Missing Iowa Cousins' Search Continues Today, Police 'Grasping at Straws'
The search for two Iowa girls has left police frustrated and baffled, with very few clues or theories. Elizabeth Collins, 8, and her cousin Lyric Cook, 10, were reportedly riding bikes on Friday afternoon, but no one has seen or heard from them since then, and over 1,000 volunteers have not turned up anything.
The girls' bikes were found along with a cell phone, but there was no evidence of the girls. After dragging a nearby lake and coming up empty-handed, authorities ruled out the possibility of the girls' bodies being in the water.
Over 1,000 volunteers have donated their time to help find the missing girls. The disappearance has not been designated an abduction or foul play, which is frustrating to police who had hoped to have the girls home last night.
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"Every hour, you know, it makes it that much worse," Capt. Rick Abben ABC News. "The first 24 hours of course are very critical. We've obviously surpassed that now by quite a bit."
The girls' grandmother, Wylma Cook, told ABC News she was fearful that the girls had been abducted and made a personal plea for their safe return.
"Whoever has them, just turn them in, let them loose anywhere so they can call me," she said.
"We've talked to numerous people," Abben told the WCFCourier.com. "There's nothing to indicate at this time that we have anything but two missing girls. For a lack of a better word, it's just like they vanished. There's been nothing."
Authorities will continue the search today, but without the massive amount of volunteers. While it has been helpful to have them, several agencies such as the FBI are also involved in the search and will provide their trained personnel to assist local police.
The girls' family has not given up hope.
"Today I'm feeling pretty good," Misty Cook-Morrissey, Lyric's mother, told the Associated Press this morning. "Sometimes, when you think about it, you wonder if they're dead somewhere, but you try to push those thoughts out of your mind."
