IN - Lauren Spierer, 20, Bloomington, 03 June 2011 - #5

123F said:

Sorry partially my fault

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Trust me, you're not the first one to make that mistake. I've done it, and I remember being mortified. Thought I'd broken Websleuths and I'd be banned for life. :floorlaugh:

It's all good. Just remember to keep photo width to about 800px. eace:

Janeumayer said:

Yep, this is what I see:

I colored in over the different gradations of greys.

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That is exactly what I see as well. Of course it could just be our eyes seeing what we want to see, you know?

I think the main problem with seeing "Lauren" in the back, is that Lauren is tiny, and looking at that "drawing" it's almost like she's half of the truck's lenght... wouldn't be the case.

It's almost definetly just equipments.

kimmypie1 said:

That is exactly what I see as well. Of course it could just be our eyes seeing what we want to see, you know?

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lol, could be. I see her sitting there too, but she is looking out to the right over her shoulder, and her arms are at her side or behind her back. :waitasec:

curiousgirl2010 said:

I think the main problem with seeing "Lauren" in the back, is that Lauren is tiny, and looking at that "drawing" it's almost like she's half of the truck's lenght... wouldn't be the case.

It's almost definetly just equipments.

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Just to play devil's advocate (I almost always seem to do that with your posts, nothing personal I swear ...

My husband has a Chevy Silverado short bed truck, I am not much bigger than LS and I would take up about that much room in the bed, it is a small bed, like half the size of a normal truck bed.

edited to add: if you look at the drawing of "LS" and compare it to the wheel you can see that the "person" is about the size of the wheel, which would fit in this case.

When LE released the photo of the suspect using Eve Carson's debit card, there was a reflection of Eve in the back seat passenger window as she was being held by another suspect. I questioned if I was seeing what I thought I was but sure enough it was what I thought.

(Eve was the UNC student body president who was murdered in Chapel Hill, NC several years ago.)

It sure looks like someone is sitting in the back of that truck to me. JMO!!

wm

.... all I see is a fifth-wheel hookup. :banghead:

Quick question as Im attempting to catch up..

Ok, so it'd be safe to assume that LE ran the tags if this vehicle ?.. I mean if it circled around twice surely there is an angle (;if not at this specific cam then by another) I would think with so very many cams in the downtown area it'd be fairly easy to track the trucks movements at least thru part of the downtown area..

Or are they saying they have no tag numbers of anything that woukd help Id whose truck??.. That doesn't seem possible with the amount of cams we know are in this area?

Does bloomington not hav traffic cams at u guys Intersections?? They are set to focus in on front and rear tags..

SmoothOperator said:

Quick question as Im attempting to catch up..

Does bloomington not hav traffic cams at u guys Intersections?? They are set to focus in on front and rear tags..

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Indiana doesn't require front tags, so there may not be an angle where you can see the rear tag of the truck.

This picture is pretty clear and it really *does* look like a person. Holy crap.

http://www.theindychannel.com/image/28245532/detail.html

from all appearances she was picked up by some guy in a pickup truck.

I am sure if one of the students in question owned such a vehicle we'd know by now.

<Modsnip>

Also, if that is a person in the back, it appears to be much too tall to be Lauren. I'm not really familiar with this model of truck, though.

Mirage said:

.... all I see is a fifth-wheel hookup. :banghead:

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Do you need a different tailgate for a 5th wheel hitch??

Mirage said:

That white Chevy truck is a STEPSIDE!! This will greatly narrow down the volume of possible vehicles. I dont know the numbers, but maybe... what... 1 in 10 sold are stepsides?? Look at the curve of the bed over the wheelwell, and the area right behind the cab... definately as stepside pickup!

Mirage

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I don't see a side step from the picture more at a front angle. Just a little molding around the wheel well.

Mirage said:

That white Chevy truck is a STEPSIDE!! This will greatly narrow down the volume of possible vehicles. I dont know the numbers, but maybe... what... 1 in 10 sold are stepsides?? Look at the curve of the bed over the wheelwell, and the area right behind the cab... definately as stepside pickup!

