IN - Lauren Spierer, 20, Bloomington, 03 June 2011 - #3

[SmoothOperator]

Thanks for the link to Lauren's blog.. A bright young young who seemed as tho she was truly interested in bettering the human race.. Not just Jews, not just Americans, but all races and ethnicities able to focus on their common similarities rather than their ill perceived differences.. She spoke openly about her upbringing with mom being Christian and dad being Jewish and being brought up with a mixture of backgrounds and ethnicities.. Being grateful that the temple in her small community was very welcoming of those who were not Jewish and encouraged relationships between them all..

This young girl had so very much to offer our society as a whole and infact the world.. She is intelligent, truly caring and genuinely interested in humanity.. All of humanity, not just one religion or aspect of humanity.. But of humanity as a whole..

Why I ask?? Why? With someone with so much to offer.. So much of life to live and for the betterment of society not just in selfish and self serving ways.. But in ways that would benefit us all.. Why was this young girls life ripped from her? Why was this child who had so much yet to give... Yet to live.. Why? Why was her life snuffed out so soon.. So early?? *These are questions to which I will never understand the answers to.. Nor be satisfied with what these answers are.. There has to be something that we can do from continuing to lose such giving, wonderful human beings with so very much to offer..

I just can't understand it.. Why the Casey Anthony's continue to live..lots of times unpunished for their self serving crimes committed along their path thru life.. Yet those like Lauren Spierer, Holly Bobo.. With so much good that radiates from their being and so much left to give are taken before they are even yet in the prime of their lives..

(I pray that Lauren and Holly bOth be one of the "miracles"(like Elizabeth Smart, Jaycee Dugard) but sadly I realize that much more likely these beautiful human beings lives have been snuffed out and extinguished way too soon.. I pray I am wrong.. But realize what is most likely to be the outcome)

 

[epiphany]

I do think people should look at the "cocaine" assumption.

However, news articles are claiming that the Sheriff is considering an Overdose. That is not true at all. He just said he is open to EVERY possibility when asked about drug rumors. Two different things.

Hi, Curious. He said more than that. Today is the first time the possibility of a drug OD has been asked by the media and addressed by LE. He responded to the "rumor" of a possible OD by stating that LE has absolutely heard that "information." He also said that it has not been discounted.

 

[TonyGatto]

From a column by a student, in the Indiana Daily Student, in 2007.

The art of surviving at a big time bar like Kilroy’s Sports Bar is to treat it like a sport. Hone your skills, but have fun. Sports on Walnut Street is a combination of pitchers, pals and possible hook-ups. All three elements must be delicately balanced to maximize your good time. But above all – pick up girls, don’t poke them. When you poke someone on Facebook, you’re saying: “I’m too much of a coward to talk to you in person, so here’s a virtual poke!” While it is not the lowest form of communication between the sexes, it is only slightly above grunting.

Classroom romances are nice in theory, but destructive in practice.

Remember those mornings when the only thing uglier than your hangover headache is the sight of the person in your bed? Yeah, now imagine that every morning, including during tests, lectures and class work.

Don’t ever live in Smallwood Plaza. Ever.

Yeah, I said it. Take it from a Jersey Jew: Smallwood is the ghettoization of the stupid, the spoiled and the narcissistic. Conversations don’t include “Iraq.” No, instead they begin with “I rock.” In the next decade Bloomington will continue to build these enormous apartment complexes, which serve at the convenience of students with wealthier parents. Smallwood unites these students in a community that couldn’t care less about what is going on outside their own small worlds.

College is a struggle between brains.

Yes, contrary to science, there are two brains. One is above the waist, the other is below. Try and use the one on top of your shoulders as much as possible.

http://www.idsnews.com/news/NewStoryPrint.aspx?id=54378

 

[jjenny]

Bloomington police say they are searching for a specific vehicle, or vehicles, that have "come to [their] attention" and may offer leads in the disappearance of Indiana University student Lauren Spierer.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20070880-504083.html#ixzz1PCBXrkmh

Before we get all excited about these vehicles, police don't even know if these vehicles had anything to do with her disappearance. Certainly the tape doesn't seem to show anything but this car driving. Maybe the person was lost.

 

[jjenny]

Hi, Curious. He said more than that. Today is the first time the possibility of a drug OD has been asked by the media and addressed by LE. He responded to the "rumor" of a possible OD by stating that LE has absolutely heard that "information." He also said that it has not been discounted.

It doesn't sound to me like police are anywhere near solving this. If they really did suspect the boyfriend, seems like that possibility would have been the easiest one to solve, while abduction by a stranger would be the hardest.

