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

[Faulkner]

Like someone else posted, I'm not so sure drugs are involved. Just because these kids drinks a lot, does NOT mean drugs and dealers are involved.

Just like someone else mentioned, my group of friends drunk a lot in college, but NO drugs were ever involved. Maybe the occasional weed. But that's it.

I'm not sure this group did drugs. If I had to guess, Lauren only drank. I don't think she was involved with drugs. It's just my assumption based on what I've seen about her and her friends.

I didn't say just because people drink means that drugs were involved. I went to college, drank and did not do drugs as well.

I also never came up missing one morning while Lauren is.

And if speculation includes her friends being potential murder suspects, I don't think considering that drugs might play some role in what happened to Lauren out of the question.

 

[jjenny]

Right, which makes me wonder if/when he found out all this info, how upset/worried/angry was he?

If I recall, it was said there was a second altercation at CR's apt that morning. I'm wondering if upon finding out, possibly from LS's friends, if JW went straight over to CR's apt. and had some words with him?? This would of course mean that JW was less likely to have anything to do with the disappearance.

Most definitely waiting to hear more from JR.

I really feel like CR and MB are being truthful. They said she went to JR's. JR does say he saw her leaving. My only thought about this would be, if he was involved and the only one to have last seen her, why wouldn't he just say, "yeah, they said she came to my place, but she never did, I never saw her." By his OWN statements he puts himself as the last one to see her. Would someone involved really do that? If JR had a roommate and had seen her as well, surely he would be able to say, yep, JR watched her to the corner, then came back up to the room just a few minutes later, and that's that.

Well if she did depart to JR's apartment, and JR does support that idea, and then JR says he saw LS leaving the building and going onto the street, that pretty much would clear CR and MB of any possible involvement in anything. Of course we really don't know what JR says, since neither he nor his lawyer are talking.

 

[ingra1327]

To be honest, Lauren and Jesse's relationship seemed pretty normal.

We haven't heard any accounts of him being overly possesive like we SOON hear in A LOT of cases where the SO is the perp.

He looks like a nice guy. His family and friends seem to like him.

It will be a BIG surprise to everyone if he is, indeed, involved.

BBM

While I agree that he looks like a nice guy and everyone seems to like him; sadly, I don't think it will be a surprise to LE or anyone who follows crime stories that the victim's partner is also the perpetrator. I really hope, especially for the family's sake, that this does not turn out to be the case.

 

[bloomington]

Lauren is from Westchester County, NY and I saw some articles regarding her disappearance in the NYC papers. I've looked over most of the posts here and in doing that -- and in reading the additional articles people have linked to -- I've learned quite a bit more. (Many thanks to everyone who posts those links and all the great people who comment here.)

And it seems like while there are many details that are still unclear surrounding her disappearance, the thing that really jumped out at me was what the roommate of the guy Lauren was with most of the night said regarding Lauren asking them if they wanted to 'party'. That tends to indicate drugs and, to me, that's a potential explanation for a lot of Lauren's very erratic behavior that night in addition to opening up another potentially huge area of risk for her.

I saw there are some locals and people who went to IU posting here and I'm just wondering what anyone knows about drug activity around those apartments in the late night and early morning hours. Drug dealers would operate away from any security cameras and would have prior knowledge about where cameras are to avoid them. Contrastingly, I just don't see how any of these other college students would know that well enough, in advance, so that if there was some sort of crime of passion they'd potentially know how to kill someone and dispose of a body apparently undetected.

Of course, there may be details that we don't know about but I think if those details led to one or two of those guys over the others it may have leaked out by now. The rest of this story is very soap opera-ish with Lauren's boyfriend and all these other guys but, if what was said about her wanting to party is true, I think that was her motive rather than hooking up/cheating/having a bad relationship and trying to avoid her bf that night because of it.

And, going along with this potential scenario, if the second guy's apartment she went to didn't have drugs either, what I'm concerned about is that she went into a camera-less alley in search of dealer who saw a perfect crime of opportunity. If anything more concrete comes out that points toward her bf or one of the other guys I'll factor that in, but right now I think Lauren may have been looking to party with drugs that night and may have just kept looking until that specific motivation may have led her into some real trouble. My heart just aches for her.

