Please, help FindLauren

It reads like the start of a good mystery novel.

The beautiful young girl smiling on her way out of her apartment, off to meet her friends for an evening out on the town. A group meets up, hangs out for a bit, then decide to move on to a friend’s apartment. She wants to run past her place first, so a friend walks back with her – it’s getting late, after all.

Something happens there in her building, and they decide to just head on to the friends. There, she visits for a while, then it’s time to return home. It’s after 4am, she’s tired. She says goodbye to her friends and heads out, walks down the street, and vanishes.

The college community she lives in searches, her parents fly in to help hunt, surveillance videos are scrutinized, but she’s just gone. Gone.

Only, it’s not a novel. It’s not fiction. It’s real life, and it’s my little college town. The press conferences are held by people I’ve met. The streets are ones I’ve walked late at night, and early in the mornings.

I’ve shared bits and pieces of her story in these other posts, including sharing code for the button in my sidebar and the banner at the top of my page.  Here’s a more detailed timeline of what we know, and don’t know, about the disappearance of Lauren Spierer:

Friday, June 3rd at approximately 4:30am, Lauren Spierer was last seen turning a corner walking back to her apartment. She is reported missing later that day.

Saturday, June 4th, information is released publicly as police use K9 units to search the city. By Sunday, her parents are meeting with the police to determine what steps to take next. Posters go up all over the city.

Over the days that follow, the police embrace the press, holding daily press conferences, keeping Lauren’s name and image in the forefront of our minds. Search warrants are served, computers are seized, videos are obtained. Police can confirm that Lauren was at her apartment building prior to going to the friend’s apartment, but that she did not enter her own unit.  They can also confirm, based on video information, that she walked with another individual from her building towards the friend’s apartment building.

We’ve posted information about a white truck, thought to have circled the block around the time Lauren vanished. That truck has since been identified and dismissed as having any involvement.

Locally, we share each little tidbit of information, hoping, praying, that one of them with be the Something Small That Could Be Big. Praying that today will be the day that they do, in fact, #FindLauren.

I’ve watched press conferences and wept at the pain in her parent’s voices. They just want their little girl home. I’ve listened as they have pleaded with the person or persons who know what happened to their daughter, I’ve watched them struggle to speak of a Father’s Day without her there. As a mother, I cannot begin to wrap my mind around the anguish they are facing. To just not know.

Now, my friends, I’m asking you to help me. To help the Spierer family. To help Lauren.

If you blog, or tweet, or Facebook, please take a look at this list of easy ways you can help share Lauren’s name and face. Just sharing her information one time could bring the break the police need to bring Lauren home.

If you are local, or even regional, and  want to help in the search effort, there is information available here. It is my goal to find a day this week to leave the kids with my mom so that I can head out and search personally. If you cannot come here to Bloomington, consider donating to the search effort directly – funds are used to cover the costs of the flyers, billboards, etc that have gone up throughout the area.

If you have ANY information that might be helpful, please contact Bloomington Police at 812-339-4477 or call 800-CRIME-TV. Tips can be left anonymously. Further, there is a $100,000 reward being offered by Lauren’s parents. The statement “Anything Small Could Be Big” is to reiterate that no matter how insignificant it may seem to us, it could be the piece of the puzzle that makes the image clear.

To get continuous updates on the search effort for Lauren Spierer, follow @NewsOnLaurenS on twitter. Additional information can be found at www.FindLauren.com

Please, help us bring Lauren home, and uncover the truth of what happened that June morning.

 

Her daddy and her mom would be grateful.

So would our entire community. 

 

 

More for Lauren

It’s been nearly two weeks since Lauren Spierer simply vanished, walking home from a friend’s apartment.

The police have laid out timelines, images have been shared, posters and flyers hang all over our community, but still, we have not found Lauren.

A truck was captured on area security cameras, and is “of interest” as it circled the block around the same time Lauren was in the area.

 

The truck is described as a mid-2000’s Chevy, either a Silverado or Colorado. It is white in color, and may have “distinctive” wheels. It is a 4-door with some sort of lettering or logo on the sides (difficult to see because the image is while the vehicle is in motion.)