 

[illinialum]

Kenna Quinet, an associate professor at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis who specializes in research on serial killers, said she would be surprised if the perpetrator was a sexual predator who just happened into Spierer's path because those people usually spend much time searching for and watching their victims. She said she believes Spierer may have been abducted by someone she knew or someone who lives nearby.

http://www.courier-journal.com/arti...nt-continues?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Home|s

 

[jjenny]

http://www.courier-journal.com/arti...nt-continues?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Home|s

Only it's not exactly true. We know Amber Dubois was abducted by a man who just happened to drive by as she walked to school. She isn't the only one. Plenty of predators abduct someone when they see an opportunity-such as a girl walking alone.

 

[Ven]

From a column by a student, in the Indiana Daily Student, in 2007.

Don’t ever live in Smallwood Plaza. Ever.

Yeah, I said it. Take it from a Jersey Jew: Smallwood is the ghettoization of the stupid, the spoiled and the narcissistic. Conversations don’t include “Iraq.” No, instead they begin with “I rock.” In the next decade Bloomington will continue to build these enormous apartment complexes, which serve at the convenience of students with wealthier parents. Smallwood unites these students in a community that couldn’t care less about what is going on outside their own small worlds.[/I]

http://www.idsnews.com/news/NewStoryPrint.aspx?id=54378

As someone who has been in college for many years, and attended a few different universities, I cannot speak about Smallwood specifically, but there is a lot of truth about this class of student in general.

I always identified with the other students who were also working their way through college and/or took their education very seriously.
Wherever they came from, locally or out east, I never could stand the ones who were sent with a blank check from mommy and daddy to party for 4 years and get some goofy nonsense degree.

Wealth doesn't have anything to do with it, if someone comes from a rich family and takes their education seriously, props to them.
But all too often students with a blank check from the parents don't take school seriously and treat it as a 4 year exercise in drinking, drugs, and sex.

I got to know a girl from IU who's family was obviously loaded, I helped her out with one of her summer classes at another university.
This girl would skip a day or two and take long weekends to fly out to Paris on shopping trips with her girlfriends, on a whim.
I don't know if she was involved in the drug scene at IU, but she wasn't very bright and based on conversations it wouldn't have surprised me.

 

[coltsgal]

Revisiting the drug situation that many others have discussed.

I spoke with my boss' daughter today. She is 20 years old, and also lives in Bloomington. I was picking her brain a bit.

She didn't know Lauren or the other parties involved, but she knew "of" them and has seen her at bars and such. She said that they live a party lifestyle and it includes heavy drinking and drugs. Not just illegal drugs, but prescription drugs as well.

I asked her what her theory is of what happened. She said that she (and many of the locals) believe that she OD'd on some sort of drug. The boys did not want to be associated with the drugs, because if they called the cops after something happened to Lauren, they would have also gotten busted for drugs.

She doesn't know what they did with her, obviously, but they believe that the boys were responsible for "hiding" her body.

Of course, this is all hearsay and theories. Nothing is verified.

 

[cluciano63]

Even if Lauren was taken by a stranger, it sounds like the lifestyle lived in the area and the complex by at least some of these students may end up becoming the focus of the crime because many people seem ready to say that drugs were a big part of the scene. It is too bad that they can't just admit to drug usage and move on, as far as LE is concerned, in this case only, so that any reasons to hold back could be removed.

I hope LE does not get bogged down in the drugs if nothing leads them there specifically. Still, it must be hard for her parents to hear all of these various scenarios. I am sure much of it is news to them.

 

[coltsgal]

Adding to my quote, she said she had also been in the same alley approx 30 minutes prior to Lauren. She said she didn't notice anyone unusual in the area or anything out of the ordinary.

She felt obligated to call the bloomington police just to let them know she was in that alley prior to Lauren. The PD is taking everything very seriously, just wanted all of you to know that. They had her on the phone for over an hour asking various types of questions, all because she just wanted to report that she was in the alley and didn't see anything abnormal.

 

[Ven]

Even if Lauren was taken by a stranger, it sounds like the lifestyle lived in the area and the complex by at least some of these students may end up becoming the focus of the crime because many people seem ready to say that drugs were a big part of the scene. It is too bad that they can't just admit to drug usage and move on, as far as LE is concerned, in this case only, so that any reasons to hold back could be removed.

I hope LE does not get bogged down in the drugs if nothing leads them there specifically. Still, it must be hard for her parents to hear all of these various scenarios. I am sure much of it is news to them.