I'm a student at IU. I've posted this previously...cocaine is a lot more common than people on the outside realize, especially among the people that live downtown in the Smallwood area (this area is where the most expensive apartments/houses in the town are located and cocaine is a rich kid drug). If someone said that they regularly party in the downtown area and haven't seen/heard about cocaine use and activity, they'd be lying. And it's easy to overdose on cocaine. Could there have been an accidental overdose that people felt the need to cover up because they didn't want to get in trouble? Also, hard drug usage could give some of the kids reason to not share details even if they were not responsible for her disappearance.

Also, I'm not trying to start rumors or make any rude accusations, but it's pretty easy to tell if someone is a habitual cocaine user by their appearance..

 

[mrsu]

And it seems like while there are many details that are still unclear surrounding her disappearance, the thing that really jumped out at me was what the roommate of the guy Lauren was with most of the night said regarding Lauren asking them if they wanted to 'party'. That tends to indicate drugs and, to me, that's a potential explanation for a lot of Lauren's very erratic behavior that night in addition to opening up another potentially huge area of risk for her.

BBM

Not that I disagree with you, but can you explain why you think this means drugs? Is that particular expression one that it known to be related to drug use? Maybe so. Maybe she was just wanting to drink more? Maybe she went to JR's room, scored some whatever and OD'd. Who the heck knows.

I do remember in on of the very first videos I saw reporters were asking about the area and someone in the video says it's known for it's party reputation and mentions prescription drug abuse. I'll see if I can find the video link.

 

[mrsu]

Well if she did depart to JR's apartment, and JR does support that idea, and then JR says he saw LS leaving the building and going onto the street, that pretty much would clear CR and MB of any possible involvement in anything. Of course we really don't know what JR says, since neither he nor his lawyer are talking.

It has been reported that JR said he had last seen her about 4:15 or 4:30 rounding the corner from 11th to College St. heading home.

 

[VeryVeritas]

Here is my summary of where things stand (please correct if I have something wrong):

1) There is no verifiable accounting of JW's time or communications from June 3rd and 4th.
2) We do not know why JW's friends punched CR - CR nor his attorney have commented on the reason for the attack (seems odd to me). For example what if CR is gay? Seems that would change some theories, but could explain why CR nor his attorney have been forthcoming about the reason for the attack.
3) There is no accounting of the time when LS leaves CR/MB's apt until JR says he last saw her. This is extremely suspicious to me. The account of LS and CR leaving Smallwood and arrive at CR/MB's about 2:45am seems to have created some confusion because the cameras that caught her in the alley with "someone" are frequently reported to have been around 3:00am It has been assumed in most of the posts I've read that this camera capture was LS and CR headed to CR/MB's apt. If this is not the case, and there is footage of her also going to CS/MB's 15 minutes earlier also then this camera footage would become more important. It seems to me this camera also should have picked up Amin because the purse/keys were found very close to this spot at 3am according to Amin. It seems odd that their paths wouldn't have crossed.
So, I'm continuing with the assumption that the video is just prior to 3:00am when LS and CR were on the way to CR/MB's apt.
4) JR lack of explanation for the time when LS appears and then according to him is last seen is another big annoying gap in this puzzle. To me it makes JR highly culpable. For the person to last been with a missing girl he has said almost nothing.

Top Theories:
1) JW, who has been portrayed as teddy bear by some, and yet has Dexter as his only favorite show on his FB page seems to have the most likely typical motive - "crime of passion". While there really is no evidence to back this theory up, there are troubling circumstances that started to point in this direction. JW's actual whereabouts, phone calls and text messages along with his interactions with friends could turn this in any direction. I totally agree that his "watching the game" excuse seems inconsistent with the times and seems very lame. It's totally inconsistent with the image LS's roomate painted of LS being JW's "everything". So 2 very different persona's of JW are out there... the easy going guy watching a game and then falling asleep only to get worried the next day while his "everything" is partying it up in a bar to the point that she leaves her phone there. The other JW is a more obsessive, jealous control freak who has his henchmen jumping conclusions and alerting him to her misbehavior, then stalking her and snapping in a rage. At this point there is about as much to support either JW.
2) JR being the last person to admit to seeing LS alive has very tight lips and very big lawyer. He knows he's in the hot seat. Along with similar theories of CiPlus, JJenny and Blomington this gut feeling of cocaine and/or other drugs being involved at this early am hour has me thinking about JR. I'm strongly feeling that the reason for LS winding up at JR's (assuming it happened that way) and hanging out for that hour was drug related. I agree that if there was a conspiracy between CR/MB/JR and the other unidentified person it would be hard to maintain. I'm much more strongly thinking that things got fishy when JR enters the picture and then LS vanishes, and that this scenario probably involved drugs. It is also curious that JR seems to have been friends with JW.
3)Stranger Abduction: This seems increasingly less likely than it was before, based on the increasing amounts of information about the short walk down N. College.
I am still very curious if police were in the Waffle house directly across from Woodburn (the larger building between JR/CR/MB's building and SmallWood. The area was well lit. The distance very short. Cameras on many buildings.

