Dad of murdered Elizabeth Collins fears he’s unknowingly faced killer in grocery store as he says ‘hardest part to come’

A FATHER whose daughter and niece were abducted and killed 12 years ago in an unsolved case that continues to stump investigators believes the killer is still lurking somewhere nearby.

Drew Collins told The U.S. Sun the wait for answers in the investigation into who killed his 8-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, and 10-year-old niece Lyric Cook-Morrissey , has at times been excruciating.

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The two girls disappeared on July 13, 2012, while riding their bicycles in the small town of Evansdale, Iowa , about 45 minutes northwest of Cedar Rapids.

A frantic and sprawling search of the local area yielded a few clues but months would pass before the girls’ bodies were found.

That tragic discovery was made 25 miles away, on December 5, 2012, when hunters walking through the isolated Seven Bridges Wildlife Area happened on two sets of remains.

They were later identified as Elizabeth and Lyric , though how the girls were killed and in what condition their bodies were found has never been disclosed by police.

Investigators believe that information will be crucial in helping to later snare the culprit, and even Collins himself is still in the dark about what happened to the girls.

Though there are still many unknowns hanging over his head, Collins said he’s always been certain the killer was local to the area and may still be residing nearby. He fears he may have run into them in a store or bar.

“If you knew the area and where they were found, how remote it is, and also how remote the area where their bikes were found is, then you would know it was somebody local,” said Collins.

“So I always have that feeling in the back of my mind.

“If I go to the bar or something, I always wonder, after speaking to someone or seeing someone who sees a little off, could this be the guy?

“You’re always thinking of this stuff because you’re looking for answers […] and I can’t wait for that to be over.”

Collins added, “I am tired of wondering. That’s one of the harder things; you’re always wondering who it is and why. You wonder if you made someone mad, or if it was someone who just saw two girls alone and took advantage.

“My life is spent running these things through my head constantly. Trying to figure it out, trying to make sense of it, and it’s all pretty senseless. So you’ll never do it.”

PERSONS OF INTEREST

Though very little information has been shared by investigators and, from the outside at least, the case appears to be at a standstill, Collins said he’s confident answers will soon be forthcoming.

His cause for optimism has been buoyed by the release of a new three-part series about his daughter and niece on Max, Taken Together: Who Killed Lyric and Elizabeth?

Collins participated in the documentary and recounted how he even confronted a person of interest in his daughter’s murder.

Footage of the exchange aired in the series’ final episode last week.

Recounting the experience, Collins said, “That was pretty emotional.

“I tried to stay calm when I was talking to him but I remember afterwards I just kind of had a breakdown. It was all just so heavy.

“The whole time I was talking to him, I kept wondering if he’s our guy and there was so much I wanted to ask but I also had to try to keep talking and keep control of myself.

“I think that was probably one of the hardest things about this whole experience.”

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In the years since the girls’ deaths, other high-profile murder and abduction cases near Evansdale have led to questions about possible connections to the girls’ deaths.

One such case is the Delphi murders , the double homicide of young teens Libby German and Abigail Williams , who were killed in Indiana in February 2017.

Parallels between the two killings were drawn, but investigators never established a link.

One case to have been closely examined by investigators was the abduction of Kathlynn Shepard, 15, and a 12-year-old girl from Dayton, Iowa, in May 2013 – less than a year after Elizabeth and Lyric’s abduction.

The 12-year-old victim was able to escape, but Kathlynn’s body was found a few weeks later.

The man responsible for the abductions and murder, Michael Klunder, took his own life the same day the discovery was made.

Klunder is still considered a person of interest in the Evansdale case and is the central focus of the second episode of Taken Together.

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In the final episode, Collins confronts an associate of Klunder’s who was living less than a football field’s distance away from him when Elizabeth and Lyric disappeared.

According to Collins, that individual is a potential suspect in the case.

“When I found out about him being friends with Klunder, I thought this has to be him,” he said. “But police couldn’t place Klunder in Evansdale [at the time], so that’s a problem.

“But it’s interesting: you have another double abduction, and it’s a guy that you were in prison with that you were best friends with in prison, and you’re here living like eight doors away.

“This guy’s daughter used to ride the school bus with my daughter.”

“I’m not 100% on him though,” added Collins. “He’s not top of my list.

“I have other people that are more interesting to me than that guy.”

‘EVAPORATED INTO THIN AIR’

Elizabeth and Lyric were dropped off at their grandmother’s home in downtown Evansdale to be watched while their parents worked on the morning of July 13, 2012.

Without Drew or Elizabeth’s mom knowing, the girls’ grandmother, Wylma Collins, had allowed the pair to go off on a bike ride alone at around noon.

But when the girls failed to return home after an hour, Wylma grew concerned and contacted both sets of parents before the police were finally called sometime around 3 pm.

The last known sighting of the girls came between 12:30 pm and 1 pm along Gilbert Drive, a stone’s throw away from Meyers Lake, a popular local fishing and recreation area.

Their bikes and Elizabeth’s purse with her cell phone still inside were later found on a trail at the southeast corner of the lake at 4 pm.

What happened next is not known, but officials have said they believe the culprit used “quiet coercion” to abduct Lyric and Elizabeth.

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In 2022, Collins recounted in an interview with The U.S. Sun how he returned home from work early on July 13, 2012, to be told by his then-wife Heather, that the girls were missing.

