‘Lost But Never Forgotten’: 10 Years Of Searching For Lauren Spierer

It’s been 10 years since 20-year-old Indiana University student Lauren Spierer went missing after a night out with friends.

In a lengthy Facebook post, Lauren’s mother, Charlene Spierer, detailed the grief and frustration she has experienced since her family was notified of Lauren’s disappearance on June 3, 2011.

FROM JUNE 9, 2011: Lauren Spierer’s Parents Talk to WFIU/WTIU News

“This is what I know,” she wrote. “What happened to Lauren was shocking. It is inconceivable to have spoken to Lauren hours before discovering it would be for the last time. Shocking that someone so loved could vanish without a trace but entirely possible. It did happen and ten years later I still struggle.”

Lauren was last seen at around 4:30 a.m., walking south at the corner of 11th Street and College Avenue in Bloomington. Despite a $100,000 reward, several civil lawsuits and years of tips and possible leads, police have never named a suspect in the case.

FROM JUNE 3, 2020: Lauren Spierer’s Family 9 Years Later: ‘Hoping Today Is The Day.’

A news release from the Bloomington Police Department says investigators have received more than 800 tips and executed at least 10 search warrants in the 10 years since Lauren went missing.

Bloomington Police Chief Mike Diekhoff says Lauren’s case is not a cold case and the department continues to receive and follow up on new information.

“In the last three to four years, for example, investigators have executed at least 10 search warrants and received approximately 300 tips. Of those tips, over 100 of them required additional follow-up once they were vetted and it was determined that they were not reports for information that ever had been reported previously.”

In 2017, the Brown County prosecutor who worked the case against Daniel Messel in the trial for the murder of Indiana University student Hannah Wilson in 2015 claimed he believed Messel may have been responsible for Spierer’s disappearance as well. Police looked into the connection but no charges were ever filed.

In her post, Charlene Spierer repeated her plea for any information about what happened to Lauren.

“I end as always, hoping today is the day and reminding the reader that anything small could be big,” she wrote. “Lauren, lost but never forgotten, forever in our hearts.”

Requests for comment from the Spierer family’s private investigation firm Beau Dietl & Associates have not been returned.

BPD provided the following contacts for information related to Lauren Spierer’s case:

BPD Tips: policetips@bloomington.in.gov