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Last updated on Monday, June 3, 2013
(BLOOMINGTON) - Today marks the two-year anniversary since Indiana University student Lauren Spierer disappeared after a night out with friends on June 3, 2011.
Officials with the Bloomington Police Department say they have received 3,060 tips in connection to the investigation. Of those tips 166 were received in 2013.
The Bloomington Police Department released the following statement: "The Bloomington Police Department has continued its ongoing effort to provide answers to Lauren's family and the Bloomington community. Despite being nearly two years into this investigation, information continues to come in regarding Lauren's case and investigators diligently pursue the information with the same level of commitment as in the beginning. No amount of time passing will deter us from our responsibility and we remain dedicated to Lauren's cause."
No additional information was released about the tips or the investigation. Anyone with information about Lauren's disappearance is asked to call the Bloomington Police Department.
Robert and Charlene Spierer express despair, anger and frustration in the face of the second anniversary of their daughter's disappearance. Still, they say if they stop talking about their daughter, her still-unsolved case will cease to be a story. Specifically, they want to keep pressure on four young men, all considered "persons of interest" in the investigation, to stop hiding behind their lawyers and submit to police lie-detector tests.
The Spierers contend, is the only way to confirm that Corey Rossman, Jay Rosenbaum, Mike Beth and Jesse Wolff are being honest about their interactions with 20-year-old Lauren in the hours before her disappearance. In November, they wrote letters to the parents of all four men pleading for them to get their children to take polygraphs. Two denied the request; two didn't even respond.
The Spierers hope that one of them, an associate or perhaps someone will experience a "crisis of conscience" and come forward with a piece of information that breaks the case.
TIME LINE OF EVENTS
June 3, 2011
After a late night out with friends, Indiana University student Lauren Spierer, 20, disappears from downtown Bloomington. She was last seen in the early morning hours. Several hours later, her boyfriend, Jesse Wolff, sends her a text message that gets a reply from an employee at a bar where she left her phone the night before. Wolff reports her missing.
Parents arrive
June 4, 2011
Spierer's parents, Robert and Charlene Spierer, Edgemont, N.Y., arrive in Bloomington.
The search begins on social media
June 5, 2011
A woman with no connection to the Spierers learns of Lauren's disappearance and starts a Twitter feed, @NewsOnLaurenS. Within two weeks, it has 20,000 followers, aided in part by retweets from "American Idol" host Ryan Seacrest, 1980s heartthrob Scott Baio and reality TV star Kim Kardashian.
The ground search begins with an army of volunteers
June 6, 2011
Hundreds of volunteers begin the ritual of three daily searches for Spierer. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children learns of Spierer's disappearance and dispatches a "rapid response team" to Bloomington. The organization assigns a missing persons number for Lauren: 1173375.
National coverage, a search warrant and Facebook
June 7, 2011
America wakes up to the story of Spierer's disappearance on NBC's "Today," ABC's "Good Morning America" and the "CBS Morning News." Spierer's parents take part in a news conference at the Bloomington Police Department that will become a daily occurrence in the first weeks of the investigation. Bloomington police execute a search warrant at Spierer's apartment building, Smallwood Plaza, seeking security video. A Facebook page, "Help Find Lauren Spierer," has 12,000 followers. A related Facebook events page has 72,000 participants, about the population of Bloomington.
Divers search Lake Monroe
Jun 8, 2011
Based on a tip, police divers search Lake Monroe. Indiana State Excise Police say they are investigating Kilroy's, the Bloomington bar Spierer, 20, visited the night she disappeared. Colts owner Jim Irsay goes on Twitter and offers a $10,000 reward for Spierer's safe return.
$100,000 reward offered
June 9, 2011
The Spierer family offers $100,000 for information leading to their daughter's safe return. Police say information is pouring in, but they have no suspects. Former Monroe County Prosecutor Carl Salzmann says he represents a young man, Corey Rossman, who was with Spierer the morning she disappeared. Salzmann says there was a confrontation outside Spierer's apartment in which Rossman was punched, leaving him without memory of the events. Salzmann said other people saw Spierer after friends put Rossman to bed. Divers finish their search of Lake Monroe, finding nothing.
10 'persons of interest'
June 10, 2011
At the now-daily news conferences, police say they have 10 "persons of interest," including Rossman. Rossman and his roommate, Mike Beth, submit to DNA tests. A week after the disappearance, police stop vehicles at College Avenue and 11th Street, where Spierer was last seen, and ask drivers if they were in the area seven days earlier. Police also ask area businesses for their surveillance video.
