Search for missing Iowa cousins enters Day 5 - WXOW News 19 La Crosse, WI – News, Weather and Sports |

EVANSDALE, Iowa (KWWL)  -The mystery continues into what happened to two cousins who disappeared during a Friday afternoon bike ride.

Eight-year-old Elizabeth Collins and ten-year-old Lyric Cook were last seen around 12:30 p.m. Friday after they left their grandmother's house on a bike ride.

Their bikes were later found near Meyers Lake.

Monday night, family and friends came together for a prayer vigil at Heartland Vineyard Church in Cedar Falls after a 4th day of searching for the girls turned up nothing.

After a weekend outside, hundreds came inside to pray and find comfort that Collins and Cook will be found safe after 4 days of mystery and misery.

That includes parents and other family members of the girls.

"I know in times like this, it's good to be around family and they are part of our church family and we want to seek the Lord in this situation and bring comfort and peace with his holy spirit. That's what we want to see happen," said Reggie Hovenga, Associate Pastor of Heartland Vineyard Church.

Earlier Monday, as part of the search, police stopped cars on the street to see if anyone had seen the girls before they disappeared Friday.

Meantime, water from the lake drained into the Cedar River.

It's the latest effort by authorities to find the girls.

Their bikes were found by the lake Friday.

Authorities dragged every inch of it over the weekend but want to make sure they didn't miss anything.

"They were confident no one was in there but to be 100 percent sure we have to drain that lake to do that," said Richard Abben of the Black Hawk County Sheriff's Office.

Authorities say the lake is dropping at three inches an hour so it may take a couple of days.

They're going around the clock and are noticing that this case is getting increasingly more attention regionally and nationally.

Authorities say there's no need for volunteers Tuesday and they still are treating this as a missing persons case.

They say there's no evidence to suggest there's foul play.

They say family members have been very cooperative and that there's no-one they've wanted to talk with that they haven't been able to find.

Anyone with any information is asked to call the Evansdale Police.

The number is 319-232-6682.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Authorities are draining an Iowa lake as they continue their search for two missing girls whose bicycles were found nearby.

Eight-year-old Elizabeth Collins and her 10-year-old cousin Lyric Cook-Morrissey were last reported seen Friday afternoon leaving their grandmother's house. Their bicycles and Elizabeth's purse were found later that day near a bike trail at the edge of Meyers Lake in the northeast Iowa city of Evansdale.

Black Hawk County Chief Deputy Rick Abben says the draining of the nearly 5-acre lake began Monday and it could take up to three days. Officials believe it will go faster due to the low level of the lake and the Cedar River into which it drains.

The lake has already been dredged, and hundreds of volunteers swept the area over the weekend.

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Authorities say they've uncovered no significant evidence in the search for two missing girls, three days after their bicycles and a purse were found near a lake in northeast Iowa.

Black Hawk County Sheriff's Deputy Rick Abben says local, state and federal authorities have been "grasping for straws" in the frantic search for 8-year-old Elizabeth Collins and her 10-year-old cousin, Lyric Cook-Morrissey.

Abben says no eyewitnesses have reported seeing the girls. They've been missing since leaving their grandmother's house Friday afternoon in Evansdale.

Several hundred volunteers helped search the area Saturday and Sunday around Meyers Lake in Evansdale.

Abben says authorities have been doing house-to-house searches around the clock. He says it's still considered a missing persons case.

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EVANSDALE, Iowa (AP) -- Authorities in Iowa will resume their hunt for two young Iowa girls whose bicycles were found at a lake in a suburb of Waterloo.

Dispatchers for the Evansdale police and Black Hawk County Sheriff's Office said Monday that the girls had not been found.

More than 350 volunteers helped search the area around Meyers Lake for 8-year-old Elizabeth Collins and her 10-year-old Cousin, Lyric Cook-Morrissey. The cousins were last seen shortly after noon Friday.

Their bikes were found near Meyers Lake a few hours after they were reported missing.

Authorities have been dragging the lake and have been interviewing family, friends and registered sex offenders who live in the Evansdale area.