Going West: True Crime - The Evansdale Murders // 209

Episode Date: June 15, 2022

In July of 2012, two girls disappeared in Evansdale, Iowa while riding their bikes. Police set out looking for them right away, but despite an exhaustive search, receiving tips from locals, and finding CCTV footage of the girls, all the investigation turned up was their bikes. Five months later, both of their bodies were found, but was this the work of a serial killer, or someone else hiding right under everyone's noses? This the story of Lyric Cook and Elizabeth Collins, also known as the Evansdale Murders. BONUS EPISODE patreon.com/goingwestpodcast CASE SOURCES 1. The Courier: https://wcfcourier.com/lifestyles/announcements/obituaries/lyric-ray-lynn-cook/article_14e1dffa-505a-11e2-b6d8-001a4bcf887a.html 2. Patch: https://patch.com/iowa/cedarfalls/obituary-elizabeth-june-marie-collins 3. ABC News: https://abcnews.go.com/US/missing-iowa-girls-parents-criminal-records-spotlight/story?id=16810959#.UAiIIWnOxim 4. Missing Leads: https://www.missingleads.com/post/loss-of-angels-the-evansdale-murders 5. Iowa Cold Cases: https://iowacoldcases.org/case-summaries/lyric-cook-and-elizabeth-collins/ 6. CBS News: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kathlynn-shepard-missing-authorities-also-probe-suspect-michael-klunder-in-2012-slayings-of-iowa-cousins-lyric-cook-and-elizabeth-collins/ 7. Des Moines Register: https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/crime-and-courts/2014/05/14/iowa-cousins-michael-klunder-ruled-out-evansdale/9104893/ 8. Iowa Court: https://www.iowacourts.gov/courtcases/4036/embed/CourtAppealsOpinion 9. The Gazette: https://www.thegazette.com/crime-courts/belle-plaine-train-fatalities-ruled-murder-suicide/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on to Crime fans? I'm your host Teehan. And I'm your host Daphne. And you're listening to Going West. Today's case was recommended long ago by one of our lovely listeners named Joyce, and we recently rediscovered it, so thank you so much Joyce. It's a very frustrating case that needs all the attention it can get, so thank you to all of you as well for tuning in. Also, if you guys are looking for more episodes of Going West, please head over to our Patreon, patreon.com slash going west podcasts. We have ad free full length bonus episodes for you guys to binge. And they're not just us cases.

They're from all around the world. Yes, we are actually about to release our first bonus episode of the month. That is a us case, which is a little bit rare because we do like to go outside of the US when we can. But I'm yeah, go listen to that and almost 70 other full length episodes. So crazy. 70.

But again, as Daphne mentioned, today's case is so frustrating and it really does need a lot of attention. So please make sure that you share it. So without further ado, this is episode 209 of Going West. So let's get into it. In July of 2012, two girls disappeared in Evansdale, Iowa while riding their bikes. Police set out looking for them right away, but despite an exhaustive search,

receiving tips from locals and finding CCTV footage of the girls, all the investigation turned up with their bikes. Five months later, both of their bodies were found, but was this the work of a serial killer or some other predator hiding right under everyone's noses? This is the story of lyric cook and Elizabeth Collins, also known as the Evansdale murders. Lerick Ray Lynn Cook Morrissey was born on October 2, 2001 to parents Dan and Misty Cook Morrissey in Waterloo, Iowa, which is the small city that Lerick spent her whole life in

alongside her older brother Dylan, who she was extremely close with. Lyric attended Kingsley Elementary School and had a large local community of extended family, including her grandma's and great grandma, ten aunts and uncles and tons of cousins. But things weren't always easy for Lyric at home. Both of her parents struggled with addiction and had had some run-ins with the law. Her parents eventually wound up separating so she spent a lot of time staying at her grandma Wilma's house in the smaller city of Evansdale, which is located in the Waterloo-Cedar Falls metropolitan area, so very close to her hometown anyway. But despite the trouble at home, her mom described Lyric as, quote, a very special young lady. In the obituary commemorating her tragically short life, she's remembered as, quote,

an infectious joy to be around with a smile that radiated with love. The family was very active in their church, and their faith meant a great deal to them, including Lyric. She had a huge heart and lots of friends in addition to the family that she cherished. She loved bowling, gymnastics, playing outside, and cheerleading. And she and her grandma Wilma made a habit of playing card games together in the afternoons, which was a tradition that they both adored. Elizabeth June Marie Collins was born on July 3rd, 2003, so a year and a half after lyric, also in Waterloo, Iowa, to Drew and Heather Collins.

