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Missing Iowa Girls


Keel M.

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Police searching for two Iowa girls who haven't been seen for three days said they had no clue as to what might have happened to them.

Elizabeth Collins, 8, and her cousin, Lyric Cook, 10, were last seen around midday Friday, riding their bicycles in downtown Evansdale.

Police, now way past the crucial 24-hour window period, are working with federal authorities on what to do next.

"Every hour, you know, it makes it that much worse. The first 24 hours of course are very critical. We've obviously surpassed that now by quite a bit," said Capt. Rick Abben, a chief deputy with the Black Hawk County Sheriff's Office.

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Things like this make me terrified for when I have kids. It's like you have to keep them in a bubble to prevent anything bad from happening these days.

I hope they find those girls. They deserve to be back home with their families.

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Thank you for sharing. :)

Funny that you post something about Iowa. As many people know I'm making phone calls on a monthly basis to different departments working on Missing person cases, and last week I made a call to a small sheriff department in Iowa about another case.

Hopefully this story will have a happy ending.

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Nope I didn't know you were calling people about missing persons cases.

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I pray that they will be found safe but what are the odds of that? It may be pointless for me to do so but I'm getting DAMNED MAD!!! at these sick perverted SOB's killing the innocence of our country and destroying families just to satisfy their sick compulsions. I have every confidence that God will deal with them in time but these cases make me want to hurt someone.....badly... It's a damned shame when you almost hope to hear that the poor little ones drowned or something just because it's less horrible than what you've come to expect when you hear of these disappearances. May God protect them and bring them safe home.

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Nope I didn't know you were calling people about missing persons cases.

I know, but other members are aware of this. Last year we started a little group here on UM. Last year me and another member worked on a case from Alaska, and I worked on cases in California and some in Canada. Right now I'm looking at 2 cases from my Province of Quebec. :)

The case I was talking about is the case of Marc J. Allen, who disappeared in 1986, near Des Moines. He was 13 years old when he vanished.

Link: http://www.iowaonline.state.ia.us/mpic/Controller.aspx?cmd=personDetailCommand&id=16857

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I know, but other members are aware of this. Last year we started a little group here on UM. Last year me and another member worked on a case from Alaska, and I worked on cases in California and some in Canada. Right now I'm looking at 2 cases from my Province of Quebec. :)

The case I was talking about is the case of Marc J. Allen, who disappeared in 1986, near Des Moines. He was 13 years old when he vanished.

Link: http://www.iowaonlin...ommand&id=16857

What are the chances, if someone has been gone that long, of them being found alive?

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Heartbreaking. A parent's worse nightmare. Not knowing would be agony.

If this is the work of a repeat offender, what as a country do we need to do about this? Or, a pedophile in training who will most likely repeat offenses?

Edited by QuiteContrary
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I know, but other members are aware of this. Last year we started a little group here on UM. Last year me and another member worked on a case from Alaska, and I worked on cases in California and some in Canada. Right now I'm looking at 2 cases from my Province of Quebec. :)

The case I was talking about is the case of Marc J. Allen, who disappeared in 1986, near Des Moines. He was 13 years old when he vanished.

Link: http://www.iowaonlin...ommand&id=16857

What do you do when you work on them? Are you an investigator for the police in your province?

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What are the chances, if someone has been gone that long, of them being found alive?

Very slim, and if you talk with investigators working on cases like this that's what most of them will tell you, that chances are slim to find this person alive but we still need to know what happened to him/her.

What do you do when you work on them? Are you an investigator for the police in your province?

Independant investigator. Basically what I do is I call the police department working on the case, tell them about my background ( student in criminology at Laval, worked as an independant investigator/researcher on numerous cases, been working on missing person cases since many years, collecting data etc. ) and I share information I have found about cases that might be related to this particular case, info about crimes in the area, etc. Some investigators/officers are reluctant to talk about a case with an "outsider", but you'd be surprised to see how many of them are actually ready to talk about it over the phone and glad to do so. Most investigators here are asking me name of my teachers, the classes I'm taken, etc. The fact I study in criminology helps a lot, I guess some of the investigators feels like they are talking to one of "them".

