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

[Grainne Dhu]

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

It isn't that people who live rurally are more likely to be sex offenders, it is that registered sex offenders have been barred from living in many communities so they have to live in rural areas. It doesn't work, it hasn't had any effect whatsoever on the rate of sexual assaults (85+% of which are committed by someone known to the victim). But there it is.

If Misty was hanging out at Seven Bridges with Lyric, I doubt Lyric remembered it. She was arrested when Lyric was five years old and after that, Lyric lived with Wylma (grandmother), then the Collinses, then Wylma again until Misty was released. I've never heard or read anything by Drew and Heather that indicates they were familiar with Seven Bridges before the girls were abducted, so I doubt Lyric visited there during the years she lived with the Collinses.

There is no way to know for sure if Elizabeth was allowed to hang out with Misty and Lyric before Misty's first arrest but I greatly doubt it. My sense is that the relationship between Misty and Heather was never that good and the disappearance of the girls did not draw them closer.

 

[B4igo2it]

snipped for space

If Misty was hanging out at Seven Bridges with Lyric, I doubt Lyric remembered it. She was arrested when Lyric was five years old and after that, ... so I doubt Lyric visited there during the years she lived with the Collinses.

I was referring to the months prior to the abduction and after Misty's release (prior to her recent arrest). In other words, did Misty take the girls to 7 Bridges prior to their abduction? Wondering if they may have run into someone at 7Bs, and did they ever meet this RSO with initials of DAS that lived so close to the 7B area.

I remember during the review of another case, it was our hopes that after a period of time, the thought process of those involved may become clearer once the effects of drug use was removed. Maybe Misty can remember different events in their lives during this time and offer clues she may not even be aware of, as she may not have given things a second thought.

 

[Grainne Dhu]

I was referring to the months prior to the abduction and after Misty's release (prior to her recent arrest). In other words, did Misty take the girls to 7 Bridges prior to their abduction? Wondering if they may have run into someone at 7Bs, and did they ever meet this RSO with initials of DAS that lived so close to the 7B area.

I remember during the review of another case, it was our hopes that after a period of time, the thought process of those involved may become clearer once the effects of drug use was removed. Maybe Misty can remember different events in their lives during this time and offer clues she may not even be aware of, as she may not have given things a second thought.

Misty had only been released about 5 weeks when Lyric was abducted.

I do remember clearly that Misty said she and Lyric were swimming regularly at George Wyeth park before she got her job. I would not think Seven Bridges would have been that inviting a spot in the summer of 2012 because it was a drought year and the Wapsipinicon was almost dried out through Seven Bridges.

I know from Drew and Heather's interviews that LE is keeping in touch with them and Drew said something that suggested that LE has taken them over the time period before the abduction at least once in the years since then. I'm hoping that LE is also doing the same with Misty and Dan.

This is exactly what I hate about this case. Both families have to be wondering if they know the perp or if the perp noticed one of the girls at some activity and started stalking them before they disappeared. I firmly believe that justice is for the living innocent.

 

[B4igo2it]

I agree G.D. it would be awful to suspect everyone, not sure who to trust or not!

 

[armcha1r_detect1ve]

I am always thinking about these girls. Bump for them. Really good posts here lately and a lot of reading to do. Let 2016 be the year we can close this.

 

[cattree]

Also, in regard to Oelwein and the drug culture, etc, Iowa is actually on a drug route from Chicago up to the twin cities (long-time locals told me this when I asked about why I saw so many cars pulled over and being searched). I used to commute up 218 for work and there were a police doing drug searches on that road frequently. At least once a week I would see a car pulled over by multiple police cars and all the doors open, sometimes drug sniffing dogs out, etc. So I wonder too if that may have been how the girls were targeted or seen? Or related to Lyric's family somehow? Though the 7 Bridges does seem area-specific. FWIW, I lived in the Detroit suburbs a long time and was shocked when I moved to Iowa how many "big city" problems there are here in not-so-big areas. It's quite sad. Otherwise it's a lovely state.
*edit: spelling

 

[tlcya]

Happy to see our cousins up on page one. You guys who continue to carry the thread for the girls are all awesome. I would really like to see resolution for this case.

 

[SapphireSteel]

Ive always thought this will be solved and the circumstances of the crime pretty much erases the chances it was a SK.

LE says the perp knew the area and in the very beginning they thought the girls were being held alive which implies they have had a suspect all along.

we just don't know who it is.