Heather and Misty, Lyric's mother, were sisters. Wilma Cook was their mother, and the two girls, Lyric and Elizabeth, were cousins and very close friends. Elizabeth had three younger siblings, a brother named Kelly and two sisters named Cali and Amber. Also, really quick, I just wanted to mention that a lot of people refer to Elizabeth as Lizzy, but because her name is Elizabeth and she's mostly formally referred to as Elizabeth,

we're just going to call her that, but I know some of you might be like, it's Lizzy. So I think we're just gonna go with Elizabeth. Yes, so Elizabeth was a student at Pointer Elementary School in Evanso, Iowa, and she's remembered as bubbly, girly, and full of life. Elizabeth enjoyed singing, traveling, getting dressed up, riding her bike, and playing softball and hockey. She had a big smile and an even bigger heart and a compassion for animals, especially

her own dog Gus. She loved her siblings and she also loved being the oldest and getting to boss around the little ones. She and her mom had a very special relationship and loved to have girls days that included shopping and going out to eat together. The family of six also love to stay in and have movie nights, snuggling together on the couch and just eating popcorn. So Waterloo, Iowa is a city of 68,000 people.

Well, it was back in 2012 when the story takes place, but the population has not changed much. And it is about a two-hour drive northeast of Des Moines, Iowa, which is the state's largest in capital city. Evansdale, which again is where the girl's grandma Wilma lived, is just a 10-minute drive from Waterloo across the Cedar River that cuts through both cities. Evansdale is comparatively smaller than Waterloo, with just around 5,000 people. Thinking that we're safe around town since it was so small and familiar, 10-year-old Lyric and 8-year-old Elizabeth

would regularly take bike rides around Evansdale and explore on their own. And to give you more details on the area just because it is relevant, in the southern part of Evansdale is a lake called Myers Lake, which has a nature trail that wraps all the way around it for hiking and biking. And there's also a park by the lake that is enjoyed by locals for its playground and picnic spaces. And I should add that Elizabeth at this point in the story when the story takes

place as Heath is just about to go into, she just turned nine years old like she was 10 days into being nine. Right. So on the morning of July 13th, 2012, Misty Cook and Heather Collins, again, Lyric and Elizabeth's mothers, had dropped off their daughters at their grandma Wilma's house in Evansdale for the day. It was a typical warm and sunny Iowa summer day so the girls set out on a bike ride. Around 12-15 pm, Wilma saw them riding together near downtown Evansdale and then again spotted them nearly 20 minutes later at 12-23pm on Broven Boulevard. And this is the street that Wilma actually lived on. Yes, and this timeline is really important.

We're going to be talking about different times, and so it might get confusing, so just pay close attention. Now another witness placed them on Gilbert Drive about a mile and a half away from Wilma's house, between 12.30 and 1pm. About two hours after they had left her house, Wilma began to worry that she hadn't heard from them. The girls didn't normally bike for this long, and she hadn't seen them herself in over an hour. When Misty arrived to her mother Wilma's house after finishing her work shift, Wilma alerted her to her concerns about Lyric and Elizabeth's whereabouts,

and the family started calling around and just asking neighbors, friends, and family members if they had seen them. When the cursory search turned up nothing, and the girls still hadn't arrived home, they were reported missing to the police at 2.48pm. Given the ages of the girls, local law enforcement took this very seriously and began rallying volunteers and search crews immediately to canvas the area, and volunteers came out by the hundreds. At 4 p.m. that day, so just an hour and 12 minutes after they'd been reported missing, and three hours after they had last been seen, the girl's bikes were found on a trail

at the southeast corner of Myers Lake. Now, Elizabeth's purse was also found, and with her cell phone in it, but unfortunately this wasn't a fully functioning cell phone. It wasn't even used for cell phone calls or tracking or texting. It was just to play games on. So this really didn't help in any sort of way? Not at all.

And at first, investigators considered the possibility that the girl's disappearances were maybe accidental. So dogs and even infrared aircrafts were utilized in the search as well. And the FBI also joined in on the efforts, sending trained divers two Myers-Lake to search for the girls, in case there had been some kind of accident and the girls had fallen in or worse had been dumped there. They even partially drained the lake, but the search turned up nothing. So this kind of showed them that, okay, they didn't drown. Nothing seems to have happened by accident. Were they taken? But I can imagine upon finding their bikes at the lake,

they're probably thinking, you know, that's gotta be the scenario, like they may have fallen in and drowned because they're younger girls. Yeah, and especially in a small town like this, you don't automatically go to they were abducted or something bad in that realm. Exactly.

You kinda think, oh, was there some kind of accident? That's the natural route to go. Right. So volunteers continue to comb the natural route to go. Right. So volunteers continued to comb the grassy area around the lake, and neighbors and friends held candlelight vigils, and papered the town with missing posters that week. As efforts to find them wore on and desperation increased, family secrets began to leak out to the public,

and the rumor mill churned. As we said, Dan and Misty were separated, and they both had a history of drug use, with Dan also having quite a rap sheet to go along with it. It came out that not only was Dan using drugs, he was cooking and selling meth out of the Cook Morrissey family home while the kids were there. He also had a roster of past charges ranging from burglary and a DUI to possession and distribution of drugs and parole violation. So six days into the investigation, ABC News ran a story about Lyric's parents that changed the course of the investigation and earned them massive public scrutiny.

