28/02/2021
🔦 Case Spotlight
💜 Lyric Cook-Morrissey (Age 10) &
💜 Elizabeth Collins (Age 8)
✳ Disappeared on Friday July 13th 2012 from Evansdale, Iowa.
✴ Their bodies were not found until Wednesday December 5th 2012.
✳ Circumstances:
▪️On Friday July 13th 2012, Elizabeth & Lyric were spending the day their grandmother Wylma's house. Elizabeth & Lyric were cousins and spent a lot of time together.
▪️According to Wylma, at 12:15 PM, the 2 girls decided to go on a bike ride. Lyric & Elizabeth were seen at approximately 12:23 PM on Brovan Boulevard in Evansdale.
▪️The girls were then spotted again riding their bikes on Gilbert Drive (about 1 1/2 mile away from Wylma's house) between 12:30 and 1 PM.
▪️After a while, the girls didn't return to Wylma's and the family couldn't seem to find them in the area.
▪️Around 2:48 PM, the family reported them missing to the Evansdale police department.
▪️After having no luck in the vicinity of Wylma's home, the Evansdale Police Department ask joined by deputies from the Black Hawk Sheriff's Department, as well as members of the local fire department. They began searching the bike trails.
▪️Around 4 PM Elizabeth's purse and Lyric & Elizabeth's bikes were found on a trail near the southeast corner of Meyers Lake.
▪️The 2 girls were no where to be found and there was no trace of them at that location and no clues to where they could be. Police began combing the area and were soon joined by volunteers.
▪️In the days after the girls disappearance, security footage was found to show them riding AWAY from Meyers Lake around 12:11 PM.
▪️With little luck in their investigation, the FBI agreed to cooperate in the search for the girls. Divers searched the lake but didn't find anything. Local officials then decided to partially drain the lake but came up empty. Meyers Lake qu**ky became the primary setting for the investigation because it was the only place that seemed to have evidence of the girls (the bikes and purse).
▪️By July 20th, a week after Lyric and Elizabeth disappeared, police seemed to have ruled out any accidental causes. This development allowed them to move the scope of the investigation fully to an abduction, with them believing that foul-play was undoubtedly involved in this case. However, people still held out hope the girls would be found alive.
▪️The police continued searching and interviewing potential witnesses and suspects.
▪️During this time, the girls family members were under intense public scrutiny. One family member in particular, Lyrics dad Dan Morrissey, was being vilified by the press. This was due to his involvement in criminal activities and ongoing cases. Dan Morrissey has always professed that his criminal activities had nothing to do with the girls disappearance.
▪️The investigation continued and the family continue to appeal to the public to bring the girls home. It wasn't until the end of 2012, that they finally got an answer.
▪️On Wednesday, December 5th, a group of hunters had been moving through Seven Bridges Park and came across human remains.
▪️The remains had been in an isolated area of the park, where foot traffic wasn't a huge concern. Investigators have stated that the remains were placed in a location that someone would have had to have almost been on top of to notice. If anyone was walking a few feet away from the remains, they likely would have missed them. The police were notified around 12:45 PM and began an investigation of that area.
▪️The following day during a press conference, it was announced that they were confident that the remains were that of Lyric & Elizabeth.
▪️The following Monday, December 10th, it was confirmed.
✳ The Aftermath:
▫️Following the heart breaking discovery, many memorials took place and the trail around Meyers Lake was renamed The Trail of Angels in honor of Lyric & Elizabeth.
▫️On June 24th 2013, Evansdale Police announced they had a tip that had led to a new lead in the investigation.
▫️The tip revolved around a description of a large, white, full-sized, old-model SUV, possibly a Chevy Suburban or a Ford Bronco, which had been spotted by multiple witnesses near the crime scene between 11:30 AM and 12:30 PM on July 13th, 2012. 3 separate witnesses had seen this vehicle on Arbutus Avenue which is located just next to Lake Avenue where the girls had last been seen as well as next to Lake Meyers. Police asked anyone in the public with knowledge of this vehicle to come forward but nothing has come of it yet.
✴ Profile of The Suspect:
▫️A local that blended in with the Evansdale or Black Hawk County community, who acted upon an opportunity to abduct the two girls.
▫️Someone that was undoubtedly familiar with the Meyers Lake/Angel Park area, as well as Seven Bridges Park.
▫️Someone who would use "quiet coercion" to convince the two girls to go with him or her.
▫️Someone who was likely facing significant stress in their life (legal issues, mental health problems, issues with a spouse, etc.), who decided to lash out at two strangers instead of those close to them.
▫️Either someone who followed along closely with the investigation, or someone that tried to distance themselves as much as possible.
▫️Someone that had likely attempted abductions in the past, and had likely expressed interest in underage girls.
▫️ Someone that may have attempted to alter their own physical appearance as well as the appearance of their vehicle in the immediate aftermath.
Anyone with information on the case is asked to call the Evansdale Police tip line at 319-232-6682 or the Cedar Valley Crime Stoppers at 855-300-8477.
✳ Media Links:
https://www.kcrg.com/2020/12/06/unsolved-eights-years-ago-today-the-bodies-of-lyric-cook-morrissey-and-elizabeth-collins-were-discovered/
https://iowacoldcases.org/case-summaries/lyric-cook-and-elizabeth-collins/
https://kwwl.com/2018/09/27/a-conversation-with-lyric-cooks-father-from-behind-bars/
https://unresolved.me/the-evansdale-murders
https://www.google.com/amp/s/cbs2iowa.com/amp/news/local/eight-years-since-lyric-cook-elizabeth-collins-vanished-in-evansdale
https://www.kwqc.com/content/news/New-reward-offered-for-information-leading-to-the-death-of-Elizabeth-and-Lyric-Cook-513390641.html
https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/bodies-of-missing-iowa-cousins-identified/7/
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wqad.com/amp/article/news/local/drone/8-in-the-air/authorities-release-possible-profile-of-suspect-in-case-of-iowa-girls/526-38f5418d-05b2-4547-b807-50ab4bf743b8