Chances are it is someone well known to the girls. Statistics tell us that, circumstances support it.

This wasn't Random IMO. Planned from the get go, then staged.

Lack of LE Urgency = hes already incarcerated. They just cant PROVE it.

ETA: I think about them all the time, this is one of those that Shoudlve Been Solved were it not for Local Incompetence imo. Shameful.

 

[Marilynilpa]

I read a very discouraging article today about a 1991 cold case in which a woman went missing. In the following years, her boyfriend has claimed that he killed her and fed her body into a wood chipper. Why hasn't he been arrested? Lack of physical evidence.

I wonder if that is what we are facing with this case? Could LE know who did it but just can't prove it? I recall that the area where the bikes were found was not particularly secure. I think it was Tammy who mentioned that the family walked around the area, and Dan even rode an ATV through the wooded areas. So who knows what impact that might have had on any physical evidence? And there were all kinds of people searching for the girls around the lake. IMO the area was not secured to the point of being closed to all but LE. I am basing this on my recollection of what I read at the time. If anyone disagrees with my recall, let me know and I will go searching for links.

Regarding DNA, Klunder was ruled out as being involved with this case. While he may have been eliminated due to DNA, I personally feel he was ruled out because he was somewhere else when the girls were taken. IMO, there was no DNA found, or it was degraded due to exposure.

Forgive me for this rambling post. I hope it makes sense!

 

[Grainne Dhu]

I read a very discouraging article today about a 1991 cold case in which a woman went missing. In the following years, her boyfriend has claimed that he killed her and fed her body into a wood chipper. Why hasn't he been arrested? Lack of physical evidence.

I wonder if that is what we are facing with this case? Could LE know who did it but just can't prove it? I recall that the area where the bikes were found was not particularly secure. I think it was Tammy who mentioned that the family walked around the area, and Dan even rode an ATV through the wooded areas. So who knows what impact that might have had on any physical evidence? And there were all kinds of people searching for the girls around the lake. IMO the area was not secured to the point of being closed to all but LE. I am basing this on my recollection of what I read at the time. If anyone disagrees with my recall, let me know and I will go searching for links.

Regarding DNA, Klunder was ruled out as being involved with this case. While he may have been eliminated due to DNA, I personally feel he was ruled out because he was somewhere else when the girls were taken. IMO, there was no DNA found, or it was degraded due to exposure.

Forgive me for this rambling post. I hope it makes sense!

I'm not recognising the case you're referring to but it reminds me of Robert "Farmer Bob" Pickton; he was only charged in the deaths of a handful of some of the women who disappeared whose DNA were found at his farm. For the other women, the evidence they found was so scant that the prosecutor did not feel he could present a strong case. One victim's mother revealed that her daughters DNA was found in a single fleck of blood found on the handle of some type of equipment in his barn. That's all she had left of her daughter, a swab with one fleck of blood on it.

I believe that you are correct that the area where the bikes were found was not secured until a few days later (as I recall). I don't fault the Evansdale PD because the abduction of two children at the same time is incredibly rare. The main concern (and I argue, rightfully so) was that one or both girls were somewhere in the vicinity of Meyers Lake and perhaps unconscious due to some accident if not actually dead by drowning. Statistically, accident of some type was more likely the case than that they had been abducted together.

I agree with your suspicions about the mechanism by which Klunder was cleared. I think LE had to go over his movements for that Friday with a fine tooth comb to put together exactly where he was and when he was there. I've thought all along that there was little likelihood that any usable DNA remained, either at Meyers Lake or at Seven Bridges.

 

[gofer]

I'm still bothered by the Jeremiah Cook "prized possessions" quote by Wilma.

In back tracking I found this link from early on from Evansdale with info I missed or forgot such as:

"Goggle map shows a paddleboat sitting on the dock where Misty's boyfriend is staying.. This is a map from late last year."

"I'm still on Brittney, tammy's daughter who was caught in the white van, that didn't belong to her, she had no license to drive, had prescription drugs in her possession, wouldn't talk."

"They found out who the "mysterious" driver of the white van was. His name is Michael Knief, he is 34 and is currently living in Evansdale. He has a long, long, list of criminal charges and some include drug convictions."

"The uncle Jeremiah Cook's girlfriend, that also tried to also overdose is Carolyn Lynn Pieper."

