IN - Lauren Spierer, 20, Bloomington, 03 June 2011 #32

[ontheclock]

I agree with both of you that if, always big if, Lauren managed to leave, it puts everyone back in the scenario. And really it's not a stretch. If she was
up, or supposed to be up, why wouldn't others between the three or four parties going on also be up? People were circulating within these parties..
Certain people made sure they were said to be sleeping: DR, DB, CR, ZC,
JW. Others have never really said where they were: HT, ZO.That leaves JR and MB , even JR says he was going to bed, or maybe already in bed . So that leaves MB. Lauren could have reencountered any number of people either coming home to, or leaving to go home from, 10th and College. IDK just musing.
ZC's roommates, and JW's roommates, were also said to be asleep.

BBM Yes, it does and no, it's not. I agree.

I feel like I'm always chasing my tail with this case. I go in complete circles.

I attended IU and spent more than one night in the same condition as Lauren was. I consider myself lucky. When I first read about her disappearance, I thought for sure she was abducted by a casual acquaintance or a complete stranger (first impression with few facts). I currently live in a different college town, and if I were tempted to abduct someone, I'd know where to troll.

My theories morphed from there to include JW and the whole peer group given the strange sequence of events. I feel no closer to the truth than when the story broke. If she did leave, anything's possible.

 

[imkeylime]

... I feel like I'm always chasing my tail with this case. I go in complete circles.

I attended IU and spent more than one night in the same condition as Lauren was. I consider myself lucky. When I first read about her disappearance, I thought for sure she was abducted by a casual acquaintance or a complete stranger (first impression with few facts). I currently live in a different college town, and if I were tempted to abduct someone, I'd know where to troll.

My theories morphed from there to include JW and the whole peer group given the strange sequence of events. I feel no closer to the truth than when the story broke. If she did leave, anything's possible.

Snipped by me. Your comment made me think back to when I first heard about LS' disappearance ... before we knew that she didn't "help" CR home and that he helped carry her instead. At that early stage, I considered that LS left JR's, perhaps earlier than he let on, to meet a DD! It's really inconceivable to think of that now! I guess I suspected some type of drug could be involved ... that's as common as pizza it seems (in my region, at least). And I'm not being judgmental ... what was involved doesn't change a thing for me. But wow to the rest of my thought.

I'm not posting this to make myself look silly but to consider that perhaps there's some other detail missing, or even being withheld by LE, that would spin this sad story in a more fruitful direction. I still think the POIs are covering something up, though ... I just don't get MB's every-changing story if something isn't off. What IDK ... and where the compass points from 5N.

 

[Dixie811]

I believe this case has yet to be solved (other than the obvious absence of Lauren's remains) because there is the potential for SO MANY LIES in this case. Each of the 5N boys has exhibited some combination of unwillingness to take a polygraph, changing stories, having a motive to lie, and also having some element to their story that is difficult to believe.

When you consider that none of these 5N boys can be trusted as credible and 100% honest and we are not aware of many (any?) witnesses who can corroborate the story of the later part of the night (after the last time seen on camera)... well the potential for what is a lie versus what is truth versus what is foggy due to intoxication is very overwhelming.

Much of the night appears (at least from the outside looking in) to be rather non-sensical, probably due to most or all of the players being intoxicated. It's difficult to analyze that and say to a POI-- "That doesn't make sense! You're lying!" The majority of what happened that night doesn't make sense. The POI's could be lying about everything, or almost nothing.

In every case, LE wants to have someone suspicious to pursue. In this case it almost feels like there are too many possibilities-- too many possible lies, too many possible perps (or combination of perps), several possible motives.... it's distracting from the truth of what happened to Lauren and why.

 

[AbbeyR]

Snipped by me. I've definitely thought about LS somehow leaving JR's, deciding she couldn't make it back to SW, and looping back to CR/MB's. Although it pains me to say so, I do believe she had enough interest in CR to follow him out of SW. She may have felt comfortable with him, for whatever reason. Or maybe she was worried about him after the hit. Also, maybe something happened at JR's that made her leave (assuming she was able to) and return to CR/MB's. IDK.
<Snipped>

BBM: I thought we knew that she didn't follow CR out of Smallwood? The lawsuit docs say that witnesses at Smallwood described LS as incoherent, disoriented and nonreponsive, and there is video surveillance that shows Lauren falling on the ground, CR picking her up, and 'helping' her out of the building, before carrying her down the alley.

