Lauren Spierer’s disappearance revisited in new book: Indiana college student’s three male friends speak out 13 years after they were named persons of interest in unsolved case
On June 3, 2011, after contacting close friends from Indiana University and lesser-known acquaintances, beautiful blonde co-ed Lauren Spierer – just 6 feet tall and 90 pounds – disappeared without a trace.
That’s when a dark mystery begins – along with changing witness stories, a lackluster police investigation, bizarre clues, drunken teens with cloudy memories, tough-as-nails private investigators and expensive lawyers.
Now a new book aims to delve into the soul of this heartbreaking and fascinating mystery that remains unsolved.
In Student, Missing: The True Story of How a Young Woman Disappeared in Plain SightDailyMail.com reporter Shawn Cohen revisits the case, doggedly investigating and challenging every possible angle, nuance, untested lead and theory, uncovering new details in the process.
The book, which will be released on May 28, was written with the collaboration of Lauren’s parents, Charlene and Robert Spierer, who grieve 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 graciously opened their home to him, as well as boxes of their personal files containing thousands of clues, private investigator reports, phone records, interviews and polygraph tests that were 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 its end, no matter where the search leads.
“I envisioned a far-reaching investigation that would involve revisiting the key players, tracking down clues, and unearthing any new information I could find,” Cohen explains.
Twenty-year-old Lauren had just completed 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 students, were the last to see her alive in the early morning hours of June 3, 2011 before she disappeared.
At the time she disappeared, 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 remained full of questions.
What exactly happened to the fashion student thirteen years ago?
Cohen takes us on a terrifying journey through Bloomington, Indiana, as he tries to finally discover what really happened in the college town known for its booze-fueled student excesses.
Did she actually enter the silence of the humid night solo at 4:30 in the morning, without shoes and cell phone, after spending her last minutes with male friends at their home – or have these central figures hidden at the heart of the mystery what really happened? by?
If fate hadn’t snatched her away, she would now be 33 years old – but her parents still haven’t filed any paperwork to declare her officially dead
Lauren’s father Robert Spierer (pictured) tells Cohen he believes she would still be alive today if she had ‘never met Corey Rossman’
The new book was written with the collaboration 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 discarded, as Cohen discusses?
Or was the little sophomore picked up from the street and bundled into a passing vehicle?
On any normal evening, it should have been a five- to six-minute walk home south along College Avenue, albeit an uncomfortable one without the shoes she accidentally left behind in a bar with her cell phone.
At the time, the feisty 20-year-old was tired, hungover and bruised from falling over several times during a wild night of hard partying.
Then she was gone. Disappeared.
Lauren’s story made national headlines at the time and on subsequent birthdays.
Her parents “knew that she didn’t just disappear, but that something had happened to her — something nefarious,” Cohen writes.
College Girl, Missing searches for the soul of the heartbreaking and fascinating mystery that remains unsolved
He was one of the first reporters on the ground in Bloomington in 2011. He knocked on doors, spoke to Lauren’s friends, family, neighbors and the police, exploring every lead and possibility.
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 – who studies with her in Indiana – who has claimed all along that he was asleep at home when she disappeared.
Wolff strikes a don’t-mess-with-me tone and insists that he will be interviewed for the book if he is paid $100,000, adding, “Let this be the last time you in this life contact me.’
But Cohen isn’t giving up easily.
He focuses on clarifying contradictory statements made at the time by some of the key players, including teenagers who were last with her.
He manages to make contact with the last three students who saw her alive before she supposedly walked out into the sultry 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.
People 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 were linked at the height of the investigation
Journalist and author Shawn Cohen spoke with Lauren’s then-boyfriend, Jesse Wolff, a fellow Indiana student who has always insisted he was asleep at home when she disappeared
But at the time, they quickly retained their own high-priced lawyers and remained largely tight-lipped.
The book reveals details of a rivalry between Wolff and Rossman, which began to haunt Lauren despite her relationship with the Jesse.
Lauren had been in Rossman’s care towards the end of the night when she became dangerously drunk and had to be carried home.
Cohen describes unreleased video evidence showing Rossman making two phone calls while Lauren lay on a curb around 3 a.m. that evening.
When Rossman was asked about the nature of those calls 12 years later, he was just as defensive, according to the book.
Lauren’s parents have taken the three men to court in an attempt to get them to reveal more details about what happened.
But ultimately the case was dismissed by the judge due to legal technicalities.
Cohen tracks down the IU graduates – now mature in their careers – and holds their feet to the fire in an attempt to get them to reveal more information about the last hours before Lauren disappeared.
“I think if she had never met Corey Rossman, she would still be alive today,” Lauren’s father told Cohen.
Lauren’s story made national headlines at the time and on subsequent birthdays
Over the years, the Bloomington Police Department has been criticized for their lack of progress in the case over the years.
Today, Lauren’s name and the memory of that night have faded on the IU campus.
The missing posters plastered around Bloomington with her face looking for tips are tattered and mostly gone.
Today, time stands still for her shattered family. They grieve every day.
If fate had not snatched her away, she would now be 33 years old, but her parents still have not filed any paperwork to declare her officially dead.
They “don’t believe in miracles,” Cohen writes.
“They know Lauren is physically gone.
‘Their hope from the early days of the research has long since given way to realism.
“What they want, what they need, is to find out what happened to her.”