Hi all, I live in Bloomington (24 years old; went to IU - don't know anyone involved in the case, though) and have been lurking on these threads for some time. Just thought I'd share an interesting story that transpired last night:
The boyfriend and I were out walking, and decided to retrace Lauren's steps that night, just to set the scene and brainstorm. We walked from Smallwood up to 10th & College, then through the alleys to 5North, and finally back toward Smallwood along College.
First - the alley with the camera, where Lauren was from 2:48-2:51 is visible from MANY surrounding apartments, and even a pool belonging to Morton Mansions! It was pretty desolate and abandoned last night, but more students would have been around three weeks ago. So, someone uninvolved could have easily witnessed the "activity" in the alley ? This alley is VERY well-lit.
The final half-block's worth of alley, however, becomes much darker, with rougher gravel and glass on the ground, and is a steep incline uphill. As my bf and I walked through this alley, a white SUV drove west through the perpendicular alley (from College to Morton between 10th & 11th)...they stopped and just STARED at us, for MINUTES! It was dark and I couldn't really see the people in the car.
Bf and I freaked out and hid behind a tree, especially when they finally inched away from us only to PARK on Morton! It was just really spooky since we were standing right there at the scene of the crime and some mysterious car starts creepin'.
We continued around to the front of 5North. I noticed that I could overhear people hanging out inside one unit very easily -- like there was not much sound barrier. There is also a window on the east-facing side of the building through which you probably *can* see most of the way to the corner.
The construction project on the opposite side of 11th st is dark and massive, with many places someone could easily hide (or fall and hurt themselves). In fact, we noticed a man standing on the second story of the construction, completely in the dark, just staring out at us.
My bf pointed out that when there is a red light on 11th st (ppl waiting to turn south on College), the cars stop very close to the sidewalk. He thinks someone waiting at that light might have noticed Lauren, and convinced her to get in the car - "Hey, you going to Smallwood?" - and yes, you can tell who is likely to live in Smallwood by their clothes / demeanor. The place where the first car would be stopped at the light is (probably) just barely out of view from the window at 5North. JR could have *basically* seen her walk to the corner, but not quite far enough to see her getting into the first car stopped at the light. (At that time of night, it'd prob be the ONLY car, so no witnesses).
My bf used to run a bicycle taxi company in Bloomington, and his main job was to cart drunk people home, or from one bar to the next -- he has seen and talked with enough drunk Smallwood girls to know how willing they might be to get in a random vehicle at that time of night.
Anyway, we walked south on College. The sidewalk from 11th to 10th has very uneven pavement and a bunch of sharp-looking debri...bf was walking barefoot and speculated that it might feel better to walk in the road, esp if it were late and no one was around.
Just south of 10th Street, on the opposite (east) side of College is Carl Salzmann's office (he is CR's attorney). According to him, LS never passed by his security camera. We were trying to figure out exactly what part of College his camera was pointed at, when we noticed a cop car driving up to us!!
The cop pulled into Salzmann's parking lot and stopped. "How you folks doing tonight?" He explained that someone had called us in for "walking around and stopping and looking at things". ARE YOU SERIOUS? He wanted to know our names so he could check if there was a warrant out for our arrest. It must have been that creepy white SUV that stopped and leered at us for five minutes who called us in (when we were seriously just walking through a public alley).
Anyway, apparently Bton has become paranoid, to the point of harassing innocent couples out for an evening walk. That was a lovely touch. We pretty much went home at that point.
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Another question: was there a cover charge that night at Kilroy's? If so, it'd be strange to be there only 44 minutes unless a) you were there for an unusual reason / circumstances; b) you ended up leaving earlier than planned.