Found Deceased IA - Elizabeth Collins, 8, & Lyric Cook, 10, Evansdale, 13 July 2012 - #37

[dotr]

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...y-2012-Media-Maps-TmLne&p=8310095#post8310095

As the group searched, a bicyclist stopped the officers to say he saw the two kids bikes on the trail at about 12:20 p.m., but no sign of the children.

Ted Gamerdinger of Waterloo said he rides the trail often.

“I saw the bikes laying on the path and had to swerve to miss them,” Gamerdinger said. He then went to the Evansdale Police Department to report the sighting.

rbbm
http://globegazette.com/news/iowa/r...cle_7dbadcc0-cfd1-11e1-b097-001a4bcf887a.html

 

[cattree]

Hi, I'm new here and also from the Waterloo area. I'm so glad people are still thinking about this case, I don't know the Collins well, but I played hockey with Drew a couple times in the past couple years. He seems very nice, but obviously this hit him really hard.

That was something I thought of, could this have been from someone who knew Elizabeth through hockey?? I have no idea how the children's leagues run though... maybe something to look into? I will say, as a women playing hockey, they put us in with the figure skaters often, and I and many other women were walked in on while changing by men. A lot. Usually by the same guys. I complained so much to the arena but they didn't really seem to care. I guess since then (it's been a couple years) they finally have a dedicated women's locker room area. I'm not sure how they had divided the locker rooms for kids, but if it's like it was for us and the figure skaters it was far from ideal (there are shared bathrooms between the locker rooms too). I did recently report this to the tip line, I have absolutely no idea if it's relevant but it may be how someone met Elizabeth...
And, the thing that really creeped me out, was that Seven Bridges is also an ice rink complex in Chicago :/

 

[Grainne Dhu]

Hi, I'm new here and also from the Waterloo area. I'm so glad people are still thinking about this case, I don't know the Collins well, but I played hockey with Drew a couple times in the past couple years. He seems very nice, but obviously this hit him really hard.

That was something I thought of, could this have been from someone who knew Elizabeth through hockey?? I have no idea how the children's leagues run though... maybe something to look into? I will say, as a women playing hockey, they put us in with the figure skaters often, and I and many other women were walked in on while changing by men. A lot. Usually by the same guys. I complained so much to the arena but they didn't really seem to care. I guess since then (it's been a couple years) they finally have a dedicated women's locker room area. I'm not sure how they had divided the locker rooms for kids, but if it's like it was for us and the figure skaters it was far from ideal (there are shared bathrooms between the locker rooms too). I did recently report this to the tip line, I have absolutely no idea if it's relevant but it may be how someone met Elizabeth...
And, the thing that really creeped me out, was that Seven Bridges is also an ice rink complex in Chicago :/

Welcome to WebSleuths!

I don't think anyone on WS knew that Drew and Elizabeth were involved with hockey. Shades of Jacob Wetterling! Considering that Lyric lived with the Collins family for around 4 years, I wonder if Lyric was involved as well.

It sure is possible that Elizabeth was pursued by a stalker who saw her at hockey (or church or any other activity she participated in).

What interests me most in this is something that may be a mistaken impression. My impression of hockey is that it's a very physical sport and the players are taught how to physically block one another, etc. Would a kid who was active in hockey be less likely to freeze up and/or go compliant with fear?

Actually, that's probably an impossible question to answer. Too wide a range of possible reactions.

 

[gregjrichards]

Hi, I'm new here and also from the Waterloo area. I'm so glad people are still thinking about this case, I don't know the Collins well, but I played hockey with Drew a couple times in the past couple years. He seems very nice, but obviously this hit him really hard.

That was something I thought of, could this have been from someone who knew Elizabeth through hockey?? I have no idea how the children's leagues run though... maybe something to look into? I will say, as a women playing hockey, they put us in with the figure skaters often, and I and many other women were walked in on while changing by men. A lot. Usually by the same guys. I complained so much to the arena but they didn't really seem to care. I guess since then (it's been a couple years) they finally have a dedicated women's locker room area. I'm not sure how they had divided the locker rooms for kids, but if it's like it was for us and the figure skaters it was far from ideal (there are shared bathrooms between the locker rooms too). I did recently report this to the tip line, I have absolutely no idea if it's relevant but it may be how someone met Elizabeth...
And, the thing that really creeped me out, was that Seven Bridges is also an ice rink complex in Chicago :/

Thanks for joining websleuths and for your posts about the case. It's always interesting to get someone local on a case and you can have a different perspective on things. Yes your point is very valid no doubt some perps go to sporting events with kids and could becoming fixated on one. It gives you the creeps thinking about it.

I wonder if the investigators had any joy talking to the girls friends about either having an older guy as a friend or 'boyfriend' even as is the case in the tragic Nicole Lovell case.

 

[cattree]

Thanks!
The Waterloo BlackHawks (the Junior league team here) had L&E stickers on their helmets for a year or so, and a lot of local hockey players still have them on their helmets too. I think boys and girls play hockey together until they are 12 (I think??) and they don't start checking until that age, or so I've been told.

 

[otto]

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...y-2012-Media-Maps-TmLne&p=8310095#post8310095


rbbm
http://globegazette.com/news/iowa/r...cle_7dbadcc0-cfd1-11e1-b097-001a4bcf887a.html

I'm pretty sure that the cyclist is not a witness in this case. I think the bikes he saw belonged to other children.

There was a jogger on the trail who saw the bikes at 2PM. That witness did not identify himself in the media.

"At approximately 2:00 p.m., their bikes were found near a gate on the trail that goes around Meyers Lake. Elizabeth and Lyric are still missing."

http://www.iowa.gov/odcp/docs/missingIowagirls.pdf

 

[cattree]

By checking in hockey, I mean physical play (as in "checking into the boards"). Sorry, it's hockey lingo and not everyone may know what I meant!

Also, the other thing that happened that July 13 was that an inmate escaped from the Blackhawk county jail in Waterloo. They did catch him later that day, and I don't think anyone ever said it was related to this case but...it just seems like a strange coincidence.

 

[Grainne Dhu]

Thanks!
The Waterloo BlackHawks (the Junior league team here) had L&E stickers on their helmets for a year or so, and a lot of local hockey players still have them on their helmets too. I think boys and girls play hockey together until they are 12 (I think??) and they don't start checking until that age, or so I've been told.

So both Elizabeth and Lyric were too young to be learning the more crash-y aspects of hockey.

Gah, I wish they were still enjoying sports and every day life.

 

[Grainne Dhu]

By checking in hockey, I mean physical play (as in "checking into the boards"). Sorry, it's hockey lingo and not everyone may know what I meant!

Also, the other thing that happened that July 13 was that an inmate escaped from the Blackhawk county jail in Waterloo. They did catch him later that day, and I don't think anyone ever said it was related to this case but...it just seems like a strange coincidence.

I suddenly see a possibility for it not being a coincidence. Depending on what time news broke about the escape, the perp in Elizabeth and Lyric's case may have figured that LE would be more focused on the escape and less focused on their usual duties and so that may have been perceived by the perp as being enough of an advantage to make him feel confident enough to go hunting.

Back in the 1970s, there was actually a little gang of bank robbers who used that as their MO. Two of them would stage an attempt at a bank robbery on one bank in a small or medium sized town. Their focus was on speed and they sometimes left without any money at all if the bank employees seemed too slow. Then about 15 minutes later, 3 of the ring would rob a bank on the other side of town, knowing the police would be busy with the first robbery. It worked great until someone spotted the pattern and they were caught.

 

[PatLynch]

I love cold cases. What I like to to do is find a sick person in society and then link them to a crime. It's the exact opposite of what the police do, and for good reason. I have a person in mind that may have committed this crime. This person was a life-long resident of Bremer county (Seven Bridges) from 1958-1999. In 1995 he was arrested for a sex crime on a victim under 12 years of age. He pleaded to a serious misdemeanor charge and spent 10 years on the sex offender registry. While out on bail and just 2 months before he was sentenced in October 1995, a woman was murdered and her body dumped 12 miles away from Seven Bridges on the outskirts of Waterloo. That case is cold as well, the link is below. The suspect was living just outside of Waverly at the time, but he worked in Waterloo. In 1999 he moved away from Bremer county. I imagine being a sex offender in a small city was embarrassing for his family. Even though he moved, it was not that far. He currently lives 51 miles from Evansdale. The suspect grew up about 13 miles west of Seven Bridges on a farm. He is an avid outdoors-man, fishing, boating, canoeing, and hunting. I can only imagine he would be familiar with Seven Bridges. I've gone over and over the maps of the places where the girls were taken, and where they were found. The most glaring thing that I could come up with these 2 spots have in common, are rivers. There is a canoe launch at Seven Bridges, and just south, under the interstate where the girls bikes were found is the Cedar River and a canoe/kayak launch. The police stressed how isolated Seven Bridges is, and they're right if you're traveling by car. But the Wapsipinicon River is an expressway for kayaking, canoeing, and floating. I recently moved to eastern Iowa and only recently learned about the many folks that float down these rivers for fun during the summer. On July 13th, 2012 there was a float scheduled just a few miles north of Seven Bridges starting in Tripoli. These kinds of events are popular in the area. So are kayaking, canoeing, and floats on the Cedar River. I always thought maybe where the Evansdale Nature Trail almost intersects with the Cedar Valley trail not far from where the bikes were found he was waiting. Maybe he lures the girls with the promise of a boat ride? My suspect owns one of those 5 person paddle boats popular for river floating. He also owns some canoes. Do a YOUTUBE search on Wapsipinicon or Cedar River canoeing. It's incredibly isolated! He floats the girls down stream to Gilbertville Park. His white boxy SUV/Van is waiting. My suspect owns a boxy white truck/van. Unfortunately, I know this pile of garbage convicted sex offender. In the 2 years I've known him I found him to be manipulative and mean. 2 weeks ago I called the tip line, the Sheriff's Department, and the FBI and gave them his name. Maybe they looked at him previously and he's clean. Maybe not, we'll see. The thing I love most about cold cases is that if all the parts fit together, the case would not be cold. Somewhere out there, there's a very stupid person that lucked out against the odds of getting caught.
https://iowacoldcases.org/case-summaries/angela-buck/
http://www.mycountyparks.com/County...belt/Events/1968/Wapsi-River-Kayak-Float.aspx

