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E114: Lauren Spierer
1.9k Plays4 years ago
What could have happened in Bloomington, Indiana that caused one girl who had the world at her fingertips to go missing without a trace? Security footage caught much of her night, but in between the footage we see of her, something happened, and years later her family is still looking for her.
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Transcript
Starting with Buzzsprout: Affordable and User-Friendly
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Sleuth Hounds. Have you ever considered creating your own podcast? Have you been inspired by listening to some of your favorites and thought, I'd love to try this out on my own, whether it's a true crime podcast like ours, a motivational podcast, or maybe one filled with tips and strategies for those interested in the same activities you are?
00:00:19
Speaker
When Maggie and I first decided to start our podcast, we knew absolutely nothing about what podcasting would entail. But when we found that the platform Buzzsprout was one for which we didn't need any special equipment, just a computer microphone, some quiet space, and each other, we knew that this was the way to go. It is intuitive to use, fun to play around with, and so helpful in getting analytical data about our number of downloads to track trends and from where our listeners hail.
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Best yet, Buzzsprout is affordable, even by our teacher salary standards. Buzzsprout will get your podcasts listed on every major podcasting platform. So what are you waiting for? Fulfill that dream of yours and start today. If you use our coughing cases referral code, 709-643, linked on Facebook and on our show notes, not only will you help support our show, but you will receive a $20 Amazon gift card after your second month on a paid plan.
00:01:15
Speaker
It's that easy. Podcasting isn't hard when you have the right partners. Join over 100,000 podcasters already using Buzzsprout to get their message out to the world. Now it's time for the world to hear what you have to say. If you've been a long-term listener, then you know that I attended a very small college in the heart of Appalachia in a very small town where everyone knows everyone, or at least someone in their family.
00:01:42
Speaker
If you belong to our Patreon, then you know that my college experience wasn't crazy, but I did some things looking back on that probably weren't the safest, like dressing in all black to take a medical dummy out of a dumpster, or walking across campus after movie night in my friend's dorm, or walking to Huddle House with my friends for a 2am snack, or taking a ride from a stranger when my friends and I were walking in the pouring rain.
00:02:05
Speaker
At the time, I really didn't worry about my safety because what could happen in a town where everyone knows me or my dad or my mom? I felt safe on the streets of Pikeville because nothing could ever happen in a town where everyone felt like family and I felt so safe. In today's case, the town of Bloomington, Indiana felt like a safe town for a group of close college friends. In fact, it was described as a place where everyone felt at home. And if you're at home, what is there to worry about?
00:02:32
Speaker
But something dangerous was lurking within the safety of Bloomington, Indiana. What could have happened in this town that caused one girl who had the world at her fingertips to go missing without a trace? Security footage caught much of her night, but in between the footage we see of her, something happened. And years later, her family is still looking for her.
Introducing Lauren Spear's Case: A Mission to Solve Cold Cases
00:02:49
Speaker
This is the case of Lauren Spear.
00:03:07
Speaker
Oh.
00:03:27
Speaker
Welcome to Coffee and Cases, where we like our coffee hot and our cases cold. My name is Allison Williams. And my name is Maggie Dameron. We will be telling stories each week in the hopes that someone out there with any information concerning the case will take those tips to law enforcement so justice and closure can be brought to these families.
00:03:48
Speaker
With each case, we encourage you to continue in the conversation on our Facebook page, Coffee and Cases podcast, and to follow us on Instagram at Coffee Cases podcast and on TikTok at Coffee and Cases podcast. Because as these families know, conversation helps to keep their missing family member in the public consciousness, helping to keep their memories alive. So sit back, sip your coffee, and listen to what's brewing this week.
00:04:16
Speaker
So should we start the show with our shout outs? Yeah, that's my favorite part. Me too. I'm so glad we started this Patreon. Me too. I like feeling the love. Yeah. It's like that validation that you need. Yeah. Okay, so our first shout out this week.
00:04:34
Speaker
is from Savannah. Savannah said, I've been listening from the beginning. You ladies are one of my favorites to listen to. Not only are we in her top, we're one of the favorites. So even better. We're special. Thank you, Savannah. Okay, the next one comes from Don McMillan. And Don says keep up the good work. Well, we're trying.
00:05:02
Speaker
That's a lot of work. Yeah, we're trying. And our final shout out of this week goes out to Gale B. You know, Gale is my mom's middle name. I love that name. I see. Okay, this is really weird. But so like every first born
00:05:24
Speaker
in my family is named after like the grandpa. So like my dad's named after his grandpa, my brother was named after. So I always tell Anthony if we had a girl, we should make her middle name Dale, because that's my dad's middle name, but spell it like Gail. That's cute. He's not a fan. Well, Gail, we love your. Yeah, we love it. Anthony doesn't like Dale, but
00:05:50
Speaker
whatever. Gail is beautiful. Thank you. And if you want to hear your name, shout it out on a future podcast episode. Number one, make sure you sign up for Patreon. There are still some spots left if you want to get in on the action and get the $8 level for only $5 a month. $5.
00:06:16
Speaker
You'll get a shout out on the show. You will get instant access to many episodes. Remember, we did announce, well, I guess they wouldn't know. I don't think we announced it on an episode we might have. But starting January, we are going to do our first full length episode of A Solved Case. So that's coming at you. Now is the time to join. And if you are already a member, but you have not filled out the shout out form, which is
00:06:43
Speaker
several of you. Please do that because we want to show you love. Yeah, because you've shown us love and we want to give you love. That's right. We want to give it right back. Okay, Allison, are you ready for today? Yes, I'm like concentrating. I'm in the zone. Okay, we're ready.
Who Was Lauren Spear and What Happened to Her?
00:07:05
Speaker
So today's case focuses on Lauren, and she was born January 17th, 1991 to Charlene and Robert. And you will, I think, come to see, and I'll talk about it a little bit, that all the 90s babies listening right now will see themselves in her. Because she's like a 90s baby.
