00:00:00
when it comes to Quality sleep Ashley has you covered with top mattress brands at winning prices and with special
00:00:06
financing options available you can snooze now and pay later plus your mattress purchase helps give the gift of
00:00:13
better sleep to children in need and US Special Operations forces visit your local Ashley store or shop online today
00:00:22
and make every snooze count financing is subject to credit approval C store or ashley.com for d details dreaming of
00:00:31
overseas Adventures or connecting more deeply with family from afar Rosetta Stone Bridges the language Gap I've
00:00:38
tried others but Rosetta Stone's immersive lessons and voice feedback technology are gamechangers dive into 25
00:00:45
Languages by learning intuitively just like when you were a kid and here's the holiday Sparkle grab a lifetime
00:00:52
membership now and save 50% gift yourself the world head to rosettastone.com now and save 50%
00:01:08
[Music] % [Music] welcome to True Crime garage wherever you are whatever you are doing thanks
00:01:46
for listening I'm your host Nick and with me as always is a man whose baloney has a first name it's OS c a r he is the
00:01:55
captain yeah your bloy has a first name it's t d thanks for listening thanks for
00:02:01
telling a friend it's good to be seeing and it's good to see [Music] you today we are drinking easy Edy hazy
00:02:14
IPA by the good folks over at Big Grove Brewery easy Eddie says fresh and juicy right on the front of the can and that
00:02:21
could not be more spot on this is a dry hopped hazy IPA that is super flavorful and highly drinkable because of the
00:02:30
tropical flavors of pineapple and mango garage grade 4 and A4 bottle caps out of
00:02:36
five and how about some thanks and praise for our friends here's a cheers to Emily in Denver Colorado
00:02:45
Alison a big shout out to Allison and belir Texas she's the the prince of Belair mhm next up we have Megan in
00:02:54
Seattle Washington and a big shout out to Elizabeth in Lake Charles Louisiana next up we have cat in San Antonio Texas
00:03:03
and last but certainly not least we have Ashlin and Grover Missouri everyone that
00:03:09
we just mentioned went to True Crim garage.com and donated to this week's beer fund and for that well we thank you
00:03:16
if you'd like to become a part of Parts Unknown if you want to become a part of Parts Unknown go to our store Page and
00:03:25
pre-order Your Parts Unknown t-shirt today it's only going to happen for a week so get on it and that is enough of
00:03:34
the business all right everybody gather around grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some true
00:03:46
[Music] crime [Music] [Music] hey oo w w [Music] [Music] KCRG tv9 Julian petus joins us now
00:04:58
Julian you were and Evansdale for today's news conference not a lot of new information that came out for today but
00:05:03
the main theme going into Monday is that this case is now being treated as an abduction it is chrisen authorities say
00:05:08
they have hard strong evidence and gives them reason to believe that the girls were taken and that they are still alive
00:05:14
but the FBI cannot say much more beyond that information what the FBI is saying is every little detail counts that's why
00:05:21
investigators are asking for anyone who visited Meers Lake on Friday the 13th before 3:00 in the afternoon to contact
00:05:28
police even if you think didn't see anything what you think you don't know might end up bringing these girls home
00:05:34
investigators say they need to know everything that happened near Meers Lake before 300 p.m. on Friday the 13th even
00:05:41
if you think that you don't have any information that's important to this case investigators want to talk to you
00:05:46
Federal authorities tell us a man recently told them he caught a glimpse of the girls bikes while jogging around
00:05:52
the lake he didn't see the girls but the information helped narrow down a timeline for their disappearance he was
00:05:57
able to pinpoint the time of the day that he saw the bikes small details of like this are really important to the
00:06:04
investigation we're told authorities don't want people to feel like they're bothering investigators they tell us
00:06:09
they are well equipped to handle the search there is enough manpower to cover all the the tips which may lead to good
00:06:15
leads or good information the tip lines are reportedly receiving several calls an hour about the missing girls
00:06:21
investigators say they need the phones to keep ringing someone may have been out there taking pictures of you know
00:06:26
bird watching or something and they may not think that's relevant but we just ask for them to call and and we can talk
00:06:32
to them as for specific details surrounding the investigation I can't answer that I can't comment I can't
00:06:37
answer that I can't answer that right and I I can't answer that all authorities can tell us is they feel
00:06:43
confident the girls are alive and to not give up hope for a safe return some of the details the
00:06:49
investigators could not tell us involved questions surrounding the families whether or not they have any suspects or
00:06:54
if any search warrants have been issued and of course they could not share with us what information is leading them to
00:06:59
believe these girls are still alive all of this authorities say might hurt their
00:07:24
[Music] investigation in the summer of 2012 Elizabeth Collins lived with her parents and siblings in
00:07:44
Evansdale Iowa this is a small Midwestern town of 4,700 residents that is a suburb of the much larger waterl
00:07:54
Cedar Falls metropolitan area Evansdale is a blue collar town many residents are
00:08:00
involved in agriculture production in some manner Elizabeth attended Pointer Elementary and was described by her
00:08:07
mother as a bubbly little person who was always active and busy she was 8 years old and loved girly stuff like having
00:08:16
her nails done but also playing softball and hockey and riding her bike one of her best friends was her cousin LC cook
00:08:24
age 10 who lived just minutes away in waterl went to Kingsley Elementary and also was a very active outgoing Girl Who
00:08:35
Loved bowling Cheerleading Gymnastics and just being outside in general well it's great when one of your best friends
00:08:41
can be a family member as well and their mothers are sisters that's correct we have LC and Elizabeth's mothers are
00:08:48
