Well, yes and no.
Grandma went out searching first at 12:30--- with the 12 yr old brother. They went through the neighborhood, the town and the local parks and they even went out to Meyers Lake area.
THEN when Aunt T. arrived from Waterloo, Aunt T. started her search by going right to the lake. And she said she had a gut feeling about it, which may also
be because she already knew that Lizzie had ridden there previously with the neighbor girls.
But what I find interesting about Aunt T. having that gut reaction to go straight to the lake---she also asked 'random' people if they saw the girls, and apparently one guy did see them according to Aunt T. She said that LE had his name and she did not know if he was a POI or not, but he saw 2 little girls riding their bikes about 2:15 on the trail.
So how come LE never verified this sighting? And why would the girls be riding around the lake at 2:15 when they knew they had to be home by 1?
And if they were told the girls had just ridden by 15 minutes earlier,then why didnt they spread out and go around the lake themselves?
I'm not sure about your other questions, but the last question seems fairly clear to me.
From the parking area, you can see both ends of the trail clearly. There is no way off the trail without doing some bushwhacking. So when the witness said that he'd seen two girls, they probably looked at the trail from where they were and then waited to see if the girls popped into sight from behind that little island.
At the same time, Heather Collins had gone to the PD to report the girls missing. I'm sure that right around that time, LE either called all the family members searching or had Heather call them to have them go to specific locations. Such as one adult going to the Collins home to wait for the girls to show up in person or call, one adult to stick with whoever was in charge at the beginning and the other adults to stay where they were.
From the point of view of the PD, it didn't seem like such a serious thing in the beginning. Two girls on bikes, they probably figured had gotten carried away with playing, maybe with friends.
The last thing the PD wanted was excited adults driving like maniacs all over town. They usually want to pin the adults down in specific locations and have them wait while the PD does the searching.
I'm inferring that LE searched approximately one third of the town that Friday afternoon because a reference was made in an early news story to searchers spreading out to check the other two thirds of the town on Saturday (sorry, don't have a cite). Before LE could search the entire town, a volunteer firefighter found the bicycles by the lake and LE concentrated their efforts at the lake that evening.
Plus, frankly, which adult present was really so fit that they could do a three quarter mile walk quickly? Heather, who looks like she might collapse if a breeze blew over her? Grandma Cook, who does not look like a spring chicken? They'd already lost two kids, I'm sure they didn't want to let the 12 year old out of sight.
And, um, Aunt TB... my impression is that she wouldn't want to go far from her mother (Grandma Cook) or far from the concentration of excitement. My impression of Aunt TB is that she pretty much does what she wants to do. I have no doubt Aunt TB had a gut reaction but I think her gut was able to process information about other places that had already been searched.