00:07:35
Speaker
Yeah. And she actually would disappear from her college town after a not out with friends. Her dad was an accountant. Her family was very happy. She grew up in like, kind of like a more well to do neighborhood in New York. She graduated from high school in 2009, just like me. And after graduation, she went to
00:08:00
Speaker
Indiana University to study like textile because she wanted to be in the fashion industry And she's like super cute like a little blonde Girl, she has a good like fashion. Yeah, I do too Like I could see her name on a fashion label. I could do
00:08:19
Speaker
And she just seemed like a really great overall person. I felt like I was reading about like my friend when I was reading about her. Like she just feels like somebody that like drew people in. And that's what everybody said about her was like you would talk to her
00:08:36
Speaker
and then like you fell in love with her because just her personality was so great. I read she was really active in the Jewish community at her college. One spring break she actually went to Israel to plant trees through like a missionary. I know that's one place I really want to go. Lauren met her boyfriend Jesse and her friend so there's so many y'all know. You all know I can't do names and there are so many
00:09:06
Speaker
names in this story. And then if you hear my voice come in it's because I'm saying a name. So Lauren met her boyfriend Jesse Wolf and her friend Jay Rosenbaum years earlier at a summer camp and then they would go on like to be friends in college and then she met other various friends at Indiana University. Which I feel like
00:09:36
Speaker
I personally, obviously I'm still friends with people I went to high school with, but it's really college where I feel like long lasting friendships usually for a while. It's because you're so stressed together. I think so. I think you're actually starting to become adults. Right. I was lucky enough, Lauren, I had several friends that went to the same college as me.
00:10:06
Speaker
Courtney and Taylor like we grew even closer. We were already close before but then like Friends like Ashley, you know, like I didn't know her coming in but now we're still friends like all these years later and Anthony is like through two of his best friends He didn't know till college and they're like, yeah text more than I text Anthony like every day that's so stereotypical people who think that girls text each other all the time because it's
00:10:32
Speaker
Totally the guys. Yeah, it's totally the men
00:10:37
Speaker
Lauren disappeared from Bloomington, Indiana on June the 3rd, 2011. And unlike many of our cases, Alison, where like technology was like not there or spotty, that is not the case with Lauren. It's 2011. It's 2011. Yeah. So security cameras. 10 years ago. Yeah. So security cameras are a thing, right? There are cell phones. Cell phones. GPS. Yeah.
00:11:06
Speaker
So we actually have a very concrete idea of where she was and when she was there and even who she was with. But what is baffling to me is that despite all of this, we still have no clue where Lauren is. So we have a very detailed timeline and then it's just like, boom, she's gone.
00:11:36
Speaker
Which is scary. That's freaky. Yeah. So we're going to start at the beginning of Lauren's night and move through the events in chronological order so that you kind of know how the night transpired. And then we'll go into like you're going to meet some people along the way. But like I'm not really going to go into her relationship with certain people until we talk about
00:12:06
Speaker
who has been looked at by investigators. So when we get into the theory. Yeah, into the theories. So these timestamps come from both surveillance videos and eyewitness testimonies.
00:12:17
Speaker
which we know high witness testimony could be awful. It could be iffy, yes. But from the most part, because I watched a 2020 documentary, I read a lot obviously, and then listened to some podcasts that cover her, most give the same timeline. Yeah. There wasn't like huge discrepancies. And that's what we always look for is like, can we find this evidence corroborated? Right. And that's when we'll tell you like, I found this in one source, but here it is.
00:12:45
Speaker
We know that Lauren had been out with her friends the night she went missing the bar, which is called Kilroy's, which kind of sounds Irish. Yeah. Yeah. It was like a happening place. So Lauren and her friends went like to this bar regularly. It was like where all of the college people went in this little town. I wonder if it's still like
00:13:07
Speaker
Super popular. I'm sure it probably is. I didn't look it up, but I'm sure it probably is. I did read the night that Lauren went missing. Kilroy's was packed. It's a college bar. Right. It's going to be. It's going to be packed.
00:13:24
Speaker
In an interview, one of her friends stated that everyone felt safe in this small town. So no one really expected anything bad to happen. They would even go so far to say that Bloomington felt like home. Even her parents said when they toured the college that it was just like, this is what college was supposed to be. Like that's how they felt when they were there. Like it was just the true college experience or whatever. I feel like as a parent, that's something that you look for when you go with your kids for like a college visit. You're like,
00:13:53
Speaker
will I feel safe? Leaving you here. Right. And so, I mean, I think that says something that her parents felt that way. But I do feel like college kids, like the stuff you mentioned at the beginning, we have a little bit of an inflated sense of like, oh, I'm fine. I can take care of myself. I'm a grown up. I'm not in trouble, you know, and then we do stupid stuff. And we don't tell our parents all of the stupid things that we did.
00:14:19
Speaker
because why would you tell them? But shortly after leaving Kilroy's is when then 20 year old Lauren would go missing. So she did leave the bar. Yeah. Oh yeah. Like you'll see when we get going like her night starts like I mean obviously it's not early for like old people like us but it's early for a college kid. Yeah. And then in several hours after it begins.
00:14:47
Speaker
Yeah, because I'm in bed now by like 9.30. Yeah, same. Our story really begins at 12.30 a.m. approximately when witnesses report that Lauren left her apartment. So we know for sure that she left her apartment with a friend named David. David is not like a big part of this whole story. So this is just like a common friend of probably their group of friends. Yes. Okay.
00:15:15
Speaker
The pair went to the apartment of a Jay, so he was mentioned in the beginning, the one that she was friends with. From before. From before, yes. And that is where Lauren met up with her new friend, Kori Rossman. And Kori and Lauren are the focus of this night. Okay. So the guy who we mentioned before, the Jesse Wolf. Jay. Oh, Jesse.
00:15:45
Speaker
That is still her boyfriend. That is still her boyfriend. Okay, I have a feeling this my gut. Tell me something's gonna go. It's gonna go on with this Corey Rossman. Yeah, so she meets up with Corey and she's only known Corey for a very short time. I mean, they have not been like long term friends like maybe weeks we've known this Corey so we don't know him very long.