Misty cook and Heather Collins and Heather and her husband Drew Collins they seem to be like your very typical
00:08:56
American family they're hardworking people religious their parents just raising a bunch of children really and
00:09:03
Heather had her hands full as they had several young kids but she also had some undisclosed health issues around this
00:09:11
time as well so her mother Wilma would come over for about four or five hours almost daily to help out around the
00:09:19
house and help with the children Heather's sister Misty was also married to a man named Dan morsy but in 2012
00:09:28
Misty and Dan were estranged and had been separated for years in fact Dan was out on bail pending trial for four
00:09:36
separate criminal cases this from 2011 which included assaulting Misty and significant drug charges including
00:09:45
manufacturing meth yeah he's a real winter winner chicken dinner he's yeah well he went into the meth manufacturing
00:09:53
industry now Misty back in 2003 she got into trouble as well this for drug charges to which she plad guilty and was
00:10:02
released in 2006 in July of 2012 when our story takes place she was still on federal supervised release at that time
00:10:14
Misty and Dan's daughter L lived with Misty and Heather's mom Wilma cook so Wilma cook Grandma is helping out quite
00:10:23
a bit uh with both families L lived in waterl at Wilma's house and Wilma had permanent custody of l l
00:10:33
and her cousin Elizabeth played together nearly every day now keep in mind because she's living with Grandmother
00:10:39
grandmother's going over to help out at her cousin's house almost daily she brings her along the cousins all play
00:10:47
together right but it's also a way to help her out yeah so on Friday the 13th this is July 13th
00:10:54
2012 Misty cook morisy was staying with her mom Wilma and her daughter l in waterl she left for work that day at
00:11:05
8:30 a.m. this was a new job at a gas stationsconvenience store called Casey's and it sounds to me Captain like Casey's
00:11:15
was a popular chain with several locations Misty worked at one which was about 2 miles away from the colins's
00:11:23
house in Evansdale so keep in mind she's not very far away when we're talking about being gone at work
00:11:29
now after Misty left Wilma took L over to the Collins's house both Heather and Drew Collins were going to be gone for
00:11:38
the day so Grandma Wilma was going to be watching the kids and brought lyc with her as usual ly and Elizabeth set off
00:11:48
around 11:30 a.m. for a bike ride now this was something that they typically did I mean this was very routine stuff
00:11:56
here and the girls were expected to to stay within a short distance of the house they're unsupervised but they're
00:12:03
not to be venturing off very far from the home right although it does not seem that there were any like real specific
00:12:10
rules it's just kind of these understood rules from grma to to the grandkids they
00:12:17
always stayed according to Grandma and the parents the kids always stayed within yelling distance and would check
00:12:25
in about every 15 minutes or so people are probably thinking back to their neighborhoods growing up I remember I
00:12:32
thought it was neat one of my neighbors growing up they had like U what I would call Dinner Bell but you know they
00:12:39
didn't use it just for dinner but anytime the kids were out playing they wouldn't shout for them they would ring
00:12:44
the bell and the kids would come in this situation L and Elizabeth if Grandma or
00:12:50
mom or dad came outside they're out on their bikes keep in mind they're supposed to be within yelling distance
00:12:56
you shout their names boom they come riding right back to the house often Elizabeth's older brother his name is
00:13:02
Kelly he was 12 at this time he would typically go with them but not on this day and at some point Heather returned
00:13:11
to the house the exact timing of this is in dispute in some interviews Heather says it was around noon but Wilma has
00:13:21
said that Heather came home closer to 12:30 so a discrepancy in time but they're not they're not off
00:13:29
big time there so almost an hour after the girls left correct it has been reported consistently that Wilma told
00:13:37
police that she saw the girls zipping by on their bikes around 12:15 and that Heather was not home at
00:13:45
this time or had not returned to the house at that time so by this timeline the girls were last seen by a family
00:13:52
member at 12:15 and Heather arrived home shortly after that the girls were to be back at the house
00:14:01
shortly after Heather had returned so for argument sake captain we're going to say like 12:30 to 1 p.m.
00:14:10
is is when the girls were were to return to the house so at 100 p.m is Heather set out
00:14:19
with her older son remember this is Kelly the 12-year-old to scout the area they were looking for the girls to tell
00:14:26
them hey it's time to come home but but he returned home reporting that he could
00:14:30
not find them anywhere and at this point Drew stopped home the the Father which he often did during his workday you know
00:14:40
he would come home maybe for lunch M Heather told him that she was going out to look for the girls and she got in her
00:14:48
car this is at 1:20 p.m. and started driving around the neighborhood by 2: p.m. we have five adult family members
00:14:58
all out looking for these two girls so very quick to react Misty L's mother says Wilma called
00:15:07
her at work around 2: p.m. to tell her that they could not find the two girls Misty called her ex Dan morsy who was
00:15:18
living in water Dan and his mother and his 15-year-old son they all drove to Evansdale to help look for the girls so
00:15:26
now we got a small army of people looking for the girls Misty left work and went over to her sister's house
00:15:34
remember it's just a short distance Away by 2:30 all of these adults and some children are all out driving all over
00:15:42
Evansdale looking for the two girls at some point somehow they ended up at this place called Meers Lake this was around
00:15:53
245 they started asking people whether they had seen two little girls on bikes one man walking on the trail told them
00:16:01
he did see two little girls on bikes going West on the bike trail but the time was
00:16:07
unclear he you know I saw them I don't know exactly what time I saw them meanwhile Heather went to the Evans Dale
00:16:14
Police Department most reports have the time of her in-person visit to the Evansdale police department at 248 p.m.
