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Sunday, July 5, 2020

What Happened to Lauren Spierer?

     In 2011, Lauren Spierer, a 20-year-old fashion merchandising major from Edgemont, New York, attended Indiana University at Bloomington. She resided in the Smallwood Apartment complex located in downtown Bloomington.

     Just before midnight on June 2, 2011, Spierer and a friend showed up at a party hosted by an Indiana student named Jay Rosenbaum. At 1:46 in the morning, Spierer left Rosenbaum's apartment with another student, Corey Rossman. A short time later, Rossman and Spierer were seen entering Kilroy's Sports Bar in downtown Bloomington. A surveillance camera, at 2:27 AM, caught Rossman and Spierer leaving the bar together.  She was visibly inebriated to the point of being severely incapacitated. (There is the possibility that Spierer, who suffered from an irregular heartbeat condition called Q T Syndrome, had been given Xanax or cocaine at Rosenbaum's party, or at the bar.)

     Shortly after entering the Smallwood Apartment complex with Rossman, the two students ran into Zachary Oakes, also a student at Indiana University. Oakes didn't like what he saw, and following an angry exchange of words between the two men, Oakes punched Rossman to the floor. Following the altercation, Rossman was seen carrying the incapacitated Spierer to his apartment building. (Rossman, when questioned by detectives, claimed he had no memory whatsoever of the night in question. He said he didn't recall his fight with Oakes.)

     Corey Rossman's roommate, Mike Beth, later told detectives that after Rossman arrived at the apartment with the girl that night, Beth helped Rossman to his bed. According to Beth, he next walked Spierer down the hall to Jay Rosenbaum's apartment, the site of that night's party.

     When questioned by investigators, Rosenbaum said he had non-student guests staying with him that weekend. He claimed to have offered to put Spierer up for the night on his couch. According to Rosenbaum, the girl refused his hospitality. At 4:30 AM, Rosenbaum said he stood on his balcony and watched Spierer begin the six-minute walk to her apartment at the Smallwood complex.

     Jesse Wolff, Lauren Spierer's boyfriend, told detectives that sometime that morning, he sent Spierer a text message. The reply to his message came from an employee of Kilroy's who said the girl had hours earlier left the bar without her cellphone. Wolff called 911 and reported her missing.

     Two years after the mysterious and suspicious disappearance of the University of Indiana student, detectives with the Bloomington Police Department were still investigating the case as a missing persons matter rather than a homicide. Rob and Charlene Spierer, the missing girl's parents, wanted the authorities to keep pressuring Jay Rosenbaum, Mike Beth, Corey Rossman, and Jesse Wolff--so-called persons of interest in the case--for more details regarding their activities that night. The parents also wanted the four students to stop "hiding behind their attorneys" and submit to polygraph tests.

     In speaking to a reporter with the Westchester, New York Journal-News, Rob Spierer said, "I feel if she [his daughter] never met Corey Rossman, she'd be alive today." (From this it is obvious that the missing girl's father thought she had been murdered and her body disposed of.) Later, Mr. Spierer said this to a reporter: "We still believe that [Lauren] may not have left Corey [Rossman's] and Mike [Beth's] or Jay [Rosenbaum's] apartment."

     In May 2013, Robert and Charlene Spierer filed a civil suit against Corey Rossman, Mike Beth, and Jay Rosenbaum. The plaintiffs, through Indianapolis attorney Larry A. Mackey, a former federal prosecutor who has been involved in several high-profile cases, alleged that their daughter's status was the result of the defendants' negligence which included having supplied the underage Lauren with drugs and alcohol. By forcing the defendants to testify in a civil trial, the parents hoped to learn more about what happened to Lauren that night.

     In July 2013, attorneys representing Beth, Rosenbaum, and Rossman asked a federal judge in Indianapolis to dismiss the wrongful death suit against their clients. According to these lawyers, Lauren Spierer's two-year disappearance wasn't enough evidence to legally presume she was dead. Under Indiana law, for a missing person to be declared legally deceased, this person must have been "inexplicably absent for a continuous period of seven years."

     The missing woman's mother, Charlene Spierer, in September 2013, in an effort to keep interest in her daughter's case alive, posted a newsletter on Facebook. In the letter, the distraught and frustrated parent discussed the family's struggle and urged anyone with information to come forward.