Lyric and Elizabeth's aunt Tammy Bruso told ABC that the police had even accused Dan of being directly involved in the abduction and probable murder of his daughter and niece. Misty Moore, see Lyric's mom, was not immune to speculation either, and in the same ABC report, it was revealed that Misty was on federal probation and had actually been released from prison on May 30th of that same year, so a month and a half before the girl's disappearance. So she had been convicted on charges of drug use, failure to comply with drug testing, excessive alcohol consumption, and association with persons involved in criminal

activity. And back in 1997, she served 60s in jail for lying to law enforcement. Then the following year, she was found with an open container of alcohol in her vehicle. And a few years after this in 2003, she was sentenced to four years for conspiracy to manufacturing distribute methamphetamine. She wound up only serving five months in prison and a year on probation. And I know it can be a very sensitive subject when discussing the parents' lives and doings when a child is missing. So we don't mean any disrespect by describing these details but they are a part of the story. So I'm

sure if you listen to any other show on this case, you will hear about these details. So just know that no disrespect is intended. Yeah, it's kind of a hard situation because we've talked about cases like this in the past. Yes. But it seems that ABC News kind of took that history and that information and really ran with that.

Exactly. So I mean, it's safe to say that Dan and Misty's involvement in the drug scene was judged heavily during the investigation into their daughter's disappearance, as well as their relationship. And it was also revealed that Dan and Misty were headed for a divorce, and that she actually had a restraining order against him at the time of Lyric's abduction after Dan had physically assaulted her. lyrics parents denied any involvement and were very distraught at the allegations that they had something to do with it which makes sense because if they didn't have anything to do with it

what a horrible thing for people to say about them when they're trying to to grieve what is going on and they don't even know what's going on they'll know what happened in their daughter yeah just because drugs are involved does not directly mean that these parents are involved in anything that has to do with their daughter's disappearance. Right.

And Dan Morrissey said this in an interview with ABC News, quote, you tell them the truth and they say, you're holding something back and you're not. What is left to talk about? We go over and over and over again. It made me feel like, yeah, they're looking at me like a suspect. But despite the probe into the past lives and crimes of the former couple, they cooperated completely with investigators, were interviewed by police for hours at a time, were given

polygraph tests, and handed over their phones and computers to be searched. But nothing was found, and just these searches in general just turned up nothing, but two grieving parents looking for answers. So obviously what they're doing doesn't look good, especially if they have kids and if they're doing these things while the kids are present in the home, this is not responsible parenting, but what Heath and I are saying is just on a level of the actual disappearance investigation and not on their lives as parents. Yes, because, you know, although doing those things around your children is not okay, that

does not directly correlate to anything having to do, again, with your child going missing. Right, or at least not concretely. Not concretely, yeah. We're going to talk about this a little bit later too when we go into theories and such, but yeah, just had to touch on that. And it does seem that police were just doing their due diligence to investigate those close to home as they do in pretty much every case. Right. But it wasn't until a couple weeks after the girl's disappearances when an important clue was finally uncovered. when an important clue was finally uncovered. At the end of July 2012, a small break in the case came when surveillance video of Lyric and Elizabeth was discovered.

It was a short and very grainy clip, but it placed the cousins less than a block from their grandmother's house at around 12-11 pm in an alley near an auction house riding away from Myers Lake where the bikes were later found. The timestamp isn't accurate though and is 8 minutes slower than the actual time, meaning it was really 1219 PM. Yes, and we did post this video of anybody wants to see. The thing with this video is that you cannot tell that it's them, but you see these two bikes go by in like the back, like this back alley, like you're saying, but where the camera is placed, it's not close to this road.

So you can see these two figures biking and the way that they figured out that it was most likely them is because nobody else reported seeing two people biking together at that time in this very small town. So they're to police are like this has to be them. Right. And you have witnesses saying, including Wilma who's saying that she saw them. So yeah, I had around this very time. So it doesn't make sense that this is them, but you can't see the details of their, you know, face or their bodies really at all. Exactly. And sadly, it didn't reveal any new information,

but it did confirm the official police timeline of where they were and when. Months continued to pass with no concrete answers coming to the case. But on December 5, 2012, two hunters found two bodies at Seven Bridges Wildlife Park, about 20 miles from where the girls were last seen. They called local law enforcement right away at 12.45 pm to report their findings, and

