Two years have passed since an Indiana University student was last seen after a night of partying with friends, with police giving no word on whether investigators have made any progress and her parents saying they still believe someone will eventually reveal what happened to her.
Robert and Charlene Spierer say it would be devastating to never find their daughter, Lauren, even though they assume she is dead.
The Spierers have maintained since soon after Lauren vanished in the early hours of June 3, 2011, in downtown Bloomington that several of the people who were with her that night haven't fully cooperated with police.
"There's a sense that someday, some week things will change for us. That someone will have the strength, the crisis of conscience to come forward," Robert Spierer told The Herald-Times of Bloomington.
The 20-year-old apparel merchandising major from Greenburgh, N.Y., could have graduated with her college class last month. Indiana University President Michael McRobbie asked those attending the commencement ceremony to keep Spierer and her family in their thoughts.
Bloomington police officials won't comment on the search other than to say the department has received more than 3,000 tips, with some 160 of those coming in this year.
"There's only so many ways you can say we continue to investigate," police Capt. Joe Qualters told The Indianapolis Star. "We will not talk about people. We will not talk about evidence. We will not talk about the investigatory plan."
Local
Robert and Charlene Spierer spent weeks in Bloomington after their daughter disappeared, and hundreds of volunteers joined searches around the city and parts of the surrounding wooded countryside that is dotted with old limestone quarries and lakes.
Although many of Lauren Spierer's friends and classmates have left Bloomington, there were rejuvenated efforts in April to rebuild signs and hang new posters to keep up awareness about her disappearance.
Bloomington firefighters rebuilt 20 large, wooden-framed signs to replace the weathered billboards that were first erected two years ago. Members of a Lauren Spierer Facebook group invited the public to distribute and hang new posters and fliers.
"We do have local support," Robert Spierer said. "Her presence is in Bloomington."
Anyone with information about Spierer's case is asked to call the Bloomington Police Department at 812-339-4477.
