Iowa Law Enforcement Reclassified Disappearance of Missing Cousins Elizabeth Collins & Lyric Cook-Morrissey as an Abduction

Ten-year old Lyric Cook-Morrissey and 8-year old Elizabeth Collins have been missing since Friday, July 13 when they were last seen riding their bikes near Meyers Lake in Evansdale, Iowa. Their bikes, a bag and cell phone were found on a path near the lake; however, both girls have not been heard from or seen since. Yesterday, after Meyers Lake had been drained and the lake searched by FBI divers and with sonar to no avail, law enforcement officials reclassified the disappearance of Lyric Cook-Morrissey and Elizabeth Collins as an abduction.

Law enforcement officials in Iowa reclassified the disappearance of two missing cousins as an abduction Friday after an FBI dive team failed to find their bodies in an Iowa lake.

Ten-year-old Lyric Cook-Morrissey and 8-year-old Elizabeth Collins disappeared a week ago while riding bikes near Meyers Lake in Evansdale. Their bikes were later found on a path near the lake.

A special 10-member FBI dive team used sonar equipment on a boat for hours Friday to search the 26-acre lake. Divers waded through the water looking for evidence but did not appear to go beneath the surface. By mid-afternoon, an FBI truck and many other police officers had left and little search activity was going on.

There is presently a $50,000 reward being offered for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible in this case. Capt. Rick Abben stated they they are confident that the girls are not in the lake. Abben also said investigators have also “obtained evidence” that was forwarded to the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation lab in Ankeny, but he would not say when or how the evidence was obtained.

For more updates and to discuss the case, go to Scared Monkeys Missing Persons Forum: Elizabeth Collins/Lyric Cook.

Elizabeth Collins & Lyric Cook-Morrissey Missing: Hmm … Parents of Missing Iowa Girl Lyric Cook-Morrissey Consult With Attorney, Have Past History of Drug Arrests … called distraction by investigators

Things that make you go hmmm …

The parents of missing of missing Lyric Cook-Morrissey have now consulted with an attorney who has advised them to stop talking to investigators. Oh, this is going to help in finding the missing cousins, Elizabeth Collins & Lyric Cook-Morrissey, who have been missing since Friday, July 13. The family is upset that they are being treated as suspects. One would think their main concern would be finding their daughter?

The parents of one of two missing Iowa cousins have consulted an attorney who has told them to stop talking to authorities, relatives say, a development that investigators call a distraction from the search.

Black Hawk County Chief Deputy Rick Abben said Thursday that authorities expect 100 percent cooperation from Misty and Dan Morrissey, parents of 10-year-old Lyric Cook-Morrissey.

Lyric and her cousin, 8-year-old Elizabeth Collins, didn’t return from riding bicycles Friday in Evansdale in northeast Iowa.

Family members told the Des Moines Register that police suspect Dan Morrissey is behind the disappearance of both girls, a claim he denies. Tensions between Morrissey and investigators led him to storm out of an interview Tuesday, they added.

“They have accused [Dan Morrissey.] They said they have evidence,” Tammy Brousseau, Lyric’s aunt, told the newspaper.

Lyric’s mom discusses family history of criminal activity.

Read more

Iowa Mom Believes that Missing Elizabeth Collins & Lyric Cook-Morrissey May have been ‘Taken’ … Resident Says He Saw the Girls Ride by his House

It is as though the disappeared into mid air in broad day light …

Iowa cousins, Elizabeth Collins and Lyric Cook-Morrissey have been missing since Friday, July 13 when they were last seen riding their bicycles in the town of Evansdale, Iowa. Their bikes, a bag and cell phone were found near Meyers Lake; however, there has been no sign of the two girls. Thousands of volunteers have searched for the two missing cousins and search dogs have hit on a scent at the waters edge that is currently being drained. However, the mother of one of the missing girls thinks that Elizabeth Collins and Lyric Cook were abducted.

The mother of a missing Iowa girl says she thinks there is a chance she and her cousin were snatched and are not at the bottom of a lake.