00:16:24
according to the waterl Cedar Falls Courier where which we relied on extensively for research on this case
00:16:32
quote within minutes of authorities learning of The Disappearance of lric cook morisy and Elizabeth Collins three
00:16:41
Evansdale squad cars were scouring the area in checking the home within half an hour the search mushroomed with four
00:16:50
Blackhawk sheriff's deputies and Evansdale firefighters joining in on the efforts and now you might might have
00:16:58
noticed in there that they said checking the home and that might sound weird to some people but you would be shocked how
00:17:07
often a child is reported missing and then they find the kid inside the home MH you know the kid is hiding the kid
00:17:14
fell asleep somewhere and you just you thought they were outside and overlooked them it can be embarrassing but
00:17:20
obviously that's what you want to happen when you call and you're begging for help because you can't find your
00:17:25
children you want some stupid answer to be the solution to the problem that is not the case here well sometimes kids
00:17:33
want to hide to scare their family oh well we'll hide and we'll be in the closet and when they call for us oh just
00:17:39
don't come well there's some bad news here Captain because around 4 pm. a firefighter found the girl's
00:17:49
bikes this is a bad sign lying on the Evansdale nature trail at Meers Lake mhm the bikes were lying on on the paved
00:17:59
bike trail at the far Southeastern corner of the lake now Myers Lake covers 27 Acres with water and is about 25 ft
00:18:11
deep at its deepest parts the lake is a major Recreation Area for the people of Evansdale it is stocked with fish it has
00:18:21
a boat ramp there's bathrooms there a playground picnic areas grills that pave bike path that we talked about the pave
00:18:30
bik bike path winds its way around 3/4 of the way around the lake so this is a fairly big bike path right a little bit
00:18:41
of of a discussion about geography I think is an order here the Collins's lived at 166 Braven Boulevard in
00:18:52
Evansdale the distance from the Collins's house on on Braven Boulevard to Myers Lake lake is only 1.5 miles the
00:19:02
Evansdale nature trail on which the girls bikes were found starts at Lafayette Road in downtown Evansdale
00:19:11
this is just a block away from the Collins's house right the trail then runs South past the skate park and
00:19:19
Crosses arbitus Avenue then the trail turns West through a short wooded area and leads to to Myers Lake the trail
00:19:31
follows the southern shore of the lake and as said runs 3/4 of of the way around the lake so on a map this portion
00:19:39
of the trail would look like a like a sideways U ending at Elmer Avenue on the lak's
00:19:46
North side there is an offshoot of the trail that goes straight North and then connects with Gilbert Avenue right near
00:19:55
the advanced automotive store the the trail then runs back East along Gilbert drive and reconnects up with the
00:20:02
north/south portion of the trail through downtown I know that sounds all very confusing to listen to and kind of go
00:20:11
through there are maps that are regularly available on if you simple Google search use uh with our two
00:20:19
victims names and if you just type in map with that uh it will bring it up and it will also the maps that I saw clear
00:20:28
indicate where their home is as well as where the bikes were found just like we pointed out in the
00:20:36
deli case because of where those bodies were found the mo and high bridge area the recreation area I think it's very
00:20:44
important if you want to have a clear understanding of this case and maybe the possible theories or outcomes that that
00:20:53
you take a look at these at this map but what you're saying is that this path goes through town it's not secluded from
00:21:03
town right so most of the locations of this Trail you would expect to see other people there you know Myers Lake is
00:21:12
heavily trafficked there's lots of people in and out of there all the time it's a big recreational area the trail
00:21:17
as you just said Captain does go through town I did want to point out how close uh one portion of the trail is to the
00:21:25
Collins's home because the argu here is where the bikes were found is a distance away from the home that the
00:21:35
parents said they they would have never the girls would have never have gone there they never had known them to go
00:21:40
there to travel that far or to even travel to Meers Lake now could they have every day these kids are getting older
00:21:46
they get a little more adventurous certainly but the parents really questioned why and how the bikes were
00:21:54
found in this area mhm so there are a few areas along the trail where a vehicle could park close to the trail
00:22:02
there are some areas that are wooded so there are a couple of secluded spots along the way the girls bikes were found
00:22:10
on Evansdale on the nature trail right at the Southeastern tip of the lake along a line of chain link fence this
00:22:20
portion of the trail runs near I 380 so this is a major roadway mhm but from my understand in the way that it it
00:22:29
appears to me on the map Captain it would be difficult for somebody to park alongside I 380 Venture up to where the
00:22:38
bikes were found snatch the girls and then bring them back to their vehicle that would be very difficult there was a
00:22:45
hole in this chain link fence you don't you don't have to get out of the car you
00:22:49
just have you have to get the victims to come closer to the car that would that would be true I don't know why the girls
00:22:57
would venture be on that chain link fence down to a major roadway it just doesn't seem like I'm not saying it
00:23:03
couldn't happen it doesn't seem like a likely scenario we also don't have anybody coming forward saying hey I saw
00:23:10
a vehicle parked on the side of I 380 mhm what is interesting though this area where the bikes were found is right by a
00:23:17
maintenance gate that leads to a water Outlet on the lake this gate is not a locked gate photos show that this area
00:23:28
of the paved nature trail is straight with the fence on both sides and the trees are overhead it has like almost
00:23:35
like a a tunnel appearance according to the girls family the bikes were about 12 ft from the edge
00:23:43
of the water on the trail and investigators also found Elizabeth's purple purse and cell phone now note
00:23:50
this phone did not have service it was just it was a real cell phone but she just used it for like games and to play
00:23:57
on right the purse and cell phone were thrown over the fence onto the Lakeside now
00:24:05
here's how it was described on Nancy Grace's show by her reporter Jim Spelman he says it's a densely wooded
00:24:14
