Lauren Spierer

Status:

Open

Jurisdiction:

Bloomington Police Department In (IN)

Missing From:

Bloomington, Indiana

Summary:

Lauren Spierer, a 20-year-old Indiana University student, disappeared on June 3, 2011, following an evening at Kilroy's Sports Bar in Bloomington, Indiana. Spierer is presumed dead and her case remains unsolved.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Disappearance:

She is seen on surveillance video leaving her apartment at about 12:30 a.m., looking happy and well. Witnesses report that Spierer left her apartment with a friend named David Rohn. The pair went to Jay Rosenbaum's apartment, and she met up with Corey Rossman, Rosenbaum's neighbor. At 1:46 a.m. – Spierer is seen entering Kilroy's Sports Bar. In addition to more drinking, there is official speculation that drugs like Klonopin or cocaine were also consumed. After Rosenbaum's party, Lauren Spierer and Rossman went to a nearby sports bar called Kilroy's. Only there for about a half-hour, Spierer also left her cell phone and shoes there. At 2:27 a.m. Lauren is seen leaving Kilroy's Sports Bar with a Corey Rossman, leaving behind her cellphone and shoes. They arrive at her Smallwood Plaza apartment and leave less than 20 minutes later. Surveillance video show them walking toward Rossman's apartment building on West 11th Street just before 3 a.m. Lauren's purse and keys were later found along this route. Upon entering his townhouse, Rossman vomited and was put to bed by his roommate, Mike Beth, who told investigators that Spierer asked him to continue partying. Beth, who was sober, told Spierer that he had been up late studying for a final exam that was due in a couple hours, it was nearly three a.m., and he was going back to bed. At 3:30 a.m. – Beth said he then phoned his neighbor, Rosenbaum, wanting him to take care of Spierer. Beth said that Spierer was attempting to get Beth to drink with her at her own apartment. At 4:30 a.m. – Rosenbaum reports that Spierer left the apartment. This is the last reported sighting of her. He reported last seeing Spierer at the intersection of 11th Street and College Avenue, headed south on College. She was last seen barefoot, wearing black leggings and a white shirt. On June 3, 2011, at approximately 4:30 am, Lauren Spierer left the apartment of an acquaintance on the 200 block of West 11th Street in Bloomington. She was headed home to her apartment at 9th and College, but she never arrived.

Additional Details:

Several hours later that morning, Wolff sent Spierer a text. He received a reply from an employee at the bar. Wolff reported Spierer missing. In August 2011, police conducted a nine-day search of the Sycamore Ridge Landfill in Pimento (south of Terre Haute) for clues in the disappearance. The landfill is where trash from Bloomington is hauled after a stop at a transfer station. The Bloomington Police Department, the Indiana University Police Department, and the FBI took part in the search. In 2021, police said they had received more than 36,000 tips since Lauren disappeared in 2011. Of those, 1,100 were described as "actionable." In April 2015, the Bloomington Police announced that they were investigating a possible link between Spierer's disappearance and the murder of another IU student, Hannah Wilson. Wilson went missing on April 24, 2015, after visiting Kilroy's, the same bar that Spierer visited the night she disappeared. In July 2015, it was concluded that the two cases are unrelated and any similarities between the two cases were coincidental. On January 28, 2016, the FBI and other police agencies investigated a property in the 2900 block of Old Morgantown Road in Martinsville, approximately 20 miles north of Bloomington. According to a statement released by the FBI, investigators were "following up on leads and tips in Morgan County regarding the disappearance of Lauren Spierer". The property was connected to a man, Justin Wagers, who resided there with his mother and stepfather. Wagers was suspected of exposing himself to numerous local women. Investigators searched the property with cadaver dogs, which indicated potential evidence. Anthropologists conducted a dig and sifted dirt from the barn where the cadaver dogs hit, but found nothing. Spierer's parents filed civil lawsuits against Rossman, Rosenbaum, and Beth for their involvement with their daughter leading up to her disappearance. The suits accused the defendants of negligence, alleging they supplied Spierer with alcohol after she was already "visibly intoxicated", then neglected to assure she returned safely to her apartment, which likely led to her death. In 2013, federal judge Tanya Walton Pratt dismissed the suit against Beth after determining he had no duty of care for Spierer. In 2014, Pratt dismissed the suit against the other two men, finding: "...there could be any number of theories as to what happened to Lauren and what, if any, injuries she may have sustained. Without evidence to prove these theories, it would be impossible for a jury to determine if whatever happened to Spierer was a natural and probable consequence of her intoxication, without any other intervening acts that would break the causal chain." Spierer's parents appealed the ruling, but the dismissal was upheld by a federal appeals court in 2015. A book about Spierer's disappearance was published in 2024 that revealed new evidence in the case. The Bloomington Police Department has said Lauren's case remains active. They said they continue to get tips about Spierer's disappearance, but did not have exact numbers. "The investigation remains very active, and each tip received is investigated to the fullest. We remain dedicated to providing answers to Lauren's family and friends and will continue to work tirelessly to bring closure to the case," Bloomington Police wrote in a statement.

Case Last Updated:

Apr 22, 2026