Bloomington police timeline in Spierer case

June 3 — Day 1
4:30 a.m. — IU student Lauren Spierer last seen on the corner of 11th Street and College Avenue.
       
June 4 — day 2
The Bloomington Police Department releases initial information about Lauren and searches for her throughout the city using K9 units.

June 5 ­ ­— day 3
Police meet with Lauren’s parents to discuss what steps to take next.

June 6 — day 4
The BPD begins to focus press time on Lauren’s disappearance.
“It’s still under investigation. We still haven’t found her,” BPD Sgt. Jeff Canada says. He provides no further comment on the case.

June 7 — day 5
11:30 a.m. — BPD Lt. Bill Parker conducts the first Lauren Spierer press conference and releases information on what Police know about Lauren’s activities in the hours leading to her disappearance, including going to Kilroy’s Sports bar and an apartment complex on 11th and Morton streets.

Police say Lauren left Sports at about 2:30 or 2:40 a.m. and walked to Smallwood Plaza with a friend but did not enter her apartment. She and that friend then went to the complex on 11th and Morton streets.

Lauren left around 4:30 a.m., heading back home to her apartment at Smallwood.  A male friend last saw Lauren on the corner of 11th Street and College Avenue.

8:30 p.m. — Police serve a search warrant at Smallwood Plaza, breaking into the security room and the mail room and taking pictures of the rooms’ interiors. Officers remove three computer towers and four CD cases.

June 8 — day 6
11:30 a.m. — Police confirm that they obtained security video from Smallwood during the search. The BPD wanted the footage as evidence, but Smallwood administrators asked them to obtain an official search warrant first. Lt. Parker says they were denied access into the rooms they needed to enter even after getting the warrant, so they had to force their way in.

Parker says no one who works for Smallwood is a person of interest and that there is nothing new in the footage.

Parker also says the entire city has now been searched, and they are starting to expand the search into surrounding areas, despite not having any specific tips directing them to do so. The National Center of Missing and Exploited Children and the FBI begin helping the BPD.

Evening — Police search Lake Monroe after receiving an anonymous tip. They do not find anything of interest.

June 9  — day 7
11:30 a.m. — Police address reports of an altercation involving Lauren and IU student Corey Rossman when they both arrived at Smallwood Plaza around 2:40 a.m., June 3.

“Lauren was not involved in any altercation,” Lt. Parker says, but he adds the BPD is not prepared to release the names of people who were involved in the event.

Parker also says the BPD has video footage that shows Lauren traveling north from Smallwood toward apartments at 11th and Morton streets with an unnamed male.

Parker refuses to provide specific details regarding Lauren’s state in the video.
Parker says there are about 10 persons of interests in the case, some of whom have hired lawyers, but there are no suspects. Police continue to search Lake Monroe.

June 10 — Day 8
3:30 a.m. — Police conduct a traffic stop, question drivers, walkers and bikers travelling down North College Avenue. About 135 vehicles are
pulled over.

11:30 a.m. — Police announce that Lauren’s case will be aired on “America’s Most Wanted” and the BPD will bring in a tip management program to help handle the expected increase in tips. Lt. Parker announces that the U.S. Marshals are now helping with the search.

He also says the early morning traffic stop did not lead to any new tips. Divers continue to search Lake Monroe.

6 p.m. — Corey Rossman’s attorney, Carl Salzmann, confirms that Rossman met with police. Salzmann had previously told members of the media that his client was involved in the altercation
at Smallwood.

June 11 — Day 9
11:30 a.m. — BPD Capt. Joe Qualters begins conducting the press conferences.
Police ask area businesses to turn over any video footage they may have from near the area of Lauren’s disappearance and urge community members to come forward if they have any information concerning Lauren.

“Let us be the evaluator of the quality of information you have to offer,” Qualters says.

“We know people have the ability to talk themselves out of coming to us.”
Qualters also says the police have spoken to about 10 persons of interest but that it’s important not to make the leap from persons of interest to suspects.

June 12 — Day 10
11:30 a.m. — Bloomington Police receive between 30 and 40 tips following the airing of “America’s Most Wanted.”

Capt. Qualters says there are persons of interests they have yet to speak with, but they believe those people will come to them.

“We’ve had our doors open for those individuals to come,” Qualters says. “There is nobody we can prevent from leaving this county. We cannot compel people to come back to us. For those that we haven’t spoken to, we believe they will come talk to us.”

Qualters also says that a Texas-based group, EquuSearch, has joined the effort and that the Marshals were conducting a sex offender search, in which everyone investigated was compliant.

Throughout the day, investigators fly over the Bloomington area, looking at water ways, railroad tracks
and rooftops.

June 13 — Day 11
11:30 a.m. — Police announce that at least one vehicle has come to their attention in the search to find Lauren.

The FBI begins enhancing a video showing the vehicle near the intersection where Lauren was last seen. “This is a person that very well might have information that might lead to Lauren,” Qualters says.

June 14 — Day 12
11:30 a.m. — Police release a more detailed description of what Lauren was wearing the night she disappeared, and the FBI continues to enhance video of the vehicle.
Qualters says he believes the BPD has conducted preliminary interviews with all of the original persons of interest, and everyone has been cooperative. He also says the BPD has heard many rumors about Lauren, and they’re not disregarding anything they’ve heard.

“If you close your mind off to any possibility, then you close your mind off of what could have possibly happened,” Qualters says.

June 15 — Day 13
11:30 a.m. — Police release pictures obtained from surveillance video showing a white four-door truck — the vehicle the BPD is interested in. According to time stamps on the videos, the truck drove north on Morton Street at 4:14 a.m., before appearing again heading west on 10th Street at 4:24 a.m., meaning it circled the block.
Qualters says there is “absolutely” a chance this vehicle is involved in Lauren’s disappearance.

June 16 — Day 14
11:30 a.m. — Police release an updated timeline and map of the hours leading to Lauren’s disappearance. Capt. Qualters says the BPD have completed canvassing a half-mile radius around the intersection where Lauren was last seen and that they are still asking for tips regarding the white truck.

June 17 — Day 15
11:30 a.m. — At a press conference, Capt. Qualters says the BPD is continuing to work through the nearly 1,000 tips they have received since Lauren’s disappearance, including more than 500 since the photos of the truck were released.

“Two weeks ago today the Bloomington Police Department received a missing persons report on Lauren Spierer,” he says. “Since that time an extraordinary effort has been put forward.”

Qualters did not take any questions from reporters and did not give details about a WTHR report that said police removed evidence from Smallwood Plaza early Friday.

June 18 — Day 16
No BPD press briefing or updates were given.

June 19 — Day 17
Members of BPD and Indiana State Police search a wooded area north of Bloomington and south of Martinsville near State Road 37. BPD Sgt. Pam Gladish says they are following a lead.

Capt. Joe Qualters says nothing was found in the area that was related to Lauren’s  disappearance.