What Lauren Spierer’s friend and roommate is telling us

Profilers have to listen very carefully to what a witness does and does not say, and missing Indiana University student Lauren Spierer’s friend Hadar Tamir is giving us a lot of clues about the day Lauren went missing and the events that followed, according to The Journal news.

Lauren Spierer's roommate Hadar is now sharing information about the period leading up to – and immediately following – her roommate Lauren’s disappearance that could literally break the case, if the right questions are asked of her and others.

Hadar said that up until 12:30 a.m. on Friday, July 3, she and Lauren were hanging out with another friend who lived down the hall in Smallwood Plaza, where the two were roommates. But then Lauren left unexpectedly. Lauren went to Kilroy Sports Bar where she ran into Corey Rossman, a fellow student she barely knew and had only met once before, at the Indianapolis 500, when she and Hadar were introduced to Corey and Corey’s roommate Mike Beth by Jay Rosenbaum, a "close friend" of Hadars.

Jay Rosenbaum, Corey Rossman and Mike Beth -- literally the last three males to acknowledge seeing Lauren last on the night she disappeared -- all lived in the same apartment building and were friends, according to Hadar, and she said she has been good friends with Rosenbaum since her freshman year of college, too, stating Lauren would often accompany her to Rosenbaum’s apartment during the past year.

Some of what Hadar says cannot be officially collaborated by evidence, like video surveillance cameras, so investigators have to take care not to give a lot of weight to comments or witness accounts until they can be substantiated concretely. But that isn’t to say that they do not attempt to piece together the puzzle of Lauren’s disappearance with the information provided. They do. But they also leave room for other possible scenarios to surface as well.

Once at Kilroys, Lauren left behind her cell phone -- which can be substantiated -- and exited the bar with Corey Rossman, with security camera footage at Smallwood recording their presence there, as well as capturing an altercation between Rossman and another male – and Lauren and Corey’s exit from the premises at approximately 2:45 a.m.

Footage retrieved from another site records the two moving toward Rossman’s apartment a few hundred yards away at around 3 a.m., substantiating the last official known sighting of Lauren and making Corey Rossman the last person police can officially verify was with Lauren before she disappeared.

Her next alleged stop was in Rossman’s apartment, according to his roommate Mike Beth, who says he put his pal to bed due to Rossman taking a punch to the face, which effectively resulted in his not remembering anything immediately leading up to the punch or events thereafter.

Rossman's "amnesia" effectively limits what he can say to aid investigators or to potentially implicate himself in Lauren's disappearance. It isn't known if a medical professional has substantiated his injury at this juncture or how long his incapacity to recall events of the night of Spierer's disappearance will continue. His lawyer is fielding questions on his behalf now.

Beth says he did not go to Kilroys with Rossman the night in question, staying home to work on an assignment and that he had not imbibed alcohol or taken drugs the night of June 2 or the early morning of June 3, according to USA Today. He said he attempted to get Spierer to stay the night, too, but she refused and he saw her leave.

Jay Rosenbaum, Hadar Tamir’s friend says Lauren came to his apartment in Rossman’s building after leaving Rossman and Beth’s presence. Rosenbaum said Lauren stayed at his apartment until just after 4 a.m., at which time she left, with him observing her round a corner nearby, on her way home. Rosenbaum has legal representation now, as well.

Hadar did not report her roommate Lauren's absence to anyone later that morning, nor even when Lauren was not back at the time Hadar had to go to class. She said that it was Lauren Spierer’s boyfriend who first brought her attention to her friend’s disappearance, when he called to ask for a key to their apartment, so he could check up on Lauren since she hadn’t answered her cell phone when he called; It had been answered by Kilroy’s bar personnel instead.

Victimization profile

The best way for police to get to the bottom of Lauren Spierer’s disappearance lies in conversations with those who were closest to her and knew her habits and personality best – as well as those who are also close to the investigation.

Did Lauren Spierer make a habit of leaving behind her cell phone? Was she in the habit of leaving female friends and roommates behind to go to a bar alone, or would this have been an unusual act on her part? Would it be out of the ordinary for her to not return until 4 a.m. or later in the morning -- and for Hadar to not notice her absence?

How would Lauren have responded to a confrontation between Rossman and the others at her building when she arrived there with him after leaving Kilroys? Would she have attempted to go back later and address it alone, after leaving his apartment?

What would prompt Lauren to navigate the streets alone at the 4 a.m. hour – was it typical? Was it out of character for Mike Beth or Jay Rosenbaum to allow an intoxicated girl to manuvere the streets alone at 4 a.m. or par for the course?

Understanding how Lauren would have responded to situations that occurred – sober or under the influence – and what would have been out of character for her is critical for investigators to anticipate what might have happened to her that night, and to tell if what they are told by witnesses is plausible or not. In another missing college girl case, Jenni-Lyn Watson, it was the enterprising work of Jenni-Lyn's boyfriend's friends that led to his arrest in her disappearance and murder. Lauren Spierer's friends -- and the associates and friends of all involved -- undoubtedly can help in the successful resolution of her case as well.

http://www.examiner.com/criminal-pro...-is-telling-us