PUBLIC SAFETY

Lauren Spierer is not connected to Justin Wagers, ex-wife says

Family members believe police were sent to Justin Wagers' property on a false tip.

Madeline Buckley
madeline.buckley@indystar.com
Gail Green, the ex-wife of Justin Wagers, holds a picture of him in her Franklin home. Green maintains that he has nothing to do with the disappearance of Lauren Spierer.

Gail Green cried softly at the kitchen table in her Franklin home. She wiped her eyes with a tissue and took a long sip from a water bottle before she spoke about her ex-husband, Justin Wagers.

Wagers, 35, made national news after the Bloomington Police Department, with assistance from the FBI, searched a Martinsville property Jan. 28 that belongs to Wagers' mother and stepfather in connection with the 2011 disappearance of Lauren Spierer.

But Green was adamant: Wagers did not have anything to do with the disappearance of the 20-year-old student. Spierer was last seen in Bloomington on June 3, 2011, after she spent a night partying with friends. The case has attracted national attention for years and is an enduring mystery in Central Indiana.

Timeline: The search for Lauren Spierer

"If I thought for one moment that he was capable of, or linked to, a young girl's disappearance — I have a young daughter — I most certainly would have turned him in myself," Green told IndyStar.

Green and Wagers divorced in 2010 after four years of marriage due to his infidelity, she said, but they have remained friends.

Family members of Wagers think he was unfairly caught up in a media storm, fueled by Wagers' long history of exposing himself in public and the widespread fascination with Spierer's case.

The details of the search warrant for Wagers' home will remain sealed unless criminal charges are filed. Both the FBI and Bloomington police said authorities will not release information about the search.

So if charges are never filed, the public might never know the truth about what led police to Wagers' property. If he has no connection to Spierer, his name might never be completely cleared.

"It's like the media is trying him in public view," Green said.

Police never publicly connected their search with Wagers' name. That happened after a local television station cited anonymous sources to report  authorities were at the home in connection with the Spierer investigation. Other outlets followed, and Bloomington police eventually confirmed detectives executed a search warrant in Morgan County in connection with the case. They did not release Wagers' name, address or even the city.

"We've been very tight-lipped," Bloomington Police Capt. Steven Kellams said. "We have never given any names at all. At this point, we don't intend to do that."

Wagers' criminal record of indecent exposure has become part of the story surrounding the search. He currently is in jail on a pending case. He is a registered sex offender. Green said her ex-husband is afflicted by a disorder that leads to the flashing.

Lauren Spierer search warrants will remain sealed, judge says

Exhibitionism, defined by experts as a frequent urge to expose genitals publicly, is a disorder listed in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, a manual used as a standard by mental health professionals to classify mental disorders.

"There are various treatments available, typically that begin with some sort of psychotherapy," said Dr. Adam Deming, an Indianapolis psychologist who treats sex offenders.

But Deming said little is known about the disorder and how it develops. It is more common in men, and the recidivism rate is high after an arrest, meaning an individual might continue the behavior and rack up a string of arrests.

In Wagers' case, he has been arrested for indecent exposure at least nine times in the past 15 years. At least three of the cases involved children.

Yet Green, and Wagers' family members, have maintained that the man is not violent and has sought counseling to help control his urges.

"Yes, he has touched their minds," Green said, of the people he has exposed himself to. "But he has never touched anyone physically."

Wagers does have two domestic violence-related convictions, though.

In one case, he admitted to threatening an ex-girlfriend. The woman told police she feared for her life after he threatened her and made 44 phone calls to the woman over a two-day period. In the other case, he admitted to battering Green after they had an argument. Court documents say he grabbed her arms, neck, face and throat when she refused to let him see her cellphone.

Green called the incident against her a "mantrum," or a man tantrum. But she said that is a far cry from involvement in a young woman's disappearance.

Green said she and Wagers' parents think police searched the property because a woman with a grudge against Wagers gave police a false tip.

The woman, Green said, spoke about Spierer in 2012, after the woman and Wagers had an argument.

"She said to me: 'My daughter and I were talking, and we were thinking, if he could have something to do with Lauren Spierer’s disappearance...'" Green said. "I was like, 'Are you crazy?'"

IndyStar could not reach the woman directly by phone. A relative of the woman said no one in the family would talk to a reporter.

"This is an even worse tragedy for the Spierers if it gave them a sense of hope," Green said.

Call IndyStar reporter Madeline Buckley at (317) 444-6083. Follow her on Twitter:@Mabuckley88.