IA IA - Elizabeth Collins, 8, & Lyric Cook, 10, Evansdale, 13 July 2012 - #27

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Not always. Casey A is an example. They arrested her on stolen checks & lying before they charged her with murder. They took all her charges and had one trial.
 
chelsea6 said:
Looking at past cases, whenever the police suspected a person of murder but that person waswaiting trial on other charges, haven't the police typically waited for the outcome before arresting that person
on a murder charge? Is that proper procedure? This is about past cases, not talking about any present
Cases or anyone in particular. moo
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Depends on the charges. Depends on the case; I've seen it done both ways in Iowa.

One reason not to wait would be for any charges that have a statute of limitations. A reason to wait is if the police are in the position of being pretty sure but not having quite enough evidence to feel comfortable bringing charges.
 
It still pains my heart to click on this thread and read "found deceased". Such a sad ending. I'm hoping we see an arrest in this case.
 
This case caught my attention for two reasons--the fact that 2 girls were taken at the same time and a first name I'd never heard before, Lyric. What a beautiful name for a beautiful child.

It sickens me that somewhere, someone is living their life knowing what they did to these sweet children.
 
After reading here and on MSM, I don't expect LE to share much in the way of autopsy results.

Do you think we can, at least, expect them to contact media to announce that the case is now officially classified as a homicide?
 
I think it is not likely that LE will contact media to tell them of a status change. If the media is continuing to check in with LE looking for that update I think it more likely that LE may divulge info.

I just hate to see this thread go quiet again and no new info coming out.
 
Squeeze said:
I believe she is doing well and the surgery was successful.

Just fyi, she is fairly active on Facebook and if anyone friends her, she will probably accept. She popped up on my suggested friends list and when I saw my daughter and some of her friends were already friends with her... well then!! Shes very inspirational. She recently posted a couple of videos of Elizabeth. I have not met her personally but I'm guessing that will change this summer. She is organizing (or helping) an event to clean up Meyer's lake.
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Squeeze..this post is not intended to offend you. However, I find it strange/odd that heather will add everyone who sends her a friend request. She does seems like a very kind and inspirational person. I guess while reading your post my "mommy" protective mode kicked in & I couldn't help thinking why would you allow public access to your family after a something like this. They have three other children to protect. No one has been charged with abducting & murdering Elizabeth. How can they be certain that the person responsible is not still "watching" their family. I am glad to hear that she is still active in the community. I'm also not passing judgement as I never want to walk in her shoes. I am just very suprised by your post.
 
Cedar Falls Man Who Ran Beauty Pageants, After-School Sports Programs Charged With Sexual Abuse





A Cedar Falls man who put on fashion shows and beauty pageants and ran after-school sports programs such as "Gary's Girls Basketball" has been arrested and charged with sexual abuse.
Cedar Falls Police arrested Gary Lee Alexander, 60, of 1127 Maplewood Drive, on Jan. 11. He was charged with one count of second-degree sexual abuse, a class B felony, and two counts of third-degree sexual abuse, a class C felony.
The alleged victim told police Alexander sexually abused her from the time she was 11 years old until she was 17 years old, between 1998 and 2005. <snipped>

http://cedarfalls.patch.com/article...d-with-sexual-abuse?ncid=newsltuspatc00000001

 
It makes me so sad to see the thread slow down. I really wish that we had more to chew on. Something...anything new to revive our thoughts and ideas as to what happened to these girls.

I pray every day to wake up to the news of an arrest. And each day so far, a little piece of me loses hope. Maybe because this is the first case I've followed on WS, I just had (which may have been ignorant) such great hopes that the girls (alive or not) were going to be found right away.

After a month or so, my hope began to fade quickly and it turned to anger and disappointment in LE. I absolutely KNOW they are trying and doing everything they can to bring justice to these girls...I simply need to learn patience. However, my attempt at patience also pangs with fear that these girls will never have their killer brought to justice. That somehow, the perfect storm of sorts occurred and they are going to get away with it. God, it kills me to say that but that is my greatest fear. That if this IS a random abduction, that some sick piece of crap is out there that did this...has the opportunity to do this again.

This is my first case, so I know absolutely NO statistics so if anyone has any stats I'd love to know the answers to these questions - I know that there are so many variables it may not be feasible, I am just curious if there happens to be stats out there:

What is the average # of days before a murder is committed and an arrest?
Does the length of time increase or decrease due to random vs. family involvement?
What % of crimes believed to be committed by non-familial abductors go cold?
Are more murder cases solved or unsolved in Iowa?

Those types of questions are what I would love to know.

The only other case that I've felt this struggle with was the murder of my grandfather (which is in my book unsolved - I don't believe the state considers it unsolved). So, I personally have very little faith in LE. Not that they don't TRY, but they just can't prove the case without reasonable doubt. I understand there are many more solved cases - I just didn't follow those.

This case with the girls grabbed me. This is the first case I've actually followed outside of TV/media. I have been jaded due to my grandfather's murder...I have chosen (up until the girls abduction) to steer clear of following the cases because I just find myself bearing down on LE when I see a lack of progression in the case.

Patience and faith are two things I'm lacking...I wish I had more of both. :blushing:
 
Jax49 said:
This case caught my attention for two reasons--the fact that 2 girls were taken at the same time and a first name I'd never heard before, Lyric. What a beautiful name for a beautiful child.

It sickens me that somewhere, someone is living their life knowing what they did to these sweet children.
Click to expand...

Some people in this world lack empathy,I would bet my bottom dollar this guy is a narcissist. People who lack empathy are considered sociopaths. I find them to be very dangerous to society.
 
This killer is walking among us, blending into society. Scary.
 
soccer mom said:
Squeeze..this post is not intended to offend you. However, I find it strange/odd that heather will add everyone who sends her a friend request. She does seems like a very kind and inspirational person. I guess while reading your post my "mommy" protective mode kicked in & I couldn't help thinking why would you allow public access to your family after a something like this. They have three other children to protect. No one has been charged with abducting & murdering Elizabeth. How can they be certain that the person responsible is not still "watching" their family. I am glad to hear that she is still active in the community. I'm also not passing judgement as I never want to walk in her shoes. I am just very suprised by your post.
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Just another possibility...in keeping with her 'openness', she might have wanted to keep all possible communication lines open in case a perp/s wished to contact her.

She has kept a dignified vigil all these months, an agonizing task at best. She has made her forgiveness clear. She has likely hoped and prayed that someone out there would feel forgiven enough to confess.

I hope her prayers are answered.
 
Reverie said:
Just another possibility...in keeping with her 'openness', she might have wanted to keep all possible communication lines open in case a perp/s wished to contact her.

She has kept a dignified vigil all these months, an agonizing task at best. She has made her forgiveness clear. She has likely hoped and prayed that someone out there would feel forgiven enough to confess.

I hope her prayers are answered.
Click to expand...

I totally agree. I can see FBI asking her to do that.
 
threecrazykids said:
This is my first case, so I know absolutely NO statistics so if anyone has any stats I'd love to know the answers to these questions - I know that there are so many variables it may not be feasible, I am just curious if there happens to be stats out there:

What is the average # of days before a murder is committed and an arrest?
Does the length of time increase or decrease due to random vs. family involvement?
What % of crimes believed to be committed by non-familial abductors go cold?
Are more murder cases solved or unsolved in Iowa?
Click to expand...

SBM

I don't have the absolute stats but I know they are out there. I do have a grasp on the general trends, so take this for whatever it is worth.

The average number of days between a murder and an arrest overall is probably somewhere around 1-2 weeks. That includes all the people who kill someone they live with and call 911 themselves to confess (happens more often than you'd think) and all the cases that are never solved.

Killings committed by someone who is a stranger to the victim take longer to solve. A lot of police work is painstakingly tracing out all the relationships and social connections of the victim; if the killer doesn't have any social connection to the victim, it makes solving the crime very difficult.

Overall, about 25% of all murders go officially unsolved. In some percentage of those so-called unsolved cases the LE heading the case have a strong suspicion as to who committed it but cannot get enough evidence to bring charges.

More murder cases in Iowa are solved; Iowa does not have an unusually low solve rate or an unusually high unsolved rate. As in so many other things, Iowa is around the middle.
 
GrainneDhu said:
SBM

I don't have the absolute stats but I know they are out there. I do have a grasp on the general trends, so take this for whatever it is worth.

The average number of days between a murder and an arrest overall is probably somewhere around 1-2 weeks. That includes all the people who kill someone they live with and call 911 themselves to confess (happens more often than you'd think) and all the cases that are never solved.

Killings committed by someone who is a stranger to the victim take longer to solve. A lot of police work is painstakingly tracing out all the relationships and social connections of the victim; if the killer doesn't have any social connection to the victim, it makes solving the crime very difficult.

Overall, about 25% of all murders go officially unsolved. In some percentage of those so-called unsolved cases the LE heading the case have a strong suspicion as to who committed it but cannot get enough evidence to bring charges.

More murder cases in Iowa are solved; Iowa does not have an unusually low solve rate or an unusually high unsolved rate. As in so many other things, Iowa is around the middle.
Click to expand...

I think it's higher than that....This article says:

Despite dramatic improvements in DNA analysis and forensic science, police fail to make an arrest in more than one-third of all homicides. National clearance rates for murder and manslaughter have fallen from about 90 percent in the 1960s to below 65 percent in recent years.
Click to expand...

http://www.timesrecordnews.com/news/2010/may/24/unsolved-homicides/
 
In the very beginning of the investigation, LE was looking thru trash for the girls, yet they said they believed they were still alive?
 
cindersoot said:
In the very beginning of the investigation, LE was looking thru trash for the girls, yet they said they believed they were still alive?
Click to expand...

I believe they were looking for evidence as well as looking for the girls. It was something they had to do, part of the process of elimination. Like draining the lake - LE had to do it even though they didn't believe the girls were in the lake.
 
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