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10 years later, investigators still searching for Lauren Spierer

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (WISH) — A family marks a decade of despair. It has been 10 years since IU student Lauren Spierer went missing. Bloomington police are asking anyone with information to come forward.

Over the last three to four years, investigators have received more than 800 tips and executed 10 search warrants. The police department released a new flyer and they’re asking people to speak up.

Police are making it clear this is not a cold case. There has always been something to follow up on.

Spierer vanished on June 3, 2011 after a night of partying with friends at a bar in Bloomington. Police said she was last seen leaving a friend’s place near 11th and College. They said she left alone and was walking back to her apartment when something happened. Investigators say a male friend reported her missing.

Spierer’s parents tried to sue the two men who were with their daughter on the night she disappeared. The lower court and appeals court decided the Spierers could not provide sufficient evidence to support their claims that they did not see her to her apartment safely. Large-scale searches were conducted by law enforcement, national search organizations and volunteers from the community. Investigators have done thousands of interviews and pulled surveillance video.

“Over the course of the last 10 years, the Bloomington Police Department has received thousands of tips, interviewed hundreds of people, obtained a multitude of court orders and executed multiple search warrants in Bloomington and elsewhere,” Bloomington Police Chief Michael Diekhoff said.

IU released a short statement saying, “We remember Lauren and her family on this difficult day. The Indiana University family continues to hope for answers in this case.”

Bloomington police have worked with several law enforcement agencies over the past 10 years in the investigation. They continue to work most closely with the FBI.

If you know anything about Lauren’s disappearance, call 812-339-4477 or email Detective Jeff Rodgers at rodgersj@bloomington.in.gov.