     Charlene Spierer, in addressing the people she believed were responsible for Lauren's disappearance and presumed death, wrote: "You know the answers to our questions. You are responsible for the tragedy surrounding Lauren's disappearance. What can be said that hasn't already been said? At times I think if I could make you feel some compassion, maybe, just maybe, you would send Lauren's location to the P. O. Box."

     "We have tried and tried to get answers. There have been awareness events, concerts, and interviews [the Spierers appeared on the TV show "Katie" and were interviewed for People Magazine]. We have handed out fliers, distributed thousands of bracelets, searched and searched with the help of hundreds of volunteers, throughout Bloomington and surrounding areas, without success. We have received and followed countless leads all of which have led disappointingly nowhere. What did you do as we waited, only to receive the crushing news that a lead had come up short? Has it given you pleasure or have you been relieved? Have we come close or are we still far from the truth?"

     In late October, 2013, Charlene Spierer learned that city officials had decided to take down the faded, outdoor missing person signs that had been posted around Bloomington since June 2011. According to a statement released by the city communications director, "For the many people who have felt the signs should have been taken down long ago, it's long overdue. For those who believe they should remain in place, no time was the right time to remove them. Posters about the case remain up throughout the campus and community, including in city government buildings, and police agencies continue to actively investigate."

     In December 2013, federal judge Tanya Walton Pratt, ruling on procedural issues, allowed Robert and Charlene Spierer's civil lawsuit against Jason Rosenbaum and Corey Rossman to go forward.The plaintiffs alleged that Rosenbaum and Rossman negligently provided Lauren with alcohol. Earlier in the month the judge dropped the suit against Michael Beth who was not seen with Lauren the night she disappeared.

    On September 30, 2014, the judge dismissed Robert and Charlene Spierer's suit against Rossman and Rosenbaum. The Spierer family attorney, Jason Barclay, told reporters he would appeal that ruling.  "I am heartbroken," he said, "that Rossman and Rosenbaum and their team of defense lawyers will not allow the Spierers to get a simple question answered: What happened to their daughter that night?"

     The Spierers won their appeal. In January 2015, federal judge Tanya Walton Pratt scheduled the civil trial for May 5, 2015.  Defendants Rosenbaum and Rossman stood accused of giving Lauren Spierer alcohol despite knowing she was intoxicated in violation of their "duty of care" to protect her.

     Attorneys for the defendants denied the "negligence per se" and "dram act" allegations. They pointed blame at the still missing college student and Killroy's Sports Bar in Bloomington. (The trial date for the civil trial was postponed and the case remains as of this writing, unresolved.)

     On March 18, 2015, Charlene Spierer took to Twitter to ask for information regarding the whereabouts of her daughter. It had been almost four years since she disappeared. The distraught mother wrote: "There are things I wish I could say but for the time being am prohibited from saying. Someday, all will be revealed. Some day the truth will be known and the guilty will be held accountable. I dream of the day I can say what I want to say to those responsible for the horrible, unconscionable tragedy that befell Lauren and changed our lives forever. Keep any eye out, eventually the bad guys DO get caught."

     In April 2015, a spokesperson for the Bloomington Police Department announced that a 49-year-old Bloomington man named Daniel Messel had been arrested for the recent murder of Indiana University senior Hannah Wilson. Wilson was last seen leaving Kilroy's, the same bar that Lauren Spierer had visited the night she disappeared. Wilson's body was found in a remote spot outside the city. She had been killed by blunt force trauma to the head. Daniel Messel's cell phone was found near the victim's body.

     In June 2015, a private investigative firm based in New York City, Beau Dietl & Associates, looked into the Wilson murder case on behalf of the Spierer family to determine if Messel could have also murdered Lauren Spierer.

     In January 2016, Beau Dietl announced that his investigators did not believe that the Wilson and the Spierer cases were connected.
   
     On June 3, 2016, the fifth year anniversary of the Spierer missing person case, a spokesperson for the Bloomington Police Department told reporters that detectives, over the years, had investigated more than 4,000 tips. The private investigative firm working for the Spierer family issued a statement revealing confidence that the family would someday get the closure they deserved.

     Daniel Messel, in July 2016, was found guilty of murdering Hannah Wilson. The judge sentenced Messel to 80 years in prison.

