The pain of 2 Iowa girls' killings remains, but resolve in Evansdale only grows

BREMER COUNTY, Ia. — Drew Collins silently points to a single, rusted sign as he enters the 125-acre Seven Bridges Wildlife Area.

He drives his pickup truck over a long stretch of gravel road and into the Bremer County park. A canopy of trees extinguishes the sun.

He parks his car in a clear area by the Wapsipinicon River. Nearby, angels are nailed into two trees in honor of Collins' daughter, Elizabeth, and his niece Lyric Cook-Morrissey. Five years ago this month, they were abducted from an Evansdale park where they were playing. Elizabeth was 8, Lyric 10. Thousands of volunteers searched for them. Seven months later, about 20 miles to the northeast, their bodies were found here at Seven Bridges.

Collins is on his way to the site where hunters stumbled upon Elizabeth and Lyric, resolving part of the mystery of the girls' fates but leaving unknown who took them and what happened. The case made national news and forever changed the lives of the girls' families, neighbors and Iowa law enforcement officers involved in the case. In just the past few months, authorities began a new approach in their investigation of the killings.

Collins doesn't like to make this trip.

He looks into the forest.

“It gets worse,” he says.

He walks through knee-high grass and fallen trees, looking left and right for marks that remind him of the spot. But the earth has shifted over time.

Seven minutes after leaving his pickup, he finds it.

“You could be screaming, and no one could hear you,” Collins says. “I think about that, for a little girl to be down here with a stranger they don’t know. And then you wonder what they went through.”

Collins was first brought here about two years after his daughter and niece disappeared. This is his fifth visit.

"I would never come out here alone. It’s kind of scary being out here," Collins said. "To me, this place is not a peaceful place. We can only imagine what happened to them here."

Collins said he thinks Elizabeth and Lyric were alive when they were brought here — it seems impossible to him that they could have been carried. 

“I think about how bad the bugs were and how scary it must have been for them,” Collins said. “Who could do this to two little girls?" 

Elizabeth's family

After the girls' disappearance, people across the country called in tips, claiming to have spotted them. Just last year, Evansdale Mayor Doug Faas and his wife went on a vacation to Mexico. When they chatted with other tourists and said they were from Evansdale, the strangers immediately mentioned the cousins.

Among the perplexing aspects of the killings: The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children says abductions of random children have become less common; predators typically seek children online. It's rarer still for two children to be taken at once, and in the middle of the day. 

In Evansdale, a town of about 5,000 just outside Waterloo, the impact remains profound. Police officers say they think about the unsolved case every day. Lyric's parents, whose criminal pasts prompted unfounded speculation during the early days of the search, later spent time in prison for other crimes. Elizabeth's parents, who have three other children, divorced.

Collins said his experience in 2012 would be comparable to sitting comfortably in the living room at home — until a semi truck barrels though at 80 miles per hour.

“I’ve kind of just watched things kind of crumble,” Collins said. “I don’t think the person that did this has any clue what they have done.”

His son, Kelly, 17, and daughters Amber, 11, and Callie, 9, had their childhoods stolen from them, Collins said.

They don't get to just go over to anybody's house. He doesn’t let them ride their bikes without an adult present. When someone forgets an item in the car, he walks with the child just a few feet out to the driveway.

Collins said he and Heather Collins had a good marriage. But the death of their eldest daughter led to them coping in different ways.

They split last year.

Heather Collins declined requests for an interview. 

“How I dealt with it a lot of times probably wasn’t good for a marriage,” Drew Collins said. “I just kind of blocked myself out and would just hide.”

Collins still owns his tree-trimming business. He holds onto hope that justice will happen for his daughter.

“It’s still all I think about," Collins said. "You just kind of learn how to deal with it, and that’s your new life."

The police

All seven Evansdale police officers have pictures of the cousins at their desks.

They're not supposed to take the case personally. But it can’t help but hit home, said Evansdale Police Chief Jeff Jensen.

Portraits of Elizabeth and Lyric hang high on the wall of his office, next to pictures of his grandchildren.

“A lot of my gray hair comes from this case, because you think about it,” Jensen said. “You lie down and you think ‘Oh, maybe this.’ I think a lot of our officers play the game ‘Oh, what about this or that?’"

Since the abductions, when officers see kids biking, they take note of what they’re wearing and who’s near them.

People still approach officers and ask about the case. Collins calls monthly for updates.

The former chief, Kent Smock, was fired in 2015, accused of various forms of misconduct, including creating a hostile work environment. But otherwise, there has been little turnover in the police department.

