The parents of a Westchester college student who went missing while at school in Indiana last June said for the first time this week they no longer believe their daughter is alive.
Charlene and Robert Spierer told The Journal News in their first interview in months they're now "trying to be realistic" about their daughter Lauren's whereabouts.
"We know that if she had the chance to reach out to us, she would have done it," said Robert Spierer.
Lauren Spierer's parents have maintained a low profile in recent months, but they told the paper they have not given up on their efforts to find their daughter.
She has not been seen since June 3, 2011, when she went out in downtown Bloomington with friends.
"I feel if she never met Corey Rossman, she'd be alive today," said Robert Spierer, referring to one of the students she went out with that night. "His claim of memory loss is laughable."
Rossman returned to Spierer's building after they'd gone to a bar, and he told police he left after he was confronted by several people in the hallway, according to The Journal News. He said he was punched so hard he lost memory of the night.
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Video surveillance shows Rossman helped Lauren Spierer out of her building after she came stumbling out of her elevator, according to the newspaper.
She headed up the street to his apartment, where she then visited Rossman's neighbor Jay Rosenbaum. She later left his apartment to return to her own place, and he told police he watched her walk to the street corner at about 4:30 a.m.
Spierer was a 20-year-old sophomore at Indiana University when she disappeared. She is from Greenburgh, N.Y.
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