'America's Most Wanted'
June 11, 2011
Spierer's story is told in a short segment on "America's Most Wanted." It produces about 350 tips but no breakthroughs. Searches, at 11 a.m., 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. daily, draw as many as 1,000 people a day.
Scrutiny of police role grows
June 12, 2011
The media push police for more information about the investigation, which has been largely conducted in secret. Unclear is why police haven't interviewed all the persons of interest. Bloomington police Capt. Joe Qualters suggests some students who were with Spierer that night may have left before they could be interviewed.
Searches reduced
June 13, 2011
Searches involving the public are reduced from three per day to two, with about 500 people still coming out to look for Spierer.
'Hoping today is the day'
June 14, 2011
Robert and Charlene Spierer appear live on NBC's "Today." Indiana University sets up a $50,000 search fund. Experts from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and Equusearch, a search organization that uses horses, join the effort. Details emerge: Spierer left her apartment at 12:30 a.m. June 3. She went with friend David Rohn to friend Jay Rosenbaum's apartment. They were joined by Rossman. All are considered by police to be "persons of interest," as is Spierer's boyfriend, Jesse Wolff. Police have received 1,000 tips but are no closer to solving the case. Charlene Spierer says: "I start my every day hoping that today is the day. I go to sleep every night knowing that I have failed and that I haven't done enough."
The white truck
June 15, 2011
Bloomington police release enhanced images from an apartment's security cameras that show a white van traveling in the area where Spierer was last seen within 10 minutes of when she went missing. The images spur another 500 tips and countless conspiracy theories but no answers.
Map released
June 16, 2011
At a news conference, a map is released that provides a timeline of Lauren's known locations before her disappearance about 4:30 a.m. Friday, June 3rd. Some information is documented through video analysis and some is based on information provided by acquaintances.
A mother's appeal
June 16, 2011
Charlene Spierer makes her most direct appeal to her daughter's friends to come forward with information. It will be a recurring theme for the Spierers in the months to come. Rossman and his roommate, Beth, both submit to DNA tests.
A search in the woods
June 19, 2011
Indiana State Police search woods southwest of Martinsville after two people riding an all-terrain vehicle report an unusual odor. Searchers find nothing.
A lead fizzles: the white truck
June 20, 2011
Police say the white truck from the video images has no ties to the case. They found it and scoured it for evidence, but nothing turned up. The owner said he was in the area to pick up a worker for his business.
The search loses steam
June 21, 2011
For the day's regular search party, fewer than 50 people turn out.
A 'new normal'
June 22, 2011
Police say they've finished interviews with Spierer's friends and family, and professional searches of the areas around Bloomington will end in a few days. Spierer's parents say they are resigned to hearing little new information about their missing daughter. "This," said Charlene Spierer, "is our new normal."
Daily briefings end
June 24, 2011
Three weeks after Spierer disappeared, Bloomington police hold the last of their daily news briefings. The throngs of media from New York and elsewhere have shrunk to a few local outlets. One message is clear: The trail is cold.
'Find Lauren Day'
June 25, 2011
More than 500 searchers turn out for a "Find Lauren Day" search that sends volunteers out across Monroe County, including the Hoosier National Forest.
Polygraph test
June 27, 2011
The last person known to have seen Lauren Spierer, Rosenbaum, has cooperated with police and passed a polygraph test. So reads a statement from two attorneys representing Rosenbaum, Jennifer Lukemeyer and James Voyles. Police have no comment.
Parents stay in Bloomington
July 1, 2011
"We are just as determined today as we were day one," Charlene says. About a hundred people gather at Bloomington's Evangelical Community Church to pray with the Spierers, who are Jewish.
Body found: Indianapolis
July 3, 2011
A decomposed body is found in Indianapolis' Fall Creek. The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department contacts Bloomington police, but two days later an autopsy reveals that the body was that of an unidentified black female who had been in the creek for perhaps two and a half weeks.
Volunteers reunite
Volunteer searches have ended, but the Spierers host a "reunion" to thank all those who took part. Sixty or so of the thousands who have volunteered show up. Those in attendance walk laps around IU's Woodlawn Track, where Lauren liked to exercise.
