BPD, IUPD investigation continues for missing student, community searches

The Bloomington Police Department is still investigating the disappearance of IU junior Lauren Spierer. This is the third day that family and friends have been for searching for her.

“It’s still under investigation. We still haven’t found her,” BPD Sgt. Jeff Canada said during a press meeting. He provided no further comment on the case.

Today, Dean of Students Harold “Pete” Goldsmith released a statement about the missing woman.

“As you have likely heard by now, IU student Lauren Spierer has been missing since early Friday and the Bloomington Police Department is conducting an intensive investigation with IU Police assisting in every way necessary,” Goldsmith stated.

Campus maintenance workers have started to search all campus buildings and grounds, including construction sites, to help in the search for Lauren. Goldsmith also encouraged students who are distressed by Lauren’s disappearance to talk to Counseling and Psychological Services staff members, who can be reached at 812-855-5711.

“We’re in touch with the family, offering them support,” Goldsmith said in an interview. “We’re looking where we can, doing anything we can to assure the family that Lauren is not on campus."

IU-Notify, the University’s emergency alert system, did not send out any messages regarding Spierer’s disappearance.

Deborah Fletcher, director of IU Emergency Management and Continuity, said that IU-Notify is usually reserved for developing situations on the campus itself, such as severe weather, a campus shooter or a terrorist attack.

“We actually will use IU-Notify if it’s an emerging situation, a dangerous situation — what we would consider as an emergency for campus, or for those students on campus,” Fletcher said. “We would not use it, in most circumstances anyway, for something that occurs off campus, even though it is a student.”

The University would get the information out through other methods, she said, and a notice was sent out today to all student clubs and organizations through the Student Activities Office.

There will be searches Monday to look for Spierer. Searches will leave from Smallwood Plaza, 455 N. College Ave., at 1 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. Monday. Anyone who is willing to help search for Lauren is welcome to come.

At 10 a.m., the first of today's search groups went out.

Rabbi Sue Silberberg of IU’s Helene G. Simon Hillel Center stood at the entrance to Smallwood Plaza organizing search groups. Several groups would search around campus, while others would post fliers along State Road 46 and around town.

Rabbi Sue advised searchers to remain where they are if they find any clues and call the Bloomington Police Department from the spot.

“You never know how one link might lead to another,” a family friend said. She and her husband drove from New Jersey yesterday to help the Spierers with the search.

At 1 p.m., a volunteer with Hillel said there were about 100 people helping in the search for Lauren Spierer at Smallwood Plaza. Among those were IU men’s basketball coach Tom Crean.

The volunteer said the searches will now be conducted with more direction from the Bloomington Police Department. She did not provide her name because of the changing nature of the searches.

A BPD map of Bloomington was taped over the maps of the town and surrounding counties that were on the windows outside Smallwood this morning. On the map were pen and marker outlines of areas where volunteers had searched. The marked areas, as of 2:45 p.m., spanned north to the 45/46 bypass and south to about 10th Street.

Lauren’s mother, Charlene Spierer, said her daughter suffers from a heart condition called Long QT Syndrome that requires medication. If anyone knows where Lauren is, please take her to the hospital immediately, Lauren’s mother requested.

Bloomington cardiologist Dr. Louis J. Calli said that Long QT syndrome is an inherited condition. Its symptoms can include arrhythmic heart beats and passing out. The incidence of death caused by this condition is possible, but quite rare, he said. He added that if Lauren had an episode of irregular heart beats, she might need medical attention immediately.

HOW TO HELP
For information on how to help, follow @NewsOnLaurenS on Twitter or add the Facebook account “Lauren Spierer Missing.” IU Hillel has also set up a website devoted to information on how to help find Spierer: www.iuhillel.org/lauren.php

Keep checking idsnews.com for continuing coverage of this developing story.

— CJ Lotz, Zach Ammerman, Jake New and Alex Farris contributed to this story