<p>I really feel for that family. It’s just heartbreaking. Someone knows what happened to their daughter. They know and have accepted that she is dead, most likely. They just want closure. </p>
<p>I really think this suit is just a symbol of their pain. They have to do something so they filed suit. If someone would just fess up, they would drop the suit.</p>
<p>If it were female friends who had been the last to see her, but were refusing to help, Im sure the parents would be equally concerned and frustrated.</p>
<p>I didnt realize how tiny she was. 4’11" & 95 lbs?
Perhaps I watch too much television, but it doesn’t take much imagination to think that someone was trying to restrain her- and used just a little too much force.
It wouldn’t take much & at under 5’, she probably was drunk after two beers!
I can’t drink more than two drinks in an evening & I am 30 lbs heavier! (+ taller)</p>
<p>Of course helping with an investigation doesnt mean innocence necessarily.
Didn’t OJ scour every golf course in the country looking for Nicole’s killer?
:rolleyes:</p>
<p>ek, how do you know they are “refusing to help”? They have all given statements to the police, had their apartments and cars searched, and if memory serves at least one of them submitted to a polygraph.</p>
<p>Maybe they just don’t have anything else to tell.</p>
<p>None of them have taken a polygraph with law enforcement. One of them took a polygraph at his lawyer’s office and submitted the results to the police. I won’t engage in an argument about polygraphs. People here are intelligent enough to know the issues related to polygraphs. That they’ve not taken a police administered polygraph is not an issue for me.</p>
<p>Unlike many people, it doesn’t even bother me that all of them contacted a lawyer almost immediately. If these were my children, I would do the same thing. </p>
<p>I do actually believe in innocent until proven guilty. I also live in the real world and am human. It’s nearly impossible to live here and not suspect that these young men played some role in Lauren’s disappearance. </p>
<p>It’s human nature to want to believe that nothing bad could happen in your “home.” (meaning the place you live, not the physical structure). Imagining that a criminal randomly abducted her is psychologically more difficult and more frightening. It’s more threatening in many ways. It’s psychologically easier to imagine that her “friends” know what happened that night.</p>
<p>Maybe they don’t have anything else to tell. I think that’s the point of the lawsuit: to find out.</p>
<p>I have heard some speculation that she died of a drug overdose and that when her friends found her body, they panicked and some how disposed of it.</p>
<p>How awful for her parents, friends and family. And if this scenario is true, I also feel some sympathy (not quite the word I am looking for) for the kids–because it is likely they might not have gotten in to any trouble at all had they called 911, but they will get in to big trouble for the cover up if one is ever exposed.</p>
<p>If she ODed or died of heart failure, I would bet that if any of them were doing cocaine with her, or served her alcohol, it is quite likely that the prosecutors would have charged them with some form of murder or manslaughter if they had called 911. Despite her apparently well-documented history as a willing partier.</p>
<p>^That adds new meaning to careful who you hang out with.</p>
<p>Or maybe a good samaritan law is needed…</p>
<p>Indiana has since passed a Lifeline law as a direct result of Lauren’s disappearance. Two years ago this type of law was uncommon and existed in very few states. I don’t know if that has changed. I do know it applies to alcohol only. I don’t know if other states with such a law allow for illegal drugs in the application of the law.</p>
<p>Contrast this with the Bonjovi case. Her boyfriend or friend and supplier was in her room at Hamilton College with her when she ODed on heroin. He called 911 and admitted what had happened. EMT came and he was charged. Charges were dropped the next day because NY does have a Good Samaritan law. She is alive and went to rehab. Lets hope it worked.</p>
<p>IMO, EVERY state should have a Good Samaritan law. Yes, I’d hope my offspring would have the guts to do the right thing…and wouldn’t get into the situation in the first place. </p>
<p>I think the people who are blaming her parents are nuts. If it were your child–male or female–wouldn’t you want to know what really happened? How can you blame her parents for suing the boys to find out? They are obviously convinced that the boys know more. Could they be wrong? Yes. Could they be right? Yes.</p>
<p>From the “sound” of it, the Indiana Good Samaritan law might not have helped Lauren because she may have used cocaine that night. I think a Good Samaritan law should include drugs.</p>
<p>I’m guessing the parents may know of some evidence that may not be allowed to be admitted in a criminal case and are hoping to bring it to light. Maybe this would not only bring out some answers but possibly jog the memory of someone out there who saw something.</p>