Family continues Facebook pleas
July 22, 2011
Still focused on people who may be withholding information, Charlene Spierer takes to Facebook to write of "an evil, a cruel, heartless element," people who put themselves ahead of a missing person.
Landfill searched
Aug. 16, 2011
Officials search the place where Bloomington's trash winds up, the Sycamore Ridge Landfill 15 miles southeast of Terre Haute. Bloomington police, the Indiana University Police Department, the FBI and a search expert from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children get involved. After nine days sorting through 4,100 tons of trash, they find nothing.
Spierers leave Bloomington
Aug. 17, 2011
Robert and Charlene Spierer return to their New York home for the first time since Lauren's disappearance, to celebrate their 25-year-old daughter Rebecca's birthday. They return to Bloomington soon after.
A new school year
Aug. 28, 2011
Spierer's parents and volunteers hang new missing posters all around campus ahead of the first day of a new school year.
'A heinous crime'
Sept. 3, 2011
Charlene Spierer writes an open letter to "whom this may concern," saying, "You are guilty of a heinous crime." She describes what it was like to get the phone call from her husband about Lauren's disappearance and says, "We will NEVER give up."
Body found: Southern Indiana
Sept. 13, 2011
Police find a body near North Vernon; the next day, Bloomington police say it's not Spierer.
Bar cited for Spierer fake ID
Sept. 15, 2011
Indiana State Excise Police find that Kilroy's Sports Bar, where Spierer spent 41 minutes the night she went missing, let her in with a fake ID. "Any reasonable person should have and would have known, based on the physical description," an official says, "that this wasn't the person described on the ID."
'Shine 4 Lauren' concert
Sept. 22, 2011
On a rainy Thursday night in Bloomington, 2,000 come to Dunn Meadow to hear music -- and pleas from IU coach Tom Crean and others for help in finding her.
Private detective calls Bloomington chief 'Gomer Pyle'
Sept. 23, 2011
Private investigator Bo Dietl, hired by the Spierers to help look for Lauren, mocks Bloomington Police Chief Mike Diethoff. "I thought I was talking to Gomer Pyle out there," Dietl says in an interview on the TV show "Good Morning New York." "The thing is, I met with the chief . . . and all I gotta say is, thank God for New York City detectives." Days later, he apologizes.
Body found: Central Illinois
Oct. 10, 2011
A decomposed body is found in a field a four-hour drive away from where Spierer disappeared. It's not Spierer.
'Support the Spierers' kicks off holiday campaign
Dec. 3, 2011
Six months in, about 50 people arrive in front of Spierer's apartment complex for readings, songs and stories. A group sets up a Christmas tree at Bloomington's Fountain Square Mall and hands out luggage tags in exchange for letters of support for the Spierers. Meanwhile, Charlene Spierer shows her frustration: "I don't feel like we're any closer to finding Lauren."
Family expresses doubt she's alive
Dec. 20, 2011
A Westchester, N.Y., TV reporter asks, "Do you think she's still alive?" "We don't know," Robert Spierer says. "We hope she is." Charlene adds: "I think the odds are against us."
IU draws ire for dropping Spierer search from Web page
Feb. 6, 2012
Robert Spierer goes on his family's Facebook page and expresses disappointment that Indiana University has taken information about his daughter's disappearance off its main Web page. IU says the information will remain elsewhere on its website and rotate periodically onto the main page.
Reward grows to $250,000
Feb. 24, 2012
The Spierers credit an anonymous donor for enabling them to raise to $250,000 the reward for information that solves the mystery of their daughter's disappearance.
Body found: eastern Illinois
April 3, 2012
Bloomington police say they are awaiting DNA test results to see if a body found in eastern Illinois is that of Lauren Spierer. The body is the 10th to draw interest from Spierer investigators since Lauren went missing. But the connection ends when a coroner determines the body is that of a male.
'Trying to be realistic'
April 23, 2012
Charlene Spierer acknowledges for the first time publicly she doesn't think her daughter is still alive. It comes in an interview published in The Indianapolis Star and The Journal News, the Westchester, N.Y., publication that is the Spierer's hometown paper. Robert Spierer adds: "We're trying to be realistic. We know that if she had the chance to reach out to us, she would have done it."
A killer in Southern Indiana?
May 3, 2012
Bloomington police assign a detective to meet with New Albany investigators after William Clyde Gibson is held in connection with the deaths of two women and is under suspicion in the death of a third.
