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

[katydid23]

Kamille, I mentioned the skate park to someone else earlier- I too wonder if a local knows if it is a busy place in the afternoons...I have seen my fair share of unusual folks hanging at them-- NOT that ALL that go there are 'bad'
Wonder if the older girls had any crushes on older guys??

Also wonder if either of the girls ever had any problems ever being bullied by peers

I would think it would be very busy on a summer afternoon. And there are usually lots of younger kids there as well. I think it would be a pretty safe place to be around noon on a summer day. Unless it was in a bad part of town, but it seems not to be. I am not thinking that the skate park holds the key. But I might be wrong.

I am more worried about the local RSO's who might be lurking by the wooded trails.

 

[Kamille]

I would think it would be very busy on a summer afternoon. And there are usually lots of younger kids there as well. I think it would be a pretty safe place to be around noon on a summer day. Unless it was in a bad part of town, but it seems not to be. I am not thinking that the skate park holds the key. But I might be wrong.

I am more worried about the local RSO's who might be lurking by the wooded trails.

I was wondering if any of the kids hanging around the skate park saw the girls go by on that trail on their bikes. Would they even notice anyone on the trail? And if there were a lot of kids hanging around and no one saw them, then perhaps they did not take that trail all the way to where the bikes were found? Doesn't appear that anyone saw them anywhere in those 2 miles. :waitasec:

MOO

 

[nikkiw319]

Can any of the locals tell us how busy that skatepark would be on that trail just north of where the bikes were found?

It would be busy on a summer afternoon. Early even boys, probably 6 to 8 of them.

Do you know if the trail that is being spoken about on FB (Gilbertville to Meyers Trail) is the same as the Evansdale Nature trail that is marked on my map? I am unable to locate the Gilbertville to Meyers Trail.

Ys, it is the cedar valley nature trail. Runs from evansdale to cedar rapids with little twins in between.

The bikes were found at about 3:30, the girls were last seen downtown at about 12:15.

Where did you read that the bikes were seen on the SE tip of the lake at 12:30?

Someone posted on the Facebook page that someone had seen the bikes there at 12:27. That has not been verified by LE as far as I know.

I am actually worried about that lake... have they used side scan sonar yet? It has been hot everywhere lately.. I hope they did not go swimming and had an accident... it has been so hot over most of the country lately... I could see them throwing down their bikes to take a dip... how far were the bikes from the water? Had they swam there before? Could they swim?

I just saw an article the other day that said that drowning related deaths are up this summer related the the extreme heat in the nation and people flocking to pools, lakes, and oceans.

Hope they are found safe and sound!

They have spent nearly two days using sonar, divers, and dredging the lake. It looks pretty doubtful that they are in lake at this point. It's not a swimming lake at all and in my thirty years living in this town, I've never seen anyone swimming in it. Also, they didn't find any shoes near the lake.

I was looking at the street view of that trail again and does it look like there is fencing on both sides of that trail right around where the bikes were found? If you follow the street view a little further west you can see what I mean.

Maybe someone who has searched or is local can answer this?

Us, the trail around lake is very open, not wooded at all, and the fence is only on the back side up until you hit that south east corner. It's where they can drain and fill the lake from the cedar so they have it fenced on both sides of the trail with very little room outside of the paved trail before the fence. It's also the only area of the trail that is wooded. It's the only area of the trail you can not see from the highway. That patch of trail is short, I'm bad at distance but I'd say thirty feet long maybe.

 

[Kamille]

hollye.. this is an incredible map... THANK YOU!!!!:rocker: (you are one of the best map makers around!!!!!)

sure looks like they could have ridden on the nature trail around the lake and decided to take a dip :-(

when I was a kid we would ride a five mile loop at that age to nearest little store to buy candy.. I don't see the distance from the home as being odd.. I do however wonder what their knowledge base of the lake was.. (re: had they been there before?).. I also noticed on that map there is a skate park right in that same area.. wondering if they had stopped there in between?

I agree nurse, that we've had other cases on here where bodies of water were searched and then the missing person turned up in them anyway. I believe I read that this lake was dragged during the initial search but you just never know. The only thing I'm wondering is that it was said the bikes were found on the trail near the southeast corner of the lake and there appears to be fencing around the lake as well as on the highway side in that area. Why would the girls ditch their bikes on a trail that had two high fences on either side? I wish we knew exactly where the bikes were found.

MOO

MOO

 

[HeinekenMan]

Iowa has residency restrictions on RSOs:

http://www.iowasexoffender.com/SORregistration.pdf

In short, RSOs may not live within 2000 feet of schools, daycares, public libraries, parks, etc. There are ways to get exceptions, however.

It was one of those ideas that sounded good on paper but has turned into a fiasco in real life. RSOs are now pushed away from cities and towns and out into rural areas.

Understandably, us rural folk wish we could slap the legislators who thought that our areas would be good areas for RSOs to congregate.

My guess is that the residency requirements will be changed within the next decade, as rural residents get madder and madder.

My city was going to pass an ordinance that would have banned RSOs within a set distance from schools and parks. It would have made it impossible for any RSOs to live in the city. Someone put a stop to that ordinance, unfortunately. I see that they must live at least 2,000 feet from a school. But where do you measure from? I have seen school campuses that are almost 2,000 feet wide. If you measure from the nearest edge, that puts the RSO about a half-mile away. But, if you measure from the front door of the school, that RSO could be much, much closer.