Also, I did find that statement by I think, Bloomington, interesting that very seldom is anyone out after 3pm. With her sense of urgency to leave CR/MB's it would seem her motivation to get back to her apt would have been pretty strong. Why suddenly hang out with JR if she was ready to call it a night a a half hour earlier? There would have to be some compelling motivation. And then if she was wiped out after an hour with him, why not just snooze at JR's for a while? The situation has a very inconsistent feel. She was at home and only seemingly wanted to get CR home. Then again she is motivated to go back home and leaves quickly from CR/MB's Suddenly she changes her mind and decides to kick it with JR? After an hour she would then feel energized and motivated to get home again... hmm that seems wierd to me.

 

[TonyGatto]

What do you guys think of Rossman and Mike Beth telling reporters that the media coverage is ruining their lives when FOX tried to interview them today?

Innocence.

 

[Lori59]

Have been keeping up with this case on a lurking basis...
It is a complex case because of the many "person of interest" involved.
In this case we have 3 typical ones....the last person seen with her(which is still somewhat unclear) the BF, and possibility of a stranger....they are all different people. The BF seems to be the easiest person to rule out IMO, between phone logs and interviews with friends. It is also interesting to me in this case, because there are so many friends that saw her and would have information added with the available videos, that I would expect this case to have a more clear directions with the POI at this point. As always, I think LE knows more that what they are saying. JMO

 

[jjenny]

For the record, at this time I don't have any specific theory. Unless we get more info, several theories seem quite plausible to me right now. Of course LE should know much more than we are (they should have access to their cell phone communications, videos, interviews, etc), but I am not sure they really have a good idea of what had happened to her either.

 

[Darcyline]

BBM

Not that I disagree with you, but can you explain why you think this means drugs? Is that particular expression one that it known to be related to drug use? Maybe so. Maybe she was just wanting to drink more? Maybe she went to JR's room, scored some whatever and OD'd. Who the heck knows.

.

I am just out of college and if someone came up to me and said want to party that meant drugs. It was a phrase that meant do drugs together. Now, maybe it didn't mean that to Lauren or it was a misquote though.

Cocaine and prescription drug use are both very, very common in the college crowd now especially amongst rich kids. I have read that cocaine has even passed pot as the #1 used illegal drug especially in college situations. Of course, we do not know if drug use was at play, but I think that situation has to be considered given the circumstances.

I am starting to wonder if it was just some bad accident and someone is scared to come forward now.

 

[cluciano63]

From what Lauren's friends say about her wanting to go out around midnight or whatever time it was I wonder if she had a text or a call from CR saying he was at the bar, but she did not want to go alone, as that would look odd?

 

[mrsu]

I am just out of college and if someone came up to me and said want to party that meant drugs. It was a phrase that meant do drugs together. Now, maybe it didn't mean that to Lauren or it was a misquote though.

Cocaine and prescription drug use are both very, very common in the college crowd now especially amongst rich kids. I have read that cocaine has even passed pot as the #1 used illegal drug especially in college situations. Of course, we do not know if drug use was at play, but I think that situation has to be considered given the circumstances.

I am starting to wonder if it was just some bad accident and someone is scared to come forward now.

Perhaps that is JR's reluctance to disclose everything. Maybe it's the reason he needs the high profile attorney. Even if he did see her leave, I doubt he would want to say, "yeah, she came over. We snorted some coke for about an hour. Then she wanted to leave." I think that right there would put even more emphasis and suspicion on him.

