Lauren E. Spierer | |
---|---|
Born | [1] | January 17, 1991
Disappeared | June 3, 2011 (aged 20) Bloomington, Indiana, U.S. |
Status | Missing for 13 years, 5 months and 6 days |
Nationality | American |
Lauren Elizabeth Spierer (born January 17, 1991) is an American woman who disappeared on June 3, 2011, following an evening at Kilroy's Sports Bar in Bloomington, Indiana. At the time, Spierer was a 20-year-old student at Indiana University. Though her disappearance generated national press coverage, Spierer is presumed dead and her case remains unsolved. [2]
Lauren Elizabeth Spierer was born January 17, 1991, to Charlene and Robert Spierer; her father was an accountant. She grew up in Scarsdale, New York, an affluent town in lower Westchester County. [3] [4] [5] Spierer graduated from Edgemont High School in 2009 and enrolled at Indiana University (IU), where she was studying textiles merchandising. [6] [7] Spierer was active in the Jewish community at IU and had spent the previous spring break planting trees in Israel on behalf of the Jewish National Fund. [8]
Spierer met her boyfriend, Jesse Wolff, and her friend, Jay Rosenbaum, years earlier at Camp Towanda, a summer camp in the mountain town of Honesdale, Pennsylvania. It was there she also met various other future IU students who later became Spierer's circle of friends when she enrolled at IU in 2009. [9] [10]
On the night she disappeared, Spierer was drinking with several friends. Wolff stated that he did not go out with Spierer or her friends that evening, texting back and forth with Spierer before he went to bed. [11] According to witnesses, Spierer was very intoxicated. [9] Bloomington police used video surveillance footage and witness statements to create a timeline of Spierer's whereabouts before her disappearance. [12]
The timestamps in bold indicate surveillance footage. The other times mentioned are on the basis of witness statements.
Friday, June 3, 2011
In August 2011, police conducted a nine-day search of the Sycamore Ridge Landfill in Pimento (south of Terre Haute) for clues in the disappearance. The landfill is where trash from Bloomington is hauled after a stop at a transfer station. The Bloomington Police Department, the Indiana University Police Department, and the FBI took part in the search. [16] [17] As of May 24, 2013, investigators had received 3,060 tips on Spierer's disappearance, 100 of them received during the first half of 2013. [18]
In April 2015, the Bloomington Police announced that they were investigating a possible link between Spierer's disappearance and the murder of another IU student, Hannah Wilson. Wilson went missing on April 24, 2015, after visiting Kilroy's, the same bar that Spierer visited the night she disappeared. Wilson was last seen getting into a taxi in front of the bar and driving away. Her body was found the next morning in Brown County. A local man named Daniel Messel was arrested for the murder after his cell phone was discovered near the body. [19] In July 2015, it was concluded that the two cases are unrelated and any similarities between the two cases were coincidental.
On January 28, 2016, the FBI and other police agencies investigated a property in the 2900 block of Old Morgantown Road in Martinsville, approximately 20 miles (32 km) north of Bloomington. According to a statement released by the FBI, investigators were "following up on leads and tips in Morgan County regarding the disappearance of Lauren Spierer". The property was connected to a man, Justin Wagers, who resided there with his mother and stepfather. Wagers was suspected of exposing himself to numerous local women. [20] [21]
Investigators searched the property with cadaver dogs, which indicated potential evidence. Anthropologists conducted a dig and sifted dirt from the barn where the cadaver dogs hit, but found nothing. [22] [23] Investigators also towed from the property a white truck belonging to Wagers. [20] [21]
A number of theories have emerged in reference to what happened to Spierer that evening. Spierer's parents have stated that they believe their daughter is dead. Based on her level of intoxication, they also felt that she may have been drugged while at the bar. "We felt somebody could have slipped something into her drink at Kilroy's," said Robert Spierer. The family has voiced suspicions about the men she was with that evening, as well as Wolff, since they refused to take police-issued polygraphs and retained lawyers soon after Spierer's disappearance. While the parents have not made any specific accusations, they do believe the two know more than they have told police so far. [24] The men responded that they have taken privately administered polygraphs, as well as one from the FBI. [5] Since they do not trust the Bloomington police, they say, they have retained lawyers. [25]
Regarding Spierer's level of intoxication, her friends and Wolff told police that she used drugs in addition to alcohol on the night leading up to her disappearance. Wolff's mother alleged that Spierer was asked to leave the summer camp where she met her son and Rosenbaum years earlier because of drug use. "This poor little girl is not with us today because of her drug abuse," she said. [25] On September 2, 2010, nine months before her disappearance, Spierer was arrested on charges of public intoxication and illegal consumption. [26] [27] After her disappearance, police found a "small amount of cocaine" in her room. [28]
Rosenbaum told investigators that Spierer consumed alcohol, snorted cocaine, and crushed up Klonopin tablets that evening. Her rare heart condition— long QT syndrome—added to the danger of drug use. [29] Police addressed rumors that implied Spierer may have overdosed and those with her may have hidden her body to avoid criminal charges. [30] Bo Dietl, a private investigator hired by the Spierer family, doubts that a fatal drug overdose could be enough motive to hide her death; he cited the prevalence of drug abuse on the IU campus. "Every kid's buying pot, cocaine, drinking, pills," he said. "I mean, it's all over the place. So that really can't be the motive behind it." [9] [29]