the next day, a press conference was held where Chief Deputy Rick Abin announced that, based on the smaller size of the bodies and the fact that they had no other missing persons cases, they were confident that the bodies belonged to Lyric and Elizabeth. But it wasn't until four days later, after the bodies were transported to the State Medical Examiner's office, on the afternoon of Monday, December 10, 2012, an autopsy was confirmed. They were the bodies of 10-year-old Lyric Cook Morrissey and 8-year-old Elizabeth Collins. So after 5 months of searching, the family finally had some answers regarding their girls

and could just kind of begin putting them to rest. But the hunt for their killer was just beginning. Because it seemed obvious from the beginning that something horrible had happened to them, especially after finding their bikes, they felt confident that this wasn't a runaway situation. And also the fact that the bodies were found 20 miles away from their bikes.

Right, so that was a very clear sign that somebody had transported them there. So it was terrifying for the families in the town of Evansdale, knowing that someone in their very small city could be behind their disappearances and now murders. Police still to this day have not released the cause of death for either of them, just fearing a false confession. So very little is publicly known about their final moments

and what happened to them beyond where they were found. Now this wildlife area, especially where the girls were found, is remote and not highly trafficked, and their bodies were found in a cluster of trees as if someone was trying to hide them. Hunters, fishermen, campers, and mushroom foragers really frequent this area during deer season and spring and fall. But stumbling upon the two in such an isolated area was really lucky. And I also read that this used to be a popular party spot where young people would have bonfires and drinkin' such.

So some locals believe that this is how their killer could have known about this spot. This or they were a hunter or an outdoorsy person. Some locals believe that this is how their killer could have known about this spot, this, or they were a hunter or an outdoorsy person, but I guess long before Lyric and Elizabeth went missing, this spot had like dried up and more so, had become a party spot in the 70s and later, so it could also be someone who used it as a party spot back then,

but I'm not sure this even helps, I just saw this comment online and thought I would bring it up. But it's interesting because it seems like the type of area where you would kind of have to know that that area exists, like you may be familiar with this particular area. Right, that's what I'm saying is that's why I brought up the party spot because it's like,

what kind of people would be familiar with this area? Maybe young party people in the past, or hunters, outdoorsy people know it, but like I said, the fact that they were found in this cluster of trees is really weird that they were found at all, but it definitely goes to show you that whoever put them there likely knew about that spot in particular, or this wildlife area in general. Yeah, and that's why the police believe that it's potentially someone who's local. Exactly.

And let's talk a little bit more about this wildlife park. So Seven Bridges Wildlife Park is located in a very rural area of Redlin, Iowa, about a 30-minute drive northeast of Evansdale. So especially considering their bikes were found in Evansdale, it was very clear that someone took them out to this wildlife area to hide their remains and potentially kill them there as well.

Though again, this hasn't been publicly confirmed. Now despite the obvious feeling that something very bad had happened, it was still a great shock for those close to the girls to learn that they were deceased. After the announcement was made, community members gathered at a candlelight vigil where they made a makeshift memorial for both of them. One family friend stated, quote, just broken, I think a lot of people are. We've all held out pretty strong that there's going to be a positive outcome. This family friend also noted that the community did everything that they could to help bring awareness to everything that they could to help bring

awareness to the girl's story to help bring them home safely. The day before the bodies were positively identified, memorial services were held for Elizabeth Collins, and two weeks later, on December 29, 2012, funeral services were held at the Hartland Vineyard Church and Cedar Falls for Lyric Cook. On June 24, 2013, almost a year after the girls had disappeared and six months after their bodies had been found, another small advancement came in the form of a possible abduction vehicle. Three different witnesses came forward to tell police that they had seen a full-sized older model SUV like a Chevrolet suburban or a Ford Bronco in white parked on Arbutus Avenue.

I think it's our Arbutus, sorry I said that a little pointy. It does look like Arbutus. Arbutus Avenue on July 13, 2012, the day the girls vanished. Now our Buddhist avenue intersects the bike trail that leads to Myers Lake, where the girls bikes were located, so this was an important location to the case. Two witnesses placed the vehicle in between two bike trail signs, and the third witness says that they saw parked near the woods, which was a few hundred feet away from where the bikes were found.

All three witnesses claim that these sightings were between 11.30am and 12.30pm. So as we know, the girls were last spotted by their grandmother Wilma at 12.23pm, and then a witness said that they had seen them between 12.30 pm and 1 pm just over a mile from their grandmother's house on Gilbert Drive. Now for reference, Gilbert Drive is actually the cross street of the entrance to Myers Lake, so they were in that same area at the time this SUV was seen. Two of these witnesses came forward during the initial canvassing of the area at the time this SUV was seen. Two of these witnesses came forward

during the initial canvassing of the area, and the third came forward just a few months later, assuming someone had already reported the sighting. So this is really important. I mean, three people are saying on this day, this car was seen in that very spot, which is pretty much where your car would have to be if you abducted these girls, right?

