<p>All of that makes sense if it was a stranger abduction. But there is a possibility that it could be a jealous boyfriend because the girl was out with other guys (conjecture). In that case, it would not matter as she might have gone with someone she knew. Look at the murder at UVA. Hard to know what happened here. It is horrible no matter what. Not enough information is released to have much of an opinion yet. The main thing is how horrible for family and friends and she hopefully will be found, and hopefully is alive.</p>
<p>I would never begin to pass any judgement on this young girl…kids think they are invincible and especially if they have grown up in quiet suburban town where it is relatively safe to walk at all hours of the night. This is a terribly sad situation, and I pray to God that this young girl is somehow OK. As the days pass it seems unlikely that she is just hanging out with friends somewhere. The fact that she has gone without her cell phone this long is very unusual for a college girl this age. I am keeping her and her parents, family, and friends, in my prayers. No family should ever suffer from this type of heartache.</p>
<p>There but for the grace of God go I.</p>
<p>They are focusing on all of the kids that she was hanging around including the boyfriend and the young men she was with that last night. The dogs have been let loose in their apartments and in all areas where they tend to frequent. It appears that they know approximately where she disappeared since some of her belongs were found there. This a tremendous stress on all who know the young woman since the investigation is very much focused on them, but what gets me is that the dogs have come up empty on her scent. That really points to her jumping into a car with someone in the area where she was last seen. Whether it was willingly or an abduction, of course, cannot be determined. I just so hope that it was just a foolish whim and that she is alive and well. My heart goes out to the parents. She is only two degrees away from us in terms of knowing her in many different ways, so this really hits home hard.</p>
<p>Here in VA the remembrance of the female student who left a concert at UVA without her friends and was never seen again until her remains were found a year later is too fresh. I pray that this did not happen to this young lady. The danger ages are truly the “invincible” ones. My heart goes out to the parents.</p>
<p>It’s a sad news. I worry too.</p>
<p>Another student was missing in California last week:</p>
<p>[Michelle</a> Le, Missing Nursing Student: Case Has Parallels To Another Missing Nursing Student, Phuong Le, Say Police](<a href=“HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost”>HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost)</p>
<p>Can someone clarify? Is the boy who she was with–the boy who had his face beaten–is he a “boyfriend?”</p>
<p>No, he (Corey Rossman) was a different boy, an acquaintance, that had been punched out by friends of her boyfriend.</p>
<p>This whole thing is giving a number of college parents a lot of heavy duty stress. In addition to the worry of what happened to this young woman, a number of young college men are “ersons of interest”. They tend to all be young Jewish men whose parents have, yes, gotten lawyers to protect their sons. Their apartments have been searched to the millimeter, their DNA has been taken and they are being interrogated to the T. Frankly, I don’t think they had anything to do with this, but they were with her that last night, some of them were not in good shape due to drink and drugs, and they let a tiny barefoot girl walk off on her own after spending the evening in their company. Doesn’t look good for them at all. Not to mention the fact, that police tend to operate by the book that tells them to focus on young males, those who saw the victim last, those who are the closest to the victim. They will want to get someone in custody, have some ideas and the scrutiny is on these young men. Can you just imagine?</p>
<p>The family has set up a website (see link below). I’d encourage those interested to check the site below, twitter (NewsOnLaurenS) and the family sanctioned facebook page (Official Lauren Spierer Updates from Her Family) for accurate updates.</p>
<p>[Find</a> Lauren](<a href=“http://www.findlauren.com/]Find”>http://www.findlauren.com/)</p>
<p>Just saw the “America’s Most Wanted” on the subject. There really is very little info on the facebook and twitter sites. The police releases have been what I have been reading, and because all those involved are not minors they are not holding back on names on those 4 young men that they have called “persons of interest”, which has an ominous sound to it.</p>
<p>This is just a minor detail, but it may explain why Lauren had no shoes when she was last seen. The bar she and her friends attended has a sand and beach area, so she probably took them off for that and thought she would be able to come back to the location later to pick them up. </p>
<p>I hope to god she is found safe and alive, but it’s not looking good at this point. It’s so disheartening to think about how nobody is secure even in a well-lit, busy intersection in the safe Bloomington.</p>
<p>Thank you for that detail - I had not previously heard that and it helps. The fact that she was wandering down the street without her shoes sounded so bizarre - now at least there is some context. This is such a tragedy for Lauren’s family - but as others have already pointed out - the young men under suspicion also (at this point) have my sympathy.</p>
