Make wishtv.com your home page

Five year anniversary of the disappearance of Lauren Spierer

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (WISH) – It’s been five years since Indiana University student Lauren Spierer disappeared.

Spierer’s mother, Charlene, posted on the “Official Lauren Spierer Updates from Her Family” Facebook page Friday morning.

“You can feel the anxiety build as June 3 approaches.  The pall that surrounds every room in our home and the unspoken words between Robbie and me again bring that all too familiar silence that has become an unwelcomed visitor in our lives.  I have been fooling myself…believing that every day is the same and no day of loss is more significant than any other.  As June 3 approaches so do all the familiar feelings of sadness, regret, remorse, heartbreak and desperation.  Lauren will always be a part of our lives, almost like she is still with us, but so clearly absent.  Each milestone since her disappearance is accompanied by an awful weight of missing someone so loved it is palpable, but no day is as paralyzing as June 3…physically, my throat tightens, my temples pound, my heartbeat quickens and I wonder how I am going to get through the days leading up to the worst day of our lives.   Emotionally, it takes so little to release the flood of tears I’ve tried to keep at bay since the last “anniversary”, knowing that the coming days will be the most difficult.

Five years since Lauren disappeared.  Indescribable, unbelievable, unconscionable.  It has taken some time but the realization that something so horrible can happen and does happen every day to so many people has become an acceptance.  The secrets kept by those responsible for all these years, a reality.  Will we ever know the truth of what happened to Lauren?  I still believe we will.  Will those responsible ever be held accountable?  I still believe justice will be served.  Will we ever be able to bring Lauren home?  I am just not sure anymore.  Going through this nightmare, I consider all the possibilities of what could have been done to Lauren after she took her last breath and I can only hope that her suffering was short.

I have always thought that an accident took Lauren on June 3, 2011.  I have always known that what followed was a crime.  I am still left with a multitude of questions which remain unanswered.   As far as I am aware, no one has been cleared but then again, no person of interest was ever named by the Bloomington Police Department.   Many leads have been submitted to law enforcement, our private investigators, various media outlets, and agencies who prefer to remain unnamed.  There are various theories about what happened to Lauren and who was ultimately responsible, but the puzzle remains missing a vital piece.  Until completed, Lauren’s disappearance will remain a mystery.  Why?  What is it about the events of June 3, 2011, which continue to allude all investigating this case?  What is it about Lauren that has kept it someone’s mission to keep the facts so deeply buried?  Obviously fear of reprisal, but I cannot believe the person responsible has not confided in someone.  Is it truly going to come down to someone having a crisis of conscience?  How many years must we wait to have that happen?

There aren’t a lot of scenarios.  As Rebecca has always said, the stars would have to have been perfectly aligned for random abduction to have been a serious possiblilty.  I agree.

“It always seems impossible until it’s done.”  Nelson Mandela.  That’s how I feel about Lauren’s case.  After five years, and no matter how many more we face, some day, we will get the call, and what has seemed impossible, will be done.

Rebecca, Dad and I are loving you, dear sweet Lauren, every second of every day and you remain in our hearts always.

Our sincere thanks to all who have done their very best to support us and help keep Lauren’s disappearance on the minds of many.  To all the law enforcement officers and private investigators who are committed to Lauren, and determined to solve the mystery of her disappearance, we hope for your success and your safety.

Hoping today is the day.”

Spierer was 20 year old when police said she vanished on June 3, 2011 after a night of partying with friends at a local bar in Bloomington. Her disappearance prompted large group searches for her in and around Bloomington. Posters and billboards also spread the message, and many of those can still be seen five years later.

Bloomington police said they still investigate leads in the case every day. They said they do not consider it a cold case.

Police said Spierer was last seen leaving a friend’s place. They said she left alone and was walking back to her apartment when something happened. For weeks the whole town searched, the school held vigils and her parents desperately pleaded for answers.

“Someone once asked me how it feels like to be the parent of a missing child. It is indescribable,” Charlene Spierer once wrote. “The nightmare you never wake up from. Spend a moment with your son or daughter today, something we have all taken for granted.”

Spierer’s parents also tried to sue the two men that were with their daughter on the night she disappeared. The lower court and appeals court decided that the Spierers could not provide sufficient evidence to support their claims that they did not see her to her apartment safely.

“Because he was with Lauren the majority of the evening and bought drinks for her, (Cory) Rossman was nearest to assuming a duty to care for her. But he also appears to have been intoxicated – so much so that it is questionable whether he could effectively take care of himself, still less another person,” the federal judge wrote.

Daniel Messel (Provided Photo/Indiana State Police)

Since Spierer’s disappearance, police have investigated 49-year-old Daniel Messel who is accused of murdering IU student Hannah Wilson and Justin Wagers.

Justin Wagers

Five years later, no one has been charged.Hopefully for the Spierer family, an answer will come soon.

Anyone with information about Spierer can call the Bloomington Police Department at 812-339-4477 or email helpfindlauren@gmail.com. Tips can also be mailed to: Find Lauren PO Box 1226 Bloomington, IN 47402 Beau Dietl & Associates 800.777.9366. @NewsOnLaurenS #FindLauren