- Text
Missing Iowa girls case: Van driver in surveillance photos speaks to authorities
Lyric Cook, 10, right, and Elizabeth Collins, 8, who have been missing since Friday, July 13, 2012.
/ AP Photo/FBI(CBS/AP) EVANSDALE, Iowa - Authorities say a man seen in a surveillance photo has spoken to investigators and is not a suspect in the abduction of Iowa cousins Lyric Cook-Morrissey and Elizabeth Collins.
Pictures: Hundreds search for missing Iowa cousins
FBI spokeswoman Sandy Breault says the man and a white van had been seen at an Evansdale convenience store about 2 p.m. July 13, two hours before firefighters found the bicycles of 9-year-old Elizabeth and 10-year-old Lyric. The man spoke to investigators on Wednesday.
The man was identified by KWWL-TV as 34-year old Mike Knief of Evansdale. He told the station he had recognized himself in surveillance photos released by the FBI and immediately contacted authorities.
"We got things all sorted out and they released me and said I wasn't a suspect in any way or anything. It's just they were following the leads," Knief told the station in a phone interview.
Mike Knief told KWWL that he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and had no information related to the cousins' disappearance.
Authorities say they believe the girls were abducted.
Earlier Wednesday, Capt. Rick Abben of the Black Hawk County Sheriff's Office, said investigators were aware of a reported abduction attempt of a Cedar Rapids boy by people in a van. Abben says it's impossible to tell whether the Cedar Rapids incident is somehow related to the missing girls.
Complete coverage of the missing Iowa cousins on Crimesider
- 4 accused of holding mother, child captive in Ohio
- Walter Lee Williams is 500th on FBI's "Most Wanted" list
- Bulger Trial: Admitted killer Martorano calls self "nice guy"
- Cops: Fla. man beaten, robbed, left naked on first date
- Ind. woman, sentenced to death at 16, to be released
- Steubenville teen rapist must register as sex offender
- Police: Boy, 13, killed sister, 5, with wrestling moves
- Report: College student kept girl, 13, in his room for a month
- Cleveland kidnap victims may get state govt. payments
- Search for missing woman, 19, in Tempe, Ariz.
- Cops: Calif. math teacher had sex with boy multiple times
- N.M. Police: Grandmother unmasks robber, finds grandson
- Italian high court gives reason for new Knox trial
- Univ. of Chicago student missing for five days
- Mother beats man she believes molested her kids
- Affidavit: Drug deal led to murder of Ind. teen