A dead end in Louisiana
May 29, 2012
Bloomington police say they looked into the case of a missing Louisiana woman, Michaela Shunick, a petite, blond college student who went missing earlier this month after a late night out with friends, and found "nothing of significance" to connect the two cases.
Remembrance
June 1, 2012
IU's Jewish student organization, which was at the forefront of search efforts last June, holds a public forum talk about Lauren's life and "reflect on the year that has passed." Meanwhile, the Spierers blast their daughter's friends on the "Today" show, saying they "did nothing to help her" the night she disappeared.
Lifeline Law
July 1, 2012
A new Lifeline Law takes effect in Indiana, granting immunity from certain charges, such as public intoxication and minor consumption, to those who call 911 when a friend has taken in dangerous amounts of alcohol. The Spierers and others had questioned how her friends may have reacted if Lauren Spierer was in medical distress the night she was last seen.
Skull found: Indianapolis
July 8, 2012
The Spierers wait for the Marion County coroner to identify a human skull found in the White River, near Bluff Road and West Raymond Street. On Facebook, the family asks: "In the days ahead, a family will have the answers they have been desperately seeking. Will it be ours?" Weeks later, a forensic anthropologist's report says the skull belongs to an east or southeast Asian man.
'Sleepless nights'
Aug. 2, 2012
In a new open letter posted online, Charlene Spierer writes to unnamed suspects. "I guarantee you have no idea what it's like, waiting to find out if the remains recovered from any number of places are those of your child," she writes. "I hope I am making you uncomfortable. I hope you have as many sleepless nights as I have."
Mental evaluation for armed man
Aug. 8, 2012
A mental evaluation is ordered for an armed 56-year-old man who told police he had been watching the bar where Lauren Spierer partied with friends before her disappearance. He claimed he once met her at a shooting range, but police say the man isn't believed to be involved in her case.
Will a ring help find her?
Aug.t 29, 2012
The family releases a picture of a ring similar to the one Spierer was wearing when she went missing. The ring was a gift for Spierer's 20th birthday.
A woman attacked in Bloomington
Sept. 2, 2012
Bloomington police search for a man after a 21-year-old woman is attacked going home from a bar around 2 a.m. As the new school year starts, police increase patrols and remind students not to walk alone at night.
The Lauren Project
Nov. 14, 2012
Freshman honors classes pitch ideas to the Spierer family on how to improve campus safety and raise awareness of potential dangers that students face. Suggestions include a buddy campaign and a revamped night shuttle service.
'Stonewalled'
Dec. 3, 2012
The Spierers appear on Katie Couric's syndicated talk show to voice their frustrations over a lack of cooperation. "We've been stonewalled to some extent by the last people to see Lauren," Rob Spierer says. "America's Most Wanted" host John Walsh takes up the appeal, urging anyone with information to "have the courage" to come forward.
'Life Without Lauren'
Jan. 11, 2013
People magazine profiles the Spierers in an in-depth article, "Life Without Lauren." The Spierers continue to question the involvement of Jesse Wolff and the three men who last saw their daughter. They describe the October wedding of their older daughter, Rebecca, under a canopy made of Lauren's prayer shawl. Days after the magazine hits newsstands, the Spierers mark Lauren's 21st birthday.
Remains found: Brown County
April 16, 2013
Mushroom hunters stumble across skeletal remains in a remote, wooden area in Brown County. A coroner determines the remains belong to a woman dead for two years or more - but it doesn't end up being Spierer.
IU Commencement Ceremony
May 4, 2013
At IU's commencement ceremony, university president Michael A. McRobbie acknowledges Lauren Spierer's absence as "a member of the Indiana University community who should be with us today but who is not." He calls her disappearance "a terrible and unimaginable strain" on her family and friends.
Tips sought
Anyone with information on the Lauren Spierer case should contact Bloomington police at 812-339-4477.
The website www.findlauren.com is dedicated to search efforts and offers an email address, helpfindlauren@gmail.com.
A post office box for tips has been established at Find Lauren, P.O. Box 1226, Bloomington, IN 47402.
The Spierers have also hired private investigators from New York City's Beau Dietl & Associates to assist in the search. They can be reached at 800-777-9366 or through the website www.investigations.com.
Indianapolis Star researcher Stephanie Wang and Cathy Knapp developed this time line of events. Follow her on Twitter: @stephaniewang.
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