area with freeway on one side a fence which he says is a pretty tall fence then the bike path then another fence
00:24:23
and then the water the girls bikes were found on the bike path path between the two fences and the purse was found on
00:24:31
the lake side of the trail between the fence and the shoreline so that's where the big
00:24:38
question is what were the girls bikes doing by Meyers Lake anyway as we pointed out this is not exactly close to
00:24:46
their home well the big cause for concern for me is you you got these missing girls but it's not just the
00:24:52
bikes if we have the bikes somewhere you go okay well maybe they ran into somebody somebody stole stole the bikes
00:24:58
or maybe they left the bikes behind they went somewhere else but right when you see that purse and that cell phone even
00:25:04
though like you said it's not a working cell phone you go okay that that's caused for alarm yeah this this is not
00:25:11
something that the girls would have ditched even if they would have ditched their bikes for some reason which would
00:25:15
be strange but to get rid of the purse in the this cell phone seems not likely at all now this lake is not a swimming
00:25:26
Lake I do want to point that out because their the first suspicion by law enforcement and by firefighters was
00:25:34
because of where the bikes were found maybe these girls drowned in the lake the parents were quick to point out
00:25:41
look both of them can swim and swim very well right they agreed that of course yeah we got to we got to check this out
00:25:48
but they kept pointing out they didn't seem to think that that would be very likely and then you take that a step
00:25:54
further if there was some type of accident and one of them Dr around that's one person we we we have two
00:26:00
missing children here so there's no sign of the girls there's no sign of the clothing
00:26:07
that they were wearing at the time including their shoes all of this is missing so that's the another thing that
00:26:13
the family points out that they would expect to see the shoes of these girls near the shoreline had they chose to get
00:26:20
in the water for some reason well back to the purse though if if you were meeting up with somebody you knew or got
00:26:27
into a car with somebody you knew you would take your purse true and the other thing that that really scares me is the
00:26:35
it always scares me with the leaving of the bikes because I just think back to my childhood that's not something that I
00:26:41
would have done I was always worried somebody was going to take my bike so I I feel like if you're out and about and
00:26:48
your kids most of the time you're going to use that bike to get yourself around when you have a My Little Pony bike
00:26:54
that's mint I mean you're going to be nervous at somebody is going to steal it this is all stuff that was reported in
00:27:01
the newspaper so other than the bikes the purse and the phone that was all found at this
00:27:08
location if anything else was located there by police or firefighters it has never been disclosed to the public the
00:27:14
following timeline was provided to the media by Kent smok who at the time was the police chief of
00:27:21
Evansdale he says by 4:40 p.m. on Friday the 13th emergency calls went out to to
00:27:27
Evansdale residents to notify them of the missing girls officers began canvasing the lake
00:27:35
neighborhoods and the media was notified by 5:30 p.m. Boats were put into the water on Meyers Lake to begin scanning
00:27:44
the surface and divers with a local search and rescue organization were called in to search the lake surrounding
00:27:51
City police and firefighters Blackhawk County sheriff's deputies and Iowa State Police joined Evansdale PD in searching
00:28:00
wooded areas a plane with special infrared was brought into search from the air and the national Center for
00:28:08
missing and exploited children was notified of the girl's disappearance by 8 [Music]
00:28:26
p.m. disturbing interest it's a terrible Mysteries Horrible Histories podcast hosted by Regina King the evil queen and
00:28:36
Lynn Ross Camp the dosent of Darkness lovers of True Crime and history alike will appreciate this bi-weekly podcast
00:28:45
the ladies do their research but they like to put a comic spin on things because sometimes all we can do is laugh
00:28:53
in the face of the disturbing disturbing interest podcast what so great is the ladies do their research but they don't
00:29:00
take themselves too serious and just after one episode you're going to think that Regina and Lynn are your new best
00:29:07
friends the banter between the two ladies is hilarious you can find disturbing interest on Apple podcast
00:29:14
iTunes Stitcher castbox iHeart Radio Spotify and wherever else you get your podcast give them a chance you might
00:29:23
learn something while being entertained plus with them you might be disturb but you're not alone check out disturbing
00:29:30
interest podcast today finding the perfect present for mom is tough especially if you don't have the luxury
00:29:37
of celebrating Mother's Day together in person but you can gift your mom the chance to connect with loved ones
00:29:44
through story worth story worth is an online service that helps your loved on share stories through thought-provoking
00:29:51
questions about their memories and personal thoughts it's a fun and meaningful way to engage with with
00:29:57
family especially with relatives that you might not see that often every week story worth emails your family member
00:30:04
different questions questions you may never have thought of like what has been some of your life's greatest surprises
00:30:12
reading the weekly stories is fun and makes your family feel close even if you're not together and after one year
00:30:19
this is the best part story worth Will compile the answers and photos into a beautiful Keepsake book that shipped for
00:30:27
free this is a book of stories and photos that your family will cherish forever give your mom the most
00:30:33
meaningful gift this year with storyworth get started right away without the need for shipping by going
00:30:39
to storyworth.com TCG you'll get $10 off your first purchase that's storyworth.com TCG for
00:30:49
$10 off all right we're back cheers cheers to you Mr Captain mhm the national Center
00:31:09
for missing and exploited children had a representative on the ground in Evansdale by the next morning this
00:31:17
person began emailing and faxing photos of the girls to businesses truck stops and retail locations within a 100m
00:31:26
radius the Iowa division of criminal investigation DCI and FBI both arrived and began
00:31:34
interviewing people as well as looking into registered sex offenders in the area 30 FBI agents and 15 DCI agents
00:31:45
joined this search the FBI's child abduction response team was also on site a nearby Creek surrounding woods and a