 

[U2forever]

PatLynch, Welcome to WS!

Very interesting first post.

:wagon: :greetings:

 

[Betty P]

PatLynch, your story seems interesting and fits the map around Myers Lake, the nature trails, etc. It seems realistic that a Sex offender could lure the girls with a promise to look at or ride in a paddle boat on the river. The boat landing on the Cedar River you speak of is within easy walking distance of Myers Lake, along the nature trail at the end of Arbutus Rd. That boat landing also has a parking lot nearby.

Does this person have a means of moving the paddle boat with his truck or a trailer? It would certainly give him an excuse to be hanging out in the area of Myers Lake.

I hope LE is following up on your tip.

 

[B4igo2it]

OELWEIN – An Oelwein man has been arrested for allegedly sexually abusing a minor.
Oelwein police arrested Ryan Wayne Tupper, 42, on Friday for two counts of second-degree sexual abuse. He was taken to the Fayette County Jail.
Police said the abuse happened over a three-year period from 2006 to 2009 and a two-year period from 2011 to 2012 when the victim was under 12 years old

http://wcfcourier.com/news/local/cr...cle_3340ffa6-bd53-5c8f-b1ef-de54dbbc8e3f.html

 

[watcher9]

OELWEIN – An Oelwein man has been arrested for allegedly sexually abusing a minor.
Oelwein police arrested Ryan Wayne Tupper, 42, on Friday for two counts of second-degree sexual abuse. He was taken to the Fayette County Jail.
Police said the abuse happened over a three-year period from 2006 to 2009 and a two-year period from 2011 to 2012 when the victim was under 12 years old

http://wcfcourier.com/news/local/cr...cle_3340ffa6-bd53-5c8f-b1ef-de54dbbc8e3f.html

Interesting.
Oelwein is about 34 miles northeast of Evansdale or about 43 miles if a detour stop is made at Seven Bridges.

 

[watcher9]

Here's another link with a picture of the person arrested.

http://www.kcrg.com/content/news/Oe...d-After-Sexually-Abusing-Minor-368684311.html

 

[B4igo2it]

Checking Oelwin, IA registered sex offenders - Look on far left of RSO map; there is a RSO within a few minutes of 7 Bridges. When I clicked address, the record shows an address in Calif. Did RSO move there? (if so, when?).
addl: sure are a lot of offenders for this small town! Almost all live within blocks of the school. I would hate if this town is a model of rural America ... just sayin'
Remember MCM (Lyrics mom) living in Oelwin when she got busted; did she and girls hang out at 7 Bridges? Curious.
Does anyone know the status on the former mayor of Oelwin? Last I knew, he was facing two child sex charges! smh

http://www.familywatchdog.us/showmap.asp

 

[threecrazykids]

Oelwein is/was also known to be one of the nation's most notable places for meth. The book Methland was written after the immersion of the writer in the meth world for 2 years. It documented all of the other areas of destruction the town faced with the amount of meth being manufactured. Mexican drug cartels were involved it was that big. Where drug cartels are involved also brings other trafficking, etc. right along with it.
I'm not implying the girls were taken with that intent, I'm just saying, as others have stated before, this crime could be part of a MUCH, MUCH bigger crime that we aren't even beginning to be privy to...

 

[carbuff]

Checking Oelwin, IA registered sex offenders - Look on far left of RSO map; there is a RSO within a few minutes of 7 Bridges. When I clicked address, the record shows an address in Calif. Did RSO move there? (if so, when?).
addl: sure are a lot of offenders for this small town! Almost all live within blocks of the school. I would hate if this town is a model of rural America ... just sayin'
Remember MCM (Lyrics mom) living in Oelwin when she got busted; did she and girls hang out at 7 Bridges? Curious.
Does anyone know the status on the former mayor of Oelwin? Last I knew, he was facing two child sex charges! smh

http://www.familywatchdog.us/showmap.asp

Is he the father of another sex offender who lived in Evansdale in 2012?