Yeah. Assuming you abducted them from Myers Lake where their bikes were found. And police were really criticized for taking so long to release this information to the public, because again, they came out almost a year later saying, by the way, this car was seen in the area and they had been sitting on this information

and that's a really important information because it's the potential abduction vehicle. Right, and people could have identified this vehicle had they known that it existed in that area at that time. Yeah, like almost a year earlier. But the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation argued that with the investigation slowing down, they finally had enough time to kind of get through all the tips

that they received, so maybe they didn't really receive this information at the time, it was just reported earlier. You know what I mean? But it seems kind of strange that there were three people that said the same thing. Which means that vehicle must have been there and was it involved potentially? So one month before this, on May 20, 2013, so still almost a year after Lyric and Elizabeth disappeared, tragedies struck the area again. When two other young girls, 15-year-old Kathleen Sheppard and 12-year-old Desi Hughes vanished

from Dayton, Iowa, less than two hours west of Evansdale. The girls were walking home from school when they were abducted from the sidewalk and were taken to a nearby farm. Their hands were zip tied and their kidnapper took Kathleen away, giving Desi the opportunity to escape and run for help. But Kathleen tragically wasn't able to, and her body was found about two weeks later in the Des Moines River. Police identified a man named James Michael Clunderer, a registered sex offender from the area as the kidnapper and murderer. He had been released from prison less than two years prior after serving a 19-year sentence for kidnapping two three-year-old kids who were later found alive but left in

a trash can and abducting a 21 year old woman in separate incidents on back-to-back days. So James is a huge piece of shit. Indeed. James Clunder was just 20 years old at the time these abductions occurred. He was sentenced to inpatient sex offender treatment as a teenager and things only got worse from there. In fact, 42-year-old James had spent less than five years outside of a correctional facility since he was 16 years old.

But obviously, his crimes caught up with him and after kidnapping Kathleen and Desi and murdering Kathleen, he hung himself later that day. Which is very disappointing because, you know, obviously we're bringing this situation up and this man up in regards to Lyric and Elizabeth's case, because this seems like this man would be capable of it, right? And it was only the year prior that Lyric and Elizabeth were murdered. So the fact that he hung himself and could not be questioned for Lyric and Elizabeth were murdered. So the fact that he hung himself and could not be questioned for lyric and Elizabeth's case is very frustrating. Yeah, and it was in the same, you know,

relative area those two cases were. Yes, and we're, I'm gonna go into this now, but I guess police don't think it was him, but there's still a lot of people that do think it was him. So obviously investigators were immediately suspicious of a connection between the two cases, especially considering the closeness in proximity, time and location wise, and the fact that both incidents involved two young girls. And apparently, it's actually rare for predators to abduct more than one victim.

In fact, before Lyric and Elizabeth were taken, the FBI had only seen 15 such incidents since 1974. Wow, that's actually not a lot. Yeah, only 15 incidents in the United States were more than one person was abducted at one time. That's not a lot at all. So a special task force was even assembled to investigate the potential link between the two crimes. Hoping to bring solace to lyric and Elizabeth's families, but they found nothing but dead ends and ultimately concluded that James had been in or near his home on the day of the girl's disappearance, which again was about two hours away.

So still, a lot of people think he could be involved, because it makes sense, but I don't know how they concluded this. I don't know if it was because of cell phone or just another alibi. Yeah, but somehow they were able to determine that he was home two hours away. Right, and so obviously that's pretty big if you were concretely able to determine such a thing. So it seems pretty unlikely at this point. Right. But in 2016, another potential suspect surfaced, a man named Jeff Altmeier. In November of that year, 2016, 58-year-old Jeff Altmeier, who was married with two children,

was caught trying to lure two young girls into his vehicle in Onoa, Iowa. Wow, that's so hard to say together when he was apprehended. And this always just makes me feel so sick to my stomach when a parent is caught doing things like this. Right, when somebody has children. Yeah, yeah, it's so gross. So it was discovered that he had been engaging in similar activities all over Iowa, though he was based in Ankeny, Iowa, which is a suburb of Des Moines, but he traveled for work as a security consultant, so this is how he was able to do these horrible things all over

the state. Now, after his arrest, it was discovered that since May of that year, again 2016, he had lured dozens, dozens of young girls into his car, eventually releasing all of them, but he had sexually assaulted at least two of them, and one of which was as young as six years old. Oh god, it just... death. Yeah, he is now serving a life sentence, but is still a person of interest in Lyric and Elizabeth's murders. The rationale being that most sex offenders don't start committing crimes in their late

50s, because, you know, he had probably been doing it for a long time. Yeah. And that he may have felt like emboldened by having already gotten away with a horrific crime, so he kept trying to lure all these other young girls and children. Right. It's potential that he was trying to just, you know, up the ante here like, oh, I've done it once and I got away with it. So I guess I can just do this all around the state of Iowa.