     In November 2017, Brown County prosecutor Ted Adams told reporters that he believed Daniel Messel may have been involved in Lauren Spierer's disappearance. (As of this writing, Messel has not been charged in connection with the Spierer case.)

     On June 3, 2020, nine years to the day after her disappearance, a family member, on the official Lauren Spierer Facebook page, wrote: "Do I think her disappearance was random? No, I do not. Do I think we will ever get the truth or find Lauren's remains? I don't know. Will we ever stop searching? No, we will not. Will Lauren ever be less a part of our family? No, she will not. We are all so fragile, this inner circle who knew and loved Lauren. No cure for the emptiness Lauren's disappearance has left in our hearts. So, for those responsible, how lucky you have been. Nine years of dead ends for our family. Nine years of freedom for you. It will always be that way. I hope that someday, someone will have a crisis of conscience and speak the truth. If not, well, you got away with it. Or did you?"

37 comments:

  1. I want to know if they ever found her cell phone. They say that she didn't have it with her when she left the bar, so what happened to it? Maybe there's some communication between her and these guys? I hope they find her...

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    1. Bar workers found the phone, I assume it was turned over to police.

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  2. Who calls 911 bc their gf left their phone at the bar? BF has the most explaining to do. He hated all the guys she was hanging out with that night. The drunken fight between Oakes n Rossman proves the other three men were not together so this isn't some collaborative lie. It also somewhat pieces together the timeline of events. What time did Wolff call 911? After she left Rosenbaum's? If so.. book em. He also gave up looking for her after a few days, dropped out of school n moved to new york. Sketchy.

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    1. veryy sketchy thought it was boyfriend all along

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    2. I agree! No doubt about it.

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  3. Her cell was left at the bar, it says so above. And Wolff is probably the least likely of all these guys to have hurt her. He wasn't near her, and witnesses say he turned in for the night much before she disappeared. He called 911 after getting a key from her roommate to check on her, finding the apartment empty, and probably checking with others as well. Also, they were meant to hang out that night, but, probably because of the lost phone, or Lauren's intoxication, he couldn't reach her. He may well have figured she'd been gone a day. I would've called 911 too.

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    1. That is incorrect info. Wolff is the one who argued for the key with the roommate. If she was there in the apartment, why would he need a key? If he knew she wasn't there, then why would he need a key? He knew something had happened and needed to get in for something. Why did he goto CR and JR's to argue? Was he tipped off to something or did he know something had happened? Either way, you don't assume someone is dead just because they didn't come home in the short span of hours.

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    2. Actually, Wolff's behavior is very suspicious. It all begins with Oakes & Co. waiting outside her apartment for her to come home. He had her stalked the entire night.

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    3. To look for a solution to this you should look at motive. Assuming her body was disposed of (which it had to be), and assuming that it wasn't by a random abductor (highly improbable), who possessed the motivation to do such a callous, illegal act to escape legal problems? IMO only one person. If Lauren died after Beth had brought her to Rosenbaum's, then Rosenbaum had to make a quick decsion. If he calls 911, he'll have to face evidence from toxicology reports that will show drugs that were ingested by Lauren in his apartment earlier that night. Otherwise, he has a sinister option. There were reports of out-of-state friends visiting him at that time. It would have made it relatively easy to get rid of her body. Wolff's reactions could easily stem from 1) his distrust and dislike of the people Lauren was hanging out with that night and 2) the fact that he employed his buddy Zack to be the enforcer in front of Lauren's apartment earlier. This would essentially legally (but not ethically) take everyone off the hook except for Rosenbaum and his henchmen. He had the strongest motive because he supplied the drugs.

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    4. It was not proven Zack was the supplier. She actually had her own private stash of cocaine in her room (Probably why her and CR even went back to her place for 15 minutes & left) Also, the boyfriend also knew she did drugs & most likely did them with her (thats usually how that works) And he & his parents were aware she had been kicked out of summer camp due to drug issues (since his mom told everyone while defending her son)

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  4. Why are the parents not going after Jesse Wolff? Just because his grandparents are friends of their parents? It is very suspicous. He called his parents when Laura went missing and they got out to Bloomington BEFORE the Speirers. If it was just a missing girlfriend, why did they go out there? And then, they all return to Long Island, almost immediately, and do not help in search for Laura. It really looks more like he called his parents and said mom/dad, I am in trouble, get out here quick. Yet the parents don't blame him. If Jesse and Laura were just taking a break, why did Jesse's friends rough up a guy who was with Laura?