00:31:56
city camp ground were all searched in the coming days these 12m radius large scale searches included corn fields and
00:32:06
farmland Rivers ponds abandoned buildings wooded areas and other public places cars were stopped at police
00:32:14
checkpoints in the days after The Disappearance searching car trunks and asking drivers to be on the lookout for
00:32:22
the girls all dumpsters were searched and the Blackhawk County landfill was instructed to set aside trash collected
00:32:31
from Evansdale for two full weeks for a full week the nearly Round the Clock searches interviews evidence
00:32:41
collection and information gathering preceded full steam ahead this is a large effort and it appears to be a
00:32:51
well-oiled machine everybody acting in unison looking for these girls well they did a lot of extensive
00:32:59
searches on the actual Lake yes they did uh and in fact just within hours of the
00:33:06
girls bikes being found the order was given to drag the lake and after two days of dragging nothing was found but
00:33:13
investigators decided it was in their best interest to actually drain the lake to be sure that they weren't missing
00:33:20
anything yeah and they didn't drain it completely but they drained it enough to help the search but no was found and
00:33:28
unfortunately the families both families very early on believed that the girls had been abducted on the
00:33:37
17th FBI blood hounds were brought into to track the girls scent police refused to comment on the dog's findings but a
00:33:47
family member said on Nancy Grace quote I watched the blood hounds continue on into this dense forest area which is
00:33:55
about 400 yard I watched them go into that area and they positively identified both
00:34:03
girls were at that location if you continue on down the bike trail East there is about approximately 400 Acres
00:34:12
of forest dense forest to the left side and that is where the dogs continued on to and picked up the the girl
00:34:22
sense and that's kind of where it went cold for the dogs that is where the investigator stopped according to this
00:34:30
family member well again that doesn't make a lot of sense to me because if you have these two children let's just say
00:34:37
they're going to put their bikes down and go into the woods why wouldn't you take your purse with
00:34:42
you you think that You' think that'd be something that the girls would take with
00:34:47
them it's very difficult because both of the these locations one where the bike is found and two two where the the scent
00:34:56
is found located of both girls or believed to be anyway these aren't ideal locations for grabbing a child and
00:35:04
pulling them into your vehicle they're just they're just not and so it's difficult and you know I've jokingly
00:35:11
said this several times before but unfortunately the dogs can't talk so we don't know exactly what it is that they
00:35:17
believe they were hitting on now we did see I saw a video footage of them having
00:35:23
them sniff the the girl shoes some other pairs of the girl shoes so that's what they were trying to trace but right we
00:35:31
obviously can't confirm that that's what was actually going on because it seems it seems to be a weird location right
00:35:38
like you remove if you're the abductor you remove them from their bikes or they get off their bikes on their own and
00:35:44
then they go out into the middle of this wooded area and then they just vanish Into Thin Air right so an FBI
00:35:51
spokeswoman said that the dog's detection of the girls sense indicated a strong possibility that was her exact
00:35:58
word strong possibility that the girls had been there meaning that it was likely that the girls had been on the
00:36:06
scene at the lake rather than their bikes and possessions being planted there by their abductor the bikes were
00:36:13
processed for prints and other evidence but police will not say if anything was found police quickly started the
00:36:23
timeconsuming task of interviewing all of the family members the family was initially completely
00:36:29
Cooperative with police investigators were granted permission by both families to search any of the houses that they
00:36:37
were living in or had lived in without having to obtain a search warrant but we have two different families basically we
00:36:45
have one family that seems to be doing the right thing and and upstanding citizens and and and then the other
00:36:53
family that seems to be getting into a lot of trouble two two of the parents on the one side yes struggling with some
00:37:00
drug issues yeah they did take some of their computers their cell phones were searched but as police dug deeper they
00:37:09
could not ignore the criminal past of both Misty and Dan remember Dan was a big-time meth manufacturer and dealer
00:37:20
yeah and that puts him around a cast of characters that that could be harmful to
00:37:25
his family if he owes somebody money if he sold bad drugs to them this could put
00:37:32
his uh family into danger yes and this is seeming like a likely scenario to police remember he's out on bail when
00:37:42
the girls went missing well he's a real piece of [ __ ] on the day before the girls disappeared Dan appeared in court
00:37:49
and instead of taking a plea I believe that everybody assumed he was going to be taking a plea at that time but
00:37:56
instead Dan opted to proceed with an actual trial Dan and Misty put on a United front at this time holding hands
00:38:04
and even staying together in a motel rather than going to their respective homes this is also believed to be to
00:38:15
avoid the media this despite the restraining order Misty had against Dan and the fact that they had been
00:38:23
separated for years the two went along with the investigation for the first few days but then things changed it seems
00:38:30
that Evansdale police suspected that Dan was either capable of harming his daughter and niece or at the very least
00:38:40
he might know who was responsible in fact according to his sister-in-law Tammy who spoke with ABC
00:38:47
News she says quote they have accused him they told him they had proof that he did it end quote there was also a report
00:38:56
that Dan abruptly ended a police polygraph session after investigators accused him of injuring the girls and
00:39:03
knowing where they were after this debacle Dan and Misty hired an attorney and this attorney advised them to stop
00:39:12
talking to police or the media yeah but think about how Shady that is uh we're asking you a bunch of questions we're
00:39:19
doing a polygraph one of the questions are going to be do did you hurt these girls or do
00:39:25
you know who hurt the girls and you then stop the test you knew these questions were
00:39:32
