Investigators reclassified the disappearance of two missing Iowa cousins as an abduction case Friday after an FBI dive team failed to find their bodies in a lake near where they were last seen a week ago.
Lyric Cook-Morrissey, 10, and Elizabeth Collins, 8, vanished after riding bikes near Meyers Lake in Evansdale, a small town in northeast Iowa that has been devastated by their disappearance. Their bikes were later found on a path near the lake.
Investigators are confident the girls did not drown or die in the lake, and they do not believe the girls got lost because they would have been found by now, Black Hawk County Chief Deputy Rick Abben told reporters during an afternoon news briefing.
"Since we can't find them, and they are not in the lake, we're calling it an abduction," said Abben, who announced a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction. "Now that it's an abduction, everyone is a suspect until we find these people, these two young girls."
Abben spoke after an FBI dive team that focuses on underwater searches spent hours Friday on a boat equipped with sonar equipment, searching the bottom of the 26-acre lake. FBI spokeswoman Sandy Breault said divers were confident the girls were not there based on the surveillance, and they did not need to conduct any dives. The lake had been partially drained, and the sandy and muddy bottom could be seen in some spots.
AP
Divers search Meyers Lake for missing children Lyric Cook-Morrissey, 10, and Elizabeth Collins, 8, who disappeared last week, Friday, July 20, 2012, in Evansdale, Iowa. The girls' bikes were found last Friday afternoon near a bike trail at the edge of the lake. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Close The shift in the case also came after authorities took steps to keep a closer watch on Lyric's father, a man with a lengthy criminal history who has stopped cooperating with police.
A judge on Thursday granted a prosecution request to place Daniel Morrissey, 36, in a pretrial supervision program of the Iowa Department of Corrections while he faces September trials in two separate drug cases that could land him in prison for decades. The change means Morrissey, who has been free on bond, will be supervised by parole officers who will make sure he shows up in court and does not violate the terms of his release.
Abben said authorities sought the order "so that we have a little bit closer" monitoring of Morrissey. But he also said Morrissey was not considered a suspect, and investigators were scrutinizing others in the family with criminal histories.
"We're looking at everybody, not just one set of parents over the other. Not just because one family may have a criminal background. Everything has to be considered," Abben said.
Morrissey's wife, Misty Cook-Morrissey, 34, pleaded guilty in 2003 in federal court to conspiracy to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine, court documents show. She also has theft and alcohol violations in state court and is on supervised release after her probation was revoked in September because of drug and excessive alcohol use and failure to comply with drug tests.
Cook-Morrissey, told KWWL-TV on Friday that she believed authorities were unfairly scrutinizing her and her husband because of their criminal histories. She said she believed police were getting frustrated after searching extensively for a week and coming up empty.
"It's frustrating for us as well," she said.
沒有留言:
張貼留言