 

[mijamawi]

The lake has been searched. I believe it was searched with sonar. It's in one of the earlier articles in the thread. I also posted an article from a few years ago where they show the lake after it was drained. That lake empties into another lake. It's been super, super dry in the Midwest. My guess is that the lake level was really low. Plus, one girl had high tops. And they haven't been accounted for.

Plus, if they just went for a swim, why would the purse have been thrown over the fence?

 

[otto]

I was looking at the street view of that trail again and does it look like there is fencing on both sides of that trail right around where the bikes were found? If you follow the street view a little further west you can see what I mean.

Maybe someone who has searched or is local can answer this?

It looks like there's a stretch of path close to the water that is fenced on both sides of the path, but the fence between the path and the water seems to end when the path moves away from the water ... it's hard to say for sure.

 

[nikkiw319]

I would also add that despite the large number of sex offenders, there is no "bad" part of town and very little crime. It's a small town filled with lots of people born and raised here. I live just across the bridge in Elk Run and were so closely connected to them as they are to waterloo that everything runs together. We all share a common school district.

 

[nursebeeme]

Plus, if they just went for a swim, why would the purse have been thrown over the fence?

bbm: I didn't know that :-(

no that does not sound good if that is the case...

the purse was thrown over the fence?

 

[katydid23]

I was wondering if any of the kids hanging around the skate park saw the girls go by on that trail on their bikes. Would they even notice anyone on the trail? And if there were a lot of kids hanging around and no one saw them, then perhaps they did not take that trail all the way to where the bikes were found? Doesn't appear that anyone saw them anywhere in those 2 miles. :waitasec:

MOO

Good thinking. I wonder if anyone went and asked any of those kids.

 

[otto]

bbm: I didn't know that :-(

no that does not sound good if that is the case...

the purse was thrown over the fence?

Purse and phone on one side of the fence, bikes on the other side of the fence.

 

[liz b.]

That caught my attention too ... a 10 year old with a purse. I too am trying to figure out how the bikes got to the SE tip of the lake. It seems like a long way for them to ride bikes without a reason, but maybe there was a reason - like maybe they were going to meet a friend they met on the internet. It seems like an unlikely place for someone to toss the bikes if the girls were taken from another location. The phone and purse over the fence suggests that someone threw them over the fence to prevent the girls from using the phone. That leads me to believe that they met someone in that area where the bikes were found. If one of the girls was grabbed, I think the other one would have become compliant.

The girls were seen downtown at around 12 :15 p.m., a tipster called LE and said that he or she saw the girls' bikes out by the lake at 12 ;27 p.m.

Someone they knew,either well or slightly,offered them a ride. Someone who saw them downtown... MOO

 

[jadejazzkayla]

from where the girls were last seen - 3524 lafayette road - to where their bikes were found

google maps bicycle directions recommended route is the Evansdale Nature Trail. It estimates the distance at 1.5 miles and the time at 7 minutes.

 

[nursebeeme]

Purse and phone on one side of the fence, bikes on the other side of the fence.

oh my

:-(

 

[otto]

The girls were seen downtown at around 12 :15 p.m., a tipster called LE and said that he or she saw the girls' bikes out by the lake at 12 ;27 p.m.

Someone they knew,either well or slightly,offered them a ride. Someone who saw them downtown... MOO

Why would someone offer two girls with bikes a ride and why would two girls with bikes accept a ride. That doesn't make sense to me.

 

[katydid23]

The girls were seen downtown at around 12 :15 p.m., a tipster called LE and said that he or she saw the girls' bikes out by the lake at 12 ;27 p.m.

Someone they knew,either well or slightly,offered them a ride. Someone who saw them downtown... MOO

How far of a bike ride is it if they tried to ride their bikes from downtown to the lake where the bikes were found? I am assuming it would take longer than 12 minutes.

 

[HeinekenMan]

Yes. I commented last night or this morning about the location of the purse and phone. The fact that the bike and the purse were on opposite sides of the fence indicates that something was going on involving the fence. The street view shows a cross support for that fence, I believe. It's not as if they had to scale an 8-foot fence. They only had to climb up to the cross support and then climb the last four feet.

 

[otto]

oh my

:-(

It certainly suggests that someone wanted to separate the girls from their phone.

 

[otto]

How far of a bike ride is it if they tried to ride their bikes from downtown to the lake where the bikes were found? I am assuming it would take longer than 12 minutes.

The trail to the lake is not too far from where they were last seen. If the distance is 1.5 miles, it shouldn't take more than 5-10 minutes to get there on bike.

 

[katydid23]

Yes. I commented last night or this morning about the location of the purse and phone. The fact that the bike and the purse were on opposite sides of the fence indicates that something was going on involving the fence. The street view shows a cross support for that fence, I believe. It's not as if they had to scale an 8-foot fence. They only had to climb up to the cross support and then climb the last four feet.

I just cannot think of any good reason that the girls would have thrown away the purse and the phone. Maybe bullies might have done something like that. Even girl bullies are cruel that way.

It seems scary that they were thrown over the fence though.