IN - Lauren Spierer, 20, Bloomington, 03 June 2011 - #9

[Jupiter812]

Thanks. My reporting is solid. The 3:38am woman at College and 10th sat with me, in her place of work, and told me the things she did. I don't think the man she saw has anything to do with it. She told me she was interviewed and then re-interviewed by police and sat down with a sketch artist.

This man surely knows about this case then and has reported his encounter with police. Eh?

 

[jennyb629]

I know nothing about drug dealers and the like. But let's suppose for a moment that JR was a campus drug dealer who had a "superior" drug supplier?

Is there a possibility that this other drug supplier provided him a phone to use for drug-related transactions? If JR ever supplied drugs to those outside of his circle of friends, he might not want his buyers to know his "real" phone number and identity.

Using the previously mentioned theory that JR called his supplier to dispose of the body, he could have used his "drug" phone. Even if police did confiscate his regular phone and got his phone records, this phone call wouldn't show up.

Just a possibility...

Very good point. I think this is a definite possibility.

 

[SUNchips]

I have read almost every post about LS, but this is my first post on here, so hello all. I wanted to point out a few things. First of all, I am a 20 year old blonde "party girl", and attend a large university myself. I have MANY mutual friends with LS, though I had never heard of her until this happened. I can say that on DR's facebook pictures, he is in a picture with HT and another guy, and the other guy has a "bar" (xanax) in his mouth in the picture...someone even commented about it! I'm shocked that more of these kids haven't deleted their facebooks completely, let alone take stuff like this down.

I wanted to point out the fact that she may not have been walking barefoot the entire night. I wouldn't be surprised if someone had carried her some of the night, especially since she had no shoes and was completely drunk/drugged up (IMO). Also, is it possible that she left Smallwood with CR, planning to sleep over at his apartment? This makes sense to me because HT wasn't at all worried that she hadn't come home that night, even though she knew that she was not out with her boyfriend/possibly in a fight with him. Maybe they went back to CR's and did hook up while MB was doing homework or something...I don't know, just a thought.

Also, the theory I am most set on is that something happened to her that night, probably an accidental OD, and that someone from JR's apartment complex took her home with them the next day. It doesn't even have to be JR necessarily, but the fact that a lot of people, including JR, left the day she went missing, makes it seem pretty easy to just bring her home with them in a suitcase or something. Then, she would be in their hometown, presumably far, far away, and it will be much more difficult to ever find her.

 

[justmethinking]

Assuming there was a car available--remove all drugs from the premises, put the body in a duffel bag if available, put in trunk of car after checking that the coast is clear. Drive a few miles out of town, pull over, hide the body in some heavy brush that isn't next to any landmarks, parks, or anything (students probably don't have shovels or any heavy tools fortunately, so probably not buried). Unfortunately, one doesn't have to drive far out of town to find very remote locations with heavily overgrown areas (this time of year) for concealment. And there probably aren't many cameras North on Walnut Street or SW to 2nd Street. I worry that they will never find the body, or it will take years--without a tip or a stroke of luck (buzzards, etc.), the body could be hidden anywhere (if this scenario is what happened).

Still wondering how quickly these East Coast POIs left town and how. If the bag with her in it was stashed in the car, the drive to home is at least 7 or 8 hours, if not more. That drive is very rural and not highly trafficked. Pull over somewhere between here and home, walk 20 feet into the woods and dump her, and no one thinks anything of it. Even the smell and buzzards would not raise suspicion because of the amount of "roadkill" (deer, raccoons, etc.) in the area. Anyone possibly passing by him (at 75 mph) would assume it was a bathroom break. Without car descriptions out nationwide, anyone who did see it hasn't thought a thing about it. I drive those roads a couple times a year. They are empty, heavily wooded, and full of "nature" that would quickly make finding a body very difficult.

 

[plaidmom]

Yet another lurker coming forward.

Not related, or in the know. "Just A Mom of a College Student" (not IU).

I'm compelled to follow this case as a parent and as a current resident of IN. I can almost feel the pain of the parents.

My question is:

Do we know who filed the Missing Person report? And on what date?

I found this:

http://www.lohud.com/article/20110613/NEWS02/106130325

But there appears to be some conflct.

TIA.

 

[Long-time Local]

So it's possible, someone could have gone through a back window to avoid being seen, and had a car pulled up behind it...then they could have removed a 90lb person/duffel bag/box through that back window and not be seen? How dark is that area around those back windows facing the vacant lot? Pitch black or darn close? Thanks again.

LOL, you're going to make me go back over there again, aren't you?

