Sorry it's so long - Qaulters is wordier than Parker
----------------------------------------
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7vKWlxwp9o&feature=related"]YouTube - ‪110613 IU Presser for missing Lauren Spierer‬‏[/ame]
Qualters
6/13 Press conference
First thing were going to talk about today, and I think some of you became aware of it and/or reported on it, uh is that yesterday we did do a flyover of various areas with a helicopter. We checked various waterways within the county as well as railroad tracks and that type of thing, pretty typical things you would fly over, we also checked rooftops and that type of thing. What we view this as is yet a secondary type search or yet another opportunity to make sure that we have covered all the bases and given a thorough examination to the best of our ability not only on foot by officers and searchers and that type of thing but also with you know, the other technology thats out there and that would certainly include the helicopter.
The other thing it allows us to do, too, is to take some pictures and provide us with an aerial view of some of the locations that were talking about, as you can tell theres a lot of construction and that type of thing going on in the downtown area, but we would like to do is try to preserve this particular area that weve focused on or become aware of, and we would just like to prefer that. So, we anticipate that there may very well be yet additional flyovers with the helicopter and so well let you know when those take place.
We are entering the second week of the, full week if you will, of the investigation and we are going to expand those that we interview to include what we would consider maybe a secondary tier of individuals, and I think I spoke of this yesterday, which would include friends, associates, and that type of thing, in an effort to find out more information about Lauren or
any other folks that might be of interest to us. So thats something were going to continue to focus on.
And I think what Id like to touch on a little bit, too, is that early on this investigation, the number ten was floated as far as the folks or, I think they were labeled POIs, and things like that. I think what Id like to do is maybe kind of reset our compass a little bit, in understanding that while that may have been an initial number of individuals that were immediately identified to us as those who had some contact with Lauren prior to her disappearance, keep in mind that that is a fluid number for us, that is simply a number that was thrown out early on during a press conference when Lt Parker was standing up here, and at that time that was an initial number he had of individuals that we may have needed to speak to simply because they came to our attention. But keep in mind that that is a number that changes every day because of the people that we do speak with and that we do interview; that number can change; the people can change, and that kind of thing. So, Ive notice that there has been some focus on that number ten, and I just wanted to get it out there that while that may have been an initial number, keep in mind that that number changes on a daily basis as our interviews continue throughout this investigation.
The next thing that has happened over the last 24 hours would be there has been a national search expert that has arrived in Bloomington to assist us with the search effort. This individual is affiliated with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and they will work in conjunction with and complement the other national search group that has arrived here in Bloomington.
And we are extremely pleased with and could not ask for better cooperation from members of this community who have come out on a daily basis to participate in the searches. What this does is simply allows us yet, we have stepped up to the next level in trying to gain and capitalize on the expertise of individuals who have had this on a national level and on a national scale. So if nothing else what this does is essentially allows us to get more information on how we can do things better and how we can best
find the best result
in our continuing effort to find Lauren. So that is something else that has taken place.
Yesterday there seemed to be some discussion about, I may have come off as appearing directionally challenged with one of the questions that came out and perhaps that was just a misunderstanding on my part of how the question was phrased, but I think in our effort to try to address what weve been speaking of over the last week about the area and that type of thing, once we get our video analysis completed we are contemplating trying to provide some type of mapping as well as a timeframe and we are hope to be able to do that in some type of a visual aid so that you folks will have a better understanding of what weve been talking about, and what we know about, related to the area that weve spoken of. So we hope to have that completed and perhaps well have that available by tomorrow or Wednesday but that is something that were hoping to do to have you folks have a better understanding of what were
the area that were discussing and the timeframes and that type of thing simply because there seem to be a lot of discrepancies out there either because of my misunderstandings or information thats been provided, but hopefully we can get that out there very soon so youll have an understanding and again, were hoping to do that as a visual aid.
Lastly on my list, would be the
another thing that we are working on is from that same video analysis would be video enhancement of a vehicle or a couple of vehicles that we may request information from the public.
And Im not in a position, at this point, to tell you exactly what type of vehicle, what color or anything like that and please allow me to explain why. If we simply float a particular vehicle or a particular color of vehicle, the problem is is that our investigators will be inundated with probably what we would consider false information or wed be chasing down a lot of leads, potentially unnecessarily. And I think what wed like to do is to make sure that once that video is enhanced, and were hopeful that that will be coming very very soon, idealistically if there is any type of logo or writing or anything like that obviously we are going to be able to make that connection very quickly to place that for a particular business or an individual or something like that. So if we can do that, obviously we know exactly where to go.
Other than that, if we can get the best quality product out there from whatever enhancement is able to be done, then we are able to put a more specific type of vehicle out there and in essence minimize the number of phone calls that we get that will allow us to focus more specifically on the vehicle and/or the individual that may have been driving that.