This group of students is not the kind that I would want to hang around, that's for sure, however nobody deserves to have stuff like this happen to them or their families. I feel the same way about this case as I do the missing persons with "high risk lifestyles". Yes, they make bad choices that should not be condoned, however, I still feel heartbroken for the girl and especially her family.

 

[Whatever1]

This group of students is not the kind that I would want to hang around, that's for sure, however nobody deserves to have stuff like this happen to them or their families. I feel the same way about this case as I do the missing persons with "high risk lifestyles". Yes, they make bad choices that should not be condoned, however, I still feel heartbroken for the girl and especially her family.

When you say you wouldn't want to hang around this group, do you mean Lauren as being part of this group? On her facebook of more than 1200 "friends", these three guys don't seem to be part of her facebook collection. It just seems like these particular guys aren't her normal group of friends. Would you classify her as a part of the group, or are you saying she got caught up with the wrong group of people for the night?

 

[jjenny]

When you say you wouldn't want to hang around this group, do you mean Lauren as being part of this group? On her facebook of more than 1200 "friends", these three guys don't seem to be part of her facebook collection. It just seems like these particular guys aren't her normal group of friends. Would you classify her as a part of the group, or are you saying she got caught up with the wrong group of people for the night?

If by the three guys you mean CR, MB and JR, she just met CR and MB, but supposedly she did know JR for quite some time, according to her roommate. Roommate also said they used to hang out at JR's apartment a lot.

 

[Whatever1]

With the new information being out, I'm surprised family & friends aren't going bezerk trying to defend her and the drug connection. Makes me wonder.......


If it were my friend, I would be all over that especially if it wasn't true...


Three things being said about me would hurt the most...child molester, murderer, and drug user.


These three things would push me over the edge if said about me or a close person in my life...where are the friends speaking up?

 

[Ven]

When you say you wouldn't want to hang around this group, do you mean Lauren as being part of this group? On her facebook of more than 1200 "friends", these three guys don't seem to be part of her facebook collection. It just seems like these particular guys aren't her normal group of friends. Would you classify her as a part of the group, or are you saying she got caught up with the wrong group of people for the night?

I don't know, there are no hard facts really about who was doing what, just a lot of speculation. Where there's smoke there's fire, but exactly who is doing what has yet to be determined. All I know is I'd rather not be hanging around people who are using coke and "involved in a heavy partying lifestyle" as one poster put it.

The Facebook friends thing is ridiculous. Nobody is friends with 1200 people.
I'm sure that a very small portion of that list would be considered her true circle of friends, whoever those are.

One thing I'd like to add is that I cannot believe posters here and the media specifically have not paid more attention to the LS/JW relationship.
Something was very wrong there for this girl to be seeking out male companions at 2 a.m. and yet the roommate and others all make it sound like these two were married happily ever after.

I know often times people tip-toe around sensitive subjects regarding victims personal lives, but this is a very important topic IMO.

 

[jjenny]

The family does try to bring up good things about her, such as volunteer work.
But I suspect the family also thinks that whoever did something to her, or knows what had happened to her, knew her, thus "shame on you" statement from mom.

 

[jjenny]

...

One thing I'd like to add is that I cannot believe posters here and the media specifically have not paid more attention to the LS/JW relationship.
Something was very wrong there for this girl to be seeking out male companions at 2 a.m. and yet the roommate and others all make it sound like these two were married happily ever after.

I know often times people tip-toe around sensitive subjects regarding victims personal lives, but this is a very important topic IMO.

The roommate and friends were mostly talking how devoted he was to her. Did they ever say anything of how devoted she was to him? Maybe this was more of a one sided romance, such as he had more serious feelings toward her?

 

[Whatever1]

Nice article about Lauren's friends and the rest...sorry if repeat..I've read so much here, I can't remember

http://www.examiner.com/criminal-pr...n-spierer-s-friend-and-roommate-is-telling-us

 

[curiousgirl2010]

Sorry, but I'm finding offense on a lot of what has been written here.

<modsnip> It is NOT a crime to be rich. It's not these kids faults that they were born into wealthy families.

<modsnip> IU is not even where the REALLY wealthy people go to.

Some of the richest kids I know go to Harvard, Stanford, Yale... yet some middle class kids could care less about their education.

It's not about being rich or being poor. There are A LOT of middle class students who party HARD. Just like they are a lot of rich kids working their butts off at Ivy Leagues.

Generalizations are stupid.

And whoever wrote that girls in Smallwood do not care about what's going on outside their own world, well, they should read Lauren's blog. She clearly cared about the world. She was just travelling in the Spring to help poor communities.

<modsnip>. Plus, like I said, this is Bloomington, Indiana NOT the Upper East Side.