Authorities believe missing Iowa girls are alive
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Investigators say they have evidence that leads them to believe two Iowa cousins who vanished last week are still alive. Video by ktnv.com
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EVANSDALE, Iowa (AP) -- Experts in child abduction cases say law enforcement officials will likely have to expand their search for two missing Iowa girls now that the cousins' disappearance is considered an abduction case.
But the experts say it's hard to tell exactly what's going on because law enforcement officials likely aren't disclosing everything they know about the disappearance of 10-year-old Lyric Cook-Morrissey and 8-year-old Elizabeth Collins.
FBI officials said Saturday they are confident the girls are alive.
David Finkelhor is director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire. He says investigators may be more dependent on tips from the public now that it's considered an abduction.
Finkelhor says abductions by strangers are so rare that it's difficult to predict what might happen.
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EVANSDALE, Iowa (AP) -- Investigators say they have evidence that leads them to believe two Iowa cousins who vanished last week are still alive.
FBI spokeswoman Sandy Breault said Saturday that authorities strongly believe 10-year-old Lyric Cook-Morrissey and 8-year-old Elizabeth Collins have not been killed.
She refused to say what led authorities to that conclusion, but told reporters that investigators are expanding their search beyond Iowa.
The announcement came a day after authorities said they believe the girls were abducted.
The girls vanished July 13 while riding their bikes near Meyers Lake in the northeast Iowa town of Evansdale. Their bikes were later found on a path near the lake.
Breault says investigators are interviewing "persons of interest" in the case, whom she declined to identify.
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