 

[PatLynch]

PatLynch, your story seems interesting and fits the map around Myers Lake, the nature trails, etc. It seems realistic that a Sex offender could lure the girls with a promise to look at or ride in a paddle boat on the river. The boat landing on the Cedar River you speak of is within easy walking distance of Myers Lake, along the nature trail at the end of Arbutus Rd. That boat landing also has a parking lot nearby.

Does this person have a means of moving the paddle boat with his truck or a trailer? It would certainly give him an excuse to be hanging out in the area of Myers Lake.

I hope LE is following up on your tip.

Thanks for the reply Betty. I would bet my suspect was looked at 3 years ago, but you never know. My suspect does have everything he would need to haul his boats around. Since I'm new to the forum can I ask you or anyone else some fundamentals?
It is my understanding that:
The public does not know the EXACT location of the bodies or the cause of death?
There were rumors about a white boxy type van or SUV, is that true?
Last year when the police asked for help, it was mentioned this person was familiar with Seven Bridges enough that he felt comfortable committing the crimes there. To me that says he did
more than just dump the bodies there.
Did the girls sit there for the rest of the summer and most of the fall?

Am I being out of line to bring up the 3 cold cases from the 1970's in Bremer County? The 3 girls killed were unceremoniously dumped by the side of the road or in creek-beds under bridges.

A couple of things on the cold cases in Bremer County from the 1970's that to me appear linked.
The first girl to die was 14 year old Valery Klossowsky. Let's assume the killer was 14 or close to it. The next girl to die was 18 year old Julie Benning in 1975 dumped in a road-side ditch. Our first killer that was 14 is now 18 as well, or close to it. The next girl to die in Bremer is 19 years old Lisa Peak in 1976. Our killer is also now 19 years or there about. Lisa Peak was also dumped in a ditch. Let's jump ahead to 1995 and 37 year old Angela Buck killed just south of Dunkerton about 12 miles from Seven Bridges. If you do the math, the killer is now also 37 years old or close to it. Angela Buck was a street person and had been around. She was not trusting of strangers and probably battled the killer so he resorted to shooting her out of desperation. She also still had her clothes on when she was found. The killer was angry, not looking for sex. My suspect reported to the Bremer County Jail 2 short months after this crime. He was convicted of molesting a 9 year old child. He served his time in jail, served his probation, payed restitution, and was on the sex offender registry for 10 years. By 2012 our suspect is feeling good thinking he's outrun the only crime he's been convicted of, molesting a 9 year old girl, 17 years ago, and 75 miles away. Our sex offender is different from most we see on TV or read about. Our sex offender has managed to slip through the cracks and land a very good job in Cedar Rapids. Most sex offenders change oil for a living or sell vacuum cleaners but this guy is a manager for one of the largest companies in Iowa.

It's a stretch, I know. But in my opinion these 6 murders were all crimes of opportunities. None of these victims knew the perp, except maybe in passing. Waverly is the nexus. He lurks. He likes to pounce. He's mean and likes to humiliate. He has an IQ not exceeding 100 and probably 90-99. He makes up for it by keeping meticulous records and has good organizational skills.

Pat

 

[Grainne Dhu]

It is my understanding that:
The public does not know the EXACT location of the bodies or the cause of death?
There were rumors about a white boxy type van or SUV, is that true?
Last year when the police asked for help, it was mentioned this person was familiar with Seven Bridges enough that he felt comfortable committing the crimes there. To me that says he did
more than just dump the bodies there.
Did the girls sit there for the rest of the summer and most of the fall?

SBM (Snipped By Me)

As to the location of the bodies, there was an aerial photograph that showed two tarps in the area where the bodies were found and it is widely assumed that the tarps covered the remains. I don't know what else they could be and I strongly doubt that LE left the remains uncovered while a media helicopter circled overhead. So the general area where the bodies were found is known and the exact location is almost certainly known. The two bodies were about 50 to 75 feet apart and were both located in the grassy area between the treeline and the river.

The cause of death has not been released (this is a strategy that worked winningly for Black Hawk County in the Evelyn Miller case). Drew and Heather Collins have said many times that they do not know and they do not want to know.

Law enforcement did try to get information about a boxy SUV, described as being similar to a Suburban. It is unknown whether they got any results and what relationship that vehicle has to the case. Early on, there was a different white van that was caught on CCTV; the drive was found and, I assume, not considered to be under suspicion since he hasn't been mentioned since.

I think it is obvious that the perp was familiar with Seven Bridges because it's not exactly a well known area. Law enforcement does keep trying to remind people that it really isn't that well known, so tips about people who know the area are encouraged.

Apparently, the bodies were there the whole time, probably since the girls were abducted.