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    1. Yes, anyone who believe JW, Lauren's boyfriend is guilty or needs to be questioned. I totally agree! His actions do not show me that he cares about Lauren. Someone who truly cares about their girlfriend or boyfriend, husband or wife...would be out there everyday doing whatever they could to find them. They would not quit school, move back home, and start working as if nothing happened. The Spierer's had to put their lives on hold so that they could free up time to search for their child. They work to maintain a home, food, and what not, but they also lose sleep at night because they have to figure out what happened to Lauren. They have to talk to investigators either by phone or at their office. They have to go to court proceedings. Any tips that come along they have to speak to authorities. They have another child they have to make time for, too. No one sees what the Spierer's have to go thru. One would think, Jesse Wolff would offer them assistance in some of that to make the Spierer's lives a lil easier, but he is not. Instead, he and his parents are blaming Lauren's disappearance on drugs. To me, I question his "Duty of Care" to his beloved girlfriend.

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    2. Because she was seen passed out with the other 3 guys. Because she was drugged so much that she left the bar with Rossman and left her phone and shoes there. Because they were the last ones who saw her alive. Because Rossman "doesn't remember." That is a clear indication that he does remember. This whole thing is sickening. I hope those boys' families know deep down what they did. Because everyone else does whether they are tried are not. In my opinion. Every time I read about this case it just seems so obvious.

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  5. man, i'm a father of two daughters, whom have or attended Louisiana State University, Rebecca Elise is 23, graduated, Mollie Frances is 19, a freshman at LSU, my prayers geaux out to Lauren's family and friends, have the authorities searched the wooded areas in the vicinity of Ivy Tech/ Cook Medical Facilities? For some reason I feel that these wooded areas should be checked, did any of the young men work in this area? Did any of the friends of Lauren ever frequent the trailer park located closely to this area? I'm just a concerned parent whom feels that the family deserves closure, if the young men aren't going to step up and be honest with what happened that night, then we ALL should feel the need to give Lauren's parents the respect and dignity to help them to recover Lauren's remains and give her the dignified beryial that she deserves........................................GOD BLESS TO ALL WHOM HAVE GIVEN THEIER TIME AND THEIR PRAYERS AND LOVE TO LAUREN"S FAMILY AND FRIENDS, GOD rest ur soul baby...........................................to Lauren's parents, know that ur daughter is in GOD'S loving embrace, we WILL see Lauren once again, know that she is smilin' down on ya'll and keepin' ya'll safe, I do know how it feels to lose a child, very difficult, the hurt never goes away, but know, GOD IS IN CONTROL, HE HAS NOT FORSAKEN LAUREN, HE IS embracing all of our loved one's whom have gone on to be with OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN......................................................

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  6. i lived down there at that time, i think that a mass search is in or,der,put out fliers to students and local churches and search local perrimaters make stakes of where you searched and keep up the search, i dont see these boys doing this, how well did they know the area? to just dispose of someone cant be that easy, if laruens out there then shes in bloomington, with this new case of messel then you need to look at his motives he a stalker, he hunts and hunters lurk in woods which where hannas body was found ,he taking the girls to the woods or surrounding area close by,if it is the boys then they would have to know area very good to get ride of there freindin such a way,like did she die of overdose and they dont want to get blamed or what,it could be those boys but i dont think it is,,there a stalker and messel might be it,,id bet on that one.

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  7. I think that the most suspicious person in this story is Corey Rossman... claiming amnesia of the ENTIRE EVENING is about the dumbest thing I've ever heard. This isn't a soap opera where amnesia is common. Even if things were hazy, to say he remembers nothing is a dead giveaway that he has something to hide. Corey and his parents should be deeply ashamed.

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    1. Well clearly you've never partied on a college campus. College kids frequently black out on weekends.

