Every Parent's Nightmare

[Classof2015]

"Indiana University sophomore Lauren Spierer, 20, was last seen walking barefoot alone from a friend's Bloomington, Ind., apartment at around 4:30 a.m. Friday."

Police seek DNA from Lauren Spierer's companion on night she disappeared; 'Most Wanted' to feature search | The Journal News | LoHud.com

I just saw her mom on the news -- my heart breaks for her.

I feel like when I tell D to be careful at college, to be safe, it goes in one ear and out the other.

I hope and pray this girl shows up, safe, alive, and worst case -- a little dehydrated from a few too many drinks.

[rodney]

Thank you for posting the updated article........becoming clearer what transpired that evening......

so it was Rossman's roomie who let her walk home alone (supposedly)......

there are alot of people involved with this according to the article.......

^^I hope you are right!!

[Yakyu Spirits]

Terrible story but you gotta have common sense. Walking alone at four in the morning? Really? Wow.

[SmithieandProud]

I'm not familiar with Bloomington, but it wasn't that uncommon to walk home by yourself where I went to school. Of course, Smith is in a small town and not a city, so again, it's a little different. But according to the police report the girl lived less than half a mile from the boys' apartment, so a few blocks at most. I don't think she can be blamed for not wanting to stay at the apartment where one boy was passed out (and probably no where else to sleep). Would have been gallant of the other guy to walk her home, but he may have not been in a fit state to walk her either.

[ginab591]

I only really clicked the link because it was from the paper that serves the three tiny counties around and including mine at home.
But yeah it's a common sense thing, but on the girl's part, not the guy's. At that point she really should have either stayed the night or called a cab (or if the school has some sort of night escort). I'm wondering why her boyfriend wasn't mentioned in the investigation? From quickly skimming the article, it seems like her boyfriend and the guy friend who is the suspect got into a physical fight earlier that night and the girl left with the friend instead of her boyfriend. I can think of a few different situations that could have led to this and almost all of them end up with an angry (to the point of physical fighting) boyfriend who didn't really come up in the article at all.

[RoxSox]

The president of my sorority is best friends with this girl and just flew out to Indiana to help look for her. I really hope she is found soon, we are all doing our best to spread the word on Facebook

[Misanthrope]

Who is the Rosenbaum male friend who claims to have been last to see her? Already lawyered up w Voyles who defended Mike Tyson!

[cptofthehouse]

Of course, he is "lawyered up". If your college kid were considered the last to have seen a missing student and the police are questioning him and wanting DNA samples, you probably will get a lawyer. I would. That is attorney oked the DNA sample is a pretty good sign that the kid is not involved, If the kid had given any sign that there MIGHT be incriminating DNA on him--if he had been intimate or physical with her, the lawyer would have insisted his client refuse. It sounds ominous that someone was the last to see a missing person, but sometimes that is just chance.

The young woman is from our area, and IU is a school where a number of kids have attended that we know. This is a frightening event that strikes very close to home for me, and I am praying that it is not a tragedy.

[cptofthehouse]

Gina, I think she may have gotten into a car with someone. The area and all the usual places where she could have gone, friends, boyfriends that might have harbored her have been checked out ...with dogs. No go. To disappear in thin air like that point to getting into a car and being whisked away outside of her usual haunts. There are simply too many people who know her for her to be in some student dig in the area, in my opinion, dead or alive. If a car is involved, she can be hundreds, even thousands of miles away by now. I would focus on any students or acquaintances who were in the area at the time she disappeared and who disappeared the same time she did, even if they are now back. If something happened, the thing to do to lower chances of getting caught would be to dump the body, many, many, many miles away where no one even knows about the missing gir.

[TatinG]

I guess she wasn't carrying a cell phone. The GPS feature is a great locator.

[hoosiermom]

She left her cell phone in a bar earlier that night.

[Iglooo]

It's been a week since she's gone missing. Unsettling.

[MomofWildChild]

I went to IU and I know lots of people who would have walked 1/2 a mile at 4am. It happens all the time at Penn, too, and Penn seems less safe than IU.
This is horrible and I pray for her safe return.

[sunnyflorida]

At a news conference today at Bloomington police headquarters, (Officer)Parker retraced Spierer's steps through a long night of drinking in which she lost track of her shoes, cell phone and keys—all within just a few blocks of her off-campus apartment.

She would not be making good decisions or good choices if she were drinking enough to loose her keys, her cell and her shoes. Her shoes and cell were found at a bar, her keys on the sidewalk at a nearby but different location. There is a difference between walking home alone at 4 am awake and alert, say after studying, and walking home alone at 4 am intoxicated, so much so you have lost your shoes, your cellphone and your keys. Video surveillance shows she left the bar barefoot and just continued to visit other locations barefoot. She was withing a few blocks of her apartment the entire time she continued on barefoot.

I agree she might have gotten in a car with someone who offered her a ride and was never seen again.

This is so sad. However, she had prior citations for underage drinking, and her companion for part of the evening had those as well as a possession of marijuana charge. Look, college kids will drink and smoke, and I am not looking for arguments there. But she likely was not in control that morning. BIG DIFFERENCE.

[Joan52]

I have been following this story with my own D, who is 19 and will be a junior. On top of everything else, the girl apparently has a heart problem.

I feel badly for her parents and I wonder if they were aware that she had a history of underage drinking issues. I also wonder - where there NO adults who saw this child (who I believe is not even 5' tall) wandering in the middle of the night, half dressed and barefoot.

Poor thing, but I watch too much true crime TV to think that this will have a happy ending.