Right. So he did not confess to having anything to do with Lyric and Elizabeth's case, but just the fact that he was out there going around Iowa makes police think it's a possibility. Yeah, but unfortunately investigators had a lull again until another tragedy potentially linked itself to Lyric and Elizabeth. On February 13, 2017, nearly five years after the Evansdale murders, 13-year-old Abbey Williams and 14-year-old Libby German disappeared while hiking a trail in Delphi, Indiana.

Their bodies were found the following day near an abandoned bridge in the same wooded area that they were hiking. This case was dubbed the Snapchat murders because the girls were taking and posting pictures of themselves on the trail, and perhaps inadvertently or because they were scared of him, and knew to do so, they also recorded footage of a heavy-set white man and a blue windbreaker and jeans walking behind them. They were even able to record his voice, mumbling something to them saying, guys, and down the hill. But despite having photographic and audio evidence, police were never able to identify their killer, and this case still remains open.

We have been recommended this case a few times, and we know a lot of you are probably already familiar with it, but it's still unsolved, and there are pretty consistent developments, so we definitely plan to cover it. Yeah, and it was kind of hard to deny the similarities with Lyric and Elizabeth's case. You know, two young girls outside by themselves disappear, their bodies turning up later in a wooded area, and both cases happening in the Midwest, though Evansdale and Delphi, are six hours apart by car. Even so, naturally, people started speculating that there may be a serial killer hunting the region.

Armchair investigators also pointed out that the dates of the girl's disappearances are anagrams of each other, 7, 13, 12, and 2, 13, 17. Although this is likely just a coincidence. The cause of death in the Delphi murderers has also not been released, despite the fact that a lot of people believe they died by knife, though we're sure police have all this information and have compared the cases in this way themselves. But Indian-Asthetes police have said that despite the apparent connections, they do not believe that the cases are linked.

Another possible connection to Lyric and Elizabeth's murders came in the form of a murder suicide. 36-year-old Teresa Jeraldman and her 8-year-old son, Henry. On May 4, 2018, at 5 a.m., they were seen walking across train tracks in Belle Plain, Iowa. And when the train approached, Teresa grabbed Henry and pulled him towards her, holding him there until the train passed over them, killing them both. And remember, this is like, so 2018, this is about seven years after the Evansale murders. Now, it's unknown exactly why Teresa did this, but family members, past employees, and a counselor all attested to regularly

erratic behavior from Teresa, and claimed that she had a history of compulsive lying and difficulty holding down a job. Before she died, Teresa had apparently told a counselor that she had a six-page handwritten note in her home that contained a confession from the men, not man, the men who killed Lyric and Elizabeth, claiming she hung around with the men who had done it and that they had penned a confession. A search warrant was obtained and her home was searched posthumously, but turned up no evidence or at least nothing of importance that has been publicly released. So this is definitely very weird

that she's saying, I happen to have these men's confession in my home. Why would you have such a thing? Yeah, but then, you know, people are saying she was unstable and then they don't find this confession at home. So it's like, I think if they had found it, that information would be available and that would be a big piece of this story. But I think what a lot of people think online at least that I read was maybe she was just really interested in the case and because she had newspaper clippings and such of it in her home apparently, but that was pretty much it.

So maybe she was just really interested and had her theories on who had done it, but she didn't actually know the men and didn't have a confession from them. Yeah, and if you're a local to the case, I'm sure that this was big news. Oh, yeah. It's rural Iowa. Yeah, it's a small town.

So this really affected the whole area. So the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit released the following profile of who they believe the perpetrator to be. They're likely to be local to the Evansdale or Waterloo area. The offender is believed to be a single person. They're likely familiar with both the Myers Lake and Seven Bridges Wildlife area and Breemer County, and selected Seven Bridges because he was familiar with how secluded the area actually is.

The perpetrator most likely used quiet coercion to gain compliance, such as a ruse or threats of violence to get the girls to leave with him. During July of 2012, the perpetrator may have been experiencing stress due to spousal problems, financial difficulties, legal trouble, employment difficulties, or mental health issues. The offender may avoid discussing the case, or alternatively may show interest in following media developments about the case. The offender may have abducted or attempted to abduct other children or adults in the past. Following the disappearance of the girls, the suspect may have changed their appearance, hairstyle or facial hair, and the vehicle he used may