I agree with you on your previous post though that as unlikely as it is, we can't know for certain that LS didn't leave JR's. (Or really, if she ever got there in the first place) If she did, who knows what happened, or where to begin looking! That said, I don't think, as someone else mentioned, that this possibility puts all players we know of back in the game. There are cameras at SW and, I believe, at the apts where ZO etc. live, so it would be pretty easy for LE to find out who was coming and going there. I hope LE looked into the other people who live at 5 N, but I'm sure they would have.

Also, although I can fathom a scenario of LS leaving 5 N, I can't figure out why, if she had left, CR, MB and JR would have acted the way they did, why they can't tell a straight story or take LE polygraphs. It just doesn't make sense.

 

[carlarae341]

What if everything about the boys and Lauren is true. They were super negligent. She was very high and unstable. But she managed to stumble away from them. Now.....enter the white truck. Did it circle the block two times? Did it pick up Lauren?

 

[AbbeyR]

Snipped by me. Your comment made me think back to when I first heard about LS' disappearance ... before we knew that she didn't "help" CR home and that he helped carry her instead. At that early stage, I considered that LS left JR's, perhaps earlier than he let on, to meet a DD! It's really inconceivable to think of that now! <snipped for space>.

Right, this was my first theory too. Because that's what the guys at 5 N alluded to. They had their lawyers give statements to the media that made it sound like Lauren was not only perfectly capable of leaving, but that when she left she was looking to "party". And then there was the "anonymous" source who told Gatto she was alone and not with CR talking about drugs at the bar. And other similar rumors... Only, none of that turned out to be true. Makes you wonder about the purpose of those statements, IMO.

 

[AbbeyR]

What if everything about the boys and Lauren is true. They were super negligent. She was very high and unstable. But she managed to stumble away from them. Now.....enter the white truck. Did it circle the block two times? Did it pick up Lauren?

LE cleared the white truck. This is one of the few things we do know.

 

[imkeylime]

BBM: I thought we knew that she didn't follow CR out of Smallwood? The lawsuit docs say that witnesses at Smallwood described LS as incoherent, disoriented and nonreponsive, and there is video surveillance that shows Lauren falling on the ground, CR picking her up, and 'helping' her out of the building, before carrying her down the alley.

I agree with you on your previous post though that as unlikely as it is, we can't know for certain that LS didn't leave JR's. (Or really, if she ever got there in the first place) If she did, who knows what happened, or where to begin looking! That said, I don't think, as someone else mentioned, that this possibility puts all players we know of back in the game. There are cameras at SW and, I believe, at the apts where ZO etc. live, so it would be pretty easy for LE to find out who was coming and going there. I hope LE looked into the other people who live at 5 N, but I'm sure they would have.

Also, although I can fathom a scenario of LS leaving 5 N, I can't figure out why, if she had left, CR, MB and JR would have acted the way they did, why they can't tell a straight story or take LE polygraphs. It just doesn't make sense.

My wording is lazy ... you're right, she didn't per se "follow him." But she took an elevator down with him, with ZO and company present, correct? IMO, if she wanted to escape his presence at that point she could have. She also apparently left Sports with him, so it doesn't seem that his presence was necessarily forced. I guess I've kind of changed my opinion in this regard. IRL, I do see young women with boyfriends hanging out with guys who are just friends. But there's the Indy 500 thing ... and going to CR's apartment before Sports. Ultimately, I don't think it really matters, except for possibly being a reason JW might act bitter. IDK. What I do know is that I agree with RS: If she'd never met CR, she could very well still be alive. JMO.

Also ... it's also relevant to question whether she ever made it to 5N in the first place, as you note. Since she'd been to both JR's and CR's earlier (I'm correct in that, right?), her presence would have been verifiable. Again, I just don't know. There should have been proof if she passed away there. So many things just don't make sense in this case. As Dixie notes above, there are just so many loose ends ...

 

[AbbeyR]

My wording is lazy ... you're right, she didn't per se "follow him." But she took an elevator down with him, with ZO and company present, correct? IMO, if she wanted to escape his presence at that point she could have. She also apparently left Sports with him, so it doesn't seem that his presence was necessarily forced. <snipped>

You're right, it's not totally clear cut. I just thought you were going off that old story from Gatto in which he claimed CR left by himself and Lauren followed him out, which turned out not to be true.

