No link established between landfill search, missing IU student Lauren Spierer

Republic Services, owner of the Sycamore Ridge Landfill in Pimento, Ind., confirmed they are cooperating with the FBI on a search of the landfill.

However, no link has been established between the landfill search and the investigation of 20-year-old IU student Lauren Spierer’s disappearance. Spierer has been missing since June 3.

Republic Services spokesperson Peg Mulloy said the landfill has been cooperating with the FBI for “a few weeks” about a possible search.

She said she does not know what the FBI will look for or when they will begin searching. The FBI would need a search warrant to dig in the landfill, ”standard practice” for any law enforcement landfill search.

An FBI spokesperson could neither confirm nor deny a search warrant existed for any purpose to search the landfill.

Mulloy said any search of the landfill — no matter what law enforcement is searching for — is an arduous process that takes time.

“A lot of people watch ‘CSI’ and they think, ‘Oh my god, if somebody put trash in this house on this street on Thursday, I can find it,’” she said. “Depending on when the landfill was identified as a place of search, who knows how much trash has been placed on top of the area the FBI or police want to search.”

However, Sycamore Ridge does have technology available to assist any law enforcement agencies who search the landfill.

“We can narrow a search area down to the size of half a football field,” Mulloy said. “We do keep records of the routes where trash is collected.”

The @NewsonLaurenS Twitter account has been urging followers since July 16 to ask Bloomington Police Department why they haven’t searched the landfill.

Ariel and Emily Spierer, identifying themselves as Lauren’s cousins on Twitter, both tweeted July 16 to raise awareness about searching the landfill.

Both tweeted, “BPD is too cheap to rule out Terre Haute Landfill! Spread the word to rule out all possibilities!”

BPD Sgt. Jeff Canada said the department had nothing to do with the landfill search.
However, the FBI Indianapolis field office said they were referring all inquiries on a possible landfill search to BPD.