New book about missing IU student Lauren Spierer reveals new evidence | WDRB News

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — In the summer of 2011, the absence of 20-year-old Lauren Spierer's name and story captivated America.

Strangers flocked to the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington to search for any trace of what might have happened to the New York native.

His parents begged for answers.

“We're really ready to come home. Us, just Lauren, we need our daughter,” Charlene Spierer said in August 2011.

Nancy Grace put out a plea for help and author Nicholas Sparks offered free signed books just for a retweet about her with #Find Lauren.

“Someone knows what happened to him that night,” Robert Spierer said in August 2011.

Thousands of missing posters were scattered throughout Bloomington, but nothing: there was no trace of Spierer.

In the days after her disappearance, Bloomington police released a photo of Spierer taken under surveillance at her apartment complex.

She went out for a night out with her friends and was last seen alive around 4:30 a.m. on June 3.

“It was a little crazy in those early days,” said journalist Shawn Cohen.

Cohen was working at the time for a newspaper in Spierer's hometown, just north of New York.

“A friend of hers contacted me and the newspaper and said she was missing,” Cohen said.

And like many journalists, he traveled to Indiana University to investigate.

He was one of the first to report that Lauren Spierer had mixed drugs and alcohol that evening.

“The family was, was very angry with me. And they said, 'leave it, leave it to the police. It's the police's job to investigate.' And they basically thought it was, in some way, blaming the victim to talk about the details that led to her disappearance,” Cohen said.

The Spierer family grew to like him, because of his dedication to staying on history.

Six years ago, the Spierer family gave Cohen the blessing to write a book about the case.

“My big hope is that people will pay attention to the current situation. And that there can be real ruptures,” Cohen said.

For the book “College Girl, Missing: The True Story of How a young Woman Dispared in Plain Sight,” Cohen interviewed dozens of friends, witnesses and former Bloomington police officers.

“We're learning a lot about their relationships, and yes, there were a lot of inconsistencies in their statements,” Cohen said.

Cohen first discovered that Corey Rossman, the man Lauren Spierer was with most of the night, had made a phone call around 3 a.m. because Lauren Spierer could barely stand and had to be transported from 'one place to another.

“I was surprised by the 3 a.m. phone call. And it was quite interesting to confront the person he called,” Cohen said.

But Rossman and the old friend on the other end deny any memory of the call.

Jay Rosenbaum was also with Lauren Spierer that evening. Her townhouse is where Spierer allegedly ended up before Rosenbaum said she demanded to walk home.

He was the last person to see her alive and never spoke to the media, until Cohen.

“To go to these individuals, ask unanswered questions and work my way to some of the last people who were with her, so I could confront them,” Cohen said.

Rosenbaum maintained his innocence and proposed the theory that someone else must have taken him.

But unlike a fictional detective novel, this 225-page tale doesn't reveal who did it.

“It's really about taking responsibility for everyone who was involved in this book. They did it hoping that the true story of that night would finally be told.”

The ending, even 13 years later, remains the same: a mystery.

To find the book “A Missing Student: The True Story of How a Young Woman Disappeared in Plain Sight,” click here.

Related stories:

Copyright 2024 WDRB Media. All rights reserved.