Investigators focusing on Bremer County wildlife area in Evansdale missing cousins case

EVANSDALE — Sevens Bridges Wildlife Area is not the sort of place someone would just happen upon, Evansdale Police Chief Kent Smock said Tuesday.

And since that's where the bodies of two kidnapped and slain cousins were found, authorities are now focusing their efforts on anyone who might be familiar with the remote Bremer County woodland.

Smock made a plea to the public on Tuesday to identify for police anyone they believe is familiar with the Seven Bridges Wildlife Area.

'I think you will all agree with me that Seven Bridges is extremely remote,' Smock said. 'We have no doubt that the person or persons responsible with