IA IA - Elizabeth Collins, 8, & Lyric Cook, 10, Evansdale, 13 July 2012 - #5

[Sunlight]

Greetings, I'm a newbie..

Am I the only one that notices that the "cyclist" or man on a bicycle....actually put himself at the scene and possible time of the "abduction", within minutes of the video and returns to the "scene" hours later? By doing that, if his tracks or scent trail were subsequently detected, it could be said that would be expected, since he had already admitted to being at that location earlier. The man reportedly said that he frequently uses that trail, and is from Waterloo. Why does everyone take his word at face value...even comparing his "time" to GMA's... Did anyone see him in the area on the of the disappearance, i.e., did anyone see him on a bicycle? When he came back after the bikes were located, he was on a bike and was photographed with some off-duty officers I believe. I know he called his daughter, but I've always understood that the cell towers point to an area between cell towers...not an actual GPS location. Also, was Lyric in Waterloo at the time that she was late with her other cousin several days before going missing? If so, could they have met up on the 13th or "run into" each other?

One more thing...in the very blurry video showing the two people cycling by...The second bicycle is substantially larger than the first one. Were their bicycles totally different sizes? Just sayin'.


I've read and watched just about everything on this case so far and all of this is just my humble opinion, but this timing issue keeps bothering me.
JMHO

 

[MagnoliaMom]

I drove by Mr. C's house and he is a good 2 blocks away. The girls most likey took Evans road and then turned right to go to the parking lot of Meyers Lake. Took the trail around the lake. Aunt T said that a person at the lake saw them ride around the trail at 2:30. JMO


What do you think Olli?

If the goal was to get to the trail, looking at the map I would think they would turn left on Evans/Arbutus then go through the grassy area to the east of the wooded area cutting across to the trail. That is the way we would have done it as kids.

Maybe they did do this and heard something in the woods as they passed by, ditched their bikes/purse and were sneaking back to see what it was they heard and ran into trouble.

We rode our bikes everywhere when we were kids and always were drawn to the water and wooded areas. My cousin had a river behind her house and we went through the woods and down to the river because we heard some boys laughing and swimming in the river. We were trying to be sneaky and realized they were on the other side. We started yelling things at them and one swung out on a rope swing and to our surprise began swimming as fast as lightening across that river. We didn't run at first because we really didn't think he would swim that far. By the time we realized he was coming all the way, well needless to say the girl in the rear got caught. I can't even remember what he did to her but I do remember he did do something to her. I never slowed down and she showed up later. My point is how quickly kids can get in trouble. It would not surprise me to find out they were no strangers to the wooded area...and maybe somebody knew that or they surprised someone.

 

[liltexans]

I wonder if the surveillance camera from Lederman's Big & Tall caught anyone leaving the store or parking lot right after the girls passed by. Granted, that is poor quality footage of the girls, but it should be possible to see a vehicle or even someone on foot.

 

[liltexans]

Welcome to WS, Sunlight!

:welcome:

 

[Thinkzerz]

This is so confusing, Biker guy claims he saw the bikes around 12:20ish and neighborhood couple say they saw the girls biking possibly after that. Whats the chances the girls went back to the exact spot twice to park their bikes and only the last time they place their bikes along the fence and not in the way of the trail? Unless the girls have been there as neighborhood couple says almost daily and the girls were talking and being with someone they have met there before only this time was lured away by this person.

 

[liltexans]

Greetings, I'm a newbie..

Am I the only one that notices that the "cyclist" or man on a bicycle....actually put himself at the scene and possible time of the "abduction", within minutes of the video and returns to the "scene" hours later? By doing that, if his tracks or scent trail were subsequently detected, it could be said that would be expected, since he had already admitted to being at that location earlier. The man reportedly said that he frequently uses that trail, and is from Waterloo. Why does everyone take his word at face value...even comparing his "time" to GMA's... Did anyone see him in the area on the of the disappearance, i.e., did anyone see him on a bicycle? When he came back after the bikes were located, he was on a bike and was photographed with some off-duty officers I believe. I know he called his daughter, but I've always understood that the cell towers point to an area between cell towers...not an actual GPS location. Also, was Lyric in Waterloo at the time that she was late with her other cousin several days before going missing? If so, could they have met up on the 13th or "run into" each other?

One more thing...in the very blurry video showing the two people cycling by...The second bicycle is substantially larger than the first one. Were their bicycles totally different sizes? Just sayin'.


I've read and watched just about everything on this case so far and all of this is just my humble opinion, but this timing issue keeps bothering me.
JMHO

Lyric is 9 or 10 inches taller than Elizabeth so I would assume she has a much larger bicycle than Elizabeth, but I don't remember seeing a description of the bikes' sizes.

 

[Jax49]

This is so confusing, Biker guy claims he saw the bikes around 12:20ish and neighborhood couple say they saw the girls biking possibly after that. Whats the chances the girls went back to the exact spot twice to park their bikes and only the last time they place their bikes along the fence and not in the way of the trail? Unless the girls have been there as neighborhood couple says almost daily and the girls were talking and being with someone they have met there before only this time was lured away by this person.

