Missing IU student's mother keeps hope 5 years later
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) - The mother of an Indiana University student who vanished five years ago Friday says she still believes the mystery of her daughter's disappearance will someday be solved and that "justice will be served."
Lauren Spierer was 20 when she vanished on June 3, 2011, after a night out partying with friends in Bloomington, Indiana, about 40 miles south of Indianapolis. Searches around the college town and the surrounding wooded countryside that's dotted with lakes and water-filled limestone quarries failed to turn up any sign of the Greenburgh, New York, woman.
But her mother, Charlene Spierer, wrote in a Facebook entry posted on the 5-year anniversary that she still believes the mystery will someday be solved, WTHR-TV reported (http://bit.ly/1srwXYD ).
"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," Spierer wrote.
Lauren Spierer's parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit in 2013 claiming three IU students gave Spierer alcohol and then failed to make sure the intoxicated, incapacitated woman made it back to her apartment safely after a night of partying in downtown Bloomington, leading to her presumed death.
One of those men was later removed from the lawsuit and in 2014 a federal judge dismissed the suit against the others, saying that the Spierers failed to present evidence showing the men had anything to do with their daughter's disappearance. A federal appeals court later upheld the lawsuit's dismissal.
Charlene Spierer wrote in her Facebook posting that she doesn't believe her daughter's disappearance was "a random abduction." She also said it's hard for her to believe that whoever's responsible hasn't confided in someone and that her family has endured a "nightmare" of uncertainties about what happened.
"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?" she wrote.
Bloomington police have investigated more than 3,500 tips and paid more than 2,500 hours of overtime in its ongoing efforts to solve the case.
"The case continues to be a priority for the investigators assigned and there is work being done on the case literally every day," Bloomington police said in a May 17 statement. "The investigation into Lauren's disappearance has never been considered or labeled a 'cold case' by the department."
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Information from: WTHR-TV, http://www.wthr.com/