TR-I am having trouble quoting, but you asked if Lauren's disappearance is evil in itself. I have several theories about what I think happened that range from not evil to progressively more evil. So, eliminating theories like she fell in a hole or ran away willingly, I think the least evil option on the spectrum is something like JR is with her, she ODs, he panics, throws the body in the dumpster, phones his parents who immediately lawyer him up, and somehow he gets lucky that the dumpsters are emptied soon. That isn't necessarily evil to me. I know that will be a controversial statement, but if I am being VERY kind, I understand that that action could get him hard jail time. If he had sex with her or if other charges piled up he could be spending the majority of his life in jail. It is easy to say I would do the right thing when you aren't facing tons of jail time and don't have your parents and lawyers around you all day.
We don't see JR-it is possible that this is killing him and he just doesn't have the courage to come forward. Maybe he made a stupid, panicked decision and wishes he could take it back, but feels like it went too far for that now.
That is my kindest, nicest theory for what happened (excluding, like I said, the theories that don't have any body hiding at all). That isn't the theory I think is most likely, but it is one that I have floating around as a possibility.
So, to me, that theory may not be evil in my understanding of the term. To Lauren's Mom? Probably pure evil in every way. It is easy for me to rationalize and see the other side when all of my loved ones are tucked in nice, warm, and safe right now. I saw one mother call the ocean evil in a blog about her daughter who had drowned in a freak wave. The ocean. I can see how Lauren's mother is not really in empathize mode.
It is hard to watch her parents because at first they seemed...less angry and jaded. At first, they were even saying stuff like we know this could have been an accident, please just tell us...almost like they were forgiving already. That pain has altered into a very different one where I feel like the same people are being called out, but it is angrier. Of course, that makes sense in my head-the transition from understanding and maybe a bit hopeful at first to worn down, angry, frustrated. It is just sad to me that any parent has to make that transition. It just breaks my heart and I am not sure I can even watch or read statements from her parents anymore.
Sorry-I tried to answer your question and then ended up rambling!