00:16:13
Speaker
And we know according to 2020 that he would say the two had like a wild night in that documentary. It mentions that despite having like this perfect like college experience, like exterior that IU or Indiana university actually had a very secretive drug scene. Oh. And
00:16:37
Speaker
I think it's because, one, they're college students, and a lot of college students experiment with different things. Two, a lot of the kids that went there came from pretty wealthy families, so they had the money to spend on ecstasy or whatever. And like three, I just feel like that's just, I feel like every college, if you wanted to do, yeah, if you wanted to do that, has that scene, yeah, you could find someone.
00:17:03
Speaker
So Lauren and her new friend Corey were no strangers to that side of college life. One man that was interviewed on 2020 by the name of Seth Parker said that he was also part of that drug using crowd.
Who Were Lauren's Last Known Companions?
00:17:18
Speaker
And Corey told him that he and Lauren pre-gamed before heading to Kilroy's. So in my mind, they're like drinking or whatever before going out to the bar.
00:17:29
Speaker
Okay, my perspective so far, I think by saying pre-gamed, that is totally a terminology that college kids would use, which makes me at least believe that part. The wild night together, they had a wild night or whatever it was that he told 2020. I know you're going to tell me more about the relationship. Well, he didn't tell 2020. He told his friend and the friend told 2020.
00:17:59
Speaker
We'll get to that too. Again, I say this a lot, you know, last week I was like, I'm not a bank robber, you know, or I'll be like, I'm not, I'm not a murderer, but this week I'm not a guy, but
00:18:16
Speaker
I do wonder what percentage of guys, if they're hanging around a cute girl, would lie and brag that they had been intimate or
00:18:33
Speaker
were close if they hadn't. Like I'm wondering if it's a high percentage. I'm just wondering if he would have like made something like that up. And I don't know if he meant wild as in like, intimately they were wild or just they got wild like they were drunk. Okay, drunk in alcohol. Yeah, there was like crazy things that happened. Yeah, I think that's more what he was talking about. Oh, okay. I took it like... You took it the wrong way. That's why I asked if she had a boyfriend.
00:19:04
Speaker
The two arrive at Kilroy's around 146, 145 in the morning. And we know that Lauren and Corey were only at the bar for around 30 minutes, which in my mind, why even go? But again, I'm not like a young college kid. So yeah, that doesn't really, I guess, apply to me. And again, I'm not a drinker. We couldn't even remember Captain Morgan. But like, I do know, because I'm not dumb,
00:19:35
Speaker
that buying alcohol and drinking it in your apartment would be way cheaper than buying alcohol at a bar. And I think that's why they pre-gained, right? Because she's already drunk by the time they get to the bar. Which is probably why she's like. And we're only there for 30 minutes, yeah. This is, I can't imagine getting to the bar at 1.46 AM. No, I would already be asleep in my bed. I'd be like a couple hours from being up. Yeah, yeah.
00:20:03
Speaker
We know that during the short time that they're there, Lauren takes her shoes off, sits her cell phone down and leaves without both of those items. So she leaves barefoot and she leaves without her cell phone, which Allison, you teach seniors and I just teach seventh grade. And like those things are attached to these little people. Yeah, they are.
00:20:23
Speaker
And like I can't like I think that just points to how drunk she was that she would just leave her cell phone there. Yeah, I completely agree because okay, if you took your shoes, even that I don't see how
00:20:38
Speaker
that I'm not a drinker. So I can't imagine getting so drunk that you're like, step out onto the concrete sidewalk outside and you don't realize, oh my gosh, I don't have shoes on. Well, they said originally she took her shoes off because I think there was like a, cause some bars, I think there's one even close to us, have like a,
00:20:56
Speaker
sandpit where they play volleyball. And so I think she took her shoes off there and then just didn't remember to put them back on. Or maybe she forgot where they were. Yeah, which I would do that sober. We forget everything. Yeah, I forget everything. But cell phone, unless her cell phone was with her shoes and then she's like, I don't even know where I put them down. Or like, I just want to go home. I don't even care. It could be.
00:21:20
Speaker
Lauren and Corey leave the bar around like 2.26 a.m. They leave the bar and walk about a block away to her apartment in the Smallwood Plaza apartment. So they only go a block. It's not that. Corey somehow with Lauren stumbles up the steps to her apartment complex and they make it to the elevator and make it to the fifth floor. But when they get off the elevator
00:21:48
Speaker
in both an article that I read and on the 2020 documentary though the I guess accounts or versions vary slightly okay they are met by four men all IU students okay well that's typical because I imagine if this apartment complex is super close to this bar that kids are coming and going campus like
00:22:14
Speaker
especially older students at the college or university would get an apartment. Yeah. And they'd be coming and going. So the article that I read that was on grunge.com stated that they were, quote, reportedly confronted by a group of young men sometime between 230 and 242. So according to Corey,
00:22:41
Speaker
He says, he was attacked by one of the men who struck him in the face and in the head. And according to that article, the blow he received to the head paired with his intoxication level would later make it difficult for him to recall events that happened that night. And Lauren isn't here to give her account of anything. Right. So really it's just
00:23:07
Speaker
his account. So whatever he wanted to say could potentially be what we would know to be true because we only have his account. I do think
00:23:17
Speaker
that were able to say that there were four people there. The 2020 report is just a little bit different. I mean, it's not like hugely different, but the private investigator that has been working on Lauren's case and was hired by her family said the two were approached by a group of boys because they didn't like how Cory was handling Lauren.
00:23:39
Speaker
And in this report, Corey supposedly said something smart to one of the guys and the guy punches him, and then Lauren and Corey leave quickly. I mean, first of all, we know she's so drunk that she leaves or forgets where her shoes and cell phone are.
00:23:57
Speaker
So that could be. And he's really drunk too. So I mean, he might not have been in the right state to be taking care of someone who is also as equally drunk as him.