Mirage

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I would disagree with you. If you look at the other photo (link below), it def. does not look like a stepside. It does appear to have a slightly raised area above/around the wheel well though. Also, if you look at the reflection in the hi res photo, you can see that it says 4x4 on the back edge.

http://www.theindychannel.com/image/28245560/detail.html

I used to live in Bloomington (moved away a year ago) so this is interesting and upsetting to me.

I've been thinking about possible scenarios here:

1) Crime of passion... doesn't seem likely at all... if she was murdered in some sort of jealous rage there would be some sort of crime scene. If someone had the thought not to leave a trace of evidence, he would have thought not to kill her.

2) Some sort of OD, then hide the body. Possible, doesn't seem terribly plausible as isn't it easier to flush your drugs down the toilet, call 911 and claim she brought the stuff over herself?

Also, these guys would be terribly unprepared to hide a body well, imo. Doubt any of them would have even owned a shovel. And they would have to think not to throw her in a trunk where she would leave hair/skin DNA.

Could they have called someone (say, their dealer) to take her away? This is possible, perhaps. But they would have to have demonstrated a lot of smarts to avoid calling from a traceable cell phone (you'd think the police would have their records by now).

Police have probably already begun looking to see if any acquaintances of the p.o.i. drive something the white pickup (though this is not a college kid's truck, in general).

3) Stranger abduction: Rare, but what else makes sense? It could be this pickup. See her once, circle the block, snatch her. However, questions remain open:
a) 10 minutes to circle the block actually seems like a long time in this situation
b) It would have to have happened in a very brief amount of time before she got to 10th street. I doubt anyone would snatch her in front of the waffle house.
c) The behavior of the truck driver actually fits with someone dropping a friend off after a long night out.
d) It would have been an opportunity crime, someone going out with the goal to abduct someone would be out earlier than 4:30, you'd think.
e) Doubtful the driver of this truck is someone on their way to work in town.... if it is, then the cops will have him tomorrow at the latest.

If it is a stranger abduction-- let's think: It would almost have to be someone who lives within an hour drive (Indy being the farthest away) -- what else would they be doing in Bloomington? One really doesn't go through Bloomington to get to anything else, it isn't off an interstate.

If this truck wasn't picked up on any other security cameras, they would have come from the north (and not gone through the middle of town).

Cops are probably in the process of getting security camera footage from all of the gas stations along IN-37 up to Indianapolis and along IN-46 east and west of town.

I will make the point that the area becomes very rural (wooded and hilly) within even a 15 minute drive from 10th and college.

chocolatechance said:

I think the CraigsList truck has a full-size bed and the same rims, but by all means send it on. LE can determine whether it's a match.

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The pic on craigslist may not be that up to date. Often times people sell stuff on there and put up older pictures.
Might have different rims now, ones matching the picture given by LE, etc.

Worth looking into IMO.

A forensic astrology chart has been posted for Lauren's disappearance:

[ame="http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6684737&postcount=246"]Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - Forensic Astrology - CASE BRIEFINGS only - # 2[/ame]

[ame="http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6684812&postcount=248"]Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - Forensic Astrology - CASE BRIEFINGS only - # 2[/ame]

I said the boyfriend looked like a teddy bear loving type... haha

Unfortunetly, speculation is part of solving a crime. I think we were all pretty nice here.

Like I said, nobody really pinned anyone down as a suspect - like it happens with most cases. We've been open minded since the very beginning.

We never could circle in one person for a long while, that's why I find a stranger abduction very possible.

Rossman and Beth were way too open to be involved, the boyfriend, well, he would have cracked by now... this leaves JB but it just doesn't seem like any of the guys had a pertinent motive or window of opportunity to hurt Lauren.

mrsu said:

I would disagree with you. If you look at the other photo (link below), it def. does not look like a stepside. It does appear to have a slightly raised area above/around the wheel well though. Also, if you look at the reflection in the hi res photo, you can see that it says 4x4 on the back edge.

http://www.theindychannel.com/image/28245560/detail.html

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I know what you're saying... and I second-guessed myself also because of that view.. but I am very familiar with these trucks, and from the side view it is very obvious to me.. the light glaring off the side of the bed over the rear wheel.. that is the curve of a stepside, a reg bed truck does not have that. I could be wrong.. but.. I rarely ever speak up.. this time I felt I should because I'm quite sure.