IMO, since according to the witnesses and video surveillance, Lauren couldn't walk by herself from the time she was at Kilroy's, and she was incoherent, it's not at all clear how willingly she went with him. I definitely don't think she could have gotten to 5 N on her own, or 'escaped' since she couldn't walk on her own. There's also no indication she wanted to escape or get away from him, but I'm not sure that's the right question, or if it even makes sense to talk about someone doing something willingly or by force if they are so intoxicated they can't care for themselves. All JMO...

 

[kpeacock]

Hi, all! I posted about the FB page earlier in the thread. Just catching up now, I thought I had notifications set and that things were dead around here. Will check back more frequently.

Interesting discussion about Bloomington. I love this town, it's something of a storybook town compared to other places and much bigger cities I've lived in - but I haven't partied late at night in downtown. I did live in the neighborhood Green Acres, directly east of campus - lots of foot travel from students, many rental houses full of college kids. I can tell you they partied all night long. I'd go around the mornings on my daily walks with my dogs and pick up all kinds of drinking trash after football games. I completely believe that the dorm scene within walking distance of the bars is in even fuller swing. That level of drinking and drug use is bound to bring out the worst in some of these college kids. They don't see Bloomington as their home, as residents do. There's a big difference between the people who live here (lots of creatives, artistic, spiritual, academic people, a very interesting place) and the majority of the college - sons and daughters of a privileged background on their own for the first time. So do I believe that a crime happens downtown as and after the bars close? Absolutely.

As for the facebook group I mentioned (https://www.facebook.com/groups/203764669685648/), right now it's pretty quiet. I have seen it flare up in a lot of drama, and then posts get deleted. There have been a few times that the POIs apparently asked to join the group, and then quickly left. I can't remember which ones, and those posts might have been deleted also. I guess what occurs to me about Facebook is that it's much more public, and also that most people post with their real name. I wonder, legally, could that be considered slander? It just seems unwise, in any case. All of us are speculating, the truth is we don't know for sure. I wish we did, and hope we will soon.

The scenario I think is most likely, given all the evidence that's been released to the public, is that something happened to her at CRs. All given timelines lead up to their rooms, and then things become unclear. I would not be surprised if she were ruffied, or a victim of date rape. Cocaine, klonopin and alcohol - that combination of drugs could certainly equal a night gone terribly wrong.

However, given that we now know that there is evidence not released to the public, it's hard to take a bottom line position one way or another. I can see a scenario where she ended up at House Bar, but if there were so many cameras on College, why was no footage released from the walk there? I do have to say, as a resident of the town, that it's possible the LE in Bloomington didn't pull off a great and timely investigation. When did they last have a case of this magnitude? The first 24 hours were a loss, I'm sure.

Also, with regards to current lawsuits - knowing the generalized way the town feels about this tragedy, I expect some kind of lawsuit to go forward. I know most people here would like to see the JR/CR deposed. I wish they would hire deception expert (like Paul Ekman, the show Lie to Me is based on his work) trained in microexpressions and facial expressions and how emotions/deception reads physically to interrogate them, if they ever get the chance (say, if this trial turns into a murder case.)

That's my take thus far, subject to change based on good arguments/more evidence.

 

[sammi89]

BBM Yes, it does and no, it's not. I agree.

I feel like I'm always chasing my tail with this case. I go in complete circles.

I attended IU and spent more than one night in the same condition as Lauren was. I consider myself lucky. When I first read about her disappearance, I thought for sure she was abducted by a casual acquaintance or a complete stranger (first impression with few facts). I currently live in a different college town, and if I were tempted to abduct someone, I'd know where to troll.

My theories morphed from there to include JW and the whole peer group given the strange sequence of events. I feel no closer to the truth than when the story broke. If she did leave, anything's possible.

When you say the "same" condition, do you mean that you had multiple nights where you hit your head on cement and had black eyes forming within hours? Or do you just mean that you were out and about late at night and intoxicated?

I am not trying to nitpick you at all or be rude at all - I just have a hard time believing that her experiences that night are totally on par with the regular college occurrence. I graduated two years ago, so I've had my fair share of late nights out partying too, but I really think that at minimum, hitting her head multiple times and actually getting black eyes is not a common experience.

I'm not sure if anyone else heard this, but I was trying to find information regarding falls & TBI and found this article from last fall about another girl from Indiana who was a college freshman at Bloomington, was out partying, fell down some stairs, and her friends decided to let her sleep it off and didn't realize something was amiss until 7 hours later. If any of the 5N POIs are involved, I'm not sure if they intended for what happened or not, but sometimes people just don't realize it's necessary to get help.

http://idsafterthefall.com/
super sad.