“Because we haven’t found them anywhere in the surrounding area, I feel like maybe they were taken,” Misty Cook-Morrissey, mother of 10-year-old Lyric Cook, told CNN on Wednesday.

Lyric and 8-year-old Elizabeth Collins were last seen by their grandmother on Friday when they left to go on a bike ride.

Scent dogs used by searchers looking for signs of the girls ran around Meyers Lake and stopped at the water’s edge, Cook-Morrissey said.

Its is being reported that family members are doing polygraph tests and are cooperating with authorities.

Missing Iowa girls: Timeline in Elizabeth Collins and Lyric Cook-Morrissey case.

UPDATE I: Could witnesses have seen the two missing girls after being in town?

An Evansdale resident told The Des Moines Register this morning that he saw Elizabeth Collins and Lyric Cook-Morrissey ride their bikes past his house Friday afternoon.

Resident Robert Carpenter said he didn’t think anything about seeing the girls because it’s such a common occurrence.

Authorities have been looking for the two cousins since they were reported missing Friday afternoon by family members when they didn’t return from their bike ride.

For more updates, opinions and analysis of this case and to provide your own opinions, go to Scared Monkeys Missing Persons forum: Elizabeth Collins/Lyric Cook.

Search for Missing Iowa Cousins Elizabeth Collins & Lyric Cook … Police Drain Meyers Lake Where Girls Bikes, Bag and Cell Phone Were Found

The search continues for missing Iowa cousins Elizabeth Collins and Lyric Cook. The two have been missing since Friday, July 13 in Evansdale, Iowa; however, their bicycles, bag and cell phone ere found near Meyers Lake.  The police have begun draining the lake where the two missing girls bikes were found. It is supposed to take a couple of days to complete the task.

Police searching for missing Iowa cousins Elizabeth Collins and Lyric Cook today began draining the lake near where their bicycles were found.

Searchers spent two days dragging the lake near Evansdale, but came up with nothing, and as yet have no other leads as to what might have happened to the two girls.

“The focus today is to get these two girls back. That’s what we want … just these girls back,” said Capt. Rick Abben, a chief deputy with the Black Hawk County Sheriff’s Office.

So far police have few leads as to what happened to the two cousins, it as though they just vanished.

7/15/12, 6 PM Press Conference: Black Hawk County Sheriff’s deputy Rick Abben Discusses Searches for Missing Lyric Cook-Morrissey & Her Cousin Elizabeth Collins in Evansdale, Iowa

This evening at 6 pm CT, authorities gave a press conference for missing 8 year old Elizabeth Collins and her her cousin 10 year old Lyric Cook-Morrissey. The two have been missing since Friday, July 13 when they were last seen a little after noon in downtown Evansdale near the Lederman’s Safety Shoe shop.

LIVE Press Conferences can be see HERE.

Black Hawk County Sheriff’s deputy Rick Abben addressed the media following Sundays search efforts for missing Elizabeth Collins and her her cousin Lyric Cook.  Abben stated that the search area had been expanded and are now searching 12-square mile area. That search is being conducted on foot, on horseback and on 4 wheelers. Door to door searches in Evansdale continue by authorities.

Deputy Rick Abben also stated that the dragging operations at Myers Lake have stopped and that they are confident that Elizabeth Collins and Lyric Cook are not in the lake.

The Black Hawk County Sheriff’s Department asked the public that anyone who was in the area of Meyers Lake on Friday on foot or on the bicycle paths and who might have seen anything to please call the tip line, Evansdale police at 319-232-6682.

900 volunteers showed up on Sunday for the search. No organized volunteer search is planned for Monday tomorrow, however, authorities are meeting to go over events of the day to determine whether they will conduct a search for tomorrow, stay tune.

LE is talking to parents, relatives, friends and other people in the community, not interrogated.

No new clues and nothing was found today in the searches of any use as evidence.

Backgrounds of construction workers in the area are being checked. There is also concern that Hwy 20 is so close to the location of where the bikes, purse and cell phone was located.

Deputy Rick Abben stated that the two girls do not have any history of running away.