Hi all,
I've only been following this case for the last day or so but have read through all your posts. I feel so bad for Lauren's family. Just thought I'd chime in with my 2 cents.
First, having grown up similiar and had a similiar college life to Lauren, nothing about her night really jumps out as me and ridiculous or leading up to a disapearance. It sounds like a typical college night where she drank a little too much, walked around barefoot, left her cellphone, and had some drama. The kind of night we've all had a few of in college and usually wake up the next day with a headache and pull the pillow over our head as we slowly recall the ridiculous details.
Not having all that much info I think there are a few possibilities what happened to her.
1) Least likely - I think it's possible, but unlikely, that she ODed. I say unlikely because I have unfortunately had to take more than one person to the hospital for partying too much. Someone also died at my college from alcohol posioning related to frat hazing. People don't just keel over and die. They vomit, a lot, they empty their bowels, etc. There would be evidence if this had happened to her in someone's apartment. Also, even though you are aware you may face criminal liability if someone ODs, everyone I knows gut reaction is to seek help for the person dying, not to cover up the crime. I also think they would have panicked and there would have been numerous phone calls, a lot of noise, etc. etc. It just seems unlikely to me that a couple of college kids watched a girl die and knew how to quietly and quickly remove any evidence. Not impossible of course, I just don't think this is what happened.
2) I think it's possible the boyfriend is involved. It seems obvious she had a crush on CR and was probably going to hook up with him that night. He very likely knew about this from his frat brothers. He probably called her phone and she obviously wasn't answering because she had left it in the bar. Is this enough to send him into such a jealous rage that he finds her and kills her? We can't say based on what we know, but it wouldn't be the first time it happened.
3) I think a stranger abduction is possible. I don't think it was someone driving around looking for a blonde college student to abduct, but I think it's possible she stumbled out of JR's apartment and this truck just happened to see her at the exact wrong time and it was a crime of opportunity. I also think it's possible the owner of the truck was a stranger who happened upon her earlier in the night (at the bar, or walking through campus) and was waiting for her to come out of that apartment building. I don't think the white truck is related to a college student, because I've never met a college student who advertising their company on the side of their pick up truck. JMO.
Also, the first time I saw that truck picture I knew almost nothing about the case and I was like "Well, the girl is sitting in the back of the truck, so I'm pretty sure it's involved" Not saying it's definitely a person, but it sure looks like the truck was empty on the first pass and somone was sitting there on the second pass. (To me it actually looks like a blonde girl in a white Tshirt with her back against the window and a guy in a black Tshirt with his arm across her chest kissing her.) Could of course be nothing, but that's what I first saw when I didn't know what I was looking at.
