On June 3, 2011, after mingling with close Indiana University friends and lesser-known acquaintances, beautiful blonde student Lauren Spierer, just 4′ 11″ and 90 pounds, disappeared without a trace.
At that moment, a dark mystery began, along with changing witness stories, a lackluster police investigation, strange clues, drunk teenagers with confusing memories, tough private investigators, and expensive defense attorneys.
Now, a new book sets out to explore the soul of this heartbreaking and fascinating mystery that remains unsolved.
In Missing university student: the true story of how a young woman disappeared in plain sightDailyMail.com reporter Shawn Cohen revisits the case, doggedly exploring and challenging every angle, nuance, unproven clue and possible theory, uncovering new details in the process.
The book, which will be published on May 28, was written with the cooperation of Lauren’s parents, Charlene and Robert Spierer, who cry daily.
Indiana University student Lauren Spierer, 20, was never seen again after a drunken night out with friends in Bloomington, Indiana, in June 2011.
Cohen reveals how they kindly opened their home to him, as well as boxes of his personal files containing thousands of tips, private investigator reports, phone records, interviews and polygraph tests stored in Lauren’s bedroom along with her Hello Kitty toys.
College Girl, Missing also speaks to a journalist’s determination to follow a story to the end, no matter where the search leads.
“I envisioned a wide-ranging investigation in which I would revisit key players, look for clues, and unearth any new information I could find,” Cohen explains.
Twenty-year-old Lauren had just finished her sophomore year when she disappeared after a night of drugs and drinking with friends near the IU campus in Bloomington, Indiana.
Three male friends, fellow university students, were the last to see her alive in the early morning hours of June 3, 2011 before she disappeared.
At the time of his disappearance, Cohen was a crime reporter at the local newspaper covering Lauren’s hometown of Edgemont, Westchester County, 22 miles north of New York City.
Lauren’s last moments with friends have been filled with questions.
What exactly happened to the fashion student 13 years ago?
Cohen takes us on a disturbing journey through Bloomington, Indiana, as he seeks to finally discover what really happened in the college town known for alcohol-fueled student excesses.
Did she really wander off alone into the silence of the humid night at 4:30 a.m. without shoes or a cell phone after spending her last minutes with male friends at her house, or have these central figures at the heart of the mystery been hiding what really happened all along? throughout?
If fate had not taken her from her, she would now be 33 years old, but her parents have not yet filed the paperwork to officially declare her dead.
Lauren’s father, Robert Spierer (pictured), tells Cohen that he thinks she would still be alive if she had “never met Corey Rossman.”
The new book was written with the cooperation of Lauren’s grieving parents, Robert and Charlene Spierer (pictured in 2011).
Did Lauren somehow die when she was alone with these male ‘friends’ and her body was disposed of, as Cohen comments?
Or was the little sophomore pulled off the street and into a passing vehicle?
On any normal night, it should have been a five or six minute walk home south on College Avenue, albeit an uncomfortable one without the shoes she had accidentally left at a bar with her cell phone.
At the time, the energetic 20-year-old was tired, hungover and bruised from falling several times during a wild night of hard partying.
Then she left. Missing.
Lauren’s story made national headlines at the time and on subsequent anniversaries.
Her parents “knew that she didn’t just disappear, but that something happened to her, something disastrous,” Cohen writes.
College Girl, Missing sets out to explore the soul of the heartbreaking and fascinating mystery that remains unsolved.
He was one of the first reporters on the scene in Bloomington, back in 2011, knocking on doors, talking to Lauren’s friends, family, college neighbors and police, exploring every lead and avenue.
Cohen candidly reveals the drugs and alcohol Lauren had consumed in the eight hours before she disappeared, as well as her history of alcohol, cocaine and Xanax abuse.
He also speaks to Lauren’s then-boyfriend of two years, Jesse Wolff, a student at Indiana with her, who has claimed all along that he was home sleeping when she disappeared.
Wolff adopts a don’t-mess-with-me tone, insisting that he will be interviewed for the book if he is paid $100,000, adding, “May this be the last time you contact me in this life.”
But Cohen doesn’t give up easily.
It focuses on clarifying contradictory statements made at the time by some of the main protagonists, including the teenagers who were last with her.
She manages to connect with the last three students who saw her alive before she supposedly walked out into the warm night.
Corey Rossman, Jay Rosenbaum and Mike Beth have always admitted that they were the last three known people to see Lauren before she disappeared.
Persons of interest: Fellow students Corey Rossman, left, Jay Rosenbaum, right, and Mike Beth (not pictured) were the last three people to see Lauren before she disappeared, but they remained quiet at the height of the investigation .
Journalist and author Shawn Cohen spoke with Lauren’s then-boyfriend of two years, Jesse Wolff, a fellow Indiana student who has always maintained that he was home sleeping when she disappeared.
But at that point they quickly hired their own high-priced lawyers and kept largely quiet.
The book reveals details of a rivalry between Wolff and Rossman, who began pursuing Lauren despite her relationship with Jesse.
Lauren had been in Rossman’s care towards the end of the night when she became dangerously intoxicated and needed a ride home.
Cohen describes previously unreleased video evidence showing Rossman making two phone calls while Lauren is slumped on a sidewalk around 3 a.m. that night.
When asked about the nature of those calls 12 years later, Rossman is equally defensive, according to the book.
Lauren’s parents sued the three men in civil court to try to get them to reveal more details about what happened.
But the judge ultimately dismissed the case on legal technicalities.
Cohen tracks down the IU graduates (who are now adults and have careers) and holds them accountable to try to get them to reveal more information about the final hours before Lauren disappeared.
“I feel like if I had never met Corey Rossman, I would be alive today,” Lauren’s father tells Cohen.
Lauren’s story made national headlines at the time and on subsequent anniversaries.
Over the years, the Bloomington Police Department has been criticized for its lack of progress in the case over the years.
These days, Lauren’s name and the memory of that night have faded across the IU campus.
The missing posters plastered around Bloomington with his face seeking tips are in tatters and are mostly gone.
Today, time stops for his devastated family. They cry every day.
If fate had not taken her from her, she would now be 33 years old, but her parents have not yet filed the paperwork to officially declare her dead.
“They don’t believe in miracles,” Cohen writes.
‘They know Lauren is physically gone.
‘The hope they had from the early days of the investigation has long since given way to realism.
“What they want, what they need, is to know what happened to him.”