The article talks about the hospital's experience too with the college population and drinking. Clearly, some people have been admitted in pretty bad shape also, but the big difference is still that all those people admitted actually got help. I think it is very possible that instead of heading back to 5N, had LS been taken to a hospital, she would very much be alive.

I wanted to include this link concerning the black eyes because it says you should go to the doctor if you have two black eyes because it might indicate you have a skull fracture. I'm not sure if both eyes were bruising but still: http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/black-eye/Pages/Introduction.aspx

 

[sammi89]

And I'm not sure what to think about JW. I actually gave him little thought until the article where his parents attacked LS. They really seemed to be on the defensive. Also, his mother's comment about getting a private polygraph was weird, IMO ... something about wanting to know for sure, which makes me think she had doubt in the first place. ???

snipped by me.

http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20666241,00.html

Quoting the article:
The Spierers aren't convinced Lauren's boyfriend, Jesse Wolff, has been entirely forthcoming either. It was Wolff and two other students, investigators say, who reported Lauren missing June 3 after Kilroy's contacted him with Lauren's cell phone. At first he seemed eager to help. "That Monday he was texting me, 'We've got to have everyone take polys,'" says Charlene. But according to the Spierers, the next day, as search parties fanned out for miles around IU, Wolff left for home, which struck Robert and Charlene as odd. Since then he's refused to take a police polygraph; contacted by PEOPLE Dec. 5, he declined to comment. "He was in love with Lauren as far as we knew," says Robert, "so we can't understand why he's chosen not to do everything possible to help us."


I'm not sure how to interpret his actions or his mother's either anymore. Weird.

I do think the 5N POI definitely seem more suspicious and were the last to see allegedly, but I would definitely be more skeptical of JW if there was anything showing he wasn't home in bed and had knowledge of what LS was up to/where she was and when. However, it's also weird too because LS was only in town because she was going to ride home with JW and the Spierers were initially supportive of JW, so it seems like they at least had no reason to suspect LS & JW were on the rocks, especially if CS & LS spoke on the phone as often as they did. However, maybe LS didn't want to share that part of her life with her parents?

I really think that JR, CR, and MB would love to throw JW under the bus if they could, so it still seems like LS would have to go to him OR someone would have to alert him to where LS was and when, and this person has not come forward stating they gave that information to JW (or at least isn't publicly known to have come forward). JW's actions after the fact aren't great though.

 

[SeeingForThe1stTime]

I'll go back and catch up but in the meantime, have I missed anything of major importance?

 

[Ros]

snipped by me.

http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20666241,00.html

Quoting the article:
The Spierers aren't convinced Lauren's boyfriend, Jesse Wolff, has been entirely forthcoming either. It was Wolff and two other students, investigators say, who reported Lauren missing June 3 after Kilroy's contacted him with Lauren's cell phone. At first he seemed eager to help. "That Monday he was texting me, 'We've got to have everyone take polys,'" says Charlene. But according to the Spierers, the next day, as search parties fanned out for miles around IU, Wolff left for home, which struck Robert and Charlene as odd. Since then he's refused to take a police polygraph; contacted by PEOPLE Dec. 5, he declined to comment. "He was in love with Lauren as far as we knew," says Robert, "so we can't understand why he's chosen not to do everything possible to help us."


I'm not sure how to interpret his actions or his mother's either anymore. Weird.

I do think the 5N POI definitely seem more suspicious and were the last to see allegedly, but I would definitely be more skeptical of JW if there was anything showing he wasn't home in bed and had knowledge of what LS was up to/where she was and when. However, it's also weird too because LS was only in town because she was going to ride home with JW and the Spierers were initially supportive of JW, so it seems like they at least had no reason to suspect LS & JW were on the rocks, especially if CS & LS spoke on the phone as often as they did. However, maybe LS didn't want to share that part of her life with her parents?

I really think that JR, CR, and MB would love to throw JW under the bus if they could, so it still seems like LS would have to go to him OR someone would have to alert him to where LS was and when, and this person has not come forward stating they gave that information to JW (or at least isn't publicly known to have come forward). JW's actions after the fact aren't great though.

