On June 3, 2011, after mixing with close Indiana University friends and less familiar acquaintances, pretty blond co-ed Lauren Spierer – just 4′ 11″ and 90 pounds – disappeared without a trace.
In that moment, began a dark mystery – along with changing witness stories, a lackluster police investigation, bizarre leads, drunken teens with foggy memories, hard-nosed 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 College Girl, Missing: The True Story of How a Young Woman Disappeared in Plain Sight, DailyMail.com reporter Shawn Cohen revisits the case, doggedly exploring and challenging every possible angle, nuance, untested lead, and theory, uncovering new details in the process.
The book – set to be released on May 28 – was written with the cooperation of Lauren’s parents, Charlene and Robert Spierer, who grieve daily.
Indiana University student Lauren Spierer, 20, was never to be seen again after a boozy night out with friends in Bloomington, Indiana, in June 2011
Cohen reveals how they graciously opened up their home to him, as well as boxes of their personal case files containing thousands of leads, 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 resolve to follow a story to the very end, no matter where the quest leads.
‘I envisioned a far-reaching investigation where I’d revisit key players, chase down leads, and dredge up any new information I could find,’ explains Cohen.
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 college students, were the last to see her alive in the early morning hours of June 3, 2011 before she vanished.
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 final moments with friends have remained riddled with questions.
What exactly happened to the fashion student 13 years ago?
Cohen takes us on a haunting journey though Bloomington, Indiana, as he seeks to finally uncover what really happened in the college town known for booze-fueled student excesses.
Did she actually set off solo into the silence of the humid night at 4:30am without shoes and cellphone after spending her last minutes with male friends at their home – or have these central figures at the heart of the mystery been hiding what really happened all along?
If fate had not snatched her away, she would now be 33 years old – but her parents still haven’t filed paperwork to officially declare her dead
Lauren’s father Robert Spierer (pictured) tells Cohen he believes she would still be alive today if she ‘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 disposed of, as Cohen discusses?
Or was the petite sophomore snatched from the street and bundled into a passing vehicle?
On any normal evening it should have been a five or six minute walk home south along College Avenue, albeit uncomfortable without the shoes she’d accidentally left behind in a bar with her cell phone.
At the time, the spirited 20-year-old was weary, hungover, and bruised from falling over several times during a wild night of hard partying.
Then she was gone. Vanished.
Lauren’s story grabbed national headlines at the time and on subsequent anniversaries.
Her parents ‘knew she didn’t just disappear, that something happened to her – something nefarious,’ writes Cohen.
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, speaking with Lauren’s friends, family, college neighbors and police, exploring every clue and avenue.
Cohen candidly reveals the drugs and alcohol Lauren had consumed during the eight hours before she vanished as well as her history of alcohol, cocaine, and Xanax abuse.
He also speaks with Lauren’s then boyfriend of two years Jesse Wolff – a student at Indiana with her – who has claimed all along that he was at home asleep when she disappeared.
Wolff strikes a don’t-mess-with-me tone, insisting he will be interviewed for the book if he is paid $100,000, adding: ‘Let this be the last time you contact me in this lifetime.’
But Cohen doesn’t give up easily.
He focuses on clarifying contradictory statements made at the time by some of the main protagonists, including teens who were last with her.
He manages to connect with the last three students to have seen her alive before she supposedly walked out into the balmy night.
Corey Rossman, Jay Rosenbaum, and Mike Beth have always admitted that they were the last three known people to have seen 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 have seen Lauren before she disappeared, but had remained tightlipped at the height of the investigation
Journalist and author Shawn Cohen spoke to Lauren’s then boyfriend of two years, Jesse Wolff – a fellow Indiana student who has always maintained he was at home asleep when she disappeared
But at the time they quickly retained their own high priced attorneys and were largely tight-lipped.
The book reveals details of a rivalry between Wolff and Rossman, who began pursuing Lauren despite her relationship with the Jesse.
Lauren had been in Rossman’s care towards the end of the night when she had become dangerously intoxicated and needed to be carried home.
Cohen describes unreleased video evidence showing Rossman making two phone calls as Lauren is slumped on a curb, around 3am that night.
When asked about the nature of those calls 12 years later, Rossman is just as 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 ultimately the case was thrown out by the judge for legal technicalities.
Cohen tracks down the IU grads – now grown ups well into careers – and holds their feet to the fire to try to get them to reveal more information about the last hours before Lauren vanished.
‘I feel if she never met Corey Rossman, she’d be alive today,’ Lauren’s father tells Cohen.
Lauren’s story grabbed national headlines at the time and on subsequent anniversaries
Over the years, Bloomington Police Department has been criticized for their lack of progress with the case over the years.
These days, Lauren’s name and the memory of that night have faded from around the IU campus.
The missing posters plastered around Bloomington with her face seeking 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 haven’t filed paperwork to officially declare her dead.
They ‘don’t believe in miracles,’ writes Cohen.
‘They know Lauren is physically gone.
‘Their hope from the early days of the investigation has long since given way to realism.
‘What they want, what they need, is to learn what happened to her.’
College Girl, Missing: The True Story of How a Young Woman Disappeared in Plain Sight will be released on May 28, 2014, and is available for pre-order on Amazon.
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk