IA IA - Elizabeth Collins, 8, & Lyric Cook, 10, Evansdale, 13 July 2012 - #1

I've been following along all weekend. It's always disturbing when children go missing. This one hits closer to home for me since I'm familiar with the area. I expected the girls to be found by now.

I don't place too much significance on the parents demeanor unless something else comes out which would lead to them being suspected of something. I don't know how a parent under such extreme stress would behave. They could be in shock, denial or even on medication.

I'm glad to see the girls finally getting some nationwide attention. I listen to a Quad Cities area radio station on my way to work in the mornings. The missing sisters from Missouri were mentioned, yet nothing about these girls. I have no idea why an Iowa news channel would skip the story (though I know it's been on other Iowa news).

Thanks to all for your posting & keeping us updated. I pray these girls are found to be safe and in good health today. It's going to be a scorching hot week in Iowa.

JMO

nikkiw319 said:

I wonder if parents are being medicated? I can't imagine getting through each day without something for the anxiety that goes with what they are dealing with.

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Judging from the interview, I'd say probably not, she looked too awake to be on a benzo (Xanax, Valium, etc) for only a few days but then again, some people have weird reactions to meds.

nikkiw319 said:

It really bothers me when they talk in the news about it remaining a missing persons case since there has been no indication of foul play or an abduction.

I think everything leads me to think they were taken, especially after dredging the lake and searching all the wooded areas in town. They didn't drown and the odds are good that they didn't get lost. Where else could they be nearly 3 days later?

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I'm sure it is being treated as a potential crime, but if there is no evidence of a crime, they can't really say this is an abduction, for example.

I agree with a previous poster that they need to go back to when the girls first got out of school for the summer (does anyone know when that was?) and check out their habits when they were together at Elizabeth's house and out playing. I find it hard to believe that this was the very first time they had ever wandered that far from home. They may have been down at that lake on other occasions. And they may have had something down there that was attracting them.

Finding the purse on the lake side of the fence really does seem like they somehow were on that area of shoreline. They are at the perfect age for exploring along a somewhat deserted shoreline and forested area. And it's been established (I think) that someone could also get down to that shoreline through the forested area off Arbutus. So maybe someone else liked to go to that area of the lake to fish? Maybe someone who met up with the girls on more than one occasion? Who could easily lure them into that forested area to see something "awesome" and then lead them to a vehicle?

The bikes were left to the side of the path where there was fencing on both sides and the purse was found on the other side of the lake side fence. I think it's quite possible that they climbed that fence to get down to the water. And that they were lured away through that forest.

MOO

Kamille, I don't think they would have had to climb the fence to get to the water ....as I understand it the lakeside fence only went so far and was opened to the shore on either end? they would have only had to have walked down either direction, and around the fence to the shore...

Can a local confirm that?

Two things
why does the media keep saying at the lake where the girls were last seen...I thought there was only a sighting of the bikes at the lake...not actually them?

What is very troubling to me is only 1 sighting of the girls at 12:15 downtown.

It was a Friday afternoon in Iowa on a very nice day! People get paid on Fridays, go to the bank or out to lunch on Fridays...if the weather is good they take the afternoon or the day off and are out and about...trust me, I lived there!

The bikes are found 2 miles away and not 1 other sighting of them along the way???

Nice Fridays in Iowa people are not all sitting inside! I agree, they need to see if there are any other cameras downtown and ask house to house along the route(s) to the lake for sightings.

If no one saw them from point A to B, I'm in fear they were abducted somewhere closer to downtown and the bike were just dumped at the lake.

And don't forget reporting of the 12:27 sighting of the bikes at the trail hasn't been confirmed by LE, at least not in MSM.
Yes it is odd no one noticed two little gals out riding there bikes...possibly on the way to the park. It is not a large town, nor does it look overpopulated & busy , where it is easy to get lost in a crowd.
So sad. I really hope LE is working with other LE where all the other attempted abductions have taken place, to see what commonalities there are.

FYI- post #'s 184, 190 and 358 mention these other attempted abductions in case you are interested.

I think someone would have noticed an adult dumping bikes..The only other thing I can think is maybe teen girls or boys dumped them..
I agree that somewhere along the way they should have been caught on camera.

StacyMarie83 said:

what's scary is that the other case here on websleuths of two females missing, may have been solved. There was an arrest made and 2 bodies were found in a place that was previously searched, they had to go back and look again to actually find them (and with a tip). I'm not saying this is the case here, just saying it happens. Here's the websleuth link to the other case : http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=178736&page=6

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Yes it does happen just like the Elizabeth Olten case. LE searched the woods and did not find her. Her killer showed them where she was buried her right by where tlE had searched.

Prayers for these two precious girls.

EXIA15145 said:

The banks have surveillance cameras, ATMs, car dealerships, apartment complexes. Do they have a Wal-Mart or a Kohl's? < (Those two have cameras)A shopping mall? A parking garage? A hospital or a medical complex? Urgentcare? A nursing home? The list goes on. The town doesn't need to have any, and there's probably a hundred cameras privately (as opposed to government) owned, including some home owners.

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I know on the scanner yesterday survellence camera feed was ready and picked up from the Casey's by there and that there is a survellance camera on a pole on a hill at the the River Forest Road exit which would have been overlooking this scene and it is live stream only! Waiting for the 11:00 press conference.. The scanner frequencie here is offline an has been all morning...