I've read other posts which suggest the bikes were moved but I don't understand exactly when that supposedly happend. I remember the police spokesperson saying that when he arrived, the bikes were against the fence. But was he the first official on the scene? Did some other passerby move the bikes to keep someone from riding into them and getting hurt? Or did the first responder move them?

 

[Thinkzerz]

I believe these girls knew the perp. They have been known to be at this trail all week. At least that's what i understand from the neighborhood couple. The perp got their trust and planned and took the girls somewhere. JMO I wonder if the girls were seen around the same time each day there? This would make sense as to why they didn't just go to the trail right away? Maybe this perp had a time that he /she was usually at the trail? JMO

 

[MotherOcean]

What has been stated before by other posters:
Lyric was talked out of running away in the not-so-distant past.
Lyric and another cousin were gone too long, resulting in police being called.

Nothing too unusual when considered separately. But when you add those both together AND then consider they are now missing...hmmm...

Also, if you are Lyric and already got into some trouble being late...would you do it again so soon?

Has it been reported if Lyric had a boyfriend or not? In a lot of the cases of missing girls that I've been hearing about lately the girls are young teens, or pre-teens, who have boyfriends who are in their late teens or early twenties. Many times the girls have willingly gone with the boyfriends/perps. I wonder why Lyric was late that day?

EDIT: I'm sorry. I truly thought I had caught up to all the posts before posting my question but now I see the MODS notice to not discuss a "boyfriend". I have no idea whose boyfriend is being referred to and I wouldn't have asked about any boyfriend at all if I had seen that earlier. Sorry. Really trying to keep up and POST RESPONSIBLY!!

 

[Strawberry Fields]

Will there be a presser today? Could someone post a link? TIA.

 

[CoachSue]

From KCRG news:
Coming up at 3PM, the FBI will hold a briefing on the latest on #evansdalesearch. You can watch it live, here: bit.ly & TV9.

 

[CoachSue]

Will there be a presser today? Could someone post a link? TIA.

I believe the plan is to have pressers both today and tomorrow at 3pm central. I just posted a link for coverage of today's presser.

 

[Portabella]

anyone have a link for the presser that is coming up here in a few minutes...???

 

[Portabella]

CoachSue, no link is showing???? TIA

 

[Mimiof8]

For those concerned about the bike rider that found the girls bikes, his name is listed in the article below. He owns a local business and appears to be active in the community. I didn't find anything that would concern me about him at all. Jmo


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.


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

Greetings, I'm a newbie..

Am I the only one that notices that the "cyclist" or man on a bicycle....actually put himself at the scene and possible time of the "abduction", within minutes of the video and returns to the "scene" hours later? By doing that, if his tracks or scent trail were subsequently detected, it could be said that would be expected, since he had already admitted to being at that location earlier. The man reportedly said that he frequently uses that trail, and is from Waterloo. Why does everyone take his word at face value...even comparing his "time" to GMA's... Did anyone see him in the area on the of the disappearance, i.e., did anyone see him on a bicycle? When he came back after the bikes were located, he was on a bike and was photographed with some off-duty officers I believe. I know he called his daughter, but I've always understood that the cell towers point to an area between cell towers...not an actual GPS location. Also, was Lyric in Waterloo at the time that she was late with her other cousin several days before going missing? If so, could they have met up on the 13th or "run into" each other?

One more thing...in the very blurry video showing the two people cycling by...The second bicycle is substantially larger than the first one. Were their bicycles totally different sizes? Just sayin'.


I've read and watched just about everything on this case so far and all of this is just my humble opinion, but this timing issue keeps bothering me.
JMHO

Here's my take on the cyclist

 

[hambirg]

I wonder if the surveillance camera from Lederman's Big & Tall caught anyone leaving the store or parking lot right after the girls passed by. Granted, that is poor quality footage of the girls, but it should be possible to see a vehicle or even someone on foot.

I'm late to this case and trying to catch up, so I may have missed a few things. . .but I was thinking the same.

In the video of the girls on the bikes, if it's in real time, they are going pretty fast. Maybe nothing more than kids going fast on their bikes, but it did make me wonder if they hadn't already been approached by someone and were trying to get away. Maybe the girls even thought they got away and then were surprised. I sure would like to see more of that video to see if there was any car traffic.

One more thing, about this "biker" and the timeline. It does make me suspicious of him too, but it's really hard to say at this point.

This is MOO. .. I think the girls could have very likely been abducted shortly after they were seen on video. Two abductors, grab the girls and the bikes and then ditch the bikes, purse and phone on the trail by the lake. OR the girls were followed to the trail and abducted right there where the bikes were found. I just don't know how the timing works on that latter one.

Oh yeah, thanks for the map! It helped me a lot. What of the shoes that were found? Do they know they were the girls. . or just possibly could be? If they are the girls' shoes it seems to give a route going north east out of town.

