Although they are unique incidents, separated by hundreds of miles and almost two months in time, journalists and crime scene observers are pointing to similarities in the disappearance of Indiana University Bloomington sophomore student Lauren Spierer and University of Tennessee at Martin nursing student Holly Bobo, in media reports published on Wednesday, June 29, 2011 by WTHR-TV, WXIX Fox59, the Brisbane Times of Australia, Crime Scene USA, Blogger Chelsea Hoffman at Gather.com, and other global news outlets.
The similarities are obvious. Both women are attractive, blond, have petite bodies, attend prominent public state universities, were popular and well liked, disappeared suddenly without a trace in early morning hours, were the subject of massive volunteer searches, and have large cash rewards being offered for information leading to their safe return.
Persons of interest have been questioned in both cases, and over a thousand leads have poured into investigators in each case, following the posting of hundreds of missing persons notices, as seen in the attached slide show and video clip which accompany this report.
The parents of each woman, Robert and Charlene Spierer of Edgemont, NY in Westchester County, and Karen and Dan Bobo of Parsons, TN in Decatur County, have both appeared before television cameras at police media conferences, with pleas for their respective daughters.
Both areas in Indiana and Tennessee where the women went missing are verdant, rural, peaceful, and have many nearby bodies of water, lakes, streams, and woodlands.
There are also differences between the two incidents.
Holly Bobo disappeared from her Parsons, TN home on Wednesday, April 13, 2011 at 7:30 a.m. CDT in the company of a stranger dressed in camouflage clothing, while Lauren Spierer was last seen leaving a friend's apartment at 4:30 a.m. CDT on Friday, June 3, 2011 in Bloomington, IN.
Ms. Bobo's cousin, Whitney Duncan, is a well known country music singer from Nashville, TN, and has used her high profile and media access to attract media attention, and promote search efforts. The Bobo family have also been approached by various persons claiming psychic or clairvoyant abilities.
The close knit community in Decatur County, TN are mostly church going Christians, who have supported the Bobo family and pored out their energies in volunteering to search for Holly, with assistance from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI), and aided by T-shirt sales that have gone into a reward fund that now totals $80,000.
Lauren Spierer comes from a prominent suburban New York Jewish family. They have put up $100,000 of reward money to solicit information for their daughter's safe return.
It is certain that both families, regardless of their financial means or cultural backgrounds, are feeling enormous grief and a sense of loss for their missing and cherished daughters.
Such feelings can best be understood by a select fraternity of parents and relatives whose loved ones have gone missing, or become the victims of terrible crimes.
These include the parents of Michelle Le, the 26-year-old California nursing student who disappeared on Friday May 27, 2011 at about 7:00 p.m. PDT from a hospital parking garage at the Kaiser Permanente Hayward Medical Center, in Northern California; Sandra and Tom Cerna, whose 49-year-old daughter Laura Cerna was brutally murdered in Seville, Spain on August 30, 2010; and Larry and Pam Bice, whose son Austin Bice, a 22-year-old San Diego State University (SDSU) exchange student studying in Spain, suddenly disappeared on Saturday, February 26, 2011 at about 1:00 a.m. local time outside a nightclub in Madrid, and was found dead 11 days later at the bottom of a nearby river.
The Indiana State Police Special Operations Troopers, who have searched for Ms. Spierer covering a 10-miles radius search area by foot, boat, on horses, with search dogs, and helicopter, are aware of the similarities to the disappearance of Ms. Bobo, in Parsons, TN, some 400 miles to the south.
Unlike Clint Bobo, the brother of Holly Bobo, who was questioned and cleared by authorities, cooperating fully in their investigation, five of those who've been involved in the investigation of Lauren Spierer's disappearance, Jesse Wolff, Lauren's boyfriend, and friends Corey Rossman, Mike Beth, Jay Rosenbaum and David Rohn, who all saw her during the last few hours before she disappeared, have retained lawyers.
According to some experts, a psychological condition often kicks in during these types of crises that prevents people, typically those of college or high-school age, from doing the right thing and telling authorities what they know.
While these persons of interest may be completely innocent, such closing ranks does raise suspicions. Silences like those shown by the five friends, and to a lesser degree by a person of interest in the Austin Bice case, often crumble with the passage of time, and the lessening of peer pressures.
Police Chief Anthony Marraccini in Harrison, NY, said the issue of closing ranks is actually fairly common during investigations, particularly ones involving young people. "They don't realize the consequences of their actions, but also their inactions as well."
Bloggers and others are pointing to the possibility of a serial killer, like the late Ted Bundy, who targets college age women that fit a particular appearance.
Lauren Spierer is described as approximately four feet, 11 inches tall with a slender build. She has blue eyes and blonde hair, longer than shoulder length. Anyone with information should call Bloomington police at 1-812-339-4477.
Holly Bobo is 5 feet 3 inches tall, weighs 110 pounds, and was last seen wearing a pink T-shirt and light blue jeans. Persons with information about her should call 1-800-824-3463 or 1-800-TBI-FIND.
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