<p>I am not sure anyone mentioned it yet but this is exactly what happened with the OJ trial. Once Brown and Goldman families took him to court in a civil trial there were all sorts of pieces of evidence that came to light.</p>
<p>I’m just hoping that somehow the parents of this young woman can find some peace soon. The problem with them lashing out with a lawsuit is that while one can hope that some miraculous evidence will come forth, the likelihood of them having to endure more hours hearing about their D’s social exploits and learn nothing more from the men she came in contact with that night are great. I don’t know if I were a mother if I could go through that over and over and over. I imagine the young men and their families are not pleased that this family is bringing this to civil court instead of leaving it in the hands of the criminal system and having to pay to defend themselves against a non-criminal proceeding…an environment that is not conducive to much positive IMO.</p>
<p>If your innocent child is being sued for murder/manslaughter, wouldn’t you be upset? If your child said everything they know and still there’s no answer to the tragedy, would you be willing to be sued? I think it depends if there’s any real evidence that the boys knew more. To me, disposing of a body seems to be a big step to take. Half drunk college kids without using a car hid the body so well that even the most exhaustive search can’t find?</p>
<p>Their D may be dead. They aren’t certain of that. In their nightmares, they probably wonder if she’s imprisoned somewhere by an evil person like Ariel Castro who kidnapped and held 3 young women in Cleveland. If it were my D, I’d listen to hours and hours of how she allegedly misbehaved in return for certainty as to what happened to her. Not knowing must be excruciatingly painful. I don’t think Lauren’s parents will ever find any peace unless and until they find out if she is dead or alive and if dead what happened to her body.</p>
<p>IMO, calling any of these young men an “innocent child” is laughable. To me, it is PROBABLE that these young men know more than they have said. That doesn’t mean they were actually responsible for her death–if she is dead.</p>
<p>BTW, IIRC it took the police quite a long time to go door-to-door in the area. Like possibly several days. I can’t find the information now. Someone who lived there could easily have snatched her and disposed of her during that period. At 4 ft 11 they could carry her out in a large trash bag or suitcase. I also don’t find it wildly unlikely that an opportunistic predator would take an occasional cruise through an area heavily populated by college students who are all too frequently reeling home drunk and vulnerable.</p>
<p>Her parents’ side</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.jconline.com/article/20130603/NEWS03/306030013/Lauren-Spierer-s-parents-called-liars-by-boyfriend-s-family[/url]”>http://www.jconline.com/article/20130603/NEWS03/306030013/Lauren-Spierer-s-parents-called-liars-by-boyfriend-s-family</a></p>
<p>This part of the story does not speak well of the “innocent” boy(s):</p>
<p>
</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.jconline.com/article/20130603/NEWS03/306030013/Lauren-Spierer-s-parents-called-liars-by-boyfriend-s-family?nclick_check=1[/url]”>http://www.jconline.com/article/20130603/NEWS03/306030013/Lauren-Spierer-s-parents-called-liars-by-boyfriend-s-family?nclick_check=1</a></p>
<p>That’s being stupid, not necessarily guilty. College kids I know are usually quite sloppy that I have a hard time believing that they could methodically hide the body so well, half drunk, in panic. If three boys collaborated in hiding the body, why did one guy volunteer that he saw her alive last? Wouldn’t the storyline be more likely, “We left all together and went separate ways”</p>
<p>jonri, that article doesn’t really say anything much. They all just sound like a contentious bunch who are a little too quick to point fingers at others.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I have no idea what it is in a* legal* sense. </p>
<p>But to allow another human being to depart into the 4:00 a.m. night under those conditions strikes me as unspeakably cruel, heartless, and negligent.</p>
<p>That is what I mean: perhaps not guilty in a legal sense, but surely not “innocent” in a human sense.</p>
<p>I know that Lauren did not have her cell phone with her at the time of her disappearance. However, I wonder if the police have subpoenaed or are able to subpoena any kind of cell phone records of the boys (including the boyfriend) to indicate where they might have been in the hours and days following this night.</p>
<p>There was a case in a community near mine where the victims’ cell phone transmission from a certain tower led to the discovery of her body and also to the arrest of her murderer (boyfriend). I think (and I could be wrong) that if the culprit is one of these kids and they texted or received a text or call while in a certain area that it could be an indication of where Lauren might have ended up. </p>
<p>I am sure there are people on this board that know more about this than I do but reading the above article it crossed my mind as they said her boyfriend was texting his father the whole night.</p>