It would not surprise me if JW soon realized that as the boyfriend of a woman who was out with another man, suspicion would fall on him. Also his Facebook post (quote about Agent Orange) may have been innocent when he posted it but in the context of Lauren's disappearance, it looked suspicious. His parents seem to be very protective (too protective?) and would have quickly called a lawyer. And a lawyer might have advised JW to go home, stop talking, delete Facebook posts, etc.

 

[leilarose68]

snipped by me.

http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20666241,00.html

Quoting the article:
The Spierers aren't convinced Lauren's boyfriend, Jesse Wolff, has been entirely forthcoming either. It was Wolff and two other students, investigators say, who reported Lauren missing June 3 after Kilroy's contacted him with Lauren's cell phone. At first he seemed eager to help. "That Monday he was texting me, 'We've got to have everyone take polys,'" says Charlene. But according to the Spierers, the next day, as search parties fanned out for miles around IU, Wolff left for home, which struck Robert and Charlene as odd. Since then he's refused to take a police polygraph; contacted by PEOPLE Dec. 5, he declined to comment. "He was in love with Lauren as far as we knew," says Robert, "so we can't understand why he's chosen not to do everything possible to help us."


I'm not sure how to interpret his actions or his mother's either anymore. Weird.

I do think the 5N POI definitely seem more suspicious and were the last to see allegedly, but I would definitely be more skeptical of JW if there was anything showing he wasn't home in bed and had knowledge of what LS was up to/where she was and when. However, it's also weird too because LS was only in town because she was going to ride home with JW and the Spierers were initially supportive of JW, so it seems like they at least had no reason to suspect LS & JW were on the rocks, especially if CS & LS spoke on the phone as often as they did. However, maybe LS didn't want to share that part of her life with her parents?

I really think that JR, CR, and MB would love to throw JW under the bus if they could, so it still seems like LS would have to go to him OR someone would have to alert him to where LS was and when, and this person has not come forward stating they gave that information to JW (or at least isn't publicly known to have come forward). JW's actions after the fact aren't great though.

i think JW is probably scared of the retribution he would face for being a snitch around the IU crew... he knows that lauren overdosed but also doesn't wanna rat people out because ultimately he probably feels like it was lauren's fault + nothing could have been done. perhaps she died before an ambulance could even be called + so everyone was all about saving their own asses. that's what i believe. he doesn't want these guys to go to prison for their own drug connections because lauren happened to overdose. his thought process is probably: hey, we all drink and do these kinds of drugs all the time; lauren just got terribly unlucky, was dumb to do all that stuff w her heart problems, and the blame should be on her, not the partiers and drug dealers.
pretty insane how CR and JR (and maybe others) were able to dump her body without being seen/found out. that's a mystery

 

[Ros]

I still keep going around and around on this case. It is easy to imagine CR being primarily responsible for what happened and MB knowing about it but unable to keep his story straight. However this scenario leaves out JR and DB. I do think she made it as far as far as JR's, partly on the basis of some of the early posts on The Phish board that suggested that she had done so before that came out in the mainstream media. But if JR or his guest(s) were primarily responsible, why has MB been the source of so many different stories and why does CR (via his lawyer) claim that he has no memory of events of that night?

 

[sammi89]

I still keep going around and around on this case. It is easy to imagine CR being primarily responsible for what happened and MB knowing about it but unable to keep his story straight. However this scenario leaves out JR and DB. I do think she made it as far as far as JR's, partly on the basis of some of the early posts on The Phish board that suggested that she had done so before that came out in the mainstream media. But if JR or his guest(s) were primarily responsible, why has MB been the source of so many different stories and why does CR (via his lawyer) claim that he has no memory of events of that night?

It's possible that she really did make it to JR's and really did leave only to end up back at CR and MB's. That would limit the people involved to 2 and explain why CR has completely shut down and MB keeps changing stories. Out of the three of them, JR appears to have been the most forthcoming (sat down with the Spierers, admitted to seeing black eyes and what he heard LS had taken with DR). On the other hand, if JR is involved maybe he took her back to CR and MB's or called them to his place (involving them once again).

 

[AbbeyR]

It's possible that she really did make it to JR's and really did leave only to end up back at CR and MB's. That would limit the people involved to 2 and explain why CR has completely shut down and MB keeps changing stories. Out of the three of them, JR appears to have been the most forthcoming (sat down with the Spierers, admitted to seeing black eyes and what he heard LS had taken with DR). On the other hand, if JR is involved maybe he took her back to CR and MB's or called them to his place (involving them once again).