The police have also acknowledged they have not ruled out other possibilities, such as abduction by a stranger. [30] Spierer's parents have previously stated that they do not believe her disappearance was a random abduction. [31]
In 2017, Brown County prosecutor Ted Adams reported he believed Daniel Messel could be connected to Spierer's disappearance. In 2016, Messel was convicted of killing another IU student, Hannah Wilson, in 2015. Wilson had only been reported missing for one day when her body was found in a desolate field; she had been bludgeoned to death. Messel's cell phone was discovered at her feet. [32] Messel has never been charged in connection with Spierer's case. [33]
Spierer's parents filed civil lawsuits against Rossman, Rosenbaum, and Beth for their involvement with their daughter leading up to her disappearance. The suits accused the defendants of negligence, alleging they supplied Spierer with alcohol after she was already "visibly intoxicated", then neglected to assure she returned safely to her apartment, which likely led to her death. [34] The family stated they hoped the lawsuit would lead to the defendants admitting more information about what occurred the night of Spierer's disappearance. "I truly don't think it was a random abduction, I think that somebody that Lauren knew was responsible for the events of that evening," Spierer's mother said. As part of the suit, they subpoenaed private cell phone and academic records spanning 134 days before and after the night Spierer disappeared, a move the defendants’ lawyers labeled a "fishing expedition". [35]
In 2013, federal judge Tanya Walton Pratt dismissed the suit against Beth after determining he had no duty of care for Spierer. [36] [37]
In 2014, Pratt dismissed the suit against the other two men, finding: "...there could be any number of theories as to what happened to Lauren and what, if any, injuries she may have sustained. Without evidence to prove these theories, it would be impossible for a jury to determine if whatever happened to Spierer was a natural and probable consequence of her intoxication, without any other intervening acts that would break the causal chain." [38] [39] Spierer's parents appealed the ruling, but the dismissal was upheld by a federal appeals court in 2015. [40] [41] [42] Lawyers for the men have stated that their clients have cooperated fully with police and the private investigators hired by the Spierer family, and that all of them have passed private polygraphs. "They've been interviewed and interviewed and interviewed, and to say they've been less than forthcoming is just not accurate," said an attorney who represents Beth and Rohn. [9] [11] To date, none of the defendants have been named as suspects in Spierer's disappearance. [43]
The HLN show, Real Life Nightmare, detailed the Lauren Spierer case in an hour-long episode called "Night of No Return" in 2019. [44] Spierer's case has been covered in multiple podcasts, including: Crime Junkie, True Crime Garage, Going West: True Crime, True Crime All The Time Unsolved, Trace Evidence, and Not Another True Crime Podcast. [45] [46] [47] [48] [49] [50]
The intense press coverage of the disappearance has been dubbed an example of missing white woman syndrome, a phenomenon wherein the news media disproportionately covers missing-person cases that involve young, white, upper-middle class females. [51] [52] [53] The Indiana Daily Student , IU's student paper, ran a story that documented the disparity between their own coverage of Spierer's disappearance and their coverage of another local disappearance, Crystal Grubb, 29, who was also white but came from a working-class family wherein many relatives had criminal histories. Following Grubb's disappearance in 2010, the Daily Student ran a total of seven stories on the case compared to multiple front-page articles and the extensive national awareness of the Spierer case. [54] [55]
Kristin Denise Smart was a 19-year-old American woman murdered by Paul Flores at the end of her first year on the campus of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.
John David Gosch was a paperboy in West Des Moines, Iowa, who disappeared between 6 and 7 a.m. on September 5, 1982. He is presumed to have been kidnapped. Gosch's picture was among the first to be featured on milk cartons as part of a campaign to find missing children. As of 2024, there have been no arrests made and the case is now considered cold, but remains open.
The killing of Molly Anne Bish is a currently unsolved child murder which occurred in Warren, Massachusetts, on June 27, 2000, when 16-year-old high school student Molly Anne Bish disappeared while working as a lifeguard.
Jennifer Joyce Kesse is an American woman from Orlando, Florida, who has been missing since January 23, 2006. Shortly after she vanished, Kesse's car was discovered parked around a mile from her home. Security footage recorded her kidnapper parking Kesse's car and walking away, but he could not be identified due to poor camera quality and the absence of any visible distinguishing physical features. The case received local and national press attention.
Natalee Ann Holloway was an 18-year-old American high school graduate from Mountain Brook, Alabama, who disappeared from the Caribbean island of Aruba on May 30, 2005. Her disappearance resulted in an international media sensation, especially in the United States. The prime suspect, Dutch national Joran van der Sloot, has made conflicting statements over the years about his involvement, including a confession to killing her. Holloway's remains have not been found.
