Photos Released of Missing Student Lauren Spierer and Truck Seen in Area

June 15, 2011 -- Police searching for missing Indiana student Lauren Spierer released surveillance photos today of Spierer on the night she disappeared and a truck seen in the early morning hours near the spot where she vanished.

Her father, Robert Spierer, made an emotional appeal for help as he held up the photo—showing Lauren in a white V-necked blouse and black leggings—at a news conference in Bloomington, Ind.

The photo showed the Lauren her family knew and loved, he said. "She's a happy, smiling, beautiful young lady on her way out for the evening…that's the Lauren we're looking for," Robert Spierer said.

"She's very dear to us…we want to get her back just to embrace her and tell her we love her," he said, as his wife Charlene stood nearby silent and somber.

Police appealed for any information about the truck, described as a white Chevy Silverado or Colorado four-door shortbed from the mid-2000s, with equipment in the back and writing or a logo on the doors.

Photos Released of Lauren Spierer and Truck Near Where She Vanished

They hope its driver can provide information about the disappearance of Spierer, 20, who had just finished her sophomore year at Indiana University.

Bloomington Police Capt. Joe Qualters said the truck was seen circling the block between 4:14 a.m. and 4:24 a.m. on June 3. "We're talking about a very close proximity to the location where Lauren was last seen," he said.

"We are treating it as hopefully someone who can provide information to us," he said.

Spierer was hanging out with friends at Kilroy's Sports Bar, where she left her phone and shoes, and at an apartment on June 2 and in the early morning hours of June 3. She was with three male friends in the apartment near where the white truck was seen. One one of those men, Jay Rosenbaum, told police she left the building to go home around 4:15 a.m.

Qualters has acknowledged investigating speculation that Spierer may have overdosed on cocaine and that the men with her might have panicked and disposed of her body. But he said in a Monday press conference that was just one theory in the case.

Spierer, who is only 4-foot-11 and weighs less than 100 pounds, has a heart condition, Long QT Syndrome, a disorder that causes potentially dangerous irregular heartbeats.