00:24:12
Speaker
It's now around three o'clock in the morning. Surveillance cameras recorded Lauren and Cory leaving her apartment building and walking down a deserted alley toward Cory's apartment, which was just about like a few blocks away, three-ish blocks away. Maybe they're thinking like, these guys could come back. They know which floor I live on. Let's go to a different location. I don't. I feel like I'd feel safe behind my own closed door.
00:24:40
Speaker
that's part of this story that doesn't make sense to me is why she would be at her apartment and then leave because if like they're already on the fifth floor and Cory gets knocked out like I feel like she would just be like well go back to your apartment I'm going back to mine and just go to her apartment I don't know why unless they had other plans that night or if he and I don't know what theories you're gonna talk about Cory could be a great guy or but he might not be he'll tell me in a minute
00:25:09
Speaker
But if he said something like, you know, if he got punched in the face and he was like, will you walk with me just to make sure they don't come back? Oh, yeah, that's true. You know what I mean? And then maybe she's like, yeah, you're my friend. Yeah. And then walks with him. I hadn't thought of that.
00:25:26
Speaker
Alison, I want your honest thoughts on like this next bit of information. You know I'll give it to you. And I actually, and I'll talk about this, like I wanted to show you this bit of video footage that I'm going to talk about. But it's not on the internet anywhere. And I'll talk about that more in a little bit too.
00:25:46
Speaker
But as they're walking down this deserted alley, and we know that obviously because the surveillance footage we see or supposedly it is said by police that Lauren fell down twice in this alleyway because she was so intoxicated. Corey picks her up and firemen carries her like in the locate towards like the location of his apartment. Yeah, carrying her. Yeah.
00:26:14
Speaker
So is it creepy like kind of weird or is it heroic? Because to me the most sense if you're closest to her apartment she's so drunk she can't walk would be just to take her back to the apartment. Like those guys are probably already gone by now they're not just going to be weird and hang out by the elevator. And like you said though he could be so drunk that he doesn't even he's not even thinking right. Is she still barefoot?
00:26:43
Speaker
No sense. Why? If she was right by her apartment, why wouldn't she grab some shoes? That's what I would say. Let me grab some shoes. Then we'll go. Yeah, then we can keep on going. Yeah, I don't like that. She was tiny, like around 100 pounds. So like, it wouldn't have been difficult for like an athletic man to carry her a couple blocks to the apartment. It's just the distance thing doesn't make sense. But I guess. And it should have taken her back. Right. And her parents said, and a lot of things that I read, like,
00:27:13
Speaker
she obviously made mistakes that night. Most college kids do when they're in college but there were bigger mistakes that were made and just because she made mistakes does not mean she deserved to disappear. I completely agree. I think this is an extremely important question considering what I'm about to tell you next. So when the two arrive at Cory's apartment right so we've said why take her to Cory's apartment if her apartment is right there.
00:27:41
Speaker
Cory gets super sick, vomits on the carpet, and his roommate is like, you need to go to bed. And so Cory vomits and goes to bed.
00:27:53
Speaker
and leaves Lauren there, gets over to his apartment, and then is like, okay, I'm gonna sit now. I have to go to bed, bye. Yeah, so his roommate is nice enough to actually walk Lauren next door to Jay, so her long-term friend's townhouse. They were neighbors, remember? Okay, that's good. So he walks her over to Jay's apartment, so she's kind of full circle, right? She started at Jay's apartment, and now it's like several hours later, and she's back at Jay's apartment.
00:28:23
Speaker
Jay sees that she's wasted, right? She's in a horrible condition and he begs her like, please just sleep on my couch. I will take you home in the morning. Like just stay with me. You don't need to be walking right now. Like you just need to sleep. All true. Yeah. Like just sleep it off. I'll take you home in the morning.
00:28:41
Speaker
But she wants to go home and like, I can't blame her. I always want to just go to my own bed. So he walks her to the door and watches her until she gets out of sight. So he watches her make it to like the intersection of 11th Street. And we're now around like 4.30 in the morning. I bet he is so upset that he didn't walk with her. Or just make her stay somehow.
00:29:08
Speaker
And this is the last time that we see her alive. It's when she's at that corner of 11th Street. So you know that she has a boyfriend. And where was he this whole night? Okay, well, that's different because I read two different
00:29:28
Speaker
accounts of that. So 2020, which I'm going to believe 2020 over anything else that I'm going to read says that he was at home. Another article I read said that he wasn't even, he was at his apartment. Another article said that he wasn't in Bloomington at the time that she went missing where I'm going to go with 2020. But
00:29:52
Speaker
Like they've been dating since high school. He wasn't with her the night she went missing. He actually finds out she's missing. And this is again, according to 2020.
00:30:04
Speaker
because he texts her and the bartender texts back, hey, this phone was left at the bar. Like somebody can come get it tomorrow or whatever. And so that's how she's reported missing is because he texts and the bartender texts back. So at this point, he's like, why the heck isn't she answering her phone? And then he finds out she doesn't even have her phone. Yeah. But
00:30:34
Speaker
That's still a big jump because I would probably be like, oh, she must have like dropped it or lost it or something. Her parents are made aware of her disappearance very, very early on. It's not like they found out like several hours into the next day. They're there on campus.
00:30:54
Speaker
The next day like they got there very quickly. They're there that morning to help look for Lauren They said And this is again Kind of weird that Jesse helped for two days then his mom came and got him and they left and this is people that
00:31:16
Speaker
because they've been dating for- Yeah, like Lauren should basically be her daughter if they've been dating since they've been in high school. Okay, so I know you're gonna tell me details. I originally suspected Corey, and I'm not gonna say I don't still suspect him a little bit, but then right at the end I was like, wait, where has her boyfriend been this
Who Are the Persons of Interest in Lauren's Disappearance?
