A body found in an Indiana lake was not that of a Jewish student who went missing more than a month ago.

Forensic staff who carried out an autopsy on the badly decomposed body yesterday ruled a match out with Lauren Spierer on the basis of "external characteristics and body structure".

There were hopes that the body, found in water earlier this week, would shed new light on Ms Spierer's disappearance. There has been little concrete information about her since the New Yorker was last seen on the campus of Indiana University on June 3.

This week her parents emailed friends of their daughter asking them to share memories of her.

They said they would post the stories of how she had affected people's lives on a "Reflections" page of the Find Lauren website.