IA IA - Elizabeth Collins, 8, & Lyric Cook, 10, Evansdale, 13 July 2012 - #3

[Katiebalamucki]

...And how does a strewn purse :not: suggest foul play?!

 

[SK_Hunter]

"Our knowledge of these case doesn't change stats. It remains the case that a child has more of a chance to be hit by lightning than taken by a stranger. It remains a fact that out of 258,000 missing kid cases per year, only 115 of those are stranger abductions: http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/pu...dren-spotlight
Quote taken from gitana1's excellent post.

Unbelievable. :0 "

I am a huge fan of facts and of this post. I am not a huge fan of family members offering facts and "knowing" so much.

family: They were abducted
family: They are not in the lake

I tried my best to scan and catch up, but are we dealing with any "Step Fathers" or live in 'Boyfriends" here? If yes, which family? Thanks for your answers in advance.

 

[Jules71]

Ok...long day at the beach, then dinner, then son's t-ball....I am wa-a-a-a-a-y behind in this thread (pg 30 of the last thread), but....

After t-ball we went to Meyer's Lake, and I took some pics. Much of the lake is taped off, but I took pics of the playground, the shelter, the crowd watching the lake drain, the location where the docks were and the docks stacked up in the parking lot, the trail leading off around the lake, across the lake where a pump was working to help drain the lake, etc. Then we went over to that lift/pump house.

I got pics of the "grassy area" mentioned on Nancy Grace (which I'm now watching for the first time - ever), the wooded area, the lift/pump house and its driveway, the view towards the trail from the lift/pump house, a pic of some clear tire tracks leading back towards the lake, and the cleared path mentioned previously. I walked back along that path and took pics of where it led. I also got pics of where the trail crosses Arbutus (just down from the lift/pump house), as well as where it crosses Gilbert one block from the police station while adjacent to a skatepark.

Those tire tracks were odd. At first I assumed it was some LE or search vehicle, because I know that area had been scoured. But then I got pics of the "grassy parking area" and there is good access to the trail there, as well as the fact that vehicles were easily accessing the back of the lake by using the trail, so why would any vehicle feel the need to completely bushwhack its way thru that underbrush there?

I got home, double-checked my pics. It was still strange. Too wide to be a Gator, and likely only used one time - not beaten down, just looked like brushy undergrowth that had been recently driven thru. So, eventually, I called the tip-line again. Answered first time this time, took my info, sounded genuinely interested, got my name, number, etc.

Also, we got pics of Lederman's with the last-known sighting area and the Collins home in the background. Also got pics of the trail where it leads away from Lafayette and heads down towards the school, the skatepark, and eventually the lake.

I'll work on getting them posted here if it would help ppl visualize the area better. But first, it's bedtime for my son, and I got a few minutes of SuperDad-ing left to do.

I'd hate to think I was the first to spot those tire tracks, or that they weren't made by searchers/LE, but also I hope that sheds some light and helps get these girls home.

WOW! Impressive! Thank you!!
:yourock:

 

[Katiebalamucki]

...still, to be able to achieve boredom at such a young age...why? seems as though the child is passed around a lot for supervision. totally understandable. yet...

 

[mysticrose]

Family ‘trying to remain positive’ in search for missing cousins


EVANSDALE, Iowa – Authorities continue to drain Meyers Lake and follow tips in the search for two missing girls, but officials don’t have any new information in connection with their disappearance.

Family members continue to “try and stay positive” as the search presses on for Elizabeth Collins, 8, and Lyric Cook-Morrissey, 10, which now is in its fourth day.

“We are still working this as a 24-7 operation,” said Capt. Rick Abben with the Black Hawk County Sheriff’s Office. He said investigators continue to receive leads from the public but was tight-lipped about any developments.

Misty Morrissey, mother of Lyric, says as the days go by, things only gets harder

Dan Morrissey leans on a tree near Meyers Lake where his daughter Lyric Cook-Morrissey, 10, and Elizabeth Collins, 8, disappeared last Friday, Tuesday, July 17, 2012, in Evansdale, Iowa.
The girls' bikes were found Friday afternoon near a bike trail at the edge of the lake. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

http://thegazette.com/2012/07/17/fa...sitive-in-search-for-missing-evansdale-girls/

 

[Katiebalamucki]

how often was she left pretty much unsupervised so she could get into harm's way? maybe one thing led to another.

 

[LucyOso]

Thanks, Liltexans! I have been reading for a few years.

boredom leads to risktaking...which cousin was swearing? rebellious...?

I do think this was over a year ago...in 2011, while she was staying at a cousins house.

 

[SK_Hunter]

how often was she left pretty much unsupervised so she could get into harm's way? maybe one thing led to another.

Being unsupervised, should not make a victim. When I was 10, I biked around my entire city 10x if not more. The assumption that parental supervision should be constant, is not rational. If it were, I would not want to be that 10yr old.

 

[Considering]

I'm wondering when the girls stayed away too long the first time if a police cruiser came to the home when LE was contacted.

Usually when this happens, news usually travels around the neighbourhood about why a police cruiser was parked in front of a home.

In this case, the perp could be someone who knew about this first incident and then used this to lure the girls to a waiting vehicle by approaching the girls on the nature trail telling them they had been asked by their mother and father to come and pick them up, as they should know better because they were told not to be gone too long and to leave their bikes that the perp would come back and get them after he took them home.

The girls would have believed this, as the first incident happened.

I still think this perp is local and in the know. Since there was no sign of a struggle, the girls must have gone willingly thinking they were in trouble again.

This perp may have said they were from LE.

Some thoughts.

Misty Morrissey spoke about the on Nancy Grace tonight. The first incident wasn't with Lyric and Elizabeth. It was with Lyric and another cousin (seems like she said Jessica's daughter but I'm NOT sure about that). I also believe she said it took place in Waterloo where she lives, not in Evansdale.

I don't think the transcripts are online yet or I would check.

 

[nikb]

I do thin this was over a year ago...in 2011, while she was staying at a cousins house.

Looks like it. My heart just about skipped a beat when I saw "July 15" on one post and then I saw it was from 2011.

 

[otto]

I'll work on getting them posted here if it would help ppl visualize the area better. But first, it's bedtime for my son, and I got a few minutes of SuperDad-ing left to do.

Thank you for taking the time to take the photos and please do post them. I would really appreciate having a better understanding of the area.

 

[FrayedKnot]

Being unsupervised, should not make a victim. When I was 10, I biked around my entire city 10x if not more. The assumption that parental supervision should be constant, is not rational. If it were, I would not want to be that 10yr old.

I, too, was afforded much more freedom than I am willing to give my own child.

We swam in our lake unsupervised. We rode our bikes from sunup to supper without checking in. We did not lock our doors in the daytime.

Yes, I mourn for the loss of that freedom for my daughter, but not enough to give it to her. You are right, it shouldn't make them victims, but these days, too often it does.

I just won't take that chance. There is too much evil.

 

[Lbugz15]

Found an interview with Dan Morrissey earlier in the day . Thought Id add because I hadnt seen any mention of it in the threads.... Cant figure out how to add the link but go Facebook > KCCi news 8 Desmoines ..

 

[LucyOso]

Looks like it. My heart just about skipped a beat when I saw "July 15" on one post and then I saw it was from 2011.

Most of the FB activity and posts were in July of 2011. Even the Zoosk thing was last year. My guess is maybe mom was in the hopsital at the time, life was disrupted and she had to stay at someone's house. I think she said her cousins house. By expressing she is bored and hates it, she is most likely using the only words and communication abilities a 9 year old has to say...I have to stay here, my mom is sick, I am not getting the normal amount of attention I usually get, this isn't my bed, the food I am used to, I want my mom, I am worried, etc, etc. Basically a young kid who is homesick. That was also the time she was playing the games, like Fishdom or whatever it was. The only really current facebook stuff is the autospam 21 questions stuff that everyone gets unless you block it.

 

[liltexans]

Was Lyric's mom in the hospital last year? I thought it was Elizabeth's mom, Heather, who has the heart problems/pacemaker who was hospitalized.

 

[GrainneDhu]

As it was so close to a construction zone and freeway I was wondering if motorists or workers saw anything. I know when I am driving and I notice things off the side of the road, I make mental notes. Did some driver glance over and see the bikes there and not think much of it at the time? That could narrow down the timeline. Also, the purse is strange to me...unless someone deliberately dropped it on that side of the fence. Hmmmm

Interstate 380 is a designated truck route and it is the main route to Waterloo/Cedar Falls from the south. So there are lots of semi trucks on it. The traffic on that road during the day is always heavy and with two lanes shut, it can only be heavier. I think most drivers are probably concentrating on the road and looking out for construction workers.

Also, the roadbed is actually fairly far away from the chainlink fence that borders it. My guess would be that it's 50 feet or so and at that point, it's a fairly steep downward slope from the roadbed. Then there are trees overhanging a short stretch of the bike trail.

It's possible that someone on the road could have seen something (I'd think a construction worker, if anyone) but not highly likely.

As for the purse, my theory is that the perp approached the girls when Lyric was near the end of that blind spot between the two fences and Elizabeth was behind her. In my theoretical scenario, the perp has Lyric by the arm and is in some way intimidating both girls. The perp orders Elizabeth to throw her purse over the lakeside fence (probably to prevent her from accessing a possible cell phone), then has both girls get off their bikes, walks them through the woods to a vehicle parked either by the lift building or on Arbutus Ave.

From more than about 10 feet away, it probably looked like a parent escorting two girls in trouble.

 

[elepher50]

I find this wording extremely interesting:

He said the girls' bikes have been processed, but would not elaborate on what if anything was found. He said the bikes only tell authorities that the items were at the location, not necessarily that the girls were there.

Despite interviews with neighbors near the lake who reported seeing the girls Friday, Abben said the last person to have seen the girls was the grandmother, which was at about 12:15 p.m.

Read more: http://www.kcci.com/news/central-io.../15572188/-/tpswgx/-/index.html#ixzz20wTS0aG5

 

[SailorMoon]

I don't know, just don't know. I'm glad they are draining the lake. Then there will be no questions there. Then what?? How do these kids just vanish without a trace??? Were they supposed to be out? Is there normally people walking on the trail at that time? Did they catch someone doing what they weren't supposed to be doing??

WHERE ARE YOU???

 

[LucyOso]

Was Lyric's mom in the hospital last year? I thought it was Elizabeth's mom, Heather, who has the heart problems/pacemaker who was hospitalized.

Perhaps, it was E's mom. I do know on the FB posts L mentioned having to stay at her cousins house. That was what she was referring to by being bored, etc...Home sick kid...

 

[Jules71]

Most of the FB activity and posts were in July of 2011. Even the Zoosk thing was last year. My guess is maybe mom was in the hopsital at the time, life was disrupted and she had to stay at someone's house. I think she said her cousins house. By expressing she is bored and hates it, she is most likely using the only words and communication abilities a 9 year old has to say...I have to stay here, my mom is sick, I am not getting the normal amount of attention I usually get, this isn't my bed, the food I am used to, I want my mom, I am worried, etc, etc. Basically a young kid who is homesick. That was also the time she was playing the games, like Fishdom or whatever it was. The only really current facebook stuff is the autospam 21 questions stuff that everyone gets unless you block it.

Lyric's mom Misty Morrissey was not in the hospital afaik. That was Elizabeth's mom Heather Collins (heart condition).