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EDGEMONT, N.Y. – An Illinois coroner has confirmed that the skeletal remains found in an eastern Illinois town are not those of missing Edgemont High School graduate Lauren Spierer.
"The forensic anthropologist determined the remains to be those of a man," according to Jasper County, Ill., Coroner Jason Meyer.
The body was found in Newton, Ill., on March 10, slightly more than nine months after Spierer went missing in Bloomington, Ind., where she is a student at Indiana University.
Word that the Bloomington police were waiting to hear if the Illinois remains were Spierer's was picked up Tuesday by local Bloomington media. Meyer said his office had been inundated with phone calls Wednesday asking about the case.
In Bloomington, Police Capt. Joseph Qualters issued a statement Tuesday, saying, "We, like many other agencies with an active missing persons case, are waiting for the results from their investigation to see if it has any relevance to our case."
Contacted Tuesday night, Qualters told The Daily Scarsdale the department was continuing its investigation and didn't understand why the recent remains had garnered so much attention.
"Why this particular body has gained more attention from the media is surprising to me since we had made no mention of it to any media outlets prior to the inquiries that began coming in," he said. "We are interested in all unidentified bodies as part of our investigation, but the body in Illinois holds no more or less promise for now than any of the several others that have come to our attention over the last 10 months."
Spierer vanished in the early hours of June 3 after a night of partying at a Bloomington sports bar. She had been visiting a friend's apartment before deciding to walk home. She hasn't been seen since.
In early March, Spierer's mother, Charlene, posted an open letter on a blog dedicated to the search for her daughter, titled, "You know where she is."
On Tuesday morning, another post was made on the blog and on a dedicated Facebook page:
"Always in our hearts. Always in our thoughts. NEVER giving up. We love you, Lauren." It was signed Mom, Dad and Rebecca.
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