IA IA - Elizabeth Collins, 8, & Lyric Cook, 10, Evansdale, 13 July 2012 - #25

[Ms Pragmatic]

Thank you! I'm torn.... I don't know enough about "dump sites". Just know when I saw the picture from above that showed the "sheets" covering the 2 sites where the bodies were found I felt they were killed on the spot execution style. Does anyone who has followed enough of these type of cases know statistically how far a dump site would be from the kill site? Are we talking miles or can they be just feet apart? Curious as to how sanitized the picture we were shown was. The picture was from the day after the bodies had been found. I don't recall any trash or debris in the photo. The road, from the picture, looks well used as well as the immediate camp site area. It looked as if there was some type of fire pit very close to the road.

The only bad thing is, at that early stage, what would lead police to believe 7 Bridges was the dump site? And could that have changed between now and then?

 

[janie]

If you are referring to TG, it was my understanding that he didn't call his daughter to report seeing the bicycles on the trail, he called to talk to her about something else.

The reason the phone call was important was that his cell phone log gave him a firm time shortly after he'd seen the bicycles.

I am a member of a site similar to the site, one that allows sleuthing of witnesses :furious:

TG and his daughter visited the site after hearing that someone had been sleuthing him not only online, but had tresspassed on his propery, took photos, and had posted them.

The daughter was devasted and claimed she was so distraught she couldn't sleep. She came to the site first to explain and then answered member questions. In my opinion, she was not treated respectfully. She eventually went to LE in person and also contacted the FBI to get advice about the sleuthing of her father.

TG eventually joined and answered questions. I feel he was very tranparent not trying to hide anything. He offered to let people come to his property and knock on his door in lieu of sleuthing him. He said they can look anywhere on his property.

He stated he drove to the Gilbertville Depot with his bike on a rack and biked from that point. He also stated he called LE on Saturday about seeing the bikes and followed up in person on Monday when he was again on the trail and saw LE there.

He has been 100 cooperative with LE according to his daughter.

 

[Bootsctr]

I do believe 7-Bridges is very significant to him.

Simple question! :what: Almost a duhhhhh-question to me. :what:

Why wasn't the 7-Bridges location searched right from the git-go or
sooner?

Locals and LE knew about it. They knew its history. It's part of the area
and few places like it in the area ......... its unique in that area ?

Am I the only one a little surprised and puzzled ?

I mean folks, 'dont search the one giant drug park in the area'! Duhhh. Sure it a few miles
away from Evansdale but in this area to rural folks who travel everywhere for everything,
a few miles is nothing. People in small rural towns and the county regularly drive to county parks for recreation etc ... its S.O.P. for life in a rural area.

:banghead:

No, you are not the only one a little surprised and puzzled that 7-Bridges was not searched sooner. There was a screen shot posted on an earlier thread that showed a snapshot of a FB post suggesting the 7-Bridges be searched as early as the 22nd of July. I believe Misty's last media interview was July 21st and she asked that LE look further north. Very generic I know, but did she specifically tell LE 7-Bridges and just say north on tape. I'm apologize. My hard disc crashed and I have lost all my saved links. Need to start over again from thread #1 and refresh my memory. I just think someone, anyone, would have immediately formed a search group and headed up to 7-Bridges if 7-Bridges had been announced sooner. Definitely not what LE would have wanted because of destruction of evidence, but getting memories of a certain Mr. Krunk here... :waitasec:

 

[Ms Pragmatic]

What if TG's memory played tricks on him? Maybe the bikes (or 2 bikes) were lying near the restroom where he stopped, but when he heard where the bikes were found his mind pictured them there instead? He'd glimpsed bikes, maybe actually swerved around them, but at the time he didn't really process it. Then later, when he heard about the girls, he incorporated the information he heard about the location of the bikes into his own memory. kwim?

Would that shave a couple minutes off the ride and make his siting fit into the timeline better?

I honestly don't know what to make of the TG sighting. I've gone back and forth between making it try to fit the timeline and throwing his sighting out completely by brushing it off as "he was mistaken". His sighting isn't in the official timeline and LE hasn't even acknowledged his statement. BUT, he seemed so sure and was adamant about the time. Who knows? At this point, we are all frustrated because we know so very little and some of things we DO know don't seem to make sense. We have lawn-watering man and TG. Rumors of the girls asking for directions from the Fareway. We have grainy footage of the girls riding their bikes close to home(where they SHOULD be). And then we have the bikes rather far from home at the lake(where they shouldn't be)

WAY more questions than answers.

 

[janie]

The only bad thing is, at that early stage, what would lead police to believe 7 Bridges was the dump site? And could that have changed between now and then?

Unless I missed something, I don't recall LE making any statements that Seven Bridges was a dump site. The only place I ever saw that was on the Nancy Grace show and I took that to be the opinion of one of her experts, not neccessarily fact.

 

[janie]

I do believe 7-Bridges is very significant to him.


No, you are not the only one a little surprised and puzzled that 7-Bridges was not searched sooner. There was a screen shot posted on an earlier thread that showed a snapshot of a FB post suggesting the 7-Bridges be searched as early as the 22nd of July. I believe Misty's last media interview was July 21st and she asked that LE look further north. Very generic I know, but did she specifically tell LE 7-Bridges and just say north on tape. I'm apologize. My hard disc crashed and I have lost all my saved links. Need to start over again from thread #1 and refresh my memory. I just think someone, anyone, would have immediately formed a search group and headed up to 7-Bridges if 7-Bridges had been announced sooner. Definitely not what LE would have wanted because of destruction of evidence, but getting memories of a certain Mr. Krunk here... :waitasec:

No disrespect intended, but do you know how many wooded areas there are in this state? It would not be possible, in my opinion, to be able to search them all without major manpower, like the National Guard from all 50 states.

 

[Ms Pragmatic]

I am a member of a site similar to the site, one that allows sleuthing of witnesses :furious:

TG and his daughter visited the site after hearing that someone had been sleuthing him not only online, but had tresspassed on his propery, took photos, and had posted them.

The daughter was devasted and claimed she was so distraught she couldn't sleep. She came to the site first to explain and then answered member questions. In my opinion, she was not treated respectfully. She eventually went to LE in person and also contacted the FBI to get advice about the sleuthing of her father.

TG eventually joined and answered questions. I feel he was very tranparent not trying to hide anything. He offered to let people come to his property and knock on his door in lieu of sleuthing him. He said they can look anywhere on his property.

He stated he drove to the Gilbertville Depot with his bike on a rack and biked from that point. He also stated he called LE on Saturday about seeing the bikes and followed up in person on Monday when he was again on the trail and saw LE there.

He has been 100 cooperative with LE according to his daughter.

I feel bad for TG too. I don't/have not ever suspected him. He seemed too sure of what he saw and seemed very forthcoming to me from the beginning.

 

[Ms Pragmatic]

Unless I missed something, I don't recall LE making any statements that Seven Bridges was a dump site. The only place I ever saw that was on the Nancy Grace show and I took that to be the opinion of one of her experts, not neccessarily fact.

LE did not make the statement. In an earlier post, I attributed the quote to Jon Lieberman of HLN. You must have missed that

 

[janie]

LE did not make the statement. In an earlier post, I attributed the quote to Jon Lieberman of HLN. You must have missed that

I did miss that; my apologies.

 

[Ms Pragmatic]

I did miss that; my apologies.

Oh, absolutely no problem. I just wanted you to know I wasn't suggesting it as fact. Lol Lieberman and Jane Velez Mitchell are not my favorites

 

[Squeeze]

I recall there being a body under a bridge, but I do not believe that it was anywhere near 7 Bridges park. I can't find the news link, but I think it was unrelated.

It was near cedar rapids, no where near 7 bridges.

 

[janie]

I do believe 7-Bridges is very significant to him.


No, you are not the only one a little surprised and puzzled that 7-Bridges was not searched sooner. There was a screen shot posted on an earlier thread that showed a snapshot of a FB post suggesting the 7-Bridges be searched as early as the 22nd of July. I believe Misty's last media interview was July 21st and she asked that LE look further north. Very generic I know, but did she specifically tell LE 7-Bridges and just say north on tape. I'm apologize. My hard disc crashed and I have lost all my saved links. Need to start over again from thread #1 and refresh my memory. I just think someone, anyone, would have immediately formed a search group and headed up to 7-Bridges if 7-Bridges had been announced sooner. Definitely not what LE would have wanted because of destruction of evidence, but getting memories of a certain Mr. Krunk here... :waitasec:

I am a member of the FB group for which a member wanted to gather a group to search Seven Bridges. My take on that was it was just someone who knew of the area who thought it might be a good place to look or it was a psychic feeling she had. There were many places the psychics posted that could have been searched too had someone connected clues they gave. I thought maybe Blackhawk Park, Lake Delhi area that is miles long, George Wyth (huge area), or Backbone State Park (mega huge) could be spots to search.

Misty saying to look north could have meant Minnesota, and I did hear reports of truckers in Minnesota who were questioned. Or maybe Misty had a suspicion as to a potential perp and knew where he might head?

 

[Snowbunny]

There was someone who tried to abduct a 10 year old in Rochester, MN. PD had released an artist sketch of the suspect. I believe Rochester is two hours north.

 

[Ms Pragmatic]

I am a member of the FB group for which a member wanted to gather a group to search Seven Bridges. My take on that was it was just someone who knew of the area who thought it might be a good place to look or it was a psychic feeling she had. There were many places the psychics posted that could have been searched too had someone connected clues they gave. I thought maybe Blackhawk Park, Lake Delhi area that is miles long, George Wyth (huge area), or Backbone State Park (mega huge) could be spots to search.

Misty saying to look north could have meant Minnesota, and I did hear reports of truckers in Minnesota who were questioned. Or maybe Misty had a suspicion as to a potential perp and knew where he might head?

