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« on: June 09, 2011, 06:45:49 am » |
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Police, volunteers continue search for IU student
BLOOMINGTON - They came alone and in groups. Parents, folks from around town, students. The IU women's volleyball and basketball teams.
"This is our family too and one of them is missing and I think it is important that we all try to help," said one search volunteer.
Help came in the hundreds, all of them gathered along the sidewalk and ready to get to work.
"You just feel really safe in this community and it is really unsettling," said another student.
20-year-old Lauren Spierer has been missing since early Friday morning, and the clock of anxiety is ticking away.
Said another volunteer, "Especially (with) someone that is our age, we want to help any way that we can."
The legions of help spread out across Bloomington, taping thousands of signs to poles, cars... and searching. A group of four searchers told us the found something. "We came over here and found this bag of stuff." Police were called. Turns out the clothes belonged to a homeless man whom policed had questioned.
This is the second time today that Herman Paterson has been out looking, searching, crawling around in the brush and hoping for something. "I sure hope they find her safe." He says has children about the same age.
Earlier story:
BLOOMINGTON - The fourth day of a massive search is underway for a missing Indiana University student.
Lauren Spierer, 20, was last seen walking alone to her apartment in Bloomington after a party around 4 a.m. Friday morning. She was walking along College Avenue, a main thoroughfare through campus, after playing sand volleyball at an area bar and then to a party. She was reportedly barefoot when she was walking home.
Police and volunteers used the Smallwood Apartments as a base Monday to launch search parties in an attempt to find the girl.
Flyers are being distributed around the area, hoping some sign of the IU junior will turn up. The community is doing their part to help in the search, which was organized by the Hillel House on campus, where Spierer, a New York native, was active.
"People have just been so supportive and wanting to help. People have been fanning out all around this neighborhood and I think we've covered this immediate area pretty thoroughly, but I think we can still cover it more. It's just fanning out throughout the campus and throughout the city," said Rabbi Sue Silberberg. "One of the other things we've been trying to do is get the word out to Ellettsville, heading 46 east, 37 north and south, to those communities as well."
"There's so many places. It's hard. It's hard," said volunteer Tiffany Belcher.
Police checked security video from Spierer's apartment, but say the video doesn't show her entering the building. Her family flew in this weekend.
The search was more than a casual stroll around campus for volunteers Mike and Tara Service.
"It's the ultimate fear," Mike Service said. "I can't think of anything worse than the scenario for this family."
"You'd think if it was your child, you'd want people to come together," Tara Service said.
"I know there were times I was downtown. Could have happened to anyone, it's scary," said Belcher.
The Services are among hundreds of volunteers who have hit the streets the past few days, hoping to find any trace of Spierer.
The community of volunteers joining the search included men's basketball coach Tom Crean.
"It's hard to think of anything else right now. When there's two parents who've come a long way to try to find their daughter. I can't begin to imagine what is in their mindset right now," Crean said.
Eric Behrman knows the pain. His daughter Jill, also an IU student, disappeared 11 years ago last week. Her remains were eventually found three years later in a field.
"It's a pain that never heals," Behrman said.
He stopped by Monday to offer his support.
"Whatever the situation, we'll get through it. They will survive," he said.
As someone who relied on a concerned community, Behrman believes in the efforts now underway for Spierer.
"We know someone, somewhere, has information, who knows what happened, they're either going to tell someone or mention it," Behrman said.
Friends have also set up pages on Facebook and Twitter to help gather information. Organizers say even what seems to be an insignificant piece of information may be helpful.
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