00:31:35
Speaker
whole time? And the fact that just because he calls in a bartender says this phone was left here, I would not jump from
00:31:44
Speaker
that to, oh my gosh, she's missing. We need to call the police and file a missing persons report. Also, why are you up at 4.30 in the morning? Instead, I would call my friends and say, hey, have you seen Lauren tonight? And maybe he did, and I just wasn't included in there. But if Jay, who he also knows, just saw her at like 4.30, walked to the end of 11th Street,
00:32:12
Speaker
then when you're calling and the bartender answers right after that, you wouldn't be like, oh my gosh, in that five minutes, she's gone. I think that's a big jump in my head. It's a little suspicious. It's a little sus. So immediately her parents suspect foul play. They don't see her just leaving on her own airport.
00:32:38
Speaker
We have three boys really that we've met so far, right? Jesse, the boyfriend, Corey, the drunk friend, and Jay, the friend that offers his couch. And they are all quickly named persons of interest because why wouldn't they be? Corey sent the most time with her, Jesse could be the jealous boyfriend.
00:32:57
Speaker
Jesse wasn't with Lauren and I thought she went drinking and partying with another guy. So could jealousy have caused him to harm Lauren? Corey was punched in the face for the way he was handling her when she was intoxicated. Could he have gotten mad when she like potentially turned down like a possible sexual pursuit? Jay was the last person to see Lauren alive. Could he know more than what he's saying? So like all valid reasons why they would be named persons of interest.
00:33:28
Speaker
Police have been very, very tight-lipped about Lauren's case, even with her family. It kind of reminded me of Valerie's family a little. They're just so desperate for answers and they're getting nothing. Yeah, and it's very heartbreaking to watch her mom and her dad. It is so sad to watch them basically beg
00:33:53
Speaker
the private investigator and the people through 2020 to help them get answers on their daughter's case. It's very, very sad.
00:34:02
Speaker
The parents obviously are frustrated. They set up a website for tips called FindLauren.com. That is still an active website. You can go there, submit tips. There's a bunch of things on there. You can donate money to help fund searches or whatever they're doing at that time. And many of the tips that we're going to talk about today came from leads.
00:34:31
Speaker
through findwarren.com. Oh, because the police aren't saying anything. Is that why no video? Yeah, the police have it. So the police have released, and I'll probably repeat this, but the police have released only two photographs.
00:34:47
Speaker
of Lauren. They've released that she was in black pants and a white t-shirt. So we see what she looks like that day. She's in like Lakin's in a t-shirt and a white truck, which comes into play here in a little bit, but they've released, I mean, we have so much video footage of her.
00:35:03
Speaker
They released no other pictures. They released none of the video footage and like they've actually received a lot of criticism from other police departments because they're like, hey, we released all the video footage we had of this person and we caught their killer within hours, days. Why aren't you doing this? And they like refuse to be interviewed. It's insane. It's like, you're right.
00:35:31
Speaker
Valerie's case, Lauren's case, cases like that when, like there are other cases that we've covered, like you said, where police keep some details close to the vest, where they're like, you know what, we have to know who the perpetrator really is and only the perpetrator would know this, right? But details of what happened leading up to the crime and the crime
00:35:59
Speaker
itself other than you know those couple of things that you want to keep to yourself i feel like we should know those things and i think like we already know so much about the hours leading up to the last time she's seen so why not okay let's say that i'm standing outside look okay i'm looking out my apartment window at four o'clock in the morning
00:36:22
Speaker
And I see a drunk girl stumbling on the sidewalk and a car pull up and stop. I completely forget that I even see that or think nothing of it. Maybe that's just her friend until I realize she's missing and that's the girl I saw. Right. Right. And like that could jog so many memories. Like I just don't understand. I could be standing outside Kilroy's and
00:36:44
Speaker
subconsciously notice something, but not think anything of it until I see the video footage. And I'm like, holy crap, I'm in the background of that video footage. Like I saw this. Yeah. Like it doesn't make sense. It's crazy to me, but I'm like, they try to interview them on 2020. Like the chief of police when 2020 came out with this episode, like so rude.
00:37:12
Speaker
like basically just turns around and is like, this is still an open investigation. I'm not speaking on this. And he's like, well, I just want to talk to you just for a few minutes. Like Lauren's family wants an update. I just got off the phone with Lauren's mother giving her an update. She's very pleased with like what I've given her. And like, yeah, just like turns around and goes back inside. Yeah.
00:37:35
Speaker
So police do conduct a non-day search for Lauren. Hundreds of people volunteer, like horseback, like everything, they're looking in rivers, ravines, rock quarries, wooded areas. Any place where you could hide somebody or something. Yes, yes. So
00:37:58
Speaker
Like I said, most of what we're talking about, the tips that have led to these theories came from findlauren.com.
What Are the Theories Surrounding Lauren's Disappearance?
00:38:05
Speaker
And I know that you love theories and we're discussing attend today. There are like, I think eight. Let's do it. Okay. And most of these, like, I will tell you, like, this has been discredited, but I still want to talk about it because just because it's been discredited. Doesn't mean there can't be a partial truth. Right. Exactly.
00:38:28
Speaker
Alrighty then. So theory one, obviously, is Jesse Wolfe, the boyfriend. Got it. Like, yes. So he wasn't present at the time that she went missing. In fact, he left town only days after his long term girlfriend went missing.
00:38:44
Speaker
which reminds me of Virginia Douglas's husband. Yeah, just left after she disappeared for two days. Yeah, because she disappeared out of the grocery. Yeah, and then was like, we didn't pack any like underwear. It was just so weird. Her case was weird. Yeah, it's the same kind of thing though. Who does that? It has been suggested that he had something to do with her disappearance. People have suggested that
00:39:11
Speaker
maybe in a jealous kind of fit. He paid that group of boys to beat up Corey on the fifth floor of her apartment building. It's also been suggested that perhaps Lauren spending all day with another guy made him jealous enough to want to maybe hurt Corey and or Lauren and maybe like
00:39:37
Speaker
He abducted her, maybe he abducted her, abducted her himself just to like to kind of scare her with no intent to harm her, but something like kind of went wrong. You know, it could be a plethora of things, I think, with him. But there are more plausible theories coming up than Jesse. I'm still keeping him on the back burner. Yeah, and I think we should keep him on the back burner.