Like finding two little needles in a haystack. I think most of us kind of figured those bodies would be found by chance. Way too much wooded area to search. I think we were very, very fortunate that those hunters found them when they did. As horrible as the discovery was, the families deserved to know. It ended the speculation that the girls were being held captive somewhere and tortured or had ended up in the world of sex-trafficking. If it were my child, I would have hoped for a quick death as opposed to months of abuse, neglect and torture. Gives me the chills thinking about it.

 

[threecrazykids]

That's right. We know that the children were last seen on Brovan at 12:15 and their bikes were at the drainage gate at 2:00. There is information that the girls were on Brovan until 12:23 and on Gilbert between Elmer and Arbutus between 12:30 and 1:00. I think those are the only times we know.

We can exclude the cyclist, and I think we can also exclude the social media theory about a sighting at the Fareway store. If there was a Fareway store sighting, police would also be asking for witnesses from that location ... and they are not.

The only reason I can think of that LE isn't asking about it from the community is that it isn't going to change the investigation of where they were. I believe this mother and the other worker who confirmed, they have no reason to lie and they KNEW it was the right day because of the son's schedule along with the other worker.

A Fareway stop would put them straight down the nature trail path towards the lake landing them on Gilbert - go west on Gilbert which could have possibly picked them up on video at the fire station?...keep going and you're headed right around the lake (Gilbert between Elmer and Arbutus between 12:30 and 1:00). Throw in the jogger who saw them riding EAST...it all makes sense to me.

The path I have in mind is Brovan to River Forest, to Lafayette, to nature trail and on to the lake. I was thinking that there may have been a video sighting at the First Securty State Bank...however I have no idea where the cameras are on the bank as to whether they could have picked them up on there or not...

 

[tlcya]

My own :twocents:

witness TG is sincere in what he thinks he saw and there is nothing nefarious in that situation.

 

[Squeeze]

I am a member of the FB group for which a member wanted to gather a group to search Seven Bridges. My take on that was it was just someone who knew of the area who thought it might be a good place to look or it was a psychic feeling she had. There were many places the psychics posted that could have been searched too had someone connected clues they gave. I thought maybe Blackhawk Park, Lake Delhi area that is miles long, George Wyth (huge area), or Backbone State Park (mega huge) could be spots to search.

Misty saying to look north could have meant Minnesota, and I did hear reports of truckers in Minnesota who were questioned. Or maybe Misty had a suspicion as to a potential perp and knew where he might head?

I am also a member of that fb group, and as soon as the bodies were found, red flags went up about that person - how did she "know" to look there, and did she actually go to look. I believe she and family members drove through the park, but never actually got out. As far as other places to look, my thoughts exactly - there are a TON of wooded areas where they could have been, as someone just mentioned her upthread about all of the parks and wooded areas in Iowa. George Wyth immediately comes to mind, as well as Hickory Hills to the south. George Wyth could have easily hidden a body for quite some time, as many people use the trails, but I don't think they venture off of them too much.

Also - georger - did you say that the Wapsi is a stone's throw away from Meyer's lake??? The Cedar is, but not the Wapsi. I know the Cedar was checked during that weekend after the girls went missing. I personally biked that trail on that Saturday, and there were 4-wheelers and people walking everywhere, and the river was quite shallow, especially near the bike bridge.

Again, as far as 7 bridges not being searched sooner, I am a lifetime local, and I had not heard of this park. We live in Waterloo, but own a farm property near Fairbank, and even then were not aware of it. Had we been true locals of the Fairbank area, maybe we would have. During those five months that the girls were missing, I constantly thought of the thousands of places that the girls might be - from in a basement to a small patch of timber - and knew that if that were the case, they may never be found. In fact, they could have been in part of our own property near Fairbank. About half of it is tillable farmland and the rest is timber with trails running through it. If something were off the trail 15 or more feet, it would be possible that it would not have been seen. My husband walks the land quite often, but he does not walk over every square inch.

 

[threecrazykids]

Police have released information regarding sighting of the girls. There is no time associated with the girls being anywhere near the Fareway store.

Maybe they are keeping this tidbit under wraps because only the killer would know they stopped there...

 

[Bootsctr]

The ireporter footage mentions that clothing was once found in the area ... related to a murder in Waterloo in the late 1990s. Other than that, these two murders seemed to have altered the community.

Once 7-Bridges was associated with murder, it probably became less popular. Personally, I believe the landscape/terrain is beautiful, but to a perp I'm sure they view it completely differently than I. As a non-local, I was and still am very appreciative of our local posters' perspectives of the area.

 

[Squeeze]

Like finding two little needles in a haystack. I think most of us kind of figured those bodies would be found by chance. Way too much wooded area to search. I think we were very, very fortunate that those hunters found them when they did. As horrible as the discovery was, the families deserved to know. It ended the speculation that the girls were being held captive somewhere and tortured or had ended up in the world of sex-trafficking. If it were my child, I would have hoped for a quick death as opposed to months of abuse, neglect and torture. Gives me the chills thinking about it.

Agree 100%. I'm sure it was actually a relief to know that they probably died very soon after they were abducted, and did not suffer. As much as they wanted their daughters home safe.....