coming and you then stopped the test all this is [ __ ] you're going to ask me questions like this I mean that that
00:39:39
just comes off as very shady to me it does come off of shady it's also I mean it's just difficult with what these
00:39:46
people are going through and then you feel like you're being accused some people it is a natural reaction to kind
00:39:53
of fly off the handle and react to that it's difficult man this this whole thing
00:39:58
is just understand that it's difficult but it's it's the parents that say or people involved in in missing person
00:40:05
cases that say look I understand that because I was close to this individual I am going to be looked at look at me as
00:40:14
hard and fast as you want to get to other actual options because I know I didn't do
00:40:22
anything you know what I mean so I I I understand it's difficult but if you really want to help the situation but I
00:40:29
think you're going to see time and time again that this individual is is about himself
00:40:37
preserving himself well what you are a levelheaded person and what you're talking about is don't make fun of my
00:40:44
head is a a thought out good decision what we have here is a man who has shown a history of making bad decisions so
00:40:54
well he also claims that once that she went missing he started hitting he took back to meth pretty hard during this
00:41:02
time on Tuesday the 17th Chief Deputy Rick abin of the Blackhawk County Sheriff's Office held a press conference
00:41:11
saying that authorities had been grasping for straws in their search for the girls but it was as if they had just
00:41:19
disappeared Into Thin Air he said quote it wouldn't be proper for me to stand here and tell you we have a theory
00:41:26
because we don't he goes on to say we have two missing girls and we have no idea why he stated we have no reason to
00:41:33
believe there was any foul play at this time and he also said everyone is a suspect until we find something now now
00:41:41
what's your thought on press conferences like this because sometimes they come out and they tell people we know nothing
00:41:49
we have no Theory and it's almost like uh a plea for help and then sometimes I think even when when they don't have
00:41:56
anything they come out and they come out a little more confident if you leading an investigation like this what do you
00:42:03
think your tactic would be well I would be look I I believe you need to strategize really with your delivery of
00:42:11
anything to the public especially if you have things that you're working on if you have leads in this investigation or
00:42:18
suspicions if you don't have leads or suspicions then I would go the route of being as candid as possible and telling
00:42:26
the public we don't know anything I don't think it's it's any kind of downfall I actually think that it's a
00:42:31
it's a good smart move to say hey we don't know anything because we've seen this look we're we're 4 days into the
00:42:38
search for these girls now we've seen how the rumor mill starts to go where people people sitting in bars or sitting
00:42:46
at work or or talking to one another in town are saying oh yeah that I heard they found those girls or oh yeah and
00:42:53
you start getting all this bad information that swirls around in the community and they need the public to
00:43:00
know we don't know where they are and we don't have a lead so if you know something or even if you just think you
00:43:06
saw anything at all that you question and it has nothing to do with the girls let us know we're grasping at straws
00:43:14
let's talk about the last known sightings of the girls this on Friday the 13th remember the girls grandmother
00:43:21
Wilma cook last saw the girls riding their bikes behind lender's big tall this is located at 3524 Lafayette Road
00:43:31
at about 12:15 p.m. the rear of the Collins's house looked out through a gap in the buildings on the Block behind so
00:43:41
she would have been able to see the girls riding their bikes on Lafayette Road from the Collins's backyard
00:43:48
surveillance camera footage from a business called Cornell auctions this is located at 3520 a at Road captured the
00:43:57
two on their bikes riding at 1211 p.m. but and I I hate to chuckle during this but the business owner said that
00:44:06
the cameras were about 8 minutes behind making the sighting more likely being at 1219 p.m. look I I just admire
00:44:16
the business owner coming forward and saying we know that they're behind we monitor it with the understanding that
00:44:22
they're eight minutes behind but still you know there are eight minutes behind when you fix them still we've been we've
00:44:29
been doing this for five years in the garage captain and we are yet to have a surveillance camera footage that has the
00:44:35
right time right it will never happen it now makes me question every footage I've
00:44:40
ever seen because even like with the now with the Brian Schaefer footage a lot of
00:44:45
people believe that was the correct time but now it makes me question that yeah to this point I need proof you got to
00:44:52
prove to me that it was the correct time often it is not yeah but and then they're going to take this tactic
00:44:59
because now hey we got video footage of the girls and we have other businesses that we can check well what's cool about
00:45:06
this is if you suspect anything going on from the grandmother or if anything weird may have happened at the house you
00:45:13
can verify that a portion of her story is absolutely correct right you know I last saw them roughly at this time you
00:45:21
can spin it a minute two a minute or two forward or backwards but all about that
00:45:27
time is is happening what she said is happening we have video proof of that now this location is just a block it's
00:45:35
less than a block from the Collins's home the girls were biking in a direction away from the lake at this
00:45:41
time that the footage was shot right according to Iowa cold cases.org the girls were next seen at 1223 p.m. on
00:45:51
Braven Boulevard and then again sometime between 12:30 and 1:00 p.m. on Gilbert drive not far from Myers Lake right but
00:46:00
but they're both times heading towards the direction of the lake on these accounts they may have been but on the
00:46:08
with on the video footage they're heading in the direction away from the lake MH but I also want to be clear
00:46:15
about this because we cannot confirm we cannot verify any of these last two sightings and it does not seem to be an
00:46:25
other reports about the case so I want to just make sure everybody knows that going forward what we do have though is
00:46:33
a man named Robert Carpenter he's an Evansdale resident who lived about two blocks from Myers Lake he came forward
00:46:41
and told police he saw the girls while he was out watering his yard they biked by him sometime between noon and 1 p.m.
