Federal agents and police are investigating a connection between a registered sex offender from Indiana and the 2011 disappearance of Lauren Spierer, an Edgemont graduate and Westchester resident.
The FBI and Bloomington police department reportedly searched the home of Justin Wagers, 35, in Morgan County, Indiana on Thursday, Bloomington police confirmed in a news release. Wagers lived in the house, 30 miles north of Bloomington, before being jailed in Johnson County on charges of indecent exposure in August 2015. Wagers has multiple convictions for vicarious sexual gratification, according to the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office sex offender database.
“If Lauren is there, then that’s what my main concern is, is finding Lauren and bringing her home,” Charlene Spierer told The Journal News. “Wherever she is, however bad it might be, that’s my one and only goal, is to find her.”
Wagers’ attorney, Chris Eskew, told The Journal News that Wagers “has no knowledge regarding the disappearance of Lauren Spierer or any other missing person.”
Spierer, a fashion merchandise major at Indiana University, vanished at 4:30 am on June 3, 2011 after a night out drinking with some friends in downtown Bloomington. She was allegedly last seen leaving a friend’s off-campus apartment with a man; her purse and keys were found along their route.
On April 27, 2015, Daniel Messel was arrested for the murder of another Indiana University student, Hannah Wilson, which opened up an avenue of investigation in the Spierer case.
Spierer’s 25th birthday was last week.
