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Michaela Shunick, Lauren Spierer cases have no strong connection, police say
Lauren Spierer (left) and Michaela Shunick
/ Personal Photos(CBS/WISH/AP) LAFAYETTE, La. - Authorities say there is no strong connection between the recent disappearances of Louisiana student Michaela "Mickey" Shunick and missing Indiana University student Lauren Spierer.
Pictures: Indiana Univ. student missing
Pictures: La. college student missing after bike ride
According to CBS affiliate WISH, Bloomington Police had reached out to the Lafayette Police Department because of similarities between the two cases but said the conversation didn't go far.
"It should be noted that nothing of significance to the Spierer investigation came from the discussion held with police investigators in Louisiana," Bloomington Police spokesman Capt. Joe Qualters reportedly said in a news release Tuesday.
Shunick, 22, was last seen shortly before 2 a.m. on May 19, when she left a friend's house in an area popular with college students in Lafayette, La., to go home. Her bicycle was found Sunday in a remote, swampy area under a highway bridge in Iberville Parish, about 25 miles from where she was last seen.
Meanwhile, Spierer, 21, of Greenburgh, N.Y., disappeared about 4:30 a.m. after a night out with friends at a popular student hangout in downtown Bloomington on June 3, 2011.
Both women are blonde and petite. Shunick is described as white, with long, wavy blonde hair. She is 5-foot-1 and 115 pounds. Spierer is described as white, with shoulder length blonde hair. She is 4-foot-11 and 95 lbs.
In the past year, police have probed a number of possible connections to the case with no apparent luck. Different human remains have been found, but none have ended up being Spierer. Bloomington Police officials said they will continue to investigate any possible ties to the Spierer case, reports WISH.
"Inquiries such as those described will continue to be made if it appears that there is any potential to further this ongoing investigation," Qualters said.
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