomington to search for their missing daughter.
June 5, 2011
Spierer’s search is taken up on social media with the creation of a Twitter account @NewsOnLaurenS. The account garners more than 20,000 followers in less than two weeks, thanks to retweets from Ryan Seacrest of “American Idol,” and reality TV icon Kim Kardashian.
June 6, 2011
Hundreds of volunteers began the daily hunt for Spierer, which will last three days. After learning of Spierer’s disappearance, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children sends a rapid response team to Bloomington. Lauren is assigned a Missing Person Number 1173375 by the organization.
June 7, 2011
The story of Lauren Spierer’s disappearance hits America after it is featured on Good Morning America (ABC), Today (NBC), and the Morning News (CBS).
Bloomington police conduct a search at Spierer’s apartment building, Smallwood Plaza, seeking security video.
Spierer’s parents take part in a news conference at the Bloomington Police Department.
June 8, 2011
Police divers search Lake Monroe after receiving a tip.
Kilroy’s, a Bloomington bar where Spierer was last seen, is being investigated by Indiana State Excise Police.
Colts owner Jim Irsay offers a $10,000 reward for any information that leads to the discovery of Spierer.
June 9, 2011
Spierer’s parents offer a $100,000 reward for information leading to their daughter’s safe return.
Corey Rossman is represented by Carl Salzmann, a former Monroe County prosecutor. Salzmann claims on the night of Spierer’s disappearance a brawl had broken out outside Spierer’s apartment, and that Rossman was punched in the face, leaving him with no recall of the events that transpired on that unfortunate night.
Police divers complete their search of Lake Monroe but could not trace Lauren.
June 12, 2011
The media is pressuring authorities to release more information about the inquiry, which has been mostly kept under wraps. It’s unclear why the police haven’t interviewed all of the suspects.
Bloomington Police Capt. Joe Qualters responds to the allegations. Says some students who were with Spierer that night may have gone before they could be interviewed.
June 15, 2011
A white truck at the spot of Lauren Spierer’s disappearance
Bloomington Police Department (BPD) released surveillance images from an apartment’s security cameras that show a white pickup truck had passed twice through the area where Spierer was last seen within 10 minutes of her disappearance.
June 19, 2011
After two people reported an odd stench, Indiana State Police searched the woods southwest of Martinsville. Search does not lead to any discovery.
June 20, 2011
The white truck seen in the surveillance video apparently has no connection to Spierer’s disappearance. The police say they located and searched the truck, but no evidence was found. The owner of the truck informed that he was in the area to pick up an employee of his company.
Aug. 16, 2011
Investigators search the Sycamore Ridge Landfill, 15 miles southeast of Terre Haute, where Bloomington’s waste ends up. The FBI, Bloomington police, Indiana University Police Department, and a search expert from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children are involved in the search.
They find nothing after nine days of searching through 4,100 tones of garbage.
Spierer’s parents suspect Corey Rossman, Mike Beth, and Jay Rosenbaum
Spierer’s parents, Robert and Charlene Spierer have their suspicion on Corey Rossman, Mike Beth, and Jay Rosenbaum, the last three people known to have been with their daughter just before she went missing early June 3, 2011. They filed a lawsuit against all three, but it was dismissed by the court.
Police investigation and numerous search operations failed in finding Lauren Spierer. Her body has never been found and police have made no arrests in the case.
Book on the disappearance of Lauren Spierer
Tony and Kim Stewart have written a true account of the disappearance of Lauren Spierer in the book titled ‘The Search for Lauren Spierer‘. The book also contains known facts about what may have happened on that fateful June evening, which was the darkest night of the month. The book also features several other missing persons from surrounding states.
Spierer’s disappearance remains unsolved like Hannah Upp, the teacher who had disappeared thrice before vanishing without a trace in 2017.
Spierer’s parents have created a blog and a Facebook Page to aid in the search for her missing daughter. They had also announced a reward of $100,000 for information that helps solve Spierer’s disappearance, the reward was later increased to $250,000.
TIME magazine listed Spierer’s disappearance in ‘The 5 Most Mysterious Unsolved Disappearances of All Time’. The case also featured in an episode of America’s Most Wanted.
Spierer’s disappearance remains one of the most high-profile cases of all time that remains unsolved to date.
If you know anything regarding Lauren Spierer, please call Bloomington Police Department at 812-339-4477 or email your tip to [email protected].
Source – findlauren.com and news websites
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