Michaela Shunick, Lauren Spierer Disappearances: Police probe similarities in missing coed cases
(CBS/AP) BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Police in Indiana say they have contacted authorities in Louisiana about their recent search for Michaela "Mickey" Shunick whose disappearance has similarities to that of Lauren Spierer, the Indiana University student who has been missing for nearly a year.
Pictures: Indiana Univ. student missing
Pictures: La. college student missing after bike ride
Spokesman Capt. Joe Qualters told the Herald Times that Bloomington police, who are investigating Spierer's June 3, 2011 disappearance, have contacted Louisiana authorities who are currently searching for Shunick, the University of Louisiana student who disappeared May 19, 2012.
Shunick, 22, was last seen shortly before 2 a.m., 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.
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.
Police in Louisiana also want to learn more about a white pickup truck that is shown in a security video that also shows a bicyclist believed to be Shunick about the time she disappeared.
Police in Indiana also investigated a white pickup truck caught on video that had driven by the area Spierer was last reportedly seen. Investigators initially thought the truck circled the block suspiciously, but later determined a time discrepancy between video cameras was the reason the truck appeared to go by twice.
After releasing photographs and receiving more than 500 tips, police tracked down the owner of the truck and determined he had driven by the area about 4:15 a.m. to pick up an employee. Investigators said the truck wasn't linked to Spierer's disappearance.
