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Subscribe to RSSCousins Elizabeth Collins, 8, and Lyric Cook-Morrissey, 10, have now been missing for 12 days, and signs of tension between their mothers are surfacing since investigators reported Cook-Morrissey's parents weren't fully cooperating with the search. NBC's John Yang reports.
After submitting to a second polygraph test, the mother of one of two missing Iowa cousins said Monday the results should prove that she had nothing to do with their disappearance and allow investigators to focus their attention elsewhere.
Misty Cook-Morrissey said a state agent asked during Monday's polygraph whether she had anything to do with the abduction of her daughter, 10-year-old Lyric Cook-Morrissey, and niece, 8-year-old Elizabeth Collins. She said she was asked whether she knows where they are and if she could take investigators to them, adding she answered "no" to all those questions.
"It went well," she said in a phone interview afterward. "They can rule me out of their book and move on to something else."
The girls have been missing since they went for a bike ride July 13 in Evansdale, a town of 4,700 people in northeast Iowa, where their bikes and a purse were found near a lake. An extensive investigation involving local, state and federal agents has failed to find them.
Investigators say they have reason to believe the girls were abducted and remain alive, but they will not elaborate. They ruled out the possibility that the girls died in Meyers Lake after an FBI team used sonar equipment to search the bottom.
At a press conference Monday, chief deputy Captain Rick Abben said evidence indicating the girls are alive was sent to the state crime lab.
FBI spokeswoman Sandy Breault said Monday that investigators want to interview a person who was paddleboating on the lake around the time the girls disappeared. She said that person, who has not voluntarily come forward, could help investigators learn what happened to the girls but was not considered a suspect.
Breault declined comment on Cook-Morrissey's polygraph test.
Investigators have been delving into the background of Cook-Morrissey and her estranged husband, Dan Morrissey, who have both spent time in prison on methamphetamine-related charges. The two faced additional scrutiny last week when they announced they had been advised by an attorney to stop cooperating with investigators. A judge last week ordered Morrissey to be monitored by state parole agents while he awaits trial on charges of making and dealing meth that could lock him up for decades.
The couple's temporary lack of cooperation with police caused friction with Heather and Drew Collins, Elizabeth's parents. Police had also repeatedly called it a distraction in recent days and called for total cooperation.
Cook-Morrissey said she'd declined to cooperate after she was treated harshly during a polygraph test last week in which she was accused of taking the girls, but agreed Monday after investigators promised to take a different approach and allow a relative to be nearby.
Cook-Morrissey, 34, said she was told she passed Monday's test after last week's came back inconclusive. She said the examinations were stressful for her since she has anxiety disorder, which made it hard to stay calm and may have contributed to the earlier inconclusive result.
Cook-Morrissey said Monday's test and a meeting afterward with investigators over doughnuts went a long way toward easing tensions between her family and the police.
"You could say we made peace today," she said. "We looked at some pictures. We talked. It went really well. I think they are trying a lot harder than I was feeling the last few days."
Cook-Morrissey said investigators did not share any new information with her about why they believe the girls are alive, but told her they were confident the case would be resolved.
She said she also met Monday morning with the Collins' family. She called tension within the family as "very normal" in a case where relatives have fear and stress but no answers about what happened.
A spokesman for the Collins' family, Craig Ceilly, emphasized that Heather and Drew Collins have been "cooperating 300 percent from day one" with investigators as they live through what he called their worst nightmare.
"Anything they can do to help they will do and they are doing willingly. I cannot speak for Dan and Misty," he said. "I don't know what they are doing. I don't have a clue, nor do Heather and Drew. They don't want to know. All of a sudden when the media started looking at their past, it took a turn for the worse."
NBC's Isolde Raftery contributed to this report.
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Wow, both of the parents of the one girl are meth heads? That puts a whole different spin on the story.
Nice to know that you are in Law Enforcement and basically had to lie in order to get your job.
chips lol I was thinking the same thing. GEEZ.
Further proof our lawmen are nothing but a bunch of liars...
A paddleboat? Are paddleboats available at the lake for rent? Is this someone who brought their own paddleboat? I think it would be hard to wrangle two young girls AND a paddleboat away from the lake. Please let these girls be found safe and unharmed.
I've been through the Waterloo, IA area a couple of times, but am not familiar with Meyers Lake. After looking at Google Maps' satellite imagery, Meyers Lake seems rather small to have paddleboats, etc available for rent... Several homes surround the lake, but there are trees blocking the view. I also saw what looks like a public parking lot and a park, with a bike path going around the lake. Going by all of that, I would assume someone brought their own paddleboat.
Honestly, this ordeal brought back memories of the Johnny Gosch (the first in the country to have his photo on a milk carton) and the two other boys that went missing from Des Moines, IA in the 1980's.
MJ 1986, in regards to Johnny Gosch and pictures being first on Milk Cartons.
In 1984, Gosch's photograph appeared alongside that of Juanita Rafaela Estavez on milk cartons across America; they were the second abducted children to have their plights publicized in this way. The first was Etan Patz
Well the paddle boater could have been someone they knew, or a trustworthy looking person, who invited them on to the boat. It doesn't sound like the girls were being supervised.
Is it any wonder our youth are messed up? Meth addict parents, wow some kids don't have a chance right out of the gate.
from reading other articles, that is more then likely why the girls were with the grandma, I still firmly believe these parents had nothing to do with it.
I'm leaning that way too. Now that the case has been re-classified as an abduction, the investigators need to branch out. The girls could be miles away from that area. Stranger abduction is rare, but it is a very real possibility.