00:40:07
Speaker
USA Today reports Jesse has refused to take a polygraph test, which we know, like, that means nothing. But his parents have said that he passed a polygraph test administered by a third party. So, like, if he passed that, why would he not take the police one? Like, a third party.
00:40:29
Speaker
Jesse's mother, Nadine, said that she and her husband are frustrated with the accusations made against her son, who was not even in Bloomington the morning of her disappearance. Per an article that I read that in online. But 2020 said that he watched some NBA games that night, fell asleep around 2.30.
00:40:51
Speaker
Apparently, according to USA Today, they report that Lauren and Jesse exchanged text messages up into the hours prior to her vanishing. I feel like they would have been able to check his phone to see where those text messages were supposed to go. That's true. And maybe that's just something they hadn't released.
00:41:09
Speaker
he said that Lauren told him she was going home to go to sleep. And he responded by saying, if you wake up, call me. And then Jesse said that he went to bed. So he goes in the 2020 account to bed around like 230. But in other reports, you know, we have that Jesse text was text back by the bartender. So maybe the bartender text came much later than the text conversation before.
00:41:36
Speaker
That's the Jesse theory. The second theory, which I think could play into several of these theories, is the idea of an overdose. And like an accidental, and then they're like, oh my gosh, we've got to cover something up. Yeah. And I think like, I mean, even you could play that in with the Jesse theory. Like he picks her up, and something happens, and he's like, holy crap. And like, just panics. Like, I think that could play into almost all of these theories.
00:42:03
Speaker
Nadine said, so Jesse's mom, claims that Lauren abused drugs to the point where she would black out. And as reported by USA Today, Jesse threatened to tell Lauren's parents several times, but she was like, if you tell, I'm breaking up with you, which to me sounds very immature, and I think kind of out of character for her, but maybe not.
00:42:28
Speaker
In several articles I read, it said, you know, IU was a drug haven, kids with money used all kinds of drugs and partied because they had the means to. Right. In an article I read on Grudge, it quoted talk murder to me and they reported that Lauren had been diagnosed with a rare heart condition and her mom talks about that on the 2020 episode as well.
00:42:50
Speaker
But she'd basically been advised by doctors like she couldn't play sports once she was in high school after this drug condition, or not drug, heart condition was diagnosed and they had said excessive drinking, drug use could basically cause her heart to stop working. So there are some that believe Lauren's death was accidental and that someone just disposed of her body because they were afraid they would be implicated for her death.
00:43:18
Speaker
And again, I think you could say that in a lot of these. Okay, theory three is abduction because we know that people are creepy and there are people that cruise college campuses looking for girls in the state that Lauren would have been in. And she's like a hundred pounds soaking wet. So she's by herself. She's highly intoxicated. She's the perfect,
00:43:45
Speaker
victim for a creepy person wanting to kidnap someone. And as reported by Talk Murder to Me, this is the most likely theory that a lot of people, kind of, that most people say she was abducted obviously in some way. There are various theories as to how that abduction
00:44:07
Speaker
may have happened. Daily Mail reports, Lauren's parents refuted reports that she was a drug addict. They said there was no evidence she used drugs on the night that she vanished. No one's come forward really and said like, she bought it for me. She bought it for me. We shared ecstasy. You know, no one's well that we know of the police. And we wouldn't know that's true. In the 2020 interview with her mom, she did admit that Lauren made mistakes that night. And you know,
00:44:36
Speaker
There are lots of cases that we've talked about where people have made mistakes on both. Made poor decisions. Yeah, you made poor decisions. She was also like twinning. Right. So like I said, most 20 year olds make stupid choices. That doesn't mean that. You're asking for something horrific to happen. Right. Just because you made a poor decision.
00:45:02
Speaker
Many of the allegations that were brought up by Jesse Wolfe's mother, Lauren's parents believe that she's just saying those things to like protect her son. Which would make me angry if that's true. Yeah, yes. Okay, theory four is Corey and we all kind of felt
00:45:23
Speaker
Felt it from the beginning. We're not going to deny it. Yeah. If you watch the 2020 episode covering Lauren's case, please. And it's, I found it like in bits and pieces on ABC, but then like, if you go to YouTube, the whole thing is there. It's like an hour or something, but it's good.
00:45:41
Speaker
But they try to speak to Corey because Corey isn't speaking to police. He doesn't ever want to be interviewed. He's like, you know, just tight lipped about it. He literally, literally, he gets off the bus. They're there. And he's like, Hi, I'm a 2020. And I would like to ask you a couple questions about Lauren's case. And he like turns the opposite way and is walking and the cameraman's like,
00:46:09
Speaker
running to catch up with him and they're like I just wanted to discuss with you um like some of these like I don't even remember the time yeah and he like goes behind this gate and shuts it and he's like if you come on onto my property you will be sued and that's all he says yeah so he refuses to speak to Lauren's family as well which doesn't make sense to me I don't know
00:46:37
Speaker
I get if he, if he's like, okay, you know what, when this first happens, I'm going to go to the police, I'm going to make my full statement. And then I'm just kind of, yeah, if people want to keep accusing me of something that I didn't do, I don't want to have anything to do with him. Right. But if he hasn't made any statement at all, and this is supposed to be, well, I'm sure he has because he was a, I'm sure he's had to talk to police because he was named a person. Right.
00:47:01
Speaker
interest. But like, you know, we talked about in the one case that the husband like left town and people were like, Oh, that's a sign that he killed her. Like really in Karen Swift. And yeah, but all the rumors. Yeah, you would almost have to you would just want to get away. And I think maybe that could be the case with Corey. But why would you not
00:47:24
Speaker
Try to give the parents some type of something. Yeah, it doesn't even necessarily have to be closure because how could you? But if you're the last person to see their daughter or you spent the most time with their daughter that day the day that she disappeared and they've not seen her since, why would you not want to comfort them in any way that you could?
00:47:44
Speaker
His lawyer claims that the punch he received to the face caused him to suffer temporary memory loss and that he cannot answer. Is that a medically possible? Yeah. I guess like maybe a concussion. Maybe. And he cannot answer many of their questions because he just simply does not remember. But what an easy like scapegoat. Then he shouldn't have fallen asleep. His roommate gave him bad advice when he got back. If he had a concussion. You do not do that.