 

[epiphany]

I'm a student at IU. I've posted this previously...cocaine is a lot more common than people on the outside realize, especially among the people that live downtown in the Smallwood area (this area is where the most expensive apartments/houses in the town are located and cocaine is a rich kid drug). If someone said that they regularly party in the downtown area and haven't seen/heard about cocaine use and activity, they'd be lying. And it's easy to overdose on cocaine. Could there have been an accidental overdose that people felt the need to cover up because they didn't want to get in trouble? Also, hard drug usage could give some of the kids reason to not share details even if they were not responsible for her disappearance.

Also, I'm not trying to start rumors or make any rude accusations, but it's pretty easy to tell if someone is a habitual cocaine user by their appearance..

Thanks...no need for college kids to go into alley-ways in search of drugs. Good kids make poor choices; rich kids make poor choices; very smart kids make poor choices:

Dec. 2010, Manhattan NY
Five students at prestigious Columbia University in New York City have been arrested for allegedly selling drugs out of fraternity houses and dorms. The arrests follow a five month investigation known as "Operation Ivy League."

Those arrested include a neuroscience major, a former student council vice president and a Gates Millennium Scholarship recipient.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/columbia-university-students-nailed-york-drug-bust/story?id=12335634

 

[jjenny]

JR's problem is that he was apparently the last known person to see her before she went missing. Can anyone else support his story that she actually did leave the apartment? Even if all they did in there is drank milk and ate some cookies, he'd still want to have a good defense lawyer, IMO.

 

[ingra1327]

I am starting to wonder if it was just some bad accident and someone is scared to come forward now.

An accident seems even more probable if cocaine use were involved given LS's heart condition.

 

[belyenochi]

I'm a student at IU. I've posted this previously...cocaine is a lot more common than people on the outside realize, especially among the people that live downtown in the Smallwood area (this area is where the most expensive apartments/houses in the town are located and cocaine is a rich kid drug). If someone said that they regularly party in the downtown area and haven't seen/heard about cocaine use and activity, they'd be lying.

Totally agree, cocaine is very very common at IU amongst the 'rich kids'.. I went to a private high school where probably 85% of the graduating class ended up at IU. we had a lot of cocaine users and dealers.

 

[bloomington]

Thanks...no need for college kids to go into alley-ways in search of drugs. Good kids make poor choices; rich kids make poor choices; very smart kids make poor choices:

Dec. 2010, Manhattan NY
Five students at prestigious Columbia University in New York City have been arrested for allegedly selling drugs out of fraternity houses and dorms. The arrests follow a five month investigation known as "Operation Ivy League."

Those arrested include a neuroscience major, a former student council vice president and a Gates Millennium Scholarship recipient.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/columbia-university-students-nailed-york-drug-bust/story?id=12335634

Another example, straight from IU. This guy died at the beginning of this past spring semester due to a cocaine overdose:

http://www.wishtv.com/dpp/news/local/south_central/iu-student-faced-drug-charges

 

[Darcyline]

Mrsu-I agree about JR possibly being reluctant for that reason. In fact, I think this case is really convoluted for that reason. There are so many people who may or may not have been impaired due to drinking, who may or may not want to admit what they were doing that night for reasons other than being guilty of hurting Lauren. I would say 90% of the police effort so far has probably just been trying to straighten out every story and read between the lines of every story. Like, does this person seem like they are lying because they hurt Lauren, or because they were so drunk they don't remember, or because they were doing something else illegal?

Hopefully the truth and what matters is becoming clear though and that is finding Lauren and, if necessary, prosecuting the person who hurt her (if she was hurt).

 

[curiousgirl2010]

Another example, straight from IU. This guy died at the beginning of this past spring semester due to a cocaine overdose:

http://www.wishtv.com/dpp/news/local/south_central/iu-student-faced-drug-charges

The thing is, who in their cocained and drunk mind would be able to hide a body this well??? IF it was an accident, why not call their daddies and get a lawyer right away? They would NOT go to jail or be in the center of a murder investigation for this...

I mean where is Lauren? If they were all so "out of it" as they seem to have been, there is NO way they could have concealed of a body leaving NO trace

Honestly? Tonight I'm going to bed believing it's a stranger abduction.

I really see NO motive for any of these 4 POI's to have hurt Lauren and get away with hiding her body for so long with SO much media attention...