Princeton student missing for days as possible key clue leads police to lake

Princeton University and its Department of Public Safety are searching for a 23-year-old student who vanished on April 19 after he was last seen near a campus library.

Lauren Blackburn, 23, of Indiana, was spotted near the Firestone Library around 6 p.m. Saturday before his disappearance. 

The student is a former staff writer for the university’s newspaper, The Daily Princetonian.

Vice President for Student Life W. Rochelle Calhoun said in an email to students that she “will share an update when we know more, but in the meantime please hold Lauren in your thoughts as we attempt to locate him,” according to the student newspaper.

Blackburn was reportedly a standout high school student, being chosen as one of 2,500 students for the National Merit Scholarship in 2019 before enrolling at Princeton, according to WAVE.

“He can read a book and know everything in it,” Kate Robinson, an English teacher at Corydon Central High School, told the outlet at the time. “I’m pretty sure he has a photographic memory.”

Authorities reportedly began searching near Lake Carnegie in Princeton, saying a missing person’s phone was pinging in the area, according to WPVI.

Blackburn is 6-foot-2, weighs 170 pounds, and was last seen wearing blue jeans with tears in the knees, a yellow T-shirt and a black, zippered hooded sweatshirt. He has brown eyes and black hair.

Authorities are asking anyone with information about Blackburn’s whereabouts to contact the Department of Public Safety at (609) 258-1000.

Fox News Digital reached out to Princeton University for updates in the search on Wednesday morning.