00:48:12
Speaker
But like, what a great scapegoat. Like, oh, I was hit, so like, I don't remember anything. So like, even if I took this polygraph test, like, I'm not even gonna remember, like, if I can answer all these questions. Or like, I can't give the very clear statement because I don't remember. You know, I don't know our brains can do that when you suffer trauma, but I just think this is very coincidental. Sounds like self-preservation.
00:48:43
Speaker
So sadly, Lauren was part of, and like they also talk about this on the 2020. She was part of the broader drug scene. So I do think that perhaps he knows more than what he's letting on. Like maybe he overheard her saying she was going somewhere later. Like I think there could be more that he could tell police. Maybe he knew
00:49:08
Speaker
Because she was in this party saying that she was going to her drug dealer to get like weed or whatever And then I don't want to rat that person because then yeah You don't want to say that you know that she's going to our drug dealer because you don't want your parents to know that you're right doing drugs I just think there is Just a lot of there could be more detail. Yeah. Yeah
00:49:31
Speaker
All right, so theory five is a brand new person. Someone we have not heard before and we are just gonna say first names because he has passed polygraph tests and
00:49:44
Speaker
has, I guess, officially been cleared of involvement in Lauren's case, but I still want to mention him. So James was released from prison on parole for assaulting his wife around the time Lauren went missing, and he had the habit of cruising the streets in the wee morning hours. So assault and would be out at that time. Correct.
00:50:05
Speaker
During the investigation, a white truck was seen circling the block. So that's the white truck that police have released the picture of. And we know that James had a truck that was white and similar to the one that was released in these pictures. I feel like that's so generic. Shockingly, in the 2020 episode, the PI said that a female friend of James reached out and said that James needed to be looked into. So that's kind of how he gets on police.
00:50:35
Speaker
radar so she said he made comments like you know what happened to Lauren could happen to you like kind of threatening comments she even went as far as to say that he killed Lauren and buried her on the family farm in southern Indiana that's something they could check um yeah and i think most of these the private investigator has
00:50:56
Speaker
Explored yes, I did find it interesting in my research You know that James and the white truck theory are like almost immediately dismissed by a giant peach James and the white truck
00:51:09
Speaker
That theory is almost immediately dismissed by police, but the private investigator that Lauren's family hired felt the need to dig deeper and they actually reached out to James to see if he would be willing to take a polygraph test because I don't think or I did not read anywhere that the police gave him any type of polygraph test. And he's like, sure, I will take a polygraph test.
00:51:32
Speaker
I know we don't really get much credence to those. But it's like the willingness to at least take one. Right. It kind of points to your innocence. Because what do you have to hide would be my... But yet I don't know if I would take a polygraph. Right. Same. Same. Because I'd be like, what if I'm so nervous that it... Yeah, that it goes off. But we get those kind of questions answered very quickly if you watch the 2020 show.
00:51:59
Speaker
So at the time this aired, James is in prison yet again for assaulting his wife. So her ex-wife, I guess. And he said to the man conducting the polygraph that he just wanted to clear his name once and for all. He was tired of people saying he was involved with Warren. He didn't even know who she was. Had no idea anything about this case. I just want people to quit accusing me of this. Give me this polygraph test.
00:52:25
Speaker
and he did exactly that he cleared his name through the polygraph test he Answered every quite there wasn't a single question that they asked includes that was inconclusive Yeah, but he passed of the like was told the truth on all the questions theory sticks is a little bit scary and
00:52:50
Speaker
So it has to do with a gang. Okay. So gang involvement. And this tip came in and it led to a former member of this very violent group. Yeah, so there's like pictures of this group doing lots of scary things. Did you Google it? Yeah, it's creepy. Okay, so listeners, don't Google it.
00:53:19
Speaker
I don't even know if I should say it. Okay. Let's not say the name. Okay. It's a dangerous violent game. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But we are led to a specific person and actually I think we can say this because it was on 2020. Okay. This person's name.
00:53:39
Speaker
And he's been cleared. Okay, so okay. So I don't like it gave his real name, but he Goes by the name of bodeen. That's like Gang name. Okay, and like he had the reputation of being like the enforcer So if somebody owed them money or like I went to bodeen Yeah, and you don't I don't think you wanted to go to voting. No, no
00:54:00
Speaker
From what I can gather, investigators were able to get like online messages that indicated, if I'm saying this correctly, that somehow Lauren was involved with Bodine, like owed him money for drugs, perhaps, and like had threatened, she had threatened to call the police on him.
00:54:22
Speaker
And because she couldn't pay, it was rumored that he shot her and buried her on his family's farm. What is it with these people's farms? I mean, I guess there's lots of farms in Indiana, but still.
00:54:38
Speaker
Yeah, well, he 2020 reached out to him as well. And he actually was it seemed initially he was going to be very cooperative. He had agreed to the interview when he found out that there were cameras the present though. That's what he's like, you're not interviewing me with cameras.
00:54:57
Speaker
And like covers, like keeps his hand kind of like in front of his face. Well, if he's an ex-gang member, then maybe he doesn't. Right. For his own safety. Yeah. Yeah. Um, but apparently he called police and told them that if 2020 came back onto his property, he was going to shoot them. Oh. But we think that Bo Deen was, name was dropped into the Lauren thing because
00:55:24
Speaker
a lot of the times I think users want to get back at their suppliers and that they just kind of named him in the hopes that he would get in trouble with police because he, I mean like they knew what he did, but he never really had like specific police involvement. Okay. So this theory has been discredited. Theory seven is Mars Hill. And this is a area of Indianapolis that is
00:55:54
Speaker
like very affected by drugs. Okay. So a woman named Jennifer was interviewed on 2020 and she said that Lauren had been beaten and murdered in a house in Morris Hill. And she even like goes to the house and she's like everything about Lauren's case revolves around this house. Like this is where it all ended for her. So this is somebody who we know knew Lauren. So I think the only way that she would have known Lauren is if she had been
00:56:24
Speaker
if they were both buying from the same person who was in the house because This could have first of all had Lauren confused with any other right girl and the private investigator We've discredited this theory as well says that you know, she was a meth user from the time. She was 16. She's not been hallucinating whatever she's not using it now, which is great. Oh, yeah, but using it could
00:56:50
Speaker
alter your sense of reality, obviously. Yeah, even if you've used drugs years and years and years ago, it could still alter your brain chemistry and things like that. And that's why he discredited this one, kind of similar to the boating, because, you know, it just, there was no plausible, like really, there was nothing like it really grounded in, I guess.
