IA IA - Elizabeth Collins, 8, & Lyric Cook, 10, found deceased, Evansdale, 13 Jul 2012 #38

[AmandaReckonwith]

LYRIC & ELIZABETH: Reward tops $75K as community remembers Evansdale cousins during memorial ride

Hundreds turned out for the annual memorial ride for Lyric Cook-Morrissey and Elizabeth Collins, both of who disappeared nearly 9 years ago.
The event takes place every year in Evansdale and garners lots of support from members of the community as well as local law enforcement. Motorcycles and cars of all kinds lined the street outside of Lofty's Lounge while inside there were various fundraising efforts. Money raised typically goes toward maintaining Angels Park in Evansdale, which was built in honor of the girls, and also the Cedar Valley Crimestoppers.

 

[carbuff]

The Redwine case actually encourages me. It reminds me that even though a lot of time passes, LE doesn't forget and justice can still happen.

 

[Ozoner]

The Redwine case actually encourages me. It reminds me that even though a lot of time passes, LE doesn't forget and justice can still happen.

They have to have something to go on, though. In this case they have almost nothing. I don't have high hopes of this case being solved.

 

[helpfulcharlie]

The Redwine case actually encourages me. It reminds me that even though a lot of time passes, LE doesn't forget and justice can still happen.

Redwine actually does the opposite for me. They knew it was him very early on, why is he just now on trial?

I do believe that most everything eventually comes into the light.

 

[borndem]

Almost 9 years to the day now. I’ve been thinking about the girls a lot the past week and not because it’s almost the anniversary. These girls brought me to Websleuths and at the time, I had no doubt that this would be solved. How could it not? I had never followed cases like this before but I know better now As the weeks and months and years wore on, I lost more and more hope. I hate to admit it, but several years ago I lost all hope that this case would be solved. Maybe it’s a coping mechanism - because the girls have made such an impact on me and are inadvertently a huge part of my life (I haven’t left Websleuths since then, all because of Elizabeth and Lyric), I’m protecting myself from the constant let down of no arrests/new info.

Anyways, I’ve been thinking of them a lot lately because I’ve been watching the trial of Mark Redwine and Dylan was the second case I followed on Websleuths. I’m confident that justice is coming in that case, but it is a constant reminder that there has been no justice here. I know this isn’t really an uplifting post, but missing/murdered children is an evil reality in this world and sometimes it gets to you. I had a 1 year old and 2 year old when they were taken and now those boys are the same age as the girls were when they went missing. That makes my heart hurt. I’ve taken several breaks from Websleuths over the years when it’s gotten to be too much and I realize I need to look out for myself, and I’ll probably have to do that after the Redwine trial.

I know the effect it has had on me is nothing compared to their loved ones, so that is not lost on me. Thanks for letting me ramble and whine.

No whine at all, @Emerald1328 -- what you said was beautiful and expresses a lot of my thoughts, and probably others here as well.

This case is indeed a heart-breaker, and we here never knew them, never knew what their voices sounded like, and never heard them giggle with each other or watched them tell each other secrets. The love they had for each other probably has reminded many of us here of our best friend(s) when we were growing up -- it certainly did for me. And this is not to even mention the love for these girls by their parents, and other family members and friends -- so many, I'm sure.
Good post.

 

[Emerald1328]

@carbuff - you make a good point about LE not forgetting - I think the Kristin Smart case is an excellent example of that too. In both Dylan’s and Kristin’s case, like @helpfulcharlie and @Ozoner pointed out, there were obvious suspects at the time and LE’s actions early on in those cases showed that.

Here, we’ve seen no searches of specific locations tied to certain people, no interviews with certain people, etc. The only hint of a suspect was when they released a description of a vehicle that was seen in the area around the time of the disappearance and asked for tips on it. And not that my opinion matters to LE one bit, but I’m still irked that they didn’t release that information for a year or so when I believe they had it pretty early on. I understand protecting the investigation so they likely wanted to track it down on their own, but it seems in other cases, LE gives themselves a month or two to do that and then quickly realizes they aren’t getting anywhere, the public may be a valuable resource for them and that a plea for help is better when the public’s memories are fresher. Two recent cases come to mind with regard to that - Summer Wells and Mollie Tibbetts.

I could be 100% wrong about all of the above and hope I am. I wonder if the fact that this was the first case I followed and it hasn’t been solved clouds my judgment. I know this is a bit OT, but I wonder if anyone can tell me, if the very first case you followed hasn’t been solved, what is your outlook on it being solved now?

 

[carbuff]

Well, I work mainly with trying to identify remains, many of which are murder victims, so yeah, they mostly aren't solved. Though there are a few where someone was convicted of the murder even though the victim's name wasn't known.

My first case was Steve Koecher going missing. He was never found and while there are suspicious people around him, there's been nothing definitive. He might not even be dead. A quick look at my watched cases looks like probably half the cases I follow the person has never been found, and only about ten percent have someone charged. Of course I don't follow everything, so I don't know how representative that number is.

Having a good idea what happened, knowing what happened, and being able to prove it in court are three different things. In many cases, the public never even got a hint about a suspect until an arrest was announced.

