Hi folks, I've lived in Bloomington since the late '80s and have been attending searches daily for Lauren since they began. Thanks for the intelligent discussion of this case. I hope I can add to the dialogue.
Originally Posted by Nickel
Questions for IU students/grads, Btown, and other locals: Does IU operate on the Blue Light Emergency Phone system? If so, are the poles located just within immediate campus areas, or does it extend to popular student housing in the area such as where LS and the POIs lived? Do students know about and actually use them? What about campus emergency telephone lines?
Nickel, there are a few Blue Light phones, but they are not easily accessed (I honestly can't remember where they are and I walk through campus every day). People used to get a kick out of setting them off and running away. These are only on campus. The area in which LS lives is on the far west side of downtown-- quite a distance from campus. Her building is, however, located right next to the Monroe Country Jail and City Hall is behind her building, so there is a constant police presence there.
I think the research park should be searched more thoroughly (it is located on the other side of 10th and Morton on Google Maps).
Allegedly, that truck going west on 10th turned north onto Morton the first time around, but not the 2nd.
Why would someone then go into the research park on the 2nd pass?
The research park has been thoroughly searched (part of it by me). Why go through the research park on the second pass? Because it empties straight out onto Rogers Street. If the driver took a right, he could go half a block to 11th Street, take that west and then on to Vernal Pike and across SR 37. Or, as I have suspected, take a right on Rogers, continue to 17th St., turn left and be on the very isolated Maple Grove Road / Bottom Road in under 10 minutes. There are woods, fields, marshes, prairie land within 10 minutes of where LS was last seen. Going through the research park to Rogers would be a quick and easy way to get there.
If I may point something out, for people who aren't from Bloomington: if you note on Btown's excellent map, the sidewalk on College Ave. is actually separated from the street by a (roughly) three-foot wide grass "buffer" strip. I point this out because it slightly complicates the idea of an abduction by someone pulling alongside and pulling her into the car. If LS was indeed abducted along this strip of road, her abductors would have had to either coax her off the sidewalk and towards the street OR park, get out of the car and grab her. There are houses all along this strip of road with multiple residents and I've had a hard time envisioning this scenario when absolutely no one along this area heard or saw a thing.
Did JR say he watched her till 10th and College? 