The back of the building is considerably darker than the front. If I am remembering correctly, there is one safety light attached to the middle of the building and it shines straight down, illuminating only the area directly around it. The rest of the back of the property is quite dark. Yes, you could drop something out the ground floor window without being seen, especially if you weren't directly next to the light. Who knows, maybe it's normal for the residents to drop their garbage out the back and then take it to the Dumpster instead of schlepping it through their apartment and out the front door and it wouldn't have seemed odd at all to chuck something out the window.

 

[AnalyticalExaminer]

Just to respond to elmomom's comment on my earlier comments - I did not say that JW has been exonerated. However, you said that you suspected JW on the basis of the impression that LS's parents changed their attitude towards him. My impression is very much the opposite. And that may imply something about the attitude of LE. I don't claim anything further than that.

Does someone know where to access a photo of JR other than his facebook page? The photo I've seen there is not consistent with the physical description in what is presumably his arrest record.

 

[Lilcheese]

I know nothing about drug dealers and the like. But let's suppose for a moment that JR was a campus drug dealer who had a "superior" drug supplier?

Is there a possibility that this other drug supplier provided him a phone to use for drug-related transactions? If JR ever supplied drugs to those outside of his circle of friends, he might not want his buyers to know his "real" phone number and identity.

Using the previously mentioned theory that JR called his supplier to dispose of the body, he could have used his "drug" phone. Even if police did confiscate his regular phone and got his phone records, this phone call wouldn't show up.

Just a possibility...

No, it doesn't work like that. It isn't a movie scene. If JR is dealing drugs he is most likely just the low level dude who supplies to his friends.

Most college students who deal are only "dealing" to do whatever it is they do for free. So in the instance of pot, for example, he would by an oz of marijuana. Bag it up in grams and sell off a gram for 20 bucks. Higher quantity the lower the overall price; like wholesale.

JR, would have to be moving serious, serious drugs to be connected like that. He probably knows a guy (non student) who he buys from and then JR sells to college friends. There would be several tiers of dealers before you got to a point were anyone would be rolling like that.

 

[woodpecker2k]

I remember countless friends who would walk home from a bar barefoot while I was in college. They usually didn't forget their shoes there, but either took off their shoes because they hurt or because it was nice out and they wanted to run through grass or whatever without ruining their shoes.

Point being, they didn't care that they were barefoot and weren't trying to find a more comfortable pair of shoes, unless they had plans to go to another bar (barefoot in bars somehow always seemed ickier than walking barefoot on the streets idk)

My first post here; apologies if it's already been mentioned, but doesn't Killroy's have some sort of 'beach theme' going on in and around the bar area? (you can see the sand in the pic above)... I'm assuming LS removed her shoes to be more comfortable (as mentioned by the poster above) in such an environment & it would have been easy to forget them later on, whether or not she got kicked out.

Also, this may be a dumb question, but I'm guessing the police confiscated JR's phone as evidence (are they even allowed to do that?)... if so, surely they checked it for fingerprints to see if there is any trace of LS on there and thus determine whether or not she placed the call to DR at 4:15 am? Of course, I'm sure they probably know more about who did what and when than perhaps they are letting on... hopefully we'll know more soon and some of these questions will be answered.

 

[plaidmom]

I just wanted to state that I have found Tony Gatto's blog useful. I understand that some of his items haven't been picked up by the mainstream press. But I welcome insight from anyone. I just find it interesting some people on here have some distrust or desire to discredit him. When the spirit of this blog and their conversations dabble in speculation to assist in solving a mystery. I am glad for people like him pushing the envelope.

I found this site through TG's blog BTW. Beyond useful IMO. :smile:

 

[elmomom]

Analytical-
The picture I've seen is JR, not from Facebook, I think it's a Fox photo, but its in MSM somewhere. He appeared very lanky -would have guessed him taller than what was posted here, but about the same weight. I will post a link to the photo the next time I come across it.

 

[bx2]

Greetings all,

Also a local, torn up about this whole thing. Hope a few of these points may be helpful.

-Link to 5 North website might be helpful to some. Limited pictures, but does have floor plans.

-I'm a bit unsure of why folks dismiss the potential 3:38 sighting as not consistant with the timeline. That area is a 3-4 minute walk from 11th and Morton and we have no concept of what time LS left MB.

-The reported polygraph passing by one of the prime POI's has been talked about a lot, I just wanted to add the distinct possibility that it may have been leaked by LE as an attempt to pressure other POI's. I really can't envision a scenario where the POI or POI's attorney would not be shouting to the rooftops about that result.