have been hidden or suddenly sold, or the appearance may have been altered with a new paint job, or the interior re-apholstered. I think this is a pretty solid list. Like if you're in Evansdale in this small town of or small city of 5,000 people or in the Waterloo area, this is a lot of stuff that you as a person can be looking out for and anybody that you know. So to me, I feel like definitely somebody out there knows who did it and they're just not coming forward for whatever reason. Yeah, I mean as detailed as I want this to be, it's

still does feel kind of broad, because it seems like in any case, this would happen people might change their hairstyle or they might repaint their car. So... Right, I just feel like, just comparing it to other cases that we've covered, where these things do happen and people notice and they say,

oh, well, I noticed this weird thing about my neighbor and yeah, he did die his hair and he sold his car. Sure. You know, like, this is such a big list. I feel like somebody can say, at least say, oh, I know somebody that I feel like could honestly be capable of this and they did two of these things. You know what I'm saying? So I don't know.

Obviously, this isn't a concrete list. None of these are for sure, but I think, I think I just feel like somebody out there definitely is just keeping quiet. So in 2013, the same year that we've been talking about a lot of this, the year after the murders, Dan Morrissey, Lyric's father, was sentenced to 90 years in prison, with a 30 year mandatory minimum after he was convicted on three different sets of drug charges, some of which were before Lyric's disappearance and some of which were after. There has been speculation, as we stated earlier, that Dan's criminal past was the reason

the girls were abducted, and that perhaps they were taken as a threat for money that he owed or murdered for revenge, but Dan denies this as well and there isn't any evidence solidifying this theory. Regarding this theory, Dan stated quote, Yeah, it doesn't even make sense if you think about it and play it out. You know why would this happen? If I had any idea of somebody that was in my life that I owed money to or had threatened me or anything, you'd think I wouldn't know who that person is.

So I mean, that would be the number one suspect on the case, and this thing would have been solved a long time ago. But there is absolutely nobody in my life that I owe money to, or that I have told on or anything like that. That is nothing to do with my daughter. And why would they abduct Elizabeth and my daughter at the same time in another town that my daughter's not even from from on a random bike ride that nobody knew they were going to take. It doesn't make sense. And I have to agree with him. Like, I know there

are people who believe this theory, but it's true that this was a random daytime bike ride in their grandmother's town. And I think if this was for money, there would have been a ransom. So, no one coming forward demanding one and no evidence of anything drug or money related after their abductions leads me to believe that this was some disgusting child predator or sex offender who saw two girls biking by themselves and use the opportunity to abduct them

when he knew no one would see them. Yeah, I have to agree 100%. I just think that that's the most likely scenario is that there was just a bad guy in this town and saw an opportunity and acted on it. Yeah, and again, Evansdale hosted just 4,700 people at this time, 4,700 people. So for someone to be familiar with both of the spots that we listed, is highly likely

to be a local. And that's not a ton of people we're talking about. And because of this, I also personally don't believe that this is related to Delphi, since the killers of Libby and Abby are the killer of Libby and Abby, is believed to be a local as well. And again, these cities are six hours apart. I mean, who knows? Like the murders are nearly five years apart after all. So it's definitely possible. But I think at least in this case we're talking about today, it's in my mind, it's a local. Yeah. And

we also have to take this with a grain of salt. But I found a sort of interesting comment in a Reddit thread on this case. It said, isn't the chief of police the fire chief and his sons? And didn't he get fired from being a cop for being violent and retaliatory? Didn't every one of his officers and firemen ask that he be fired? That police chief was supposedly sleeping with Lizzie's mother. Dan Lyric's dad was offered a plea bargain for about 10 years and refused it, and took the full 90-year sentence. These are the things that led to the death of those girls. So I'm not trying to give into conspiracies, but this person and a lot of others

seem to think that law enforcement is involved. Yeah, I read about that too, because I guess the police chief's best man at his wedding, a guy named Ted Gamerdinger, I read about that too because I guess the police chief's best man at his wedding a guy named Ted Gamerdinger I think it is is like an avid bicyclist and he was the one who found the girls bikes While he was on that trail himself and then one of the hunters who found the girls bodies was employed by a company called Gamerdinger heating in air so people like, oh, it's owned by Ted. And there's a connection, but I still don't know how that would mean that they were connected to the case, but I saw a lot of post pointing this out as well.

So there's another thing that I want to mention that confuses me about the timeline. So Ted came forward and said that he saw the girl's bikes in the spot on the trail where they were found hours later at 4pm, but he says he saw them at 12.20pm. Now the weird thing about this is that that would only be one minute after they were seen on surveillance footage at 12.19pm, which was a mile and a half away. So that doesn't seem like it could be? Yeah, like so how could their bikes be on the trail? Because even Ted, who is an adult bike list,

or bicyclist, said that he wouldn't have been able to bike that fast himself. And also this is more confusing with the timeline like their grandma, Wilma claims that she saw them at 12.23 pm, three minutes after the bikes are supposedly at Myers Lake. And then this other witness came forward and said they saw them between 12.30 and 1 p.m. So like a timeline is really important in cases like this. And this one is really screwy.