It's so hard to tell which of them actually came forward with information. Someone obviously changed their story after the initial statements -As just one example of the inconsistencies, JR said Lauren made the phone calls looking for her phone. In the lawsuit docs, it turns out JR (and MB) made those calls. So was there some kind of evidence that they were confronted with? Did JR tell the Spierers this? Or did MB tell the investigators he witnessed JR making the calls forcing JR's hand? Hard to tell.

About the connection between MB, CR and JR - That sounds like a possible scenario. I've always thought it was possible the 3 of them were together after CR and LS came back from SW. That was the rumor on PT before we even knew about JR, and it would make more sense than the story about CR being put to bed, as well as eliminate the confusion over why one would cover for the other if they weren't there. It also seems like MB, JR and CR tried to distance themselves from each other - For ex. It was totally unclear from their statements that MB went back to JR's - his lawyer clearly stated that Lauren "walked out the door" and went to JR's on her own, and likewise, JR's story to HT about Lauren didn't include MB. So maybe this omission goes farther back... Maybe JR came back to the apt with MB when they thought there was a 'break in' - or maybe that's when the phone call to JR was. Or, they could have met up in the alley, or CR and LS went back to JR's....

Ah, so many guesses... I wish we had that one missing piece of info that would make the story make sense and help find Lauren.

 

[imkeylime]

It would not surprise me if JW soon realized that as the boyfriend of a woman who was out with another man, suspicion would fall on him. Also his Facebook post (quote about Agent Orange) may have been innocent when he posted it but in the context of Lauren's disappearance, it looked suspicious. His parents seem to be very protective (too protective?) and would have quickly called a lawyer. And a lawyer might have advised JW to go home, stop talking, delete Facebook posts, etc.

Good points ... I definitely agree. When I don't consider JW a suspect (I usually don't, for whatever reason, despite the parent thing), I also consider that LS was probably a significant, sudden loss for him, and that can screw with your head. Guilt, regret, anger, depression ... those are all legitimate responses to such a loss. If he was told NOT to participate in the search, etc., he may have felt conflicted. That, too, can screw with your head.

Also, while I do think JW knows something he hasn't shared, there could be a reason that seems logical to him, though obviously not to us. Maybe he knows something about LS and DR's drug use, for example, or where the alleged Klonopin came from. He should share all information, but maybe he's protecting someone other than himself, which then backfired. (If I find that JW had a hand in this, I'll eat these words.)

And I agree about his parents being perhaps overly protective. I'm a pretty protective parent myself ... I have to kind of work on not being, LOL. I know I wouldn't have reacted like his parents recently have, but I do think I would have gotten my son counsel early on, even while expecting him to be honest. Just saying ...

 

[sammi89]

It's so hard to tell which of them actually came forward with information. Someone obviously changed their story after the initial statements -As just one example of the inconsistencies, JR said Lauren made the phone calls looking for her phone. In the lawsuit docs, it turns out JR (and MB) made those calls. So was there some kind of evidence that they were confronted with? Did JR tell the Spierers this? Or did MB tell the investigators he witnessed JR making the calls forcing JR's hand? Hard to tell.

About the connection between MB, CR and JR - That sounds like a possible scenario. I've always thought it was possible the 3 of them were together after CR and LS came back from SW. That was the rumor on PT before we even knew about JR, and it would make more sense than the story about CR being put to bed, as well as eliminate the confusion over why one would cover for the other if they weren't there. It also seems like MB, JR and CR tried to distance themselves from each other - For ex. It was totally unclear from their statements that MB went back to JR's - his lawyer clearly stated that Lauren "walked out the door" and went to JR's on her own, and likewise, JR's story to HT about Lauren didn't include MB. So maybe this omission goes farther back... Maybe JR came back to the apt with MB when they thought there was a 'break in' - or maybe that's when the phone call to JR was. Or, they could have met up in the alley, or CR and LS went back to JR's....

Ah, so many guesses... I wish we had that one missing piece of info that would make the story make sense and help find Lauren.

I agree with all of the above. Even though CR has clammed up and MB keeps changing stories, at the end of the day, the story still ends with her at JR's and he has managed to at least keep the narrative the same in terms of LS leaving. As someone mentioned above, it's really hard to pinpoint what is truth, lie, or embellishment. Even if it is obvious that MB's story is inconsistent, I'm not sure what authorities can do if JR is still claiming that she was at his place without MB and seemed to be okay per his walking test.