A riveting investigation of a perplexing disappearance, unpacking what happened when college student Lauren Spierer vanished in plain sight and how the investigation, fueled by a media frenzy, failed her.

When Lauren Spierer—a gregarious young woman at a crossroads in her life—vanished from Indiana University in 2011, her story drew global attention from celebrities and news outlets such as People magazine, CNN, Fox News, and USA Today. What made the case so confounding to those outlets was that the 20-year-old was out with dozens of classmates in a bustling university town on the night she went missing. She was seen in public by witnesses and security cameras, and ended up in a townhouse complex with several wealthy, well-connected male students—never to be seen again. Despite the media frenzy surrounding the case, the police investigation went nowhere and her body was never found.

Armed with the support of Lauren’s parents and never-before-seen evidence that chronicles a cover-up, a botched investigation, conflicting testimony, and new interviews, Cohen leads readers through a gripping narrative before finally shining a light on those often forgotten in true crime: the innocent people left behind. College Girl, Missing will provide an incisive look at “Missing White Woman Syndrome” to expose the prejudice in true crime reporting and demonstrate how the excessive media coverage that Lauren received, paradoxically, damaged the quest to bring her home.