<p>Yes, it would explain why she took off her shoes, but she was clearly wandering on paved sidewalks and in apartments in her bare feet for a long time after sinking her feet in the sand. She left the sand and her shoes walking barefoot; also left her cell phone there. Clearly the whole group of them were not thinking straight that night, but none of them deserve this nightmare.</p>
<p>In addition to Lauren’s parents, the parents of some of the kids who are “person’s of interest” are in Bloomington too as those students have been “asked” not to leave town for a while. </p>
<p>The thing is, if she were picked up by a car and taken elsewhere, she could be nearly anywhere by now. I’m sure everyone and anyone that is known to her and her friends are being contacted and their cars checked out. </p>
<p>A lot is being done on this case due to the heavy publicity and the parental involvement. Other young people who so disappeared have not had this kind of attention. I hope this pays off. From what I hear, there isn’t anything really new, and the law is focusing intensely on all of those who know Lauren and were in the area that night.</p>
<p>This is so so scary because I have friends (and know that I, myself) have walked home intoxicated (never to the point where I didn’t have shoes, keys, or cellphone…but drunk nonetheless) at the wee hours of the morning (I know I did when there was a block party about 3 blocks from my dorm at the time). I also can say, with clear conscience, that I’ve driven home drunk a short distance. Things like this happen on a college campus on the regular, and it should be to the best of all our abilities to prevent it (with things like night transportation provided by the univ., taxi rides, or DDs), but they still happen.
It’s unfortunate that this young woman was a victim of the darker side of doing these things. But again, it could’ve been any one of my friends, or even me…so this story makes me think more carefully about decisions I’ve made.</p>
<p>Cpt, can I ask what your point was that many of the persons of interst are Jewish? Is it that they are persons of interest or that they have engaged lawyers?</p>
<p>They are all mostly young Jewish students. It’s a fact. No point. The university Hillel chapter is very much involved as a result. </p>
<p>My husband works with a family friend whose DD went to IU. His family is devoutly religious and this has been a strike right to his heart since he is very familiar with the scenario there, so we have been hearing a lot about this, in addition to living near where the young woman’s family lives. It is something that has hit the Jewish community very hard in a personal way from what I see and what those in have specifically said to me. The IU Hillel chapter has also been very actively involved.</p>
<p>If my something that affected a core of Catholic kids away at college, I would not have hesitated to mention that as well. Hopefully, that is not a problem with you or anyone. I think that any parents whose students are persons of interest in a situation like this will have engaged lawyers. I would. Why would you think that had any bearing on the fact that those kids are Jewish?</p>
<p>I just didnt see the religion as relevant. I was curious why you did.</p>
<p>kayf - I understand cpt’s Jewish reference. I would be interested in the story of any young college student disappearing - but the fact that she is Jewish and that the Hillel has been extremely involved in the search - makes it more relevant to me as a Jewish parent. The fact that the boys who are persons of interest are Jewish - it’s a community dynamic. I don’t know any of the families involved - but because it is impacting the Jewish community - it is impacting me.</p>
<p>And I am curious why you are curious. My discussion of the case has been with a number of Jewish parents since I live next to a predominantly Jewish neighborhood. This has hit a number of these families pretty hard, and it does come out in their conversation in that a number of young Jewish men are in that awkward situation. I have kids in Catholic school, and when some things occur that involve a group of them, the term “Catholic schoolboys” do arise, without any big deal. The Hillel for IU is also heavily involved because of the predominance of young Jewish students, their members, are being impacted by this disappearance.</p>
<p>I don’t think that any of those kids, by the way, had anything to do with what happened to her after she left them. But the families are being hit super hard and it has sent shock waves through the Jewish community here, so I am told by friends in it, as it would at our church if a core of Catholic kids were at the center of all of this. The families of these kids being questioned are on their toes to protect their kids while at the same time they are torn up by the young woman’s disappearance.</p>
<p>Thanks, Rockvillemom. I think you stated it better than I did. I live right next to a predominantly Jewish community, and my neighborhood has a number of Jewish families and that the young people are Jewish is something that has struck them as many of them have kids that age. As I stated in previous posts, I have a particular interest in this case because the young woman comes from my area, and close friends have had kids at IU, a double connection that makes this terrible thing hit closer to home. I am so hoping, hoping, hoping that Lauren shows up alive and well. </p>
<p>Also as a mother of boys, I can feel the pain and fright of the parents of the young men whose behaviors of that particular night are coming under scrutiny. The same with a number of her friends, including the boyfriend.</p>
<p>If you don’t drink … you don’t wander around drunk at four in the morning.</p>