Search for Lauren Blackburn, missing Princeton University junior student centers on water search after last seen 3 days ago on campus as authorities continue to scour nearby Lake Carnegie.
School authorities in New Jersey are seeking the whereabouts of a Princeton University junior who was last seen on campus 3 days ago.
Lauren Blackburn, 23, vanished at 6 p.m. Saturday near the college’s Firestone Library, the school’s Department of Public Safety said in an alert Tuesday.
Authorities began scouring nearby Lake Carnegie, a man-made body of water, at about midnight after Blackburn’s phone had pinged in that vicinity, according to reports.
Lauren Blackburn star student goes missing
Teams used drones, sonar-equipped boats and search dogs overnight in the hopes of locating the missing Ivy League student, News 12 reported.
The New Jersey lake is near the Princeton campus, though it’s about a mile from the library.
Blackburn, an Indiana native and a former features writer for the elite university’s student newspaper, was wearing blue jeans with torn knees, a yellow shirt with a black zippered hooded sweatshirt and blue, flat-bottom shoes, the department said.
‘I will share an update when we know more, but in the meantime, please hold Lauren in your thoughts as we attempt to locate him,’ Vice President for Student Life W. Rochelle Calhoun wrote in another email to the student body, according to the Daily Princetonian.
Before moving to New Jersey to attend college, Blackburn graduated from Corydon Central High School in southern Indiana near the Kentucky border.
He made headlines in 2019 when he was awarded a National Merit Scholarship and Gates Scholarship in his senior year of high school, with teachers showering praise on the star pupil, according to a past WAVE report.
Search for missing Princeton University junior to center on water search
‘He can read a book and know everything in it,’ English teacher Kate Robinson told the outlet. ‘I’m pretty sure he has a photographic memory.’
‘He’s kind,’ science teacher Karen York added. ‘I have never, ever once heard him ever speak a bad word.’
Blackburn told the outlet at the time he was nervous about attending the Ivy League institution, but looking forward to the opportunity.
‘I’m very grateful and feel very blessed,’ he reportedly said. ‘Princeton will allow me to study anything and get a world class education in anything.’
‘I hope that he’s found soon and I hope that he’s totally fine. But it’s freaky, especially during this period where things are up in the air and nobody has any information,’ said senior student Ryan Hoffman according to WPVI.
Blackburn according to a Princeton University Facebook release is described as being 6-feet-2 and weighing about 170 pounds with brown eyes and black hair.
The school’s public safety department said anyone with information should call 609-258-1000.
A water search resumed Tuesday afternoon at Lake Carnegie.