I am a local to this case. I have been on this website and others for years. Just never registered.

I was confused on the fence thing so I walked the trail yesterday. There is a fence that separates the highway and the trail. There is tall grass between the fence and highway.

At one point (still around the lake), there becomes 2 fences. The second one separates the lake and trail. That is where the purse was thrown. It was not thrown over the highway fence.

Any questions, just let me know.

sreshowtime said:

And don't forget reporting of the 12:27 sighting of the bikes at the trail hasn't been confirmed by LE, at least not in MSM.
Yes it is odd no one noticed two little gals out riding there bikes...possibly on the way to the park. It is not a large town, nor does it look overpopulated & busy , where it is easy to get lost in a crowd.
So sad. I really hope LE is working with other LE where all the other attempted abductions have taken place, to see what commonalities there are.

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I am still waiting on an official timeline. Did the girls leave the house at 12:15ish or was it earlier? The person who saw the bikes around 12:27 would have no reason to lie since at that time nothing was wrong.

Which side of the fence was the purse? Opposite side as the bikes, right?

JodiR said:

I am a local to this case. I have been on this website and others for years. Just never registered.

I was confused on the fence thing so I walked the trail yesterday. There is a fence that separates the highway and the trail. There is tall grass between the fence and highway.

At one point (still around the lake), there becomes 2 fences. The second one separates the lake and trail. That is where the purse was thrown. It was not thrown over the highway fence.

Any questions, just let me know.

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:welcome5:

nikkiw319 said:

That isn't thought also. From arbutus to where their bikes were found is the only part of the trail that is sheilded by trees.

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Can you clarify what you mean by this? "That isn't thought also"...are you meaning it's not thought they were taken thru the woods? If that is the only area of the trail that is shielded by trees, it seems one of the only LOGICAL things to look at. Seems like the perfect opportunity.

Do we know where the dogs traced their scent to?

And remind me again how we know exactly where their bikes were found along the trail?

JodiR said:

I am a local to this case. I have been on this website and others for years. Just never registered.

I was confused on the fence thing so I walked the trail yesterday. There is a fence that separates the highway and the trail. There is tall grass between the fence and highway.

At one point (still around the lake), there becomes 2 fences. The second one separates the lake and trail. That is where the purse was thrown. It was not thrown over the highway fence.

Any questions, just let me know.

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So just to clarify, is there a way to tell where it was thrown from? Like was it thrown from the trail and not the highway?

Since it has been discussed a little today, I'll clarify a few things.

First, this is Lyric's Facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/lyric.morrissey

The photo is Selena Gomez, a TV star. That is not Lyric.

In July 2011, someone using Lyric's FB signed up for a dating site called Zoosk. It appears in her Facebook wall timeline. I created a Zoosk account yesterday and went looking for Lyric. You can search by area. I found an account under Lyric's mother's name. The profile photo for the account is the same pic of Selena Gomez.

The profile lists the age for her mother as 34. It also shows that she is separated, drinks and smokes socially and is looking for a man.

The site allows you to send messages, chat, browse photos of users, etc. It even will send you alerts when someone checks your profile. It actually shows you who was checking, too. It also shows you which users are logged in and using the site. I was surprised that so many men seemed to be sitting on their computers using the site.

To browse for men in the area, I changed my Zoosk profile to a woman looking for a man. There were a lot of creepy-looking individuals within 5 miles of the Evansdale/Waterloo area. Five of them clicked on my profile.

I was very tired yesterday. So I made a few small errors when I first reported this information here. Fortunately, the wife let me sleep in til 10 a.m. today! One of the errors was that I initially said it was Lyric's account. That seems to be only half correct. It is actually under her mother's name, but I think that all of the info points to Lyric creating it herself. I also initially said that the age on the profile was 37. It is actually 34.

It has been discussed before. But I'll rehash. Some believe that Lyric was attempting to pick out a man for her mother or was trying to set up her mother for a date. There was nothing on her profile, though, to suggest that she had been an active user. I believe it showed that she received a digital rose from someone. I wasn't able to see who sent it.

My intuition tells me that the site itself probably has nothing to do with the disappearance of the two girls. But I wouldn't rule it out completely. Certainly, there are some creepy men on there. It certainly creates a means of communication between Lyric and potential RSOs in the area. It's also possible that it is only one of several sites that Lyric visited.

Didn't someone say that the girls were last seen in town riding their bikes behind a ' Big n Tall' mens shop? That sounds a bit ominous, imo. Could they have been taken from the parking lot?

otto said:

I'm wondering if that is a dock, or if that is the beginning of the drainage pipe. Still, the drainage pipe has mesh on at least one end of it to prevent fish from swimming towards the lake. We don't know if there's mesh on both ends or if it covers the entire pipe. We don't even know the diameter of the drainage pipe.

I thought they may have dumped their bikes on the path, tossed the phone/purse over the fence towards the lake or dock, wandered to an opening in the fence and tried to wade over to the dock. They could have drowned.

If this was a crime of opportunity - like the perp happens to be in the same place as the two girls on a dock - it would be tricky to get them into a vehicle or home from that location without being seen. If they're not in the lake, it looks more and more like it was a planned meeting with the hopes of abductioning a child ... and two were as easy as one.

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JodiR Is that the dock?