Armed man near bar where Ind. student Lauren Spierer was seen undergoes mental exam

By: Crimesider Staff
Topics: Missing

Lauren Spierer disappeared around 4:20 a.m. on Friday. Police say they suspect foul play in the disappearance of a 20-year-old Indiana University student five days ago, but have little information about what happened to her.

A missing person poster of Lauren Spierer, 20, on a sign post outside her apartment building in Bloomington, Ind., June 7, 2011.

/ AP Photo/Michael Conroy

(CBS/AP) BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Authorities say an armed man recently found watching a bar where Indiana University student Lauren Spierer was seen shortly before her disappearance was given a mental evaluation at a hospital, and released.

Pictures: Lauren Spierer

Police Captain Joe Qualters said Friday that officers took the 56-year old man to a hospital for a 24-hour detention as allowed by law, and later were told that he had been released.

He says the hospital didn't provide any more information due to patient confidentiality.

The man told police he had been in the parking garage watching the Bloomington bar where Spierer partied with friends before she disappeared in June 2011. Police said Wednesday that the man had two loaded semi-automatic handguns in his pockets and a loaded shotgun in the trunk of his car when he was discovered Saturday. Officers said they 48 more weapons when they searched the man's Indianapolis home Sunday.

Police say the man made bizarre comments about Spierer's disappearance and claimed he met her once at a shooting range.

Police Captain Joe Qualters said the man wasn't believed to be involved in Spierer's disappearance.

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