"Construction ended the day the girls disappeared.. Have they check all the sex offenders on those crews?"

http://www.topix.com/forum/city/evansdale-ia/TQD0IC8Q7ICO0THP5

 

[Bootsctr]

I never understood why pictures of the girls' bicycles were never released. Maybe LE felt since the bikes were not taken they felt that releasing pictures of the bikes would serve no real purpose. I never was clear if the bikes were found where the girls left them or if the fireman found them and moved them to the gate. The bicyclist that almost ran over the bikes I don't think he touched the bikes.

Just watched Mickey Shunick's story on ID, and I thought of the girls.

 

[carbuff]

I never understood why pictures of the girls' bicycles were never released. Maybe LE felt since the bikes were not taken they felt that releasing pictures of the bikes would serve no real purpose. I never was clear if the bikes were found where the girls left them or if the fireman found them and moved them to the gate. The bicyclist that almost ran over the bikes I don't think he touched the bikes.

Just watched Mickey Shunick's story on ID, and I thought of the girls.

View attachment 90427

I thought the bicyclist said he moved them so other people wouldn't run into them.

 

[Bootsctr]

I thought the bicyclist said he moved them so other people wouldn't run into them.

Maybe that is right. If so, the bikes could have been contaminated by the bicyclist, and his prints could be explained away. If staged by family members, prints are no good either. If planned in advance I'm sure the killer wore gloves.

 

[threecrazykids]

I'm confused...I thought the cyclist said he swerved to miss the bikes. I'm not remembering anyone claiming to have moved them....

 

[carbuff]

Maybe that is right. If so, the bikes could have been contaminated by the bicyclist, and his prints could be explained away. If staged by family members, prints are no good either. If planned in advance I'm sure the killer wore gloves.

It's one of the things that has always bothered me, because he's one of the few people who has gone out of his way to insert himself in the case (said to be a characteristic of the murderer) and who has come out with an innocent explanation for why physical evidence might be found in the vicinity. But compared to some of the other eyebrow-raising backgrounds, events, and potential candidates, that seems as innocent as the driven snow...

I mean, seriously. There must be at least half a dozen seriously hinky acquaintances and neighbors, not counting Klunder. It's the hinkiest case I've ever followed.

 

[Grainne Dhu]

I'm confused...I thought the cyclist said he swerved to miss the bikes. I'm not remembering anyone claiming to have moved them....

If the bicyclist was correct, then the bicycles were obviously moved by someone before they were discovered.

The question of who moved them has never been answered, in the sense that someone had to have moved them from their place in the Collins residence.

 

[Grainne Dhu]

It's one of the things that has always bothered me, because he's one of the few people who has gone out of his way to insert himself in the case (said to be a characteristic of the murderer) and who has come out with an innocent explanation for why physical evidence might be found in the vicinity. But compared to some of the other eyebrow-raising backgrounds, events, and potential candidates, that seems as innocent as the driven snow...

I mean, seriously. There must be at least half a dozen seriously hinky acquaintances and neighbors, not counting Klunder. It's the hinkiest case I've ever followed.

There was a famous case a while back where the mother was tortured in the media because she was suspected of killing her own daughter or one of her associates doing the deed.

And yet, it turned out to be no one associated with the mother. Hinkiness, in and of itself, does not mean guilty. It's not even proof of guilt.

 

[Bootsctr]

I'm confused...I thought the cyclist said he swerved to miss the bikes. I'm not remembering anyone claiming to have moved them....

That's what I remember - he swerved to miss the bikes - and I think we had a long discussion regarding that he could have moved the bikes in order for someone else coming down the trail not to wreck. I thought a fireman found the bikes on the trail.

 

[Bootsctr]

It's one of the things that has always bothered me, because he's one of the few people who has gone out of his way to insert himself in the case (said to be a characteristic of the murderer) and who has come out with an innocent explanation for why physical evidence might be found in the vicinity. But compared to some of the other eyebrow-raising backgrounds, events, and potential candidates, that seems as innocent as the driven snow...

I mean, seriously. There must be at least half a dozen seriously hinky acquaintances and neighbors, not counting Klunder. It's the hinkiest case I've ever followed.

He and Klunder are the two reasons that I think this abduction did not involve family members or anything pre-planned. If all the "hinky" people surrounding the case were arrested and put in jail, would there be anybody left to arrest them?