Naman Shrestha
HBO Max’s ‘Taken Together: Who Killed Lyric and Elizabeth?’ is a three-episode documentary series that provides us with a detailed account of the more than a decade-long murder case of 10-year-old Lyric Cook-Morrisey and 8-year-old Elizabeth Collins in Evansdale, Iowa. The mystery surrounding the 2012 abduction and murder of the cousins took the town by storm and left the entire community shell-shocked. The docuseries also features exclusive and in-depth interviews with family members of the victims and officials who were a crucial part of the entire investigation.
Lyric and Elizabeth Were Last Seen Biking Around the Evansdale Neighborhood in 2012
Born on October 2, 2001, to Misty Cook-Morrissey and Daniel Morrissey in Waterloo, Iowa, Lyric Ray Lynn Cook-Morrisey was also raised by her grandmother and aunts, alongside her brother Dillin Morrissey. A student of Kingsley Elementary School, she had lots of hobbies, such as bowling, gymnastics, and cheerleading. She also loved playing outside, whether it was snowing or raining. Apart from her parents and brother, Lyric also shared a tight bond with her younger cousin, Elizabeth June Marie Collins, daughter of Lyric’s sister, Heather Collins, and Drew Collins.
She was brought into the world on July 31, 2003, at Allen Memorial Hospital in Waterloo, Iowa. Accompanied by two sisters, Amber and Callie, and one brother named Kelly, Elizabeth turned out to be a social child who was passionate about playing hockey. The Poyner Elementary School student had the ability to light up any room she walked into through her bubbly personality and bright smile. Her other hobbies included playing softball, riding her bike around her neighborhood, and singing. Not only did she love traveling and exploring new places, she had a soft spot for animals.
10-year-old Lyric and 8-year-old Elizabeth were inseparable as they did everything together. So, the afternoon of July 13, 2012, was no different as they decided to head out to bike around the neighborhood for a while in Evansdale, Iowa. Hours passed away, but the cousins failed to return home. Fearing that their worst nightmares might come true, the two families went searching for them in and around the area. When they couldn’t find any sign of Lyric and Elizabeth, they were reported missing. Just a few hours after their disappearance, the police could only find their bikes on the trail of Meyers Lake, along with Elizabeth’s purse with her phone in it.
Police Had Numerous Suspects Linked to the Murders of Lyric and Elizabeth
In order to rule out the family members of the two missing girls, the police interrogated them and conducted lie-detecting tests. Everyone cooperated with the investigators except for Daniel and Misty, who had previous run-ins with the law related to drug charges. Months and months of search led to nothing until December 5, 2012, when a couple of local hunters, Kevin Dramstad and Amanda Miller, discovered the remains of two children in Seven Bridges Wildlife Area, 20 miles Northeast of Evansdale, Iowa. The authorities declared that the remains belonged to Lyric and Elizabeth and determined that they were brutally murdered.
The search immediately turned into a murder investigation as the police began digging into other high-profile cases in and around Evansdale involving children. The first name that made it on the detectives’ suspect list was Michael Klunder, a convicted sex offender with multiple convictions for violent felonies. His sexual offenses began in his teenage years, and he had already been sentenced to 41 years in prison in 1992. However, he was released just after two decades in December 2011 on good behavior. After getting out, he allegedly kidnapped two girls in Dayton, Iowa, in 2013.
When one of them escaped his clutches, he murdered the other and then himself. But on May 14, 2014, the Stratford resident was ruled out as a suspect in the Evansdale case of Elizabeth and Lyric as his phone did not ping anywhere near the town on the day of their kidnapping. Around 2017, another person of interest linked to the case was Jeff Altmayer, a traveling automobile damage field inspector who was arrested for enticing minors into his van by offering them 100 dollars in Jasper, Monona, and Grundy County. During the time, the police received a number of confessions, claiming that they had a hand in the murder of the two cousins from Evansdale, but they eliminated them as suspects when they failed to answer intimate details about the case.
The Killer of Lyric and Elizabeth is Still Not Identified
In a 2022 interview with KCCI, right before the 10th anniversary of the cousins’ kidnapping, Heather Collins, Elizabeth’s mother, said, “It’s still devastating every day not to have her.” Elizabeth’s father, Drew Collins, also opened up, “It’s the first thing you think of in the morning and the last at night. For me, it’s very fresh. Doesn’t seem like 10 years.” At some point in the investigation, the authorities decided to take another look at Michael Klunder and see if they could find any connection with Evansdale, Iowa. So, trying something different, the families of Lyric and Elizabeth reached out to Troy Conkling and Chris Ricketts, two of the former convicts who had served time with Michael Klunder. Drew was chosen to talk to them as he had gone to high school with the latter.
Chris claimed that Michael Klunder and Troy Conkling were both in Evansdale at the time of the abduction of Lyric and Elizabeth. In order to hear Troy’s side of the story, Drew got wired and caught up with him right outside his house. However, Troy denied Chris’ claims and told him that he had not met Michael and had not talked to Chris on the phone. Even this part of the investigation did not lead to any clarity; there were only more mysteries. Drew also spoke a few words on the 11th anniversary of when the girls’ bodies were found, saying, “I can’t think of anything that’s been harder in my life than losing Elizabeth. You’re trying to make sense out of something that is very senseless. I look at those little girls and I think, ‘How could any normal human being hurt those little girls?'”
A small island at Meyers Lake was turned into Angels’ Park Memorial Island after the deaths of Lyric and Elizabeth. Moreover, in light of the significance of the case, Elizabeth Collins Foundation and Cedar Valley Crime Stoppers have been created in order to help fight crime and aid families of missing people. Although the case still has no suspects and remains unsolved, the authorities emphasize that it is still active and not catching dust on the shelf.
Read More: Robert Hinson, James Barker and Robert Gierse Murders: What Happened to Them?
