THE FOLLOWING BELOW WAS FROM THE ARTICLE I WROTE A FEW MINUTES AGO
AMAZON LINK TO THE FOLLOWING BOOK: https://www.amazon.com/College-Girl-Missing-Story-Disappeared/dp/1728272998
As the coffee water hissed in the back, the feeling of Morgenstern’s Cafe was the truth and some audience members finally got the answers many have been asking since the book, “College Girl Missing came out… what happened to Lauren Spierer and her family after she disappeared from the Indiana University campus in Bloomington back in 2011.
I witnessed the Lauren Spierer story growing up in Bloomington for about four years. I was in elementary school when the incident happened and her family kept looking for answers even past June 2011 in the summer months in our town. I had not heard a word of Spierer after what will be 13 years since the case has gone cold.
Until there were finally answers and possible justice for the Spierer family.
Daily Mail journalist, Shawn Cohen, set out on a six-year mission to help inform the public about the disappearance of Lauren Spierer on June 3, 2011, as the mystery of her disappearance has been cold for thirteen years.
On Tuesday’s panel, he revealed several things about the case that he didn’t bring up some of the details from the scene to the public until the book was finally released yesterday and is available at both Morgenstern’s with signed copies available at the store, and on Amazon dot com clicking the link on the following tab here.
The public had a lot of questions regarding Spierer’s whereabouts since she left a bar late at night on June 3, 2011, as she later disappeared from plain sight with only two boys knowing about everything that happened to her.
Cohen didn’t start getting into the case until a tip came into his office as he went to Bloomington to meet with the family who were reluctant to contact him before he built a bond and a strong relationship with the family throughout the six years he covered the case.
He worked to find common ground between both law enforcement officers, and frustrations with the Monroe County District Attorney along with Bloomington Police investigators although he tried and failed to talk to police on numerous occasions.
According to Cohen, the Monroe County Judicial system along with Bloomington and Monroe County law enforcement agencies, seemed to “be proud that the police got 50 tips on the case,” and not on even solving the case itself for a long time. Even in 2024, the police according to Cohen do a poor job in his opinion at pressing on sexual assault and kidnapping cases more deeply which gives residents across Bloomington no leverage in trust cops in critical situations involving the safety of females on and off the IU campus.
Cohen listed the men he chatted with about the disappearance of Spierer, and all four boys, some living now in New York, were the top witnesses to the case because they experienced it.
He told the audience that four boys Cory, Mike, Jay Rosenbaum, and David Blasnoke were all interviewed for the story. It is mostly speculation since no one has a confirmed source of what exactly happened that night, but Spierer left her apartment and was drunk and high on drugs. This is followed by her being dragged out of her apartment to her bus. Cameras around the area were not put in place to show what fully happened after she left the apartment, but all four boys listed were involved in knowing Spierer’s whereabouts.
Three results could have happened the night Spierer disappeared according to Cohen as he emphasized all three points to a possible notice of her disappearance with one thing in mind. “She could have gotten out of the whole situation.” He said to the crowd of about 200 people in the packed cafe.
She might have been murdered
One of the most critical speculations to this case was that she might have been murdered by a longtime suspect who had been to prison multiple times in Columbus, Indiana, and had gotten out to murder her as he did with two other girls on the IU campus.
The suspect also murdered and bludgeoned another IU student Hannah Wilson back in 2015, but again, this is one of the many speculations raised in this case, it has not been confirmed that Wright’s killer, Daniel Messel, who is now spending 80 years in an Indiana prison, was responsible in the Spierer case as well.
In one graphic story, Cohen talked about an investigator at the same apartment as Spierer, walking through two hallways to get upstairs to a girl just weeks after Spierer’s disappearance, seeing a college girl duck-taped and alive, but frightened nearly being murdered.
There were also tales of a minivan driving throughout Bloomington and even when I saw it one day, I figured that could have been the man who murdered Lauren, but he never confessed to police about driving through town scaring everyone in his sights.
A lady behind me even saw a van “Driving near Kirkwood Avenue,” just weeks after her disappearance.
2. She drowned and her body could be in the Wabash River near Terre Haute (this could be a conspiracy)
Cohen made this more of a conspiracy, however, some facts are true from her phone to her shoes being at Lake Monroe, but her body could be inside the Wabash River by a kidnapper who dragged her senselessly and shoved her body in a van.
Possibly the van seen in Bloomington but there are no confirmed reports on this currently, but her body could be in Terre Haute wrapped according to Cohen. He emphasized that this theory could be a conspiracy and not true.
3. She was abducted
A man was tried once for possibly abducting Spierer which is one of three other possibilities to her disappearance according to Cohen as she was dragged from her apartment, but the cameras were not located outside of her apartment complex.
A man named Elliott, a longtime family member of the Spierer family said some of the cameras on the apartment areas around East Third Street in Bloomington were not activated or placed during the time of her disappearance. This could be speculation but the family believes that Spierer indeed was out for blood after her boyfriend and had a mess in her relationship.
The book even says she was reluctant to marry him which could be cause for concern.
In the end, the Spierer family according to Mr. Elliott and Cohen have drifted from the past. Lauren’s sister is now married with two children and Lauren’s bedroom is now the bedroom to her sister’s two children.
Mr. Elliott choked up when describing Lauren’s sister at her wedding which seemed emotionally driven by the idea to keep on saving and protecting Lauren even if she is alive or dead. However, the family has not given up on the fight to see if Lauren can live, and Cohen believes, “This case is not over yet because people like you can help investigate and lead people to talk about her disappearance and spread the message about the case.”
Author Shawn Cohen Further Discusses the Disappearance of IU Student, Lauren Spierer, Family, Social Justice, and Police Corruption in Bloomington