Jensen, who was a sergeant in 2012, initially thought the department's big break in the case would come after the girls’ bodies were found. 

“For members of this department, it will probably never be a cold case,” Jensen said.

The investigation

This year, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation did a "hard reset" in the case, said special agent Mike Roehrkasse.

Hundreds of people from dozens of agencies have contributed to five years of interviews, physical investigations and data collection, creating an unwieldy mountain of potential evidence.

Now, Roehrkasse said, three DCI agents and an investigator at the Bremer County Sheriff’s Office will be the “core group" in an effort to cut out some of the noise.

In April, they started reviewing the case from the beginning. That consistent understanding of the case could make canvassing neighborhoods more effective, Roehrkasse said.

“Everyone is on same playbook. They know what’s important and valuable,” Roehrkasse said. “You have to go back and digest it a little more.”

It’s highly probable the killer knows the Seven Bridges area, because he or she may have lived there or previously visited the park, Roehrkasse said.

Seven Bridges is in an an isolated area with only the one sign indicating its existence. Former high schoolers in the area said it was a party spot, so some people are familiar with it, said Bremer County Sheriff Dan Pickett.

At least two people have tried to confess to taking the girls, but investigators knew they weren't responsible because they didn't know any of the many details of the case that have not been made public.

In the last five years, the DCI has looked into family members, friends, neighbors and over 300 sex offenders. 

That includes suspects in other high-profile cases involving children. Michael Klunder kidnapped two girls in Dayton in 2013 — one escaped, and Klunder killed the other and later himself. But investigators determined he was not a suspect in the Evansdale case.

When asked about Jeff Lee Altmayer, an Ankeny man who is in jail on suspicion of enticing children with the intent to commit sex abuse, Roehrkasse said, “Most I’ll say about him is he’s a lead. ... He’s somebody we’re definitely keeping an eye on.”

Altmayer, 57, was arrested after being accused of trying to lure a 6-year-old girl into his car with $100, and falsely claiming to be a police officer in Onawa on Nov. 16.

Before November, Iowa DCI agents were receiving reports from across the state that a man was trying to entice children into his car by offering $100, said Iowa DCI Assistant Director Mitch Mortvedt. 

After Altmayer's arrest, the DCI learned local law enforcement in Grundy and Jasper counties arrested him on suspicion of similar enticement crimes earlier last year.

At the time of his arrest, he worked for Alliance Inspection Management as an automobile damage field inspector, according to court documents. This gave him the opportunity to freely travel across the state and reach more victims, Mortvedt said.

Altmayer is considered a person of interest in a June 2016 child enticement case from Cedar Falls, about 12 miles from Evansdale, Police Capt. Mike Hayes said. A man reportedly approached three young girls at a park in Cedar Falls and offered them money to get into his car, Hayes said. Altmayer has not been charged. An investigation continues.

Altmayer is facing his first jury trial in Jasper County beginning Sept. 12. He has pleaded not guilty to all of his charges.

Lyric's family

Hundreds of pictures of Dan Morrissey’s family stay with him in prison.

They create a jumbled puzzle of his life before entering the Fort Dodge Correctional Facility.

There are photos of his son, who visits him almost every day, and of his daughter Lyric, who has the same blue eyes as his.

Morrissey is serving a 90-year sentence for multiple drug charges. He will have to serve a minimum of a third of that.

But it’s inside these walls where Morrissey said he’s found a purpose.

"I haven't given up. It's God in my life, and that's who helped make me a better person," Morrissey said in a phone interview. "Instead of being bitter, I've chosen to heal and get better and forgive and let peace reign in my heart."

His first nine months in jail were hell. Staffers would find him blowing in and out of paper bags during panic attacks.

He felt anger toward the child predators he shared space with.

The judgment of the world loomed heavy over him. As he read the Bible, he would hear Lyric’s voice in his head, calling for “Daddy.”

No one was mean to him. They knew what he had already gone through.

Stuck and without any distractions, Morrissey was bare. He got on his knees and asked God for help — and things started getting better.

In 2013 in Newton, Morrissey said, he had a turning point with Lyric's death.

He meditated alone for hours and listed everything about her that he was thankful for: that she was conceived, that she was healthy, that she was saved by Jesus Christ.

“The last years she was alive that I had her was a blessing,” Morrissey said. “That immediately turned everything from feeling negative emotions to letting things go.

