Two years later, mystery surrounds co-ed's disappearance
Cristina Corbin interviews the parents of missing Indiana University student Lauren Spierer, who disappeared two years ago
Federal authorities investigating the 2011 disappearance of Lauren Spierer dug up part of an Indiana home Thursday after a cadaver dog got a "hit" on the property, according to law enforcement sources.
Investigators told Fox 59 that Justin Wagers, a registered sex offender who used to live at the Morgan County property, could be connected to the disappearances of Spierer and two other people as well. The Morgan County sheriff said the property was located in the 2900 block of Old Morgantown Road. Bloomington Police Department confirmed the raid in a news release.
FBI agents, along with cadaver dogs, searched the property that belonged to Wagers’ family on Thursday afternoon. A dig was also conducted at the site, and forensic anthropologists were called to assist in the investigation, according to multiple news reports.
(This image, obtained by Fox 59, shows Justin Wagers.)
Wagers lived at the property before he was arrested in August for indecent exposure. He is currently being held at Johnson County Jail. He was accused of exposing himself to a woman at a Shell gas station near State Road 37 and Bluff Road. Police had been investigating a “serial flasher” wanted in several cases prior to Wagers’ arrest but could not say if he was connected to each case, according to Fox 59.
Chris Eskew, Wagers’ attorney, had no comment when contacted Friday morning.
FLASHBACK: WHERE IS LAUREN SPIERER?
A white truck was found at the Wagers’ property and was towed. However, it doesn’t match the description of the truck investigators sought when the case initially opened.
Spierer, a 20-year-old Indiana University sophomore from Greenburgh, N.Y., was last seen June 3, 2011, after a night out with friends and acquaintances in downtown Bloomington.
A male acquaintance claimed he watched from his apartment balcony as Spierer – barefoot and without her cell phone – walked alone in the dark at approximately 4:30 a.m. She never made it home.
Despite massive searches by air and land, no traces of Spierer were found and no arrests have been made.
Wagers has been arrested at least six times since 2001, when he was charged with four counts of public indecency after several women reported he had exposed himself and masturbated in public. In 2002, while he was still on probation for indecent exposure, police said he pulled his pants down and fondled himself in front of middle school girls at a Martinsville bus stop, according to Fox 59.
In 2004, police say Wagers exposed and fondled himself in front a teen girl near Mooresville High School. Months later, he was sentenced to three years on sexual gratification charges. In 2013, Wagers was arrested three times for public indecency, invasion of privacy, and intimidation charges. He also knocked on a woman’s door in Johnson County without pants in August 2015.
Anyone with information on the disappearance of Lauren Spierer is urged to call the Bloomington Police Department 24-hour tipline at 812-339-4477 or contact them by email at policetips@bloomington.in.gov.
FoxNews.com's Cristina Corbin contributed to this report.
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