IN - Lauren Spierer, 20, Bloomington, 03 June 2011 - #13

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curiousgirl2010 said:
I think this post is extremely disrespectful. These girls are young, this is a serious matter, why is Tony Gatto exposing them like this? Apparently Blair was in NY on June 3rd, why the heck is he writing stories about this girl????? Irresponsible to say the least. This is not a crime soap opera. This is a person's life. These girls were her friends. Geez. Lost all respect for Tony Gatto.

http://tonygatto.wordpress.com/2011...e-to-stonewall-leave-hadar-and-i-out-of-this/
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That is how they do reporting in the big city, New York. Find an angle, demonize people, sell papers. Not uncommon in our nations history for this kind of reporting. I think things are tamer now in the media than they were at any time prior to say 1930 or so.
 
elmomom said:
It's elmo not elle lol but anyhow, I've been kicking this one around for awhile. From before JRs lawyer ever came up. I get you, I get everyone. The current #1 theory is JR. He is the last known person to see LS. Oodles of reasons to suspect him. But what if it wasn't? And I think if we all sit around and condemn him we aren't ever going to get anywhere, even if it is him. So for now, pursuing all the options seems fruitful. I have a really hard time when the public gets whipped up in a frenzy by insinuation and hearsay to condemn someone before they are tried. (Nancy Grace disgusts me for instance).
SO I think dwelling insistently on JR serves no real purpose other than to make ourselves feel like there is someone who is the key to all this, and if only he gives it up.... we can all feel better.
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This is why I started out today pursuing (modsnip) more. Yesterday I had to get closure on the non east-facing window from JR's apt. Now I'm interested in how H-T sounds accusatory towards LS in that video posted above and how I have the sense that she is jealous of LS. HT may be making up for all those time LS was the center of attention maybe.
 
curiousgirl2010 said:
jennyb629 - I respect and agree with the post.

The thing, maybe, in the beginning, the friends/POI's didn't have an idea of how big this case would get. Maybe they thought Lauren would just show up in a week or 2. Maybe they couldn't fathom that people would suspect of them.

We don't know.
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Thanks. You make a good point that I didn't mention in my long treatise:) I'm sure they had no idea how big this would get. Obviously, since there is no indication this was pre-meditated, they would have all been completed flummoxed at the beginning and probably had no idea what to do/how to act. I think it's terrible that people on the internet (not here, but on other boards, etc.) are attacking them and implicating them for essentially being somewhat immature college students. But I can also see why suspicions have been on them, a lot of them have, frankly, acted -if not-suspiciously then at least rudely, unfavorably, etc. It's interesting how basically all suspicion is off of CR/MB now because they did the responsible thing by talking to LE, taking an LE LD, giving DNA, and they didn't leave town right away.
 
I'm torn about the "friends". If they are innocent, yes, it's unfair for their lives to be permanently scarred publicly by this, when we can only assume that they are already scarred privately. Who thinks they are going to go off to college to get both a degree AND to be a part of a missing person's investigation? Who thinks their name and face will go from one day being listed in the student directory to the next day being all over the Internet?

I think that most of these kids, if not all, may only be guilty of some drug use. Is that OK? No. Could that have lead to an OD? Yes. But we simply don't know.

On the other hand, let this serve as a VERY difficult lesson that I've tried teaching my kids for years. There's an old saying of mine: "If you want to see your future, look around at your friends. If you want to change your future, change your friends." From my observations, this has proven to be pretty true. There comes a time when peers become your child's biggest influence, over and above the parent. We can only hope that we've taught them well, and even when we have, they make mistakes, become associated with the wrong people, etc. I think that many of these kids are basically "good" who have made bad mistakes. It's a shame that they're being dragged through the media with photos and names listed, but that is exactly what happens and one of MANY reasons that I tell my kids to chose their friends wisely. They don't always listen, but I keep talking. Sometimes we are held accountable not only for our own actions, but also for those by the people with whom we are en-circulated.
 
What time did HT arrive back at Smallwood if she was at JR's that morning?
 
BFan said:
That is how they do reporting in the big city, New York. Find an angle, demonize people, sell papers. Not uncommon in our nations history for this kind of reporting. I think things are tamer now in the media than they were at any time prior to say 1930 or so.
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Yes this is how me do it in the big city -- home of the NY Times and Wash Post. Very unlike the local media in Bloomington and Indianapolis, who take what is spoon fed to them at news briefings and call it a day.
 
AR is one of two friends who is believed to have filled out the missing person's report after JW discovers LS is missing and calls LS's parents. They know LS's parents are on the way.

So, LS has been reported missing to the police, a missing person's report has been filed by AR and Sara, LS's parents have been notified and are on their way to Bloomington.

Yet, AR tweets to call HT's number.

Not the police. Not LS's parents. Not a hospital.

http://tonygatto.wordpress.com/2011...er-friends-in-panicked-effort-to-find-lauren/
 
So for all the crap I'm taking -- can we please identify the news organizations who ran the photo of a man who has nothing to do with this and identified him as one of the top persons of interest in this case, the last person who supposedly saw Lauren, Jason Rosenbaum?
 
curiousgirl2010 said:
Sorry, you did NOT convict them, but why are you posting private pictures of these girls?
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While I too have some issues with the recent articles on Mr. Gatto's blog, photos that are posted on the internet are not exactly "private".