Morrissey said he knows that people judge him for his addiction and the crimes he committed. When Lyric went missing, he said, he started using methamphetamine again as a way to ease the pain. It didn’t work. Instead, he went to prison.

It’s been two years since law enforcement gave him an update on the case. 

His only advantage in prison is that he can concentrate on healing. 

“There’s beauty in the ashes,” Morrissey said. “If I let that stuff consume me with the negativity and poison in my heart, I couldn’t look and gaze at the beautiful things happening in my life."

Drew Collins and Morrissey have been friends since they were teenagers.

They call and talk to each other regularly.

“When there is an arrest, it’s going to be difficult putting a face to it and hearing the details,” Morrissey said. “But God will make me ready. If I’ve gotten this far. I can get the rest of the way.”

Meanwhile, about 60 miles away from Evansdale, Misty Cook is "living again," she said in an interview.

After Lyric and Elizabeth were buried, Cook was determined to move as far away as possible from Evansdale. In 2013, she went to West Union. Now she lives in St. Lucas, in northern Fayette County, where the pace of the small town soothes her.

Cook works on a chicken farm, caring for chicks, ducklings and other baby animals. Her boyfriend of two years also works there. Together, they have a 5-month-old girl named Abigail. 

While her life will never be "normal," she said, she is finding beauty in the small things.
“It’s been the most amazing experience of my life,” Cook said. “After Lyric, I didn’t think I would be willing to have any more kids, and God had other plans, and we were really, really blessed to have her in my life.”

The reality of Lyric's death is hard to escape. When Cook was at the hospital with Abigail, she needed to know that her daughter was wearing her security bracelet. She kept track of the location of doors and exits.

Cook stayed at home with Abigail for three months. When she had to bring her to daycare, she said, she cried everyday for 12 weeks.

Even before Abigail was born, for a year, she wouldn’t go outside, not even for simple trips to the store.

After her daughter was abducted, she turned to drugs and was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2014. She was released in 2015.

She was aware of the scrutiny the public had subjected her to because of her past, she said. If people looked at her, would they judge and shame her?

She's moving on, though. She’s starting to get out more. She likes St. Lucas and the security it provides. She's started talking to people on Facebook.

Cook said she wants people to know that she loves Lyric. She wants people to know that she regrets her past, but that she does not deserve the shame. She wants people to know that she’s doing well.

“I can live life. I know I can love again,” Cook said. “If someone wants to look at me that way, I can hold my head up and keep going. I’m not going to fall apart in life again to hide my pain and cover up my life. I’m going to keep moving forward.”

The town

Meyers Lake was the last place the cousins were seen.

It’s the town’s most popular park. It’s where people gathered when they searched for the girls. It’s where they gathered when they mourned them.

It will be where they will gather if someone is arrested, said Donna Frickson, 60, a local resident and volunteer.

Frickson was one of the many volunteers that helped with Angels Park, a community healing project built on an island in the middle of Meyers Lake. 

The park is a memorial for Lyric and Elizabeth, along with three other girls and women in Iowa who have been killed: 5-year-old Evelyn Miller, 13-year-old Donnisha Hill and 22-year-old Lindsay Nichols. A gazebo stands tall in the grassy area for each of the slain girls.

When Frickson looks out at Angels Park, she gets chills.

“Cemeteries just break you down, while this place lifts you up,” Frickson said.

After the cousins were abducted and killed, Frickson said, residents rallied together to support one another.

The park is valued at about $500,000 and was built off donations, grants and volunteer contributions.

Now, they are raising money to build a bridge to make the island handicap-accessible. Frickson thinks $70,000 could get a nice bridge, but any amount will do as long as it gets done. Then they can officially open the space to the public.

Neighbors remain cautious. Parents are more wary than before the abductions about knowing where their kids are, Frickson said. An annual Child Safety Awareness Day is planned for Sunday afternoon in Evansdale.

Always remembering the girls also means always remembering their killer is still at large.

“One of the things we all know, and we don’t talk about it a lot — there is still someone out there that took the lives of two innocent children,” Frickson said. “There’s a murderer out there.”

Seeking solace

It’s at Angels Park where Drew Collins feels close to Elizabeth.

He visits Elizabeth's white gazebo in the far corner of the park. It’s adorned with donated plants and sculptures.

Collins holds the leaves of a willow tree in his hands.

“I love this,” he says as he stands by his daughter’s memorial.

Inside the gazebo, a small angel is perched high on a ledge. He hasn’t seen the statue before.

He doesn’t like to go to the nearby cemetery where her body is laid to rest. But here, he feels a connection with her.

