14 DAY TRIAL // Two bodies of young girls were found by hunters in the woods, on Wednesday, at around 12:45 p.m.. Police pointed out that the remains might belong to two missing Iowa cousins.
10-year-old Lyric Cook and 8-year-old Elizabeth Collins vanished on July 13, from Evansdale, Iowa. Heather Collins, the mother of one of the missing girls, has confirmed on Facebook today, December 6, that the girls were identified as the Iowa cousins.
"We have been so blessed by the [outpouring] of all the (prayers) and support tonight with the gut wrenching news that my beautiful daughter and niece's bodies were found by hunters today.
"This was [not] the outcome we wanted but we know that they are up in heaven with our Savior and [our] nightmare of where they are and what is happening to them has been answered.
"Lord, we know that you have them in your loving arms and we are so blessed [f]or that," Collins is quoted by KWQC saying.
The medical examiner’s office performed tests on the remains, to verify whether they pertained to the missing Iowa girls.
"It's not the outcome we wanted," Captain Rick Abben, supervising the case, states.
Police have not yet released the location where the two bodies were found. According to the Daily Mail, the cousins went on a bike ride by Meyers Lake in the small town of Evansdale, and never returned. They were heading for their home town of Waterloo, their grandmother told reporters at the time.
Before parents reported them missing, a fireman found their bike abandoned near the lake, just a few hours after they disappeared. A purse was also recovered at the scene.
Police analyzed CCTV footage from a local auction barn, which showed the girls running, as if from an attacker. They concluded that a kidnapping was behind the pair vanishing.