College girl, missing The true story of how a young woman disappeared in plain sight

Promising new information on a cold case involving a missing college student, crime reporter Cohen comes up a little short in this nonetheless highly readable book. During the summer of 2011, Indiana University sophomore Lauren Spierer was out partying with friends. A mix of drinking and drugs, made especially dangerous due to the 20-year-old's heart condition, led to severe inebriation. In the early morning hours, she disappeared and was never seen again. Cohen wrote about the case for the Journal News of Westchester, New York, Spierer's hometown, and returns to it now with her parents' blessing. He uncovers bungled police work and coaxes people to talk who hadn't previously, revealing inconsistencies in the stories from Lauren's friends, her boyfriend, and the last people to see her alive. Many insist that she must have been abducted or murdered by a serial killer known to be in the area. While Cohen's lip service to "missing white woman syndrome" feels hypocritical in a book on the very topic, his coverage of the frustrating, fascinating case keeps pages turning.

Former Westchester, N.Y., Journal News crime reporter Cohen debuts with a chilling if inconclusive account of 20-year-old Indiana University student Lauren Spierer's unsolved disappearance. In June 2011, Spierer vanished after a seemingly routine night of college partying. Back in New York's Westchester County, her parents and friends took to Facebook and Twitter, made posters and wristbands, and rented billboards to track her down. Cohen first picked up the story for the Journal News, then traveled to Indiana to investigate further. There, the three men closest to the case--Lauren's boyfriend, Jesse Wolff, and the two classmates who last saw her, Corey Rossman and Jay Rosenbaum--swiftly lawyered up. The stories they told their attorneys, and then Cohen when he reached them, were riddled with inconsistencies. Cohen prods at several key mysteries: Did Lauren ever meet up with Wolff, whom she'd been texting the night of her disappearance? Did she actually leave Rossman's townhouse, where she'd been partying? Might she have died of an accidental overdose, given her heart condition, or was it foul play? Cohen lays out a series of plausible scenarios, but the lack of concrete evidence puts a ceiling on how far he can take his theories. This has more questions than answers. Agent: Connor Eck, Lucinda Literary. (May)