“It feels good to come out here,” Collins said. “I don’t think she would really want me to go out where we were. And the grave site’s not that fun, either.”

He likes to visit the park when the sun is setting, just nestling into the horizon. He brings his daughters here and lets his dogs run loose.

They’ve done it a hundred times. They start at Elizabeth’s gazebo and read her plaque. Then they move on to read the plaques of each of the girls until they're done.

As Collins reflects, he's thankful for the time he had with his daughter, her rambunctious attitude in hockey, her kind spirit toward her sisters and her stubbornness, just like his.

In August, Collins will receive training from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to be on its Team Hope. He will be partnered with parents who have had a child go missing, so he can use his experiences to help support them.

As much as his family has suffered, he also feels he doesn't have it as bad as some other parents. At least Elizabeth's and Lyric's bodies were found. Many other families are left forever wondering what happened to their children, as his family experienced for five months.

“I know what they’re going though and how hard it is, how devastating it is,” Collins said.

In June during the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s national charity ride, he met Patty Wetterling, the mother of Jacob Wetterling, who was kidnapped in 1989 and murdered. In 2016, his killer admitted what he did and took investigators to Jacob's body.  

Collins doesn’t want to have to wait 27 years to know the fate of his daughter. But Wetterling's tenacity and perseverance through the experience gives him hope.

"I’m not going to quit,” he said.

CLARIFICATION: This story was updated July 12 to clarify that Misty Cook is no longer incarcerated.

Timeline 

FRIDAY, JULY 13, 2012

12:15 p.m.: The grandmother of Lyric Cook-Morrissey and her cousin Elizabeth Collins sees the girls leave the house in the 100 block of Brovan Boulevard for a bike ride.

Before 3 p.m.: Evansdale residents see the girls in the 1000 block of Lake Avenue, riding their bikes.

2 p.m.: Families begin searching for the girls when Misty Cook-Morrissey, Lyric's mother, returns home and discovers the girls haven't returned from their bike ride.

4 p.m.: An Evansdale firefighter finds the girls' bikes and Elizabeth Collins' purse and cellphone on a recreational trail on the southeast corner of Meyers Lake.

JULY 14-17

More than 1,100 volunteers turn out to help search a 12-square-mile area in and around Evansdale. Meyers Lake is dragged, and then drained. 

LATE OCTOBER

Friends of the families of the missing girls ask hunters to watch for clues that could lead to the cousins.

DEC. 5

Hunters report the discovery of two bodies at a Bremer County park. The bodies are later determined to be the cousins'.

MAY AND JUNE 2013

Iowans' fears are tripped again with the abduction of two girls walking home in Dayton in north-central Iowa. A 12-year-old manages to escape Michael Klunder, a sex offender, but 15-year-old Kathlynn Shepard is found dead in a river weeks later. Investigators determine that Klunder was not involved in the deaths of Elizabeth and Lyric.

FEBRUARY 2015

Evansdale Police Chief Kent Smock announces that investigators have renewed their attention on people familiar with Seven Bridges, at the recommendation of experts from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the FBI and other groups. Investigators believe the killer was a local resident who'd been to the park in the past.

MAY 2015

The Iowa Department of Public Safety unveils a new Child Abduction Response Team trained to respond to and investigate abductions statewide. The killings of Elizabeth and Lyric, as well as Kathlynn Shepard in Dayton, prompted the unit's formation.

MARCH 2017

Indiana State Police say that similarities between the double-slaying of two teenage girls three weeks earlier and the Evansdale killings seem "coincidental" but that a connection is possible.

Elizabeth 'Lizzy' Collins

AGE: 8, when she disappeared.

FAMILY: Parents Heather and Drew Collins, and three siblings.

ABOUT ELIZABETH: She was a very social child, Elizabeth's third-grade teacher, Angel Munson, said this summer. "She was always the last one to finish her lunch because she was always talking."

Elizabeth loved to play hockey.

Lyric Cook-Morrissey

AGE: 10, when she disappeared.

FAMILY: Misty Cook-Morrissey and Daniel Morrissey. Her grandmother and aunts helped raise her.

ABOUT LYRIC: She liked gymnastics and the Disney Channel.

Lyric and two other cousins gave themselves the nickname the "Bradford Badboys" after a music video by one of their favorite bands.

To donate

To help build a bridge in Angels Park, designate the donation for the Angels Memorial and send it to First Security State Bank, which has locations in Evansdale and Cedar Falls.