Part Seven
Months after her death, Lauren’s family hired a private investigator to investigate her death so investigators questioned people who knew Hannah, Chris, and Aaron. Kassie, Lauren’s old friend from high school at the festival that weekend, also happened to be Aaron’s ex-girlfriend so she was questioned. Kassie told police that Aaron was very violent and he had abused her and been very aggressive during the relationship and that was the reason they broke up. She even showed investigators pictures of her injuries during the relationship. These injuries just so happened to be bruises and bite-marks.
Lauren's friend, Jade, was also questioned. Jade didn’t attend WakeFest but was at home texting Lauren. During that night Lauren texted Jade multiple times and told her she wasn't having fun and that she wanted to go home and even asked Jade to come to pick her up, but Jade said no because it was very late and dark and she didn’t even know where the festival was.
Hannah also said that Lauren said that she wanted to drive herself home even though she was drunk because she wasn't having fun so Hannah, Aaron, and Chris claim they took her car keys from her for this reason to keep her safe, but Lauren told multiple people at WakeFest that the reason why she wanted to leave the festival was because the rest of the group was being mean to her. This doesn't make sense to some because Lauren asked multiple people to take her home before Hannah claims Lauren said she was going to drive herself home which means she knew she couldn't drive home because she was drunk. Others do believe that Lauren could have mistaken the three for being mean to her because they took her keys to keep her safe since she threatened to drive herself home.
A man named Chris Brown was also questioned since he was staying near the festival that night. He told police officers “I saw a young man climb up on the dock. The young man appeared extremely distraught and worn out. He was spitting up water for several minutes. The young man told me that he almost drowned when he swam back from the camping ledge to the dock.” This young man that Chris believes he saw was Aaron because of his physical appearance and the swim shorts he was wearing which other people say he was wearing at the festival that day. Because of the time difference in Chris Brown's account, his account isn't believed since he believes this all took place at midnight while other people claim that they saw Lauren and the rest of the group up until 2 a.m.
Other things to note about Hannah, Aaron, and Chris include none of them attended Lauren’s funeral, not even Hannah who was a long-time friend of Lauren. Chris also posted a photo from the festival on Instagram with the caption “best weekend ever” after he got home from the festival.
Which suspect do you, well, suspect? Find out if the case was reopened and if any of these suspects were put on trial for Lauren’s death next week in the final part of “Did the Cliff Have Teeth?.”