00:46:50
this is according to an ABC article Carpenter lives at 10:20 Lake avue Avenue if this is really was the girls
00:46:59
riding by they were close to the area where the bikes were eventually found right another witness Ted
00:47:08
gamerdinger I apologize to Ted but I that's how his name is spelled in my notes apologize to his family the the
00:47:16
gamma dingers are are great people upstanding citizens of Iowa you have to be with a name like that well Ted G was
00:47:24
what we're going to go with he is living in waterl he's a cyclist who often rode
00:47:29
the Evansdale nature trail he is a good guy he goes to police and he says this is when they're searching the woods
00:47:38
along the trail he told them that he saw two kids bikes on the trail on Friday the 13th
00:47:47
but no sign of the girls so he sees the bikes but does not see the girls right he said quote I saw the bikes lying on
00:47:53
the path and had to Swerve to missed them he placed this time that he saw the bikes at approximately 12:20 based on a
00:48:02
phone call he made to his daughter soon after at 12:27 so of course gamerdinger sighting
00:48:11
and the surveillance footage from the auction house cannot both have the times correct but we know that both could be a
00:48:19
skew a bit right right the girls could not have been on Braven Boulevard at 1219 and then already have been abducted
00:48:27
on the trail and bikes left there at 12:20 p.m. it's just not physically possible now this next part has to be
00:48:35
taken with a grain of salt because it involves both Facebook post and unverified sightings of the girls one
00:48:42
person posted that her son a cashier at the Fairway store on South Evans Road he
00:48:50
was questioned by police twice this was because he told police he gave the girls
00:48:55
directions to Meyers Lake that day his statements were supposedly backed up by a coworker the Evansdale nature trail
00:49:04
commences literally right next to this grocery store on Lafayette Road and runs directly south to the lake so this seems
00:49:13
like a very likely possibility mhm if this was the two girls we're looking for it makes sense that it would be that
00:49:22
they would be right at the at the Fairway just a block and a half from home but it is perplexing that they
00:49:29
would be asking for directions to the lake they're so close to the lake they right because of a couple things they're
00:49:37
young so I believe that they may have needed or required directions to get to the lake if that's where they wanted to
00:49:43
go but again we still have Grandma and Mom and Dad the responsible ones pointing out that the kids were not
00:49:51
allowed to go there it was too far from the house now you said that she had had a cell phone the thing that I couldn't
00:49:58
find which maybe you found was any activity of the kids being involved with any social
00:50:07
media because or or any uh contacts as far as like were they able to text people and the reason why I bring this
00:50:16
up is because I I really question when the parents and the grandparents are saying hey this is not
00:50:22
this is too far they wouldn't have gone that far cuz they only stayed within a distance that they would be able to hear
00:50:28
us yell well the lake is too far from there they're not going to be able to hear their their Grandma yell right so
00:50:37
why is there a reason they were going there was there somebody that they're going to meet
00:50:42
up and and and so but I haven't heard anything of that I mean when you look at like the deli case or or Brian schaer
00:50:53
case or or any missing person case we normally have some kind of record but they're normally older individuals well
00:51:01
I'm glad you bring that up because some stuff on web sleuths uh which is quite interesting
00:51:07
there's several sleuther on there that have theorized that l so she's the older of the two right right she was hanging
00:51:15
out with an older cousin the week before and seems to that they got in trouble for coming home late so now the sthers
00:51:23
are taking that a step further and saying could she being the older one maybe she's more adventurous by this time is
00:51:31
she the one pushing for the trip to the lake maybe they're not meeting anybody there but maybe she thinks she's going
00:51:37
to get her you know I went there last week with my older cousin now I'm going to be the older cousin and take my
00:51:43
younger cousin there for a quick trip to the lake that's a good idea though I mean that's that's a plausible Theory it
00:51:51
is and the thing is too we don't have anybody any friends coming for forward saying hey I did I was going to meet
00:51:58
them at the lake which I I think we would have considering that that they need all the help they can get looking
00:52:05
for these two girls no what I'm saying is like an online Predator somebody that's Ling yeah you know hey uh oh yeah
00:52:14
you you seem like a nice person you meet in a chat room or something oh I I know
00:52:18
that Lake let's meet by that Lake I'd like to meet you sometime yeah and if the girls didn't fully know or
00:52:25
understand how far away the lake was there's a good chance they thought maybe they could go there and make it back in
00:52:31
time and not get into trouble with with Mom and Dad right the other thing you have to consider and I know we've been
00:52:38
kind of dancing around this a little bit but but we like to dance the right the the truth of it
00:52:45
is look whether or not the girls actually even made it to the lake depends on how much Faith you put in the
00:52:51
tracking dogs right and we know that the bikes the purse and the phone were found
00:52:57
there but again looking at it on a map it to me it seems like a strange place to abduct the
00:53:06
children I what I can't shake Captain is the feeling is this were the bikes and the purse planted there mhm or is this
00:53:16
the site of the abduction again it could be not far off they could have been abducted a a couple blocks over and and
00:53:24
then this is where the the person decided to dump the bikes right so six days after the girls were last seen
00:53:32
police were still not calling The Disappearance in Abduction the day after the girls went missing Evansdale police
00:53:39
chief Kent smok told the media that the case was being treated as a suspicious disappearance media Outlets theorized
00:53:47
that a double abduction one in which two girls were taken at once would be very unlikely you and I have been doing this
00:53:54
long enough we we know that to be the case and police chief smok told the media that this is so rare for an
00:54:02
abductor to take two children at a time they weren't really working under that abduction Theory by this point but a
00:54:10
week out on the 20th chief smok his notes indicate quote Focus turns fully to abduction as other
00:54:19
causes were eliminated I think this also has a lot to do with the lake you were talking about the lake being searched
00:54:25
dragged drained so on and so forth I think that that they wanted to fully eliminate that before they went into