Yeah. It almost seems like either he misremembered what time it was that he saw the bikes or, you know, something more sinister. But obviously I'm not going to go into that speculation. Right. I was thinking that too, because it's so specific how Wilma was like, oh yes, I saw them at 12, 23 people. Like is everybody checking their watch while they see these girls? Yeah, true. So someone's got to be wrong.

Now many people also point out the fact that Elizabeth's parents had convicted sex offender Buzz Anderson lead the parade for the girls on the one-year anniversary of their disappearance and murder. Someone who was their friend and who also had sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl on nine occasions in 1980 when he was 39 years old and this was 30 years before the Evans-Zill murders are actually 39 years old. And this was 30 years before the Evan'sdale murders, or actually 32 years before. So this guy's like 71 at the time of the Evan'sdale murders.

Now he is not a known suspect in their murders, but it's definitely interesting that someone so close to the family that lives in the area has a history of child molestation. Though as we know there are other sex offenders in this area. Police believe that whoever murdered them is potentially someone who knew one or both of them, because somehow this person was able to abduct them or coax them into his vehicle at a public

lake, so was this done by force or were the girls somewhat comfortable with this person? Either way, police believe this person is potentially hiding in plain sight and possibly right under their noses. To this day, local law enforcement and the FBI have followed up on more than 1,000 leads and they've interviewed over 300 sex offenders, and there are still no answers in the deaths of Lyric and Elizabeth. Elizabeth's dad Drew said in an interview quote, It just kind of wrecks every part of your life, because it just seems to kind of creep

into every aspect of your life. I just don't want this person to do this to somebody else, to another family. I look at what it's done to my family and our kids, and it's just been devastating. In the months following the disappearance of their daughter, Drew and Heather wound up filing for divorce. Their marriage not able to withstand the loss. Misty Cook has had another baby since the loss of Lyric, another little girl, but claims that she's terrified for her daughter, worried that someone is still out there and after her family, and may

set their sights on her baby next. Lyric and Elizabeth's families do what they can to maintain public interest in the case and to keep their memories alive. And every year, they hold a memorial bike ride in their honor. There are memorials established for the girls at Myers Lake and officials also rename the bike trail the trail of angels and the park at the lake Angels Park. The city of Evansdale also declared July 13th lyric and Elizabeth Day, which is really awesome. Fundraising efforts at these events go toward maintenance of the park and the growing reward fund. So Cedar Valley Crime Stoppers is offering a $100,000 reward for any information

that leads to an arrest in the case. And a $150,000 reward raised privately and by the FBI is also available for any information leading to an arrest and conviction. If you have any information regarding the murders of Lyric and Elizabeth, please call the Evansdale Police Department at 319-232-6682 or Cedar Valley Crime Stoppers at 855-30847. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode and on Friday we'll have an all new case for you guys to dive into. Let us know what you guys think of this case because obviously there are a lot of theories, there's a lot of speculation.

The best place to do that I would say honestly is our Facebook discussion group, just go on Facebook and in the search bar type in, going west discussion group, ask the join, we will accept you and that is where Heath and I can kind of interact with you guys, but we're also on Twitter, that's where Heath runs, and I'm running the Instagram, Instagram at going west podcast, Twitter at going west pod, comment and let us know

what you guys think and make sure to share. Yeah, I really am just so interested in this case because like just not knowing, not having any answers and not knowing how these poor young girls died is just, it's so awful and to think that somebody could potentially just be out there hiding in this small town, right under police's noses is just awful. It's so freaky too. And in one month from the day we're recording this episode is the 10 year anniversary of this abduction and murder.

So, you know, they are desperate for more information. Obviously, there's a lot they're withholding from the public. So there's probably a lot more that they know than we know, obviously, much more. Exactly, we don't know if they potentially have DNA evidence that could help solve this thing and if they have like Suspect in mind maybe there's somebody where they're like we think this person did it We just don't have enough on them and it's a person that has not been named and that we don't know their name So there's so much that they could have, but if you happen to know something,

please contact them. Yeah, especially if you're in that area, you could potentially have information that could help solve this case. So please share this episode, share this story, and let's get justice for these two girls. Yes, because even though we don't have a description of the person, there is that vehicle remember,

which is a white, it was described as either like a large SUV Chevrolet, or even like a Ford Bronco. Yeah, Ford Bronco. Yeah, but a white larger SUV in that area. So again, if you live in that area, you take that information, you take that whole list that he thread off about if they change their appearance, if they sold their car.

Right, the FBI profile. Yeah, anything like that, just, you know, think about it. All right, guys. So for everybody out there in the world, don't be a stranger. Thank you. you