Elizabeth Collins and Lyric Cook-Morrissey went missing in July

Dec 7, 2012 08:35 GMT  ·  By
Elizabeth Collins and Lyric Cook-Morrissey, disappeared in Evansdale, Iowa, on July 13
   Elizabeth Collins and Lyric Cook-Morrissey, disappeared in Evansdale, Iowa, on July 13

2 cousins, Elizabeth Collins and Lyric Cook-Morrissey, disappeared in Evansdale, Iowa, on July 13, this year.

As we reported yesterday, hunters reportedly came across two bodies that fit the descriptions of the Iowa girls. The 9- and 11-year-old were riding their bikes to their neighboring hometown of Waterloo when they vanished.

Now police state they are "confident" they came across the remains of the two girls, according to Fox News.

As we wrote yesterday, Heather Collins, the mother of one of the girls, confirmed on Facebook on December 6 that her daughter was one of the victims found dead.

"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 wrote.

Black Hawk County sheriff's Capt. Rick Abben hasn't reassured parents that they found their daughters yet.

"It's definitely not the outcome that we wanted, obviously. [...] This is a difficult thing for us to go through," he says, in a press conference.

The bodies were transported to Ankeny, Iowa, for further examination by the state coroner's office, ABC News notes.

Elizabeth and Lyric's bikes were found by a fireman near Meyers Lake, along with a purse. Police have put forward the theory that the pair were kidnapped. CCTV footage from a local auction barn showed them running away from someone, who could have been an attacker.

The cornfields and woods around the spot where the bikes were found had been searched by law enforcement and volunteers at the time. Police haven't released the location where the huntsmen discovered the remains, however mentioned that it was a secluded wooded region.