00:54:32
full abduction yeah I mean FBI sends out special divers they they clear the lake at that
00:54:41
point I think all roads point to something bad happened right other than a bad accident in the lake and this is
00:54:50
where things get sad because now we have a big shift in Gears where we have the Sheriff's Office are saying some
00:54:58
evidence has been found we don't know what that is you and I captain we don't know what that is but this these items
00:55:04
that they're calling evidence were sent to the DCI crime lab for analysis they go on to say if they
00:55:13
meaning the girls were lost in that area they would have been found by now so they've ruled out the lake they've ruled
00:55:20
out being lost in the area and the the officer goes on to reiterate that they had not cleared anyone everyone is a
00:55:29
suspect until we find these young girls he said and he announced that a $50,000 reward was being offered for information
00:55:37
leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone involved with the Abduction of the girls but once say like you said
00:55:44
they're kind of rolling out some stuff and that leads to the idea that there're these girls are probably abducted okay
00:55:51
that's fair enough but they're also stating that we believe that they're alive and so even though time is passing
00:55:58
and days are passing it seems like law enforcement is like we're not and I I don't know if they were just
00:56:07
trying to be safe by that but it seems like they had some kind of evidence that these girls were still alive that they
00:56:16
were still alive or or maybe that that's really interesting that you bring that up because I don't know what would give
00:56:24
them the ation that the girls would still be alive because we have the FBI spokeswoman saying this on Friday the
00:56:32
20th so a week later right my my thought goes to they have no evidence that they're dead so we're going to we're
00:56:42
going to stay on this road of they're still alive now I don't know I didn't come across this in this investigation
00:56:49
but I've seen it in other investigations of abductions of adults and children especially children and especially when
00:56:57
you get younger children that law enforcement will come out and say we believe them to still be alive and then
00:57:04
they will show The Grieving parents crying on TV and saying just drop them off at some public place and drive away
00:57:13
right and so maybe this is part of a plea to get somebody not to do something stupid often you you want to be
00:57:21
reminding the offender yes you may have abducted these two girls but it doesn't have to get worse than this yeah but
00:57:29
what's the likelihood I mean is it more likely that a child would be abducted and within 48 hours they're probably
00:57:36
dead unfortunately the statistics tell us that within two hours most of them are are dead if they're abducted by a
00:57:42
stranger and that's what I want to know why is law enforcement a week later saying and then the FBI is saying a week
00:57:49
later they have something they had some information could something they could have something but I I have often heard
00:57:56
law enforcement officials say until we have proof that that the person is dead then we're we're sticking with we are
00:58:04
searching for a live person on the 23rd of July so we are 10 days after the girls vanished
00:58:15
bcso Captain Rick abin said that the coup's refusal meaning Dan and Misty refusal to talk to police as been
00:58:25
problematic he goes on to say quote it's a distraction for us and why they wish to do that I don't know Aban said we're
00:58:34
asking for 100% cooperation why they don't want to do that I have no idea what is going on here according to CNN
00:58:44
both Misty and Dan passed polygraph exams and police cleared them based on this and their aliis Misty was at work
00:58:53
and Dan was at home with his son and this is backed up by his mother it seems that police might have had a working
00:59:01
theory that we've kind of talked about a bit that the dis the Abduction of the girls was somehow related to Dan's drug
00:59:09
connections right the aunt of the girls Tammy this is the sister-in-law said quote the children weren't exposed to
00:59:18
those people they were pretty much for the most part kept away from there end quote but that didn't stop the rumors
00:59:25
from flying that maybe the girls were taken by someone connected to Dan someone involved in his Shady drug
00:59:32
underworld as you pointed out maybe it's somebody that he wronged that he owes money to the Daily Mail said that the
00:59:41
girls could have been abducted by drug dealers as payback for Dan's snitching remember it was believed that he was
00:59:48
going to work out a plea deal on all those drug charges for that trial that was going on right right around the same
00:59:55
time that the girls went missing right the male article said that Wilma told them it's possible her son-in-law made
01:00:03
an enemy through his cooperation with police many were wondering about Dan suddenly deciding to go forward with a
01:00:11
trial where he's going to face many years in prison rather than taking the plea deal the day before the girls were
01:00:19
taken this could be seen as suspicious Blackhawk County sh Sheriff Tony Thompson said quote we're not ruling
01:00:27
anything out with regard to the investigation to include Daniel Morris's criminal history his known associates
01:00:35
any prior or future criminal activities now although Dan himself was not considered a suspect and this was
01:00:44
the police's very words not considered a suspect it seems to many at the time just 10 days into The Disappearance of
01:00:52
these girls that it might have been easier to believe that there was a known suspect or reason that the girls have
01:01:01
been taken rather than to believe the alternative that the girls were kidnapped at random by a
01:01:23
stranger want to thank you guys so much and remember if you want to be a part of
01:01:30
Parts Unknown get your preorder in today at true Crim garage.com join us back here in the garage tomorrow until then
01:01:38
be good be kind and don't [Music] litter this show is sponsored by better help do
01:02:19
you look forward to the holidays maybe you struggle with seasonal Blues this time of year be a lot and it's natural
01:02:26
to feel some sadness or even anxiety about it but adding something new and positive to your life can counteract
01:02:32
some of those feelings therapy can be a bright spot something to look forward to
01:02:37
to make you feel grounded and to give you the tools to manage everything going on if you're thinking of starting
01:02:44
therapy give better help a try it's entirely online designed to be convenient flexible and suited to your
01:02:50
schedule just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a license therapist and switch therapist
01:02:56
at any time for no additional charge find your bright spot this season with better help visit betterhelp.com
01:03:03
Garay to get 10% off your first month that's betterhelp hp.com garage