I don't know how much we are allowed to talk about the "biker". There are some things that bother me about him for sure, but may be nothing.

 

[letsgosleuth]

I had a paradigm shift last night - could the girls have been hit by a car, out riding without helmets, seriously injured? Frightful in a hit and run sort of way, driver drinking, texting, etc.? I am a bike commuter and unfortunately have people texting, talking on cell and nearly hitting me. Also, my kids are out on their bikes all the time in the street (half block restrictions on them albeit) but people come around the corners pretty quickly sometimes in a residential area. Just something to ponder. Check auto shops for cars coming in with damage.

 

[CoachSue]

CoachSue, no link is showing???? TIA

Hmm, not sure why the link didn't come thru. Trying it again:
http://wcfcourier.com/updates-the-h...tml_7502e29a-ce9a-11e1-80bf-0019bb2963f4.html

 

[Knox]

From KCRG news:
Coming up at 3PM, the FBI will hold a briefing on the latest on #evansdalesearch. You can watch it live, here: bit.ly & TV9.

Working link-
http://wcfcourier.com/updates-the-h...tml_7502e29a-ce9a-11e1-80bf-0019bb2963f4.html

 

[Ollipop]

Kamille, not local , but as best I can ascertain, the video is from a business backing to Brovan Blvd (street Collins live on)
the bicyclists appear to be traveling west, toward River Forest Rd. ( and the river is also that way)

also the 2nd bike does not appear to be a smaller girls bike, more like one with gears perhaps?

This looks correct to me...they appear to be heading west towards River Forest, not sure though, maybe it's reversed somehow.

Greetings, I'm a newbie..

Am I the only one that notices that the "cyclist" or man on a bicycle....actually put himself at the scene and possible time of the "abduction", within minutes of the video and returns to the "scene" hours later? By doing that, if his tracks or scent trail were subsequently detected, it could be said that would be expected, since he had already admitted to being at that location earlier. The man reportedly said that he frequently uses that trail, and is from Waterloo. Why does everyone take his word at face value...even comparing his "time" to GMA's... Did anyone see him in the area on the of the disappearance, i.e., did anyone see him on a bicycle? When he came back after the bikes were located, he was on a bike and was photographed with some off-duty officers I believe. I know he called his daughter, but I've always understood that the cell towers point to an area between cell towers...not an actual GPS location. Also, was Lyric in Waterloo at the time that she was late with her other cousin several days before going missing? If so, could they have met up on the 13th or "run into" each other?

One more thing...in the very blurry video showing the two people cycling by...The second bicycle is substantially larger than the first one. Were their bicycles totally different sizes? Just sayin'.


I've read and watched just about everything on this case so far and all of this is just my humble opinion, but this timing issue keeps bothering me.
JMHO

I feel the cyclist is fairly genuine, and I know he is a known and respected community member (I think a business-owner, not sure tho). The way the trails around here are set up, a looping route is just as common as is a down-and-back route. To be at the Meyer's Lake area twice on the same ride would not be uncommon IMO.

I wonder if the surveillance camera from Lederman's Big & Tall caught anyone leaving the store or parking lot right after the girls passed by. Granted, that is poor quality footage of the girls, but it should be possible to see a vehicle or even someone on foot.

That camera is actually behind Lederman's. In that video, it almost looks like its pointing right at the Collins' residence. No part of the main/front entrance of Lederman's is visible from there. I don't know which business the camera belongs to, but there are often trucks and/or trailers parked right there, and its behind stripmall area with a huge lot out front. There's a bar there, too. My guess is it was put there to keep an eye on the unlit, less-traveled, back of the area. The front of those businesses face the main road in Evansdale for businesses, Lafayette.

This is so confusing, Biker guy claims he saw the bikes around 12:20ish and neighborhood couple say they saw the girls biking possibly after that. Whats the chances the girls went back to the exact spot twice to park their bikes and only the last time they place their bikes along the fence and not in the way of the trail? Unless the girls have been there as neighborhood couple says almost daily and the girls were talking and being with someone they have met there before only this time was lured away by this person.

Yes, it is odd. One thing that I don't know is certain is where the cyclist saw the bikes. Maybe we are all assuming he saw them where they'd been found, but actually saw them in a different spot on the trail. And if so, its possible he didn't/wouldn't see the girls nearby if they were. That would explain the witness at the parking area saying he saw them around 2:30. And, from that parking area, if you saw the girls on the near side, they could travel west, and 5 minutes later you could see them again on the far side, traveling east. I'm not sure its been clarified where either witness saw the girls, exactly.

I haven't intended to discount the lawn-watering witness, only to say it is odd. His front yard is out of the way, IMO. I didn't get the red flags others did regarding some inconsistencies about his wife's location, etc, but now I sort of do. His spotting was vague, and that's why I'd guessed LE hadn't mentioned much of it. I've wondered all along why reporters at the press conferences haven't asked for more specifics regarding reported sightings after 12:15, such as these.