Family of Lauren Spierer still waiting 4 years later
An Indiana University sophomore disappeared on June 3, 2011. Her family has sought answers ever since.
Lauren Spierer's mother called her daughter's disappearance "the nightmare you never wake up from" on the fourth anniversary of the day the Indiana University student went missing.
The Edgemont, N.Y., student, who was 20 and had just completed her sophomore year, disappeared in the early-morning hours of June 3, 2011, after a night of partying with friends in downtown Bloomington. Her parents, Rob and Charlene, have repeatedly issued public pleas seeking information on her disappearance since that day.
In a message posted on a Facebook page entitled "Official Lauren Spierer Updates from her family," Charlene Spierer tells of how her older daughter, Rebecca, was the first to get the news -- in a phone call -- before she shared it with her father, who then called Charlene.
Rebecca was 24 then, the same age that Lauren would be now, Charlene Spierer recalled.
"I wish we could have shielded Rebecca from being the one to get that devastating news," Charlene Spierer wrote in the Facebook post. "Someone once asked me how it feels to be the parent of a missing child. It is indescribable. The nightmare you never wake up from."
For days after Spierer's disappearance, students and others volunteered in coordinated searches of Bloomington and surrounding areas for signs of her but to no avail. She is the third female student at the IU-Bloomington campus to disappear under suspicious circumstances.
Jill Berhman, 19, disappeared in 2000 during a morning bicycle ride near campus and her remains were found in a thicket in Morgan County nearly three years later. Hannah Wilson, 22, a senior who was set to graduate in May, went missing last month in Bloomington and was found slain hours later in a remote area of Brown County.
John R. Myers II was convicted of Behrman's slaying. Another suspect, Daniel Messel, faces a homicide charge in Wilson's killing.
Charlene and Rob Spierer have acknowledged in prior interviews that their daughter likely is dead. But they have never given up trying to seek more information about what happened to her. They have set up a website — http://www.findlauren.com — and donation page on Facebook to raise money to help in the search.
"Four years ago today, Lauren disappeared. She had just finished her sophomore year at Indiana University. She had everything to live for. Someone took a life full of promise, away from our daughter," Charlene Spierer said in her Facebook post.
"That person continues to breathe the same air Lauren should be breathing. Living their life, seemingly as if they have no responsibility for Lauren's disappearance. I trust that somehow, some day, someone will be held accountable.
"We will always love Lauren. She will always be a part of our family and we will NEVER stop looking for answers.
"Someone knows where Lauren is and what happened on June 3, 2011. Please contact us with any information pertaining to Lauren's disappearance."
Call Star web producer and editor Dwight Adams at (317) 444-6532. Follow him on Twitter: @hdwightadams.