I shared important information in the Kristen Modafferi case ( the possibility that she might have been a victim of serial killer Joseph Naso, an obscure killer from the area where Kristen disappeared in 1997 ), I also found interesting link between a case in Alaska and one in New Mexico, things like that. To me it's simply the best way to kill time; researching a cold case, researching the area and history of the city/county where the case took place, trying to establish links and connections between cases, talking about it with the detectives working on the case.....With school, my job and my girlfriend I don't have much time to work on cases now ( sadly ), but I always try to make 4 or 5 phone calls a month. At one point it was 2 or 3 a week, my phone bills were terrible. :D

The only problem I have is that I live in Canada. Most of the cases I have an interest for or worked on are from the United States, so the fact I live in another country is often problematic. In many occasions investigators told me about a certain area, a certain place etc., but because I live in Canada my options are very limited. :(

That's why I'm trying to focus on cases from my Province right now, I feel like I can really make a difference. However I have over 60 cases ( all of them from the US ) on my mind, and my plan is to move to the US one day, after getting my PHd and establishing a name for myself here in Quebec or Montreal. That's my goal, and I'm gonna do it. No doubt. :tu:

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Ah, well that explains a lot then. I thought your interest in these types of cases was more of a hobby, but I see now that it's a vocational interest. It's good that there are people like you in the world who have the time and the enthusiasm to look through cold cases and try to make connections to then present to the authorities. From what I understand, part of the reason cases go cold is that police often don't have the manpower or money to continually investigate, so if someone like you comes along who is studying criminology and knows the basics of what to do, I'm sure its a huge help. Especially if you can provide a new aspect of the case previously overlooked or unconsidered. :tu:

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Praying these little ones are returned home safe.

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Authorities seem hesitant to "call" this case, but I think that a big clue that these little girls have been abducted and taken from that area is that- according to info on a missing poster- Collins' purse and cell phone were located on the other side of a fence from the bike trail. Of course, that makes no sense what-so-ever. One thing I think is for sure, the girls did not go into the lake willingly because the purse/cell would have been with the bikes, along with shoes, and possibly other clothing.

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/16/12763235-crews-drain-lake-as-search-continues-for-young-iowa-cousins?lite

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After scoping out Myers lake, I see that there's no vehicle access. I think that could be why authorities are taking the extraordinary measure of draining the lake...because a perp wouldn't have had any way to transport two bodies out of or away from that area.

This is a bizarre set of circumstances.

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I don't understand if they've already dredged the lake why drain it? Doesn't sound like it's a very big lake.

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I don't understand if they've already dredged the lake why drain it? Doesn't sound like it's a very big lake.

Right?! The lake is five acres, and I'm not sure why they think it's possible that two bodies could have been missed. After this amount of time, and in this heat, bodies would have resurfaced...unless weighted.

I don't think it makes sense that the bikes wouldn't have also been hidden in the lake.

I don't have a link (sorry), but fox news reported that the bikes were found near a maintenance gate, which of course, lends access.

Another thing, the aunt said (in an interview with Anderson Cooper- again, sorry no link) that the girls left their grandmother's house at about 11:30 am. and after the girls weren't back, that she and Elizabeth's older brother went to the lake and asked around about the girls. A man stepped up and said he'd seen the girls headed east on the trail (the direction in which the bikes were located) and he said that was at about 2:30, or somewhere around that time- I don't recall exactly, but my point is that in the Fox News article, Elizabeth's mother said that the girls knew not to be gone long, so I don't think it makes sense that the girls would still be riding around the lake at the time that the man said he saw them. The aunt said that the police have the man's name.

I don't know what to think that situation, and I find it odd that despite that sighting, it's still reported that the girls were last seen when they left the grandmother's house.

