Vanished Without A Trace: Where Is Lauren Spierer?

(Lauren Spierer. Picture credit: abcnews)
 
Over the next few weeks I will be covering some mysterious disappearance cases and in this post I will be briefly focusing on the Lauren Spierer case.  

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So let's get into my 77th true crime post....


Lauren's case has featured on numerous podcasts, youtube channels and documentaries over the years and still, from the day that she disappeared on the 3rd of June 2011 to present, nobody is any the wiser as to what happened to her but as with a lot of these types of cases, there is a lot of theories. 

This case was first brought to my attention in 2016 on the LordanArts YouTube channel. John Lordan always goes into detail when discussing cases and I highly recommend you to check out his channel. Obviously many years have passed but I still thought of Lauren from time to time and would look for updates on her case hoping that she would one day be found safe and well. 

Lauren was only 20 years old when she vanished that night in June. She came from a well respected family and was bright as well as beautiful. She was quite the athlete at school until she got the devastating news that she had an underlying heart condition called Long QT Syndrome, a condition that can cause sufferers to have fits and seizures. She was obviously upset about the diagnosis which was life changing for her, she quit her sports classes and focused on other options whilst adjusting to life on medication. 

Lauren seemed to be doing quite well on her medication and being young and a bit naive she thought that she could drink alcohol and take drugs whilst being on the medication. It was a terrifying risk and gamble for her to take and to those that knew her it seemed to be a regular thing. It was a wonder why nothing dangerous did happen at that point and maybe that was why she continued to party with her friends as if she thought that she'd gotten away with it before so she could do it again.

(Lauren Spierer: Picture credit: indianapublicmedia.org)

By June 2011, Lauren was an Indiana University student so nights out with friends was a common thing. On Friday the 3rd of June 2011, she spent some time at a popular bar called Kilroy's. She had been drinking and friends reported later that she had been taking drugs along with her usual medication, quite a dangerous cocktail but one that Lauren had managed to get away with many times before. She left her phone at the bar and took her shoes off as she walked out onto the sand covered patio with a male friend by the name of Cory Rossman who then walked with her to her apartment complex.

The details of that night are quite patchy and hard to follow. According to the timeline, Lauren was seen at around 2:30 am entering her apartment complex and seemed to be heavily intoxicated according to a witness who had seen her and asked her if she was ok. 

She was only at her apartment for a very short time before she was recorded on a CCTV camera leaving the complex and heading into a nearby alley, again she appeared to be intoxicated (her keys and purse were later found along this alley way). 

She was next seen arriving at Cory's apartment with Cory. His roommate (Michael Beth) was already in the apartment. Michael later reported that both Cory and Lauren were pretty out of it and at one point Cory was struggling to walk and vomited on the carpet. 

Michael claims that he tried to sort the pair of them out. He helped Cory get into bed and tried to give Lauren a glass of water whilst also trying to persuade her to stay at the apartment and sleep on the sofa for the night but Lauren didn't want to, according to Michael, she wanted to carry on partying and was badgering him to take a drink but he refused and contacted his neighbour Jay Rosenbaum, who also knew Lauren. 

Lauren was said to have left Cory & Michael's apartment and went to Jay's flat. Jay later claimed that Lauren had a bruise under her eye but she said she had no idea how it got there. Two phone calls were also made from his phone which he claimed to have been from Lauren trying to contact two friends. After the phone calls he said that she left. 

Jay claimed that the last time he saw Lauren was at the intersection of 11th street and college avenue. In this final sighting of her before she disappeared she was said to have been wearing a white shirt, black leggings and no shoes. 

The guy that she had been dating, Jesse Wolff, had tried to text her phone some hours later and was surprised to have got a response from one of the bar staff at Kilroy's where Lauren had left her phone. Knowing how attached Lauren was to her phone, that she'd been out drinking with friends and the concern over her heart condition, he contacted the police straight away. 

Lauren has not been seen or heard from since. She has been missing for nearly 10 years. 

(CCTV footage of that night. The vehicle is of interest to the police and the picture on the right is the last known footage of Lauren before she disappeared. Picture credit: Daily Mail)

As with many unexplained disappearances there is a few theories about what really happened to Lauren. 

Her parents believe that the men who were with her that night know more than they are letting on. They tried to file a civil lawsuit against the men but it soon got thrown out. 

Cory, Jay and Michael all claim that they are innocent and they also claim that they have undertaken privately administered polygraphs which proved their innocence. Some eyebrows were raised at the start of the investigation as the men refused to take lie detector tests and hired lawyers. To this date, nobody had been charged with anything related to the disappearance of Lauren Spierer. Her parents are still not convinced and plan to appeal the lawsuits. They believe that Lauren was drugged at the bar and that she is deceased. 

Another theory relating to the men was the possibility that Lauren had overdosed and they panicked and placed her body somewhere.

Some people believe she died suddenly due to the cocktail of alcohol, drugs and medication for her heart condition but if that was the case, surely her body would have been found if she had collapsed somewhere?

There has also been the theory that she had been abducted by someone and taken somewhere.

At one point the police thought that her case might be connected to the horrific 2015 murder of a fellow Indiana University student Hannah Wilson. Hannah had attended the same bar, Kilroy's on a night out with friends when she fell victim to Daniel Messel who had a long history of violence against women and had even beaten his own grandmother. Hannah was just days away from graduating when this monster had taken her life. After a thorough investigation the police determined that Daniel Messel had nothing to do with Lauren's disappearance. 

The case remains a mystery but people have their various theories and after nearly 10 years will this ever be solved? Another sad thing about this case is that all of the theories do not involve the possibility that Lauren is still alive. We read all the time of people who have been abducted turning up years later but I have to admit with Lauren's case it does look very dark, for how would she be able to survive all those years without her medication if she was being held somewhere? It doesn't bare to think about. I always try to have a hopeful outlook on missing persons cases, I believe in never giving up hope but I'm also well aware of the world that we live in and the reality of the situation. 

I pray for Lauren and her family. 

Please check out Help Us Find Lauren which is run by her family.

And Twitter: @NewsOnLauren


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4 comments:

  1. Disappearances like these are absolutely heartbreaking to read about. The combination of alcohol, medication and drugs are often a recipe for disaster and often times ending in tragedy such as this story here. I can only imagine the heartache and pain her family has had to deal with over the years that have passed. Another incredible true crime story from Caledonian Kitty! 🙏🏼❤

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    1. Thank you so much for checking out my latest post and for commenting. I know it has nearly been 10 years but I do hope and pray that her family do finally find out what really happened to Lauren and if anyone is responsible,then that person or persons should be brought to justice x

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  2. This is such a heartbreaking case. Every unsolved disapearences is so sad. Even after 10 years, I want to be positive and beleive that they might solved the case. I'm not saying that she's still alive but maybe they will find what was truly happening. My prayers to the family and parents. Hope that one day, somebody will find Lauren alive and well Xxx

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  3. Than you for taking the time to read my latest post and for commenting x

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