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    2. And kids often go unaccounted for, they sleep over at a friends, pass out, or take a road trip....spend a day off campus or at the library....where no one knows where they are....it just accepted in college. In todays day of instant communications, I realize it's different, but without her phone, then it makes more sense. So maybe she took off with a friend, went to Indy shopping, went to the lake, stayed at a boys house...whatever, I can remember so many times kids left for the weekend and went home or home with a friend, and show up on Monday and we just asked where you'd go.....but never would assume she's just missing and called 911. That's the issue, Jesse's actions are VERY questionable!

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    3. If he was as drunk It sounds and he got dropped with one punch it's defiantly possible that there are parts of that evening he doesn't remember.

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  8. OK....I do believe one of those men did something to her...but...did she reach her apartment??...if she did then her boyfriend could have been waiting for her there...because that balcony guy never saw her reach her apartment....so maybe her boyfriend did meet her there and did something to her and texted the next morning to cover his tracks

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    1. I've read that she did not reach her apartment because she doesn't show up on surveillance video of the site.

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  9. Why is no one mentioning that a homeless man said he heard a woman's screams at 4:30 AM and then that homeless man was killed - his name was Road Dog Crawford -he was killed just a few days later!!!

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  10. Make that TWO homeless men - both who heard the scream - 1 disappeared and 1 is dead now - just a few days after Lauren went missing!!

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  11. Obviously, those three men drugged and killed her.
    When Rossman carried her away it was because he had drugged her and she died is the most obvious. and Rossman not remembering the night is a clear indication he knows exactly what happened to her. There is no reason these losers should be protected and the parents tortured. It is sickening. "We still believe that [Lauren] may not have left Corey [Rossman's] and Mike [Beth's] or Jay [Rosenbaum's] apartment."

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    1. If that is the case, why would 2 other men cover for him? Especially Jay, who had known Lauren for YEARS and probably just drank beers here & there with the neighbors. And not only cover, he said he saw her walk away. Why put all the suspicision on himself if he wasn't there or there were more people?

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  12. She would not have left the bar without her phone and shoes if she were not already drugged in my opinion. The FBI and Indiana CAN solve this. They are just too lame. This is crazy. It says that as long as you get a lawyer and keep lying you can do anything if you have a lame lazy prosecutor.

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  13. I believe the guys that she was with that night (Corey Rossman, Michael Beth, Jay Rosenbaum & David Bleznak) know exactly what happened to her. I don't think se left those apartments alive. I just pray one of them step forward and tell the truth.

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  14. The police or FBI need to put the heat on Corey Rossman, Michael Beth, Jay Rosenbaum and David Bleznak. The only theory that makes sense to me is that she died in either Rossman's or Rosenbaum's apartment. They were protecting themselves and have hid behind their lawyers. It's painful to see her parent's suffer.

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    1. Yup they must be responsible...I don't think this case is stranger danger at all

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    2. Her boyfriend did the same thing and left town without even looking for her.. and she was trying to leave him? Had been out meeting new men.. And then he fought with the roommate for a key. Why??

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  15. The only way this is going to get solved is if one of the lesser players that were there that night step up and tell the truth. It won't be Corey Rossman or Jay Rosenbaumn.

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    1. I think they the police should go back to the video at the bar and not just look at the Lauren and the boy. They need to look around in the viedo at everyone to see if anyone left right after them was seen talking to them, or if any girls went to the bathroom with her,you all know the girlfriend in the bar drunken stuff. Start at step one. Then stop looking at the boys period and work the case backwards. Maby the person who knows or did something to her was right up front in the search for her making themselves look all concerned. After all that if they find nothing then start with the boys agian.

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    2. I think you have a police department not equipped for cases like these and the lawyers that come with rich kids, and you have soulless kids with nasty parents who pick them up and bring them home to escape justice and get jobs on Wall Street.

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  16. Something happened to this poor girl in those apartments. Beth's "story" doesn't make sense at all. He helps Rossman to "bed", than escorts a beautiful, drugged young girl to another apt and leaves her there?!! All these creeps should be arrested as accessories, until one of them gives it up. RIP poor Lauren. :(

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  17. Emily Gellis on instagram is familiar with the Rossman siblings- the sister now involved in FFactor drama. She is sharing a lot of insider info on Corey Rossman.....

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  18. David Bleznak's family owns storage unit property and other property in MI. He was seen at a restaurant the next morning and left. That girl could absolutely fit in a suitcase.

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