I found a very similar photo (same party, different angle, different photographer perhaps?) and I wasn't even looking that hard. Just surfing around on Twitter one evening.
 
TonyGatto said:
Yes this is how me do it in the big city -- home of the NY Times and Wash Post. Very unlike the local media in Bloomington and Indianapolis, who take what is spoon fed to them at news briefings and call it a day.
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Dont get me wrong Tony. I'm not complaining. I like it in fact. People arent used to it much anymore... as this style is so rare anymore.
 
jennyb629 said:
Thanks. You make a good point that I didn't mention in my long treatise:) I'm sure they had no idea how big this would get. Obviously, since there is no indication this was pre-meditated, they would have all been completed flummoxed at the beginning and probably had no idea what to do/how to act. I think it's terrible that people on the internet (not here, but on other boards, etc.) are attacking them and implicating them for essentially being somewhat immature college students. But I can also see why suspicions have been on them, a lot of them have, frankly, acted -if not-suspiciously then at least rudely, unfavorably, etc. It's interesting how basically all suspicion is off of CR/MB now because they did the responsible thing by talking to LE, taking an LE LD, giving DNA, and they didn't leave town right away.
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Yet they haven't been cleared and can still be guilty... it's crazy. We have no idea what happened.
 
TonyGatto said:
So for all the crap I'm taking -- can we please identify the news organizations who ran the photo of a man who has nothing to do with this and identified him as one of the top persons of interest in this case, the last person who supposedly saw Lauren, Jason Rosenbaum?
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I first saw the wrong photo here---6 News On Your Side---they broke the news first about Voyles' statement:

http://www.theindychannel.com/news/28372732/detail.html
 
wisco23 said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that is in fact JR. There were some other photos earlier yesterday on other sites that were incorrect. A boy in an orange Hawaiin style shirt...

Don't have a link, sorry.

ETA: Link added. Is this JR?

http://www.fox59.com/news/wxin-atto...raph-in-spierer-case-20110627,0,3846816.story
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Quoting my own post because this doesn't make sense. When you click on the above link there is a guy in an orange hawaiian shirt (mentioned above). But then when you hit play and actually start the video, around the 30 second mark, they zoom in on a different guy altogether. Or is that same guy and I'm just going crazy?
 
jennyb629 said:
I very much agree that LS's friends, acquaintances and anyone else she may have come across the night of her disappearance should not be needlessly pummeled by the media or the public, should not be called out and harrassed and slandered on the internet. However, I think there is an admirable way to handle the situation, as a friend or as a POI that I think a lot of people in this case have not seemed to have done, which has resulted in them being harassed, etc. As a POI, essentially I would do what CR/MB seem to have done: get a lawyer, cooperate fully by making full statements to LE with the protection of your lawyer so that LE doesn't potentially twist your words, take an LE administered LD test, readily submit to DNA tests and searches of your apt./car, etc. ETA: Oh and also, stay in the area for at least a couple of days to make myself available.

In addition to this, I would add reach out to LS's family and tell them you are very sorry they are in this situation and that you hope she is found and will do everything you can to provide necessary information to help find her. I would also add don't tell the media they are 'ruining your life.' Just stay out of the media as much as possible and if you must speak to them just say 'I hope she is found soon,' 'I have said everything that I know' or something along those lines.

As a friend, follow basically the same guidelines in reaching out to the family to express how sorry you are and let them know you will provide any information that could be helpful but that at the same time (if true) stress that since you were not with her, you do not know very much. Also let LE know that you will be happy to provide them with any information that may be helpful. Again, stay out of the media. If you make reports in the media simply say I'm very sad my friend is missing and want to find her very much. She is a great person, I wish I knew what happened, etc. However, I think her friends have made mistakes in that they have alternately been too forthcoming with the media or else they have come off as rude. All that her friends had to say when approached by TG was 'I'm sorry, I don't have any information I can give you.' Not 'leave us out of this.' And certainly not having anyone at your house driving a car toward reporters either. That just makes them look immature and leads people to make negative assumptions about their character or their friendship with LS. Whether they are guilty or not, they just haven't made the best choices in helping to determine how they are portrayed.

Finally, I think these friends and POIs should have been made aware how important it is to show themselves in a better light from the beginning. Someone should have made sure they knew that however small their connection to LS's disappearance might be, they should prepare for an onslaught of media/public attention would be on them and should probably respond accordingly by making their facebook, twitter, etc. private or else prepare for people to invade it, repeat it and talk about them. Anything publicly available on the internet (in addition to social media, also blogs, statements to the press, message boards, etc.) can easily be taken as fuel to the fire by any stranger with any kind of intentions (good or bad) who has internet access and an interest in the case (A LOT of people).

I don't blame these POIs and friends for being taken aback by how much negative attention they've gotten, maybe this is all easy for me to say as I am removed from the situation and a little bit older/more mature but they could have avoided a lot of the suspicion focused on them if they acted as above^^^
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Indeed, It's called "heart".
 
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