He said what had started as any other day quickly descended into a parent’s worst nightmare.

“We were worried from the beginning,” Drew said in November 2022.

“We would’ve never let Elizabeth go out on a bike ride like that. It was different for Lyric as she was a little bit older, but Elizabeth was too little.”

When Elizabeth’s handbag was discovered strewn over a fence later that afternoon, Drew said he really began to panic.

“That was the moment when it hit me that something really wasn’t right,” he said.

“So we kept on looking and looking but we couldn’t find them anywhere.”

As days passed without any progress, volunteers came out in the hundreds to assist police and provide comfort to the girls’ families .

Candlelight vigils, volunteer searches, and press conferences were all held, but no trace of Elizabeth and Lyric was found.

We’re gaining strength and we’re coming for you. We’re not going to stop until someone is in jail.

Drew Collins father of victim

The FBI eventually joined in the search, sending trained divers to Meyers Lake to search for the girls. Again, investigators came up empty-handed.

For the following five months, Drew, Heather, and their three other children all waited in agony for updates.

“Those five months were unbearable. It’s still unbearable now […] it’s all I live and breathe.

“You just never imagined something could happen in a small town like this. It’s a safe area.

“You hear about these kinds of things happening but nobody ever thinks it could ever happen to their family – until it does,” said Drew.

LIVES FOREVER CHANGED

When the phone rang on December 5, 2012, it was Drew who answered.

On the other end of the line was the family’s minister, who asked them to come down to City Hall immediately.

Drew knew what the call meant, and when they arrived his worst fears were realized: The girls had been found together, but they were no longer alive.

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Drew said hearing those words and trying to comfort his now ex-wife and three other children was the most challenging moment of his life.

He tried to remain strong but, together, they spent hours weeping on the floor of City Hall.

“After all that anticipation and hope and all the work we did to try to find them, and for that be the outcome was just devastating,” he said in 2022.

“You look at the faces of those two girls and you just think there was no way anybody could hurt them. They were so nice, nobody can hurt them. They’re too sweet.

“You have to be a monster to have done something so evil to them.”

Today, the scars and feelings of heartbreak remain fresh for Drew and his three other children, now ages 24, 18, and 16.

Describing what it’s been like for his kids to grow up under a gray cloud of uncertainty and heartache cast in the wake of Elizabeth’s death, Collins said each of them are “broken in their own ways.”

“Everything went to s**t for us afterward, including my marriage, which was even harder on the kids,” he said.

“After Elizabeth died, it was like a semi-truck drove through our house at 9 pm while everyone was sitting around watching TV.

“There was nothing that wasn’t damaged. Everything was damaged after that.”

Still hanging over Collins’ head are the details concerning his daughter and niece’s final moments.

He said he will relish the moment he gets to look his daughter’s killer in the eyes for the first time but fears the worst of his heartache is still yet to come.

“I’m really sick of waiting,” said Collins. “I want to know who this person is and I want to see this person arrested.

“But I’m also scared to death because I’ve been wondering all this time what happened and who this person was, but I also wonder how hard it’s going to be when I find out all the things I don’t want to hear.

“Which is what was done to them and what their last moments were like.

“The hard part ain’t over yet. Finding out the answers to all those questions might be the hardest part of all.

“You don’t want to think of somebody hurting your child, but obviously they were hurt, and when those answers come they’re going to be hard to hear.

“But, at the same time, I need to know.”

The reward to find the person who murdered Lyric and Elizabeth is now more than $100,000.

If you have a tip, email the Division of Criminal Investigation at dciinfo@dps.state.ia.us or call the Cedar Valley Crime Stoppers at (855) 300-8477.

Elizabeth and Lyric's Disappearance: A Timeline

Friday, July 13, 2012 :

2:48 pm: Cousins Lyric Cook Morrissey and Elizabeth Collins are reported missing.

2:50p m: Evansdale police search the home and the area using three squad cars.

3:15 pm: Black Hawk sheriff’s office sends four cars to help. Fire department requested to help and uses a Gator to check bike trails.

4 pm: Firefighters find the girls’ bike at Meyers Lake.

4:30 pm: Girls’ names are entered into the National Crime Information Center, a nationwide FBI database that includes missing persons.

4:30 pm: Fire department begins dragging Meyers Lake.

4:40 pm: County Emergency Management Agency notified and begins Everbridge automated messages to phones in the area to alert residents.

5 pm: Canvas of lake neighborhood begins.

5:30 pm: Officer meets with Collins to obtain photos of the girls.

5:30 pm: Media notified of the disappearance.

5:30 pm: Divers with Cedar Valley Underwater Search and Rescue, a local team of volunteers, is called to help search the lake.

6:30 pm: Law enforcement and civilians conduct search of wooded areas. This continues until about 3:30 am the following day.

7 pm: Iowa State Patrol airplane with forward-looking infrared joins the search. Authorities begin interviewing local people listed on the state Sex Offender Registry.

8 pm: Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and National Center for Missing and Exploited Children notified. FBI brought in. STAR-1, an Iowa search and rescue group, is contacted.

8:30 pm: NCMEC begins emailing and faxing photos and descriptions of the girls to truck stops, stores, and public places within a 100-mile radius of Evansdale.