I wouldn't cast the parents/family aside yet. The Waterloo, Iowa area is very rural... The Waterloo/Cedar Falls metro has a population of 165,000-ish. For something like this to happen randomly is very rare. That being said, it's very possible someone not within the family is responsible... I think it's 50/50 really.
The FBI is believing they are still alive! Let's hold on to that hope!
edit: incorrect reply location.
The doper Mom who can't obey mutual restraining orders with her loser husband has an anxiety disorder??? Hey, maybe it's the meth, duh, do ya think?? Her commentary is beyond weird. "They can rule me out of their book and move on to something else." Like her daughter's investigation? Daughter? Does she know or comprehend the word? And the cops "I think they are trying a lot harder than I was feeling in the last few days." And tension in her family is "very normal." The cops have said the meth-head has been "A distraction." Well, that's what dope addicts do, it's all about them. A stolen child is just an inconvenience in their lifestyle of 'cookin' ' and bailing out the husband to beat her a few more times. My prayers are with that baby and her cousin, wherevermost they are.
Anybody can say that a polygraph test "should rule them out." The police haven't said that she is no longer a person of interest. She's a nut case and a drug addict. You can't believe her. People like that will sell their children or look the other way if their dealer kills them.
Tweakers are Professional Liars...
From what I heard earlier on the Nancy Grace Show, the grandmother went daily to help her daughter who is ill. The grandmother helped with Elizabeth and her brothers and sisters. The cousin, Lyric Cook, came to play and spend time with her cousin and grandmother. It seems so sad to think these girls disappeared spending time together and usually were not far from their grandmother's call. She said they had to check in periodically and never had taken bike rides that far away from home (lake area). It is disturbing knowing the background of Lyric's parents but hopefully they are not responsible for the girls going missing. I can see why the parents of Elizabeth Cook are trying so hard to help police in their investigation.
Anybody can say they passed a polygraph.
I dont think child abductions are rare, my child was abducted, but we found him within hours, but his kidnapper still managed to molest him. I am just so thankful we found him, who knows what would have happened!
As I said from the very beginning this is nothing more than a case of low life's doing what it is they do and that is take no responsibility for their children that they produce because they are too stupid to know about birth control.
The second polygraph proved the same thing as the first, nothing. The polygraph is not a lie detector. It is a sales tool. The results are unreliable and can't be used as evidence in court. Polygraph tests are used to coerce confessions so the cops can close a case with a conviction. Cops never announce that someone has passed a "lie detector" test. They always claim the "test" showed deception or was inconclusive. The only way to take a polygraph test is to insist that your representative be allowed to record audio and video of the entire procedure and retain the recording. This should be in the form of a binding contract with significant penalty for failure to comply.
Would seem like a boater could be the prime suspect at this moment, given the isolation of where the girls went.
So, last week it was all - it's in Gods hands and we've forgiven the kidnappers because we know God has forgiven them - and this week, it's - they can rule me out and we looked at pictures and I feel like they are trying harder...what, it's not just still in God's hands for her? I noticed no mention of God this week, you know, after they've made the rounds on TV.
Agree. Meth heads and girls missing. Umm. You think someone owed someone some money? Or was looking for payback.
Its possible and might be the reason police believe the girls are alive.
Yep, exactly what I said. That's why mommy has no tears. Daddy is a meth cook & I believe they are trying to resolve this without the police because Daddy is already facing charges. If they tell the truth they will both be gone for life. Why do you think the kid was with grandma? They care more about drugs, it's not like they were at work (as in "a real job"). I've know a few tweekers, I think most of them are using crack these days. What really pisses me off is they all end up on SSI (disability) and food stamps. They are disabled because they are wasted all the time I can't wait till all states make it manditory to drug test anyone on Gov. assistance.
I'll go along with that if you make it anyone who receives a government check, and it applies to everyone from the governor and legislators down.
Oh those poor girls!!! I hope they find them ALIVE and soon........and I pray that those meth-head parents aren't involved in this.........gives me chill bumps and makes me sick at people just TAKING kids!!!!
When messed up People can produce offspring, it reinforces my hope that one day Humans will have to have a License prior to conception, Then maybe we can get a more Humane Society. Because we License and Regulate every other thing Humans are involved in, And a Child's Life is so much more valuable than the Procreator's.
I will never understand why an attorney would tell his client not to cooperate with police. Unless the client was guilty of something of course. But if not, why add that suspicion to yourself?? If my child was missing, I wouldn't care if the police punched me repeatedly in the face if that is what it took to bring my kid back. But she is worried about their line of questioning??? She should understand that these cases often involve a family member and them questioning her guilt is part of the process. But here she is more worried about announcing that she passed a polygraph test. Priorities..
Well I know one thing she wasn't hiding, tears, because there aren't any. Someone needs to drown these losers in that lake!
The father is prostituting those girls out some where. If not, how could law enforcement make a statement they WILL be found and alive.
look at the responses on this post and you people wonder why they aren't cooperating, you people have already convicted these parents.
Evidence that they are still alive has been turned over to the FBI? Are you kidding me? What kind of evidence could that possibly be and and who/where did it come from? So possibly, the girls were abducted only to be kept alive and abused in some manner.....this is not good at all. But then I can't imagine they being abducted and kept alive only to e treated to a vacation at Disneyland or better! I only hope that this mystery is solved very soon because it does not seem good for them right now. I will continue to follow this until it is resolved by finding two happy little girls. Amen!