Now again, what I want to caution against that is not meant to say that we have then made a leap that this person is responsible for anything related to Laurens disappearance. I think what we would like to present is that this is a person at this point that may very well have information for us that could lead us to you know, circumstances that may have lead to Laurens disappearance.
Again, this is not to be identified as a suspect vehicle, or a vehicle of interest or anything at this point, I dont want us to make that leap. All Im simply saying is that this is something that has caught our attention, we are working to enhance that video in an effort to put that out there. And once again, much like everything weve done, our only focus is to get information out there in an effort to generate tips from the public.
OK? Those are the five items I have on my list, I will open it up to a few questions.
Q: Would you tell us which video you are gathering this car information from
(inaudible)
A: Quite frankly Im not sure that Ive got an exact handle on which location or which video we may be speaking of specifically, but I know its from that area, say between you know 10th and 11th street. But again Im not sure I can say which thoroughfare with any accuracy at this point that were talking of. All I know is that there is a vehicle that has come to our attention and that is something that were going to try to get enhanced in an effort to see if perhaps that person can be identified and maybe they have information that can be helpful for us.
Q: Was there one or two? (no answer)
Q: This is day 10, how long does the search continue before you decide to scale back?
A: Theres a lot of energy out there and were going to certainly continue to capitalize on that energy. Thats not only people in this community, but obviously now that weve reached out on a national level, we also know that that national level can bring resources to us that could be of value to us. And always the determination needs to be made, is how can those resources best be utilized? Weve said all along you cant just bring a group in here and say, go do what you do. What we need to do is try to create a little bit more focus so that were utilizing those resources to the best of our ability. But again, we feel pretty confident that the national expert thats arrived here obviously has access to a lot of different groups that have been used before on a national scale, and a lot of talent that comes for the individuals circumstances for which they might be utilized. So we think theres a lot of energy out there. Again we very much appreciate the energy and cooperation from the part of the public, and we are very encouraged by that and we think it will continue.
Q: Who is the national expert?
A: An individual by the name of Lee Manning.
Q: What about the vehicle specifically stands out, where it was, what it was doing? Was there one or two?
A: Were talking about potentially two, but thats part of the enhancement aspect, and that is that we need to make sure, are we talking about one, or are we talking about two? I think what really comes to our attention is that if in fact it is the same vehicle, obviously were curious. Did that individual drive around the block because perhaps they saw something? Did that individual drive around the block because perhaps they were responsible for something? We dont know. But again, I think what comes to our attention is primarily the timeframe. Its not a heavily travelled street, at that particular time of morning, and thats what kind of has brought it to our attention why were trying to get that information out there.
Q: Im hearing rumors two different sets of rumors that Lauren may have overdosed on cocaine that the people she was with may have freaked out and gotten rid of her body. Have you heard anything or are you investigating anything along those lines?
A: What I can say is that there is a lot of information coming into the department, and we have kind of talked about all along how we are not going to lay out exactly what information we have. Have we heard information along those lines? Absolutely. We have also heard a lot of other types of information. And all I can say about the tips that are coming in, or the information that is coming in, is that it will be evaluated on its merits under the totality of the circumstances. And that is that we are not going to focus on one aspect of information that we get in until that information can be corroborated. But at this point much like Ive said all weekend is that we are very much in the information gathering stage. Is that information that has come in? Absolutely, just like other pieces information. But we will continue to evaluate that as it relates to other information we get in.
Q: So the possibility of that has not been ruled out?
A: I dont know of any possibility thats been ruled out at this point and I think that we would be remiss in our responsibilities if we did so. Its absolutely critical that you keep an open mind as you go through an investigation and if you focus on one aspect of it then you might miss completely another avenue that is being ignored that you probably should have pursued. So its absolutely critical for us to remain open-minded about what information we get in, how we treat that information, and how we pursue it.
One more.
Q: Are you concerned at all, were going into week 2, that this case might go cold? I know you were very optimistic, but it doesnt seem like you guys have any tangible leads at this point.
A: Again, I dont know that Ive spoken about the number of leads that have come in. I spoke yesterday about the number of leads that came in related to AMW. I think I talked about somewhere between 30 and 40. Unfortunately, I was tied up for the morning and I was not able to get kind of an accurate count, if you would, as to how many have continued to come in. But I can tell you that there is no shortage of information coming in. And our task is to prioritize that information and determine which needs to get our quickest attention and pursued and, you know, obviously, part of that, too, would be to try to determine what information is irrelevant. Thats kind of our task at this point. But there is no shortage of information thats coming in. And there is no shortage of information thats being pursued. And I can assure you that there is no shortage of energy on the part of the investigators who are committed to doing what needs to be done here and that is in our continuing effort to find Lauren.