Kiplyn Davis was a 15-year-old Spanish Fork high school student who disappeared from her high school campus in Spanish Fork, Utah. She is one of the featured children on the Polly Klaas Foundation website. In 2011, a classmate was convicted of manslaughter in the murder of Davis and sentenced to 15 years in prison. However, the man refused to name his alleged accomplices or indicate where Davis's remains were supposedly concealed.
Maura Murray is an American woman who disappeared on the evening of February 9, 2004, after a car crash on Route 112 near Woodsville, New Hampshire, a village in the town of Haverhill. Her whereabouts remain unknown. Murray was a 21-year-old nursing student completing her junior year at the University of Massachusetts Amherst at the time of her disappearance.
Ann Gotlib was a Soviet Jewish immigrant who disappeared at the age of 12 from the premises of a Louisville, Kentucky mall. The case to find her abductor was covered heavily by the Louisville news media and stretched for the next twenty-five years until a person of interest was eventually identified.
Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana.
Morgan Chauntel Nick is an American girl who was abducted at a Little League Baseball game. Her mother is known for creating the Morgan Nick Foundation, which helps people find their missing children.
Elizabeth Ann Holloway is an American speech pathologist and motivational speaker. She became widely known in the international media after her teenage daughter, Natalee, disappeared while going on a high school graduation trip to Aruba in 2005. Subsequently, Holloway became a speaker on the topic of personal safety. She founded the International Safe Travels Foundation—to educate the public to help them travel more safely— and the Natalee Holloway Resource Center to aid families of missing persons.
Brianna Alexandra Maitland is an American missing person who disappeared at the age of 17 after leaving her job at the Black Lantern Inn in Montgomery, Vermont. Her car was discovered the following day, backed into the side of an abandoned house about a mile (1.6 km) away from her workplace. Maitland has not been seen or heard from since. Due to a confluence of circumstances, several days passed before Maitland's friends and family reported her missing.
Asha Jaquilla Degree went missing at the age of nine from Shelby, North Carolina, United States. In the early morning hours of February 14, 2000, for reasons unknown, she packed her bookbag, left her family home north of the city and began walking along nearby North Carolina Highway 18 despite heavy rain and wind. Several passing motorists saw her; when one turned around at a point 1.3 miles (2.1 km) from her home and began to approach her, she left the roadside and ran into a wooded area. In the morning, her parents discovered her missing from her bedroom. She has not been seen since.
Brian Randall Shaffer was a medical student at the Ohio State University College of Medicine who has been missing since the early hours of April 1, 2006, after security cameras recorded him just outside a bar in Columbus. He had gone out with friends earlier in the evening of March 31 to celebrate the beginning of spring break; later, he was separated from them, and they assumed he had gone home. The security camera outside the entrance to the second-floor bar recorded him briefly talking to two women just before 2 a.m. and then walking off-screen without any further evidence of him leaving the area. Shaffer has not been seen or heard from since. The case received national media attention.
Tiffany Louise Sessions is a missing woman from Tampa, Florida, who was last seen on February 9, 1989. Her family nickname was "Tiffy". She was attending the University of Florida in Gainesville and was majoring in business.
On June 9, 2017, Yingying Zhang, a visiting Chinese scholar at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, was abducted by Brendt Allen Christensen, a Champaign resident and former physics graduate student at the university. Christensen, who investigators claimed aspired to be a serial killer, lured Zhang into his car at a bus stop on campus posing as a police officer with the promise of a ride after she missed a bus, but then took her to his apartment where he raped and murdered her.
Laureen Ann Rahn is an American teenager who vanished under mysterious circumstances from her home in Manchester, New Hampshire. On the night of her disappearance, Rahn was accompanied by a male and female friend at the apartment she shared with her mother, Judith, who was out on a date with her boyfriend.
The murder of Rachael Runyan is an unsolved child murder which occurred in Sunset, Utah, on August 26, 1982, when a three-year-old girl was abducted from a playground and murdered by an unknown individual. Her body was found three weeks later in a creek bed in nearby Morgan County.
Crystal Maria Rogers disappeared from her home in Bardstown, Kentucky, United States, on July 3, 2015. Her boyfriend at the time said she disappeared from their home overnight; her car was found on a nearby highway two days later. Rogers' family believes the boyfriend was involved in foul play; he was considered a suspect after he broke off an interview. Her family also believes the case is connected to the unsolved 2016 shooting death of Rogers' father while hunting.
Larry DeWayne Hall is an American kidnapper, rapist, murderer, and suspected serial killer. An aficionado of the American Revolution and Civil War, Hall traveled around the Midwest for historical reenactments and is believed to have abducted, raped, tortured, and murdered dozens of girls and women.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)The 20-year-old had been arrested for public intoxication nine months before her disappearance...