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Volunteers planning "Find Lauren Day" Saturday

A large search is planned for Saturday for an IU student who has now been missing three weeks.
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BLOOMINGTON - A large search is planned for Saturday for an IU student who has now been missing three weeks.

The parents of junior Lauren Spierer hope hundreds of volunteers will dedicate their time once again for the search on what has been called "Find Lauren Day."

The tips are coming in and volunteers keep going out, but Bloomington Police say they are no closer to finding Spierer than the day she went missing.

"The Bloomington Police Department is still investigating a missing persons case involving Lauren Spierer," said Bloomington Police Captain Joe Qualters.

Even in the face of little progress by police, volunteers are marching on.

"We feel like we have gotten a little bit closer. Just being able to rule out a lot of places that we have searched," said search director John Sumerlot.

With the number of volunteers starting to dwindle, police, Spierer's parents and organizers are making a big push to get volunteers out Saturday.

"I said 'That's cool. I will be here'," said John Ritter.

Ritter has been coming day after day, but Friday he had new posters for "Find Lauren Day," which could be one of the last big searches.

For the past three weeks, we have shown posters that are all over Bloomington with Spierer's picture on them. A bar code on the poster leads to a link of what Spierer's mother, Charlene, has been saying all along - "If you know something, take the high road and call police."

It is information that her parents need most right now.

"As a parent, as a mom, you know, you speculate and you wonder what happened and perhaps it was a terrible accident that happened and we can deal with that," Charlene Spierer said. "We can deal with whatever it is. What we can't deal with is what we don't know."

The not knowing is a problem that is starting to spread.

"It seems like the way things are going, if we don't beat the bushes, you know, I'm just wondering if we are gonna find her. But we had better do everything we can to look," said Ritter.

Organizers are expecting several hundred volunteers to come and help out Saturday morning. The search gets underway at 8 am.

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