 

[iamnotagolem]

@carbuff - you make a good point about LE not forgetting - I think the Kristin Smart case is an excellent example of that too. In both Dylan’s and Kristin’s case, like @helpfulcharlie and @Ozoner pointed out, there were obvious suspects at the time and LE’s actions early on in those cases showed that.

Here, we’ve seen no searches of specific locations tied to certain people, no interviews with certain people, etc. The only hint of a suspect was when they released a description of a vehicle that was seen in the area around the time of the disappearance and asked for tips on it. And not that my opinion matters to LE one bit, but I’m still irked that they didn’t release that information for a year or so when I believe they had it pretty early on. I understand protecting the investigation so they likely wanted to track it down on their own, but it seems in other cases, LE gives themselves a month or two to do that and then quickly realizes they aren’t getting anywhere, the public may be a valuable resource for them and that a plea for help is better when the public’s memories are fresher. Two recent cases come to mind with regard to that - Summer Wells and Mollie Tibbetts.

I could be 100% wrong about all of the above and hope I am. I wonder if the fact that this was the first case I followed and it hasn’t been solved clouds my judgment. I know this is a bit OT, but I wonder if anyone can tell me, if the very first case you followed hasn’t been solved, what is your outlook on it being solved now?

Most of the cases I’ve followed have not been solved, to the point that when the first one was solved I wasn’t even sure what happens on websleuths when there is an arrest.

 

[Emerald1328]

On this 9th anniversary of their disappearance, the reward is now at $100,000 for the girls. I can’t believe Elizabeth has been gone longer than she was alive.

$100K reward offered 9 years after Iowa cousins disappeared

 

[helpfulcharlie]

On this 9th anniversary of their disappearance, the reward is now at $100,000 for the girls. I can’t believe Elizabeth has been gone longer than she was alive.

$100K reward offered 9 years after Iowa cousins disappeared

This anniversary would be a good day for a big public break in the case.

 

[Emerald1328]

This anniversary would be a good day for a big public break in the case.

I keep hoping there will be a break today like there was in the Rhodes/Gilley case on its 5th anniversary!

 

[Considering]

Another article about the reward.

Crime Stoppers reward in cousins Elizabeth Collins, Lyric Cook case reaches $100K on 9th anniversary of their disappearance

Another year without answers.

 

[Considering]

WCF has published a lot of photos at the link below. I've seen most, but not all of them (or maybe I've forgotten I saw some, IDK). Here's the link...

Photos: Remembering Lyric and Elizabeth

 

[AmandaReckonwith]

The Case Archive is updated.

Photobucket

 

[FromGermany1]

On this 9th anniversary of their disappearance, the reward is now at $100,000 for the girls. I can’t believe Elizabeth has been gone longer than she was alive.

$100K reward offered 9 years after Iowa cousins disappeared

I can't read the article because of EU restrictions, but let me guess: the donation to the reward is anonymous?? Would fit other cases, where the suspect might be the same. Abby/Libby in Delphi after 4 years= $100.000 anonymous. Missy B in TX after 5 years= $50.000 afaik, anonymous. Thinking of it ..... MOO

 

[FromGermany1]

On the Delphi thread "Charlot123" just found out, that in Delphi IN exists an OP reha hospital. Therefore I looked for the same in Evansdale, and indeed, there is one in Waterloo, 10 minutes driving time from Evansdale.
I see it as an opportunity in both of the cases, that such a facility possibly played a role. If the perp returned to his next session at the facility in time, his alibi would be partly a good one, IMO. A thing of managing the timing very well, if one day someone would have wanted an alibi at all.
Imagine a perp (forced because of his job) with monitary opportunities to visit any hospital as an OP for some days and some sessions, with enough freetime to fill in. Might have been in Delphi in 2017, might have been in Waterloo/Evansdale in 2012.
I think, it is worth to think about it. Don't ask me, how to find a perp with no description and only some sports utility car seen by witnesses.

 

[Betty P]

On the Delphi thread "Charlot123" just found out, that in Delphi IN exists an OP reha hospital. Therefore I looked for the same in Evansdale, and indeed, there is one in Waterloo, 10 minutes driving time from Evansdale.
I see it as an opportunity in both of the cases, that such a facility possibly played a role. If the perp returned to his next session at the facility in time, his alibi would be partly a good one, IMO. A thing of managing the timing very well, if one day someone would have wanted an alibi at all.
Imagine a perp (forced because of his job) with monitary opportunities to visit any hospital as an OP for some days and some sessions, with enough freetime to fill in. Might have been in Delphi in 2017, might have been in Waterloo/Evansdale in 2012.
I think, it is worth to think about it. Don't ask me, how to find a perp with no description and only some sports utility car seen by witnesses.

What kind of rehab? Its an interesting theory.

 

[koolmin90]

Was the full surveillance video ever posted? Or was more information about the cars in the area given? I know someone personally, and I'm looking to identify his car.

 

[koolmin90]

By the way, there's a free newspaper archival website and it has newspapers from the area and time the murders happened.
seiowa.advantage-preservation.com

 

[gogrannypop]

Welcome to WS @koolmin90! I cannot answer your question, but someone will come along who can.