Do the police question the witness' credibility? Or do they think he could simply be mistaken? Of course, the grandmother's sighting is the most reliable...just sayin'.

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I think this is key because it seems to narrow the "focus area". Robert Carpenter- who lives about two blocks due north of Meyer's Lake on Lake Avenue says he saw the girls ride by on their bikes sometime between 12:00 and 3:00pm Friday as he was watering his lawn. He spoke with police later that afternoon during the police door-to-door, at which time he learned the girls were missing.

He and his wife were familiar enough with Elizabeth to recognize her when they saw her. Carpenter said that "they" would ride by their house, but that "they usually turned around and went back." Carpenter's wife says that she would see Elizabeth "almost every night", and that "she always stopped and talked to people", that "she was a very friendly little girl."

Okay...this contradicts that the girls didn't or wouldn't ride so far as Meyer's Lake, but...

Why would Elizabeth routinely be present in that part of the neighborhood?

Was there a particular reason that she would ride down Lake Avenue (passing the Carpenter's) to get where she was going?

(This info is from the Des Moines Register, and I've had trouble with the freakin' link.)

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This case continues to be heavy on my mind.

Looking at that lake, it's hard to imagine anyone accomplishing anything either around there or certainly on the lake without a witness since this crime occurred in broad daylight.

The perp has to close; he must be familiar because he's apparently knowledgeable and comfortable with that area.

I still don't think the location of the bikes was a dump site because the bikes weren't hidden in the lake and they easily could have been. Why would a perp not hide evidence if he purposefully transported the evidence to that area to get rid of it?

Why risk staging a such a scene where he might have been witnessed?

Those questions are why I don't thnk that's what's occurred.

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This horrible story is unfolding right in my backyard.

I ride my bike on the Myers lake trail all the time. The spot where they found the bikes is the most secluded area of the Lake trail. The fences are on both sides of the trail, and then there is a forested area, blocking the view from both directions.

But, the trail is accessible via car. It's plenty wide enough. In fact, the area where the bikes were found also has a 'normally' locked gate leading to the lake. The gate was open. I've seen city workers using that before because it gives access to the lake's overflow valve.

None of us in the community know what to think. There are plenty of opinions and theories, but no real evidence. Hopefully they'll be able to find something concrete to go on soon. To be honest, the only real chance at the girls still being alive are if they were abducted.

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I don't understand if they've already dredged the lake why drain it? Doesn't sound like it's a very big lake.

The officials don't think they will be found in the lake either. The lake is actually pretty good size. You can walk completely around it, but it'll take 15-20 minutes.

But, since this lake is equipped with an overflow valve, it really is a simple matter to drain it and be 100% sure. All it really takes is time. And once that is put to rest, they can stop (possibly) wasting efforts there.

Edited by supervike
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They are focused locally, but I figure they've checked any internet correspondence. Anyone online can map the area and lake.

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This horrible story is unfolding right in my backyard.

I ride my bike on the Myers lake trail all the time. The spot where they found the bikes is the most secluded area of the Lake trail. The fences are on both sides of the trail, and then there is a forested area, blocking the view from both directions.

But, the trail is accessible via car. It's plenty wide enough. In fact, the area where the bikes were found also has a 'normally' locked gate leading to the lake. The gate was open. I've seen city workers using that before because it gives access to the lake's overflow valve.

Yes, it is the most secluded spot...it causes me to wonder if the girls were stalked...maybe expected to arrive in that location.

Just out of curiosity, do you know what that building is that's situated east of the lake, and north of the woods, off S. Evans Rd./Arbutus Ave.?

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Update: Mother thinks the two missing girls may have been "taken"

The mother of a missing Iowa girl thinks there is a chance she and her cousin were abducted and are not at the bottom of a lake where dogs have led searchers.

"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.

Full article: http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/18/justice/iowa-missing-cousins/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

By the way glad to see you back Supervike. :)

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