This is an image of Lauren on her way out for the evening the night she vanished:

(That is her dad holding up that image. The strength her parents have shown through this grueling two weeks has been nothing less than amazing, and proves to me that you can handle more than you ever think you can.)

Today, in the daily press conference, Lauren’s mother spoke. She held up that same image of Lauren and said “That could be you.” That thought has crossed my mind more times than I care to think about. 10 or 15 years ago, that could have been me. 10 or 15 years from now, that could be my daughter. Today, it’s Lauren Spierer, and it’s 15 minutes from my house, 10 from my job. It’s just blocks from many of my favorite restaurants. It’s around the corner and up the street from the library where I take my kids. It could be me, or my best friend, or my sister in law, but today, it’s Lauren. So as a community, we’re just going to keep working to find her.

Finally, I have added a simple banner at the top of my blog, along with the button in my right sidebar. Please feel free to grab either or both to include on your own pages. If you need help installing them, or need assistance in resizing, etc, please feel free to email me and I will be happy to help.

Code for Banner:

<center><a href="http://www.findlauren.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g123/taxmegan/Lauren_Banner.png" border="0" /></a></center>

Code for Sidebar Button:

<center><a href="http://www.findlauren.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g123/taxmegan/lauren.png" border="0" /></a></center>

Believing that we will #FindLauren.

School’s Out for Summer!

Today was (finally!) our last day of school!

I am anticipating the standard “Mom? I’m bored.” by around 2 tomorrow.

Nah, not really, but I’m suddenly looking around and thinking about all of the things we need and want to do with our summer, and feeling a little overwhelmed. To go along with our Bucket List, I have some key housekeeping things I’d like to accomplish. I’m in the midst of some serious purging around here, but there is a TON more to get rid of. E has decided he’d like to move into his own bedroom, which is fine, but his room has become a storage unit over the years, so there’s some serious work to do there. Finally, I’d LOVE to park ONE vehicle in our 2-car garage for the first time ever.

Don’t judge. Please? I’m not a good housekeeper. I know that this is my cross to bear, and the mess that I’m dealing with here is of my own accord, so I’ll get there. My goal is to do it without being overwhelmed by it. (I’m working with some guidance from the FlyLady, and already it’s helpful. Now to work harder on the new routines.)

Did I mention that in all of that, I have to still work? I’m already feeling like a slacker this week, because with end of the year events at school, I’ve not been in the office in 2 days. My guess is when I check voicemail tomorrow, it’s gonna be a nightmare.

I also hope to find an opportunity to join one of the groups going out searching for the missing college student, Lauren Spierer. My heart simply breaks for her family, and the truth is, this could have been me, or any one of my friends. We’ve walked that same street, late at night, in groups or alone. We just never know what tomorrow may bring.

Bringing this back around full circle, if you will, the kids had a great school year. J had fantastic ISTEP scores (our state’s standardized test – I don’t love it, but I can’t be upset that he did well, right?) E won a slew of awards today, as did M. I’m so proud of my kids, at least for now – report cards are still coming, so there’s time for that to change, I guess!

Ok, I’m off to put 5 minutes into the hot spot that is our table before I head to bed. Please, pray for Lauren & her family, and for the hundreds of volunteers searching for her. We’ve been caught up in this heat wave, with heat indexes over 100 degrees, and because of the terrain they are searching, many are wearing (wisely) long pants and long sleeved shirts, etc. If you’re reading this and are part of the search crews, thank you, and be safe.

Be blessed,

Find Lauren

People?

This is MY town.

Her apartment building is next door to the gym where I worked out. The street she vanished from? I drive it all the time.

Please, share Lauren’s picture any way you can – if you are on Facebook, click the picture above for updates and information. On Twitter, follow @NewsOnLaurenS. If you are so inclined, please pray. Pray for her safe return, pray for comfort for her parents, pray for our community.

If you are in the area, consider joining one of the search parties – 3 go out each day from Smallwood 8th & College, starting out at 10am 11am, 2pm & 5:30pm. (Edited to reflect changes in start times and location. To ensure accuracy, please visit www.IUHillel.org for the most current information.)

I grew up here, and am raising my kids here. It terrifies me that this girl could just vanish without a trace. Please, help spread the word, we want to #FindLauren.