-Another note about polygraphs is that one of the reason they're unreliable is that if you believe you are telling the truth, you will pass. We do it all the time without thinking, fill in little gaps of our own stories with accounts given by friends later, the entire time never having any reason to believe that we are merely lying 2nd hand.

-HT sounding is suspicious to some. To me, she is merely recounting what are most likely many accounts from varioius friends that evening. She wasn't witness to almost anything, of course she is going to sound mixed up about details.

 

[elmomom]

I think this is long overdue, but it's getting hard to keep up!


:rollercoaster:

Welcome to all the new Members!

 

[kissdegirl]

LOL, you're going to make me go back over there again, aren't you?

The back of the building is considerably darker than the front. If I am remembering correctly, there is one safety light attached to the middle of the building and it shines straight down, illuminating only the area directly around it. The rest of the back of the property is quite dark. Yes, you could drop something out the ground floor window without being seen, especially if you weren't directly next to the light. Who knows, maybe it's normal for the residents to drop their garbage out the back and then take it to the Dumpster instead of schlepping it through their apartment and out the front door and it wouldn't have seemed odd at all to chuck something out the window.

lol, well I wouldn't want you to be unsafe...but even an "if I recall it's pretty dark, and yes there are windows" does give me enough, though maybe not others, lol. I was thinking about where they take their trash too..and thinking about what a college kid would have on hand to get rid of someone...I would think either a trash bag, or just carry her out as though she were sleeping and no one would know until she wound up missing. So...the back window makes sense to me. Thanks so much.

 

[AbbeyR]

(respectfully snipped)....
Also, the theory I am most set on is that something happened to her that night, probably an accidental OD, and that someone from JR's apartment complex took her home with them the next day. It doesn't even have to be JR necessarily, but the fact that a lot of people, including JR, left the day she went missing, makes it seem pretty easy to just bring her home with them in a suitcase or something. Then, she would be in their hometown, presumably far, far away, and it will be much more difficult to ever find her.

Welcome, Sunchips! Is this a fact? Who left the day she went missing? According to whom?

 

[SeaEclipse]

I chased one of the comments on TG's site and found this news article: http://www.wthr.com/story/7765853/i...r-hazing?clienttype=printable&redirected=true

Of import, in describing why AEPi was kicked off campus in 2008: "(There were) incidents of individuals being taken out into the country, dropped off and expected to find their way back to the house," said Dick McKaig, IU Dean of Students."

I hope LE has chased down exactly where the freshman were taken, especially if any of the POIs were involved (JW, at least, would have been a freshman at the time, so possibly one of the haze-ees). Probably a HUGE stretch, but it could give them an idea of what "way out in the country" meant to these students.

 

[jjenny]

Thanks. My reporting is solid. The 3:38am woman at College and 10th sat with me, in her place of work, and told me the things she did. I don't think the man she saw has anything to do with it. She told me she was interviewed and then re-interviewed by police and sat down with a sketch artist.

I would like to say one more thing. This woman is an excellent citizen. She did exactly what Lauren's family and police have asked people to do. She's taken some heat, I know. But she should be proud for what she has done. And while I know I will draw criticism, it comes with the territory of being a journalist. She gave me her name and phone number and was totally on the record. I chose not use her name nor have I revealed the bar/restaurant where she works.

If this man was actually with LS, on the night she went missing, I am curious why you think he had nothing to do with it? Considering he supposedly slung the girl (who was completely out of it) over the shoulder at one point, according to that witness, what do you think his role was? Or do you think the woman who reported it actually is mistaken about the identity of the female she saw that night?

 

[shefner]

Drug dealers, both "high" and "low," are not the smartest guys on the block. Most of them do not even have a driver's license, which is why they are driven everywhere....or get others to run drugs for them.
I learned this from my son's experience, when he was living at home and heavily involved in the drug scene. These dealers are very experienced about how to draw young people into their "web." They will do most anything to keep them coming back....and to get their friends to use too.
I do believe they would get involved in an accidental death and help some kids who regularly buy from them.

 

[woodpecker2k]

Would it be possible to look for LS's fingerprints on the phone if they had confiscated it right away? Or would they have been all smudged by then? I know nothing about this.

Just caught your post - looks like we are on the same wavelength. I was wondering the same thing... can the police take the phone and have it tested, or are they not allowed to touch it if they don't have anything concrete on JR? Perhaps someone with a little more knowledge on this matter can shed some light...

 

[Ven]

One thing we don't know is whether JR volunteered info to police, or if he told them about LS after they told him about the phone call??
Too bad we don't know, and I doubt LE knows either.