College Girl, Missing

When Meg, Doug and I were at Oakbrook Mall on Memorial Day, we stopped in at Barnes and Noble.  I told everyone that I wasn't even going to look for a book as I had several that I wanted to read before I got a new one.  Paula had even recommended one that I had on my Amazon list that I refused to purchase until I read my current book.  

All of that changed when Doug stopped me while Meg was going to check out.  He had picked up a book with a picture of Sample Gates on it.  The title was "College Girl Missing, The True Story of How a Young Woman Disappeared in Plain Sight."  I knew instantly who the story would be about, Lauren Spierer, a girl that had gone missing never to be seen again.  She was an IU sophomore and we were in Bloomington shortly after she disappeared on June 3rd, 2011.  All of us remembered the fliers around town and the police search that summer.  There had been a lot of theories over the years, several that were plausible, but the case had never been solved.  The author of the book I was holding was a reporter that had covered the case from the beginning and had become friends of her family.  I knew that I had to read the book.  

I waited until I got home that Tuesday night before I started reading.  From the very first page, I was hooked.  There was a lot that I already knew and a lot that I didn't.  The author exposed the drug culture at IU and the rich East Coast coeds that attend IU.  He also highlighted the danger that lurked around the party life at IU and other nearby colleges.  As an IU alumni and frequent visitor to Bloomington, I was completely fascinated by the book and read it as fast as I could, finishing it in less than forty-eight hours.  The book didn't scare me as a mom while I was reading it, but at the end of it I decided that I wouldn't research the topic anything further and that I would take a break from true crime for awhile.  Even so, I am glad that I read it and hope that the family finds closure one day soon.