- Sarah Curl family friend speaks …
- Two people embrace after a vigil …
EVANSDALE, Iowa (AP) — Hunters discovered two bodies Wednesday believed to be the young Iowa cousins who vanished five months ago while riding their bikes, authorities said.
The families of 9-year-old Elizabeth Collins and 11-year-old Lyric Cook were notified of the discovery and are asking for privacy, Black Hawk County sheriff's Capt. Rick Abben said.
He said the bodies were found in a
wooded area, but he wouldn't say where, and that they're being sent to
the state medical examiner's office for identification.
Appearing to fight back tears during a news conference in Evansdale not far from where the girls were last seen, Abben said: "It's definitely not the outcome that we wanted, obviously."
"This is a difficult thing for us to go through. It's a difficult thing for the community," he added.
The cousins disappeared July 13 near a popular recreational lake in Evansdale, a city about 110 miles northeast of Des Moines. Investigators found their bicycles and a pink purse near the lake hours later, but no sign of the girls.
Abben declined to say if there were any suspects in the cousins' disappearance.
On Wednesday night, about 70
people attended a prayer vigil at the lake, some cradling plastic cups
with candles to protect the flames from the cold wind. Some were holding
out hope that the bodies weren't those of the missing cousins, though
others seemed resigned to the tragic news.
"These were just innocent
children. These girls should have been left alone. They should be home
safe in their beds, and it's only a coward who would have done something
like this," said Barb Collins, a machinist who grew up in Evansdale and
helped lead the group in prayer.
Hundreds of volunteers had helped investigators
search for girls after they went missing, traipsing through cornfields
and wooded areas in and around Evansdale, a city of 8,000 residents. The
mayor even flew above in his private plane looking for them.
Days later, an FBI dive team
brought in specialized equipment to search the bottom of the lake for
the girls but found nothing. Police then classified the case as an
abduction.
Investigators had largely been
tight-lipped in the months since. An FBI spokeswoman initially said
investigators had reason to believe the girls were alive, raising the
region's hopes. But other investigators backtracked, saying only that
there was no reason to believe the girls were dead.
Authorities had asked hunters to look for the girls in the region during this fall's popular deer hunting season.
Abben said the bodies were discovered around 12:45 p.m. Wednesday,
but refused to say where. He said the area was still being processed as a
crime scene and could not be compromised.
"Preservation of that scene is paramount," he said.
Abben said he hoped to release additional details Thursday.
Abben said the girls' families
wanted to express gratitude to the community for their support but have
asked the media to respect their privacy at this time.
Investigators have poured through thousands of tips and chased many different theories in the case.
They looked into Cook's parents,
who had criminal records for prior involvement in making
methamphetamine. Cook's father, Daniel Morrissey, is being prosecuted
for domestic assault and a series of meth and other drug charges, and he
backed out of a plea agreement with prosecutors the day before the
disappearance. They have denied any involvement.
The region had rallied in support
of the girls. Photographs of the cousins seemed to be everywhere in
northeastern Iowa: on T-shirts and buttons worn by locals, and on fliers
hung on gas station walls and in business windows.
"In the beginning, I helped
search, and I've been to many other vigils they had. The community is so
involved," said Amanda Mulzac, who lives in nearby Waterloo and
attended Wednesday night's vigil. "My heart breaks. It's just
devastating."
"At their age I was out by myself, but now it's different," she added. "Hold your babies close."
Local residents had held prayer
vigils, even as the months passed and both girls had birthdays. Just
last week, an anonymous donor pledged $100,000 for information about the
girls' whereabouts, on top of the $50,000 that police had offered.
After Wednesday night's vigil,
family friend Sarah Curl said she had seen "a lot of heartbreak" after
news broke about the bodies being found.
"We're a tight community that
cares about one another, and when something happens to one family it
happens to all of our families," she said. "This could have happened to
anyone."
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