Elizabeth Collins, Lyric Cook-Morrissey: Authorities believe missing Iowa girls are alive

By: Crimesider Staff
Topics: Missing

Undated photos of missing Iowa cousins Lyric Cook-Morrissey (left) and Elizabeth Collins (right).

/ CBS News

(CBS/AP) EVANSDALE, Iowa - Investigators say they have evidence that leads them to believe two Iowa cousins who vanished last week are still alive.

Pictures: Hundreds search for missing Iowa cousins

FBI spokeswoman Sandy Breault said Saturday that authorities strongly believe 10-year-old Lyric Cook-Morrissey and 8-year-old Elizabeth Collins have not been killed.

"We believe," Breault said, "these girls are alive and we are not discouraged by the passage of time since their disappearance."

She refused to say what led authorities to that conclusion, but told reporters that investigators are expanding their search beyond Iowa.

The announcement came a day after authorities said they believe the girls were abducted.

Breault also said that while authorities have not received total cooperation from every family member and friend they've spoken to, "the majority of the family has cooperated 100 percent."

The girls vanished July 13 while riding their bikes near Meyers Lake in the northeast Iowa town of Evansdale. Their bikes were later found on a path near the lake.

Breault says investigators are interviewing "persons of interest" in the case, whom she declined to identify.

Complete coverage of the missing Iowa cousins on Crimesider

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by ahendryx819 July 23, 2012 11:27 AM EDT: I hope they're right, but the article said this was announced a day after their abduction....enough time has passed that they could very well be dead by now. I sure hope not.; Reply to this comment

by askagain July 22, 2012 9:22 PM EDT

If memory serves me correctly, most child abductions are the result of a divorced or seperated parent or other family member abducting their own children or family members. It appears that the police may now feel that thie abduction is either by a family member, a friend of the family, or an aquaintance of the family.

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by Jaylah54200 July 23, 2012 2:31 AM EDT: You're correct in that most child abduction cases are NOT from "stranger danger."


by marcie10000 July 22, 2012 6:05 PM EDT: So - METH involved? METH KILLS!; Reply to this comment


by Vonzy July 22, 2012 5:45 PM EDT: I hope they are right and the girls are alive, however, last week they drained the lake looking for them and now they're searching a landfill. Someone's blowing smooke.; Reply to this comment