The fate of Lauren Spierer is once more the focus of attention, now that another IU undergrad -- missing since last Friday -- has finally been found; the victim, police believe, of abduction and homicide.
But the long gone Spierer herself still remains Indiana's most famous, unsolved missing persons case.
The 20-year-old petite blonde vanished from Bloomington in June of 2011, following a day and night of excessive partying that witnesses said left the young woman black-and-blue with a possible skull fracture from repeatedly falling down.
She’s not been seen or heard from since, giving rise to the popular theory that she too may have been kidnapped, killed, and dumped someplace.
Sadly though, the Indiana University student was known to be battling major alcohol and substance abuse issues, and had even been arrested for public drunkenness in the past, so introducing an actual murderer into a classic auto-assassination equation would hardly seem necessary.
Further dooming herself to an early grave, Spierer also suffered a congenital heart condition called Long QT Syndrome that few of her classmates were aware of. The defect causes irregular heart rhythms which, if not medically treated, can lead to fainting, seizure and even sudden death.
Long QT is greatly aggravated by stress, excitement, exertion, depression, alcohol, and stimulants, like cocaine. A drug, by the way, that Spierer and her companions were observed consuming on the night she disappeared.
MYTH SURROUNDING MISSING IU STUDENT LAST SEEN WASTED:
From the start, Spierer's parents have never considered any of the testimony of their daughter's party-mates who were with her when she *suddenly* vanished to be the slightest bit credible. Yet they cling to a version offered by the one youth thought to have been the last to see Lauren Spierer alive.
He insists he dutifully kept watch as the impaired young woman left his apartment at 4:30 in the morning -- over his objections -- and staggered shoeless a block or two toward her own nearby residence.
Farfetched as his story might sound in the scheme of things, it's understandable why bereaved parents would prefer it to the more likely scenario, because it always leaves open the possibility of a kidnapping.
“She was taken" gives false hope that a self-destructive child with a prominent death wish and life-threatening health issues may still be living, albeit in brutal captivity such as Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus endured in Cleveland.
Thus, the Spierers no longer dwell on a number of other more reliable reports of their visibly injured daughter drinking herself into oblivion that night, and are offering an astounding $250,000 missing-person reward instead.
However, surveillance cameras never captured any images of Spierer traipsing homeward at that desolate hour in June 2011, nor a vehicle or an attacker on foot intercepting her, either.
Which means this grimly optimistic tale of her early-morning wobbly departure is equally unbelievable.
PARTY TILL YOU DROP - THE HEART OF THE MATTER:
Whether someone is old or young, death by cardiac arrest is not a pretty sight.
The victim could have an overall bluish pallor, froth on their lips, and wide, frightened eyes … not to mention facial bruising, say if they collapsed a couple times before dying or had a succession of Grand Mal seizures.
It's also quite unexpected among 20-somethings, especially if a heart ailment had never been disclosed.
Regardless, it isn't okay for horrified onlookers to freak out and try to conceal such a corpse, fearing the person might have overdosed and that those drugs could be traced to their illicit origins, and/or that they looked as if they’d been bludgeoned.
As a matter of law, all deceased persons become quasi-property to their next-of-kin with the intent of guaranteeing them legitimate burials. Therefore, no matter what the cause and manner of death was, hiding a cadaver is patently illegal.
In fact, when all is added up, charges of improperly disposing of a corpse, evidence tampering, conspiracy, and obstructing justice will easily amount to the same length prison sentence as manslaughter or murder.
ANOTHER PREMATURE DEMISE, A DIFFERENT ERA:
Many moons ago, a group of inebriated youngsters from upstate New York took a joyride together, and during that regrettable trip, the inexperienced teenage driver inadvertently swerved, so that the girl who just happened to be vomiting out his passenger window at the moment struck her head on a tree.
She didn’t die instantly, though. Seated comatose in the damaged vehicle for several more hours, she slowly perished from her neglected injuries, while a pack of panicked teens and their inconsiderate parents "waited until everyone was sober" before notifying police.
Still, at least they did have the decency to own up to the accident…