00:57:13
Speaker
Theory eight is yet another new person that we have not met. Oh, and they are also named Corey Corey Hammersley and we are going to call him Hammersley since we have another query in the story like hammer time. Yeah, let's hammer time.
00:57:30
Speaker
He was a star athlete at IU but fell into that drug ring and it really altered his life. One year after Lauren's disappearance he actually had like this drug-induced meltdown outside of his residence where he like was in the street but naked with only a baseball cap on and fired like 20 rounds into a house.
00:57:52
Speaker
because he was like so out of it. Oh my gosh. Yeah. And he was arrested and received a sentence of 24 years before that. Oh my gosh. So he is now an estate prison. Okay. An inmate said that the two were playing cards. So the inmate and Hammersley and Lauren's picture pops up on TV and Hammersley says, I know that girl. I know what happened to that girl.
00:58:19
Speaker
So the ma is like, I'm telling on you. And he says that Hammersley goes on to say that he and Lauren were doing ecstasy that night and Lauren OD'd, which we know could be possible because well first off anybody could OD'd, but her heart condition makes it even more. He said that he got scared, he didn't know what to do, so he dumped her body in the Ohio River.
00:58:47
Speaker
I mean, which again, seems like it could be an honest response. Yeah. But when he was interviewed by the private investigator, he, and they show this on the 2020 thing, it's like, it's crazy to me that he's like, I don't know her. I don't know anything about her. I've never known her. And they're like, um, well, if something came forward and like, you know, you heard something in the prison or like you remembered something, would you let us know? And he's like, I wouldn't tell you anything. Yep. Well,
00:59:17
Speaker
So a mere two-minute walk from where Lauren was last seen alive was a drug hot spot like an apartment where many kids would frequent to get their drugs. The private investigator knows the names of the people that were there and he is interviewing all of them and he hopes that
00:59:40
Speaker
This finally gives him enough to close Lauren's case. But those are the theories. I feel that there are many players in this case who didn't live up to the actions that I would expect of them. Like, I feel like, and I don't think in my heart, I don't feel like Jay is guilty, but he should have walked her home.
01:00:12
Speaker
I don't know about Jesse, but it seems weird that he didn't have a better understanding of where she was that night. With Cory number one, not hammer time, Cory number one, he shouldn't have walked back to her apartment and then made her come to his apartment and then just fallen asleep. To make her walk back again, yeah. Yeah, by herself.
01:00:39
Speaker
But for some reason, even though you went through all those theories, the one that's getting me, because in my gut I trust Jay, seeing her walk to the end, is that thing that you said that very last,
01:00:54
Speaker
like couple of sentences about this drug hangout.
Conclusion: Speculations of a Drug-Related Incident
01:00:57
Speaker
Because if she was part of that drug scene, she probably would have known the people there. She could have been going to get more. And then she could have OD'd say there. Or maybe she realizes she, maybe it's in between her apartment and Cory's apartment. And she's like, I can't get home, but I know the people that live here. So I'm gonna go here. And with that heart condition, plus the alcohol,
01:01:23
Speaker
I think it's very likely that she OD'd and that people know. They're just not saying anything. Yeah, that's what I think too.
01:01:31
Speaker
To my 90s babies, Lauren was one of us through and through. I was brought to tears when I saw a video of little Lauren singing the I Love You song from Barney because that was me as a kid. And Lauren was all of us really. What happened to her could have easily happened to one of my friends or even me, a trusting girl who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The following that I'm going to read you came from FindLauren.com and was written by Lauren's mom.
01:01:59
Speaker
If you're reading this, you have most likely been introduced to Lauren. Whether you watched a show, listened to a podcast, read a blog, saw something on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram, you may know her story. I never expected to see October without Lauren. I never expected to feel the change of seasons. When the initial searches began, someone said searches for Lauren would be easier once the leaves fell and the fields of summer crops had been cleared.
01:02:26
Speaker
Once hunting season begins, virtually another source of searchers would come into play. I guess you've known all along.
01:02:35
Speaker
We would still be searching for Lauren on this fall day. It's inconceivable that I wrote those words in October, 2011. We are still no closer. We are still without answers. We are still searching. Now almost 10 years later. How soon will it be 20 years? The time ebbs and flows with no notice of a family who's lost someone. It seems like only yesterday someone offered Rob a pair of pants, noticing his legs ripped to shreds from searching deep in the forests of Indiana.
01:03:01
Speaker
It seems like only yesterday Rebecca received the call, telling her that her sister was missing. It seems like only yesterday I honestly thought I could ask for help from people who knew what happened to Lauren and they would be willing to come to our aid, but I was wrong. They never came. If you're reading this, you have most likely been introduced to Lauren. I end as I began on June 3rd.
01:03:23
Speaker
2011. If anyone has any information about the disappearance of our daughter, please contact us. We continue to search for answers, as always, hoping today is the day. Again, please like and join us on our Facebook page, Coffee and Cases podcast to continue the conversation and to see images related to this episode.
01:03:43
Speaker
as always follow us on instagram at coffee cases podcast and on tick tock at coffee and cases podcast or you can always email us suggestions to coffee and cases podcast at gmail.com please tell your friends about our podcast so that more people can be reached to possibly help bring some closure to these families don't forget to rate our show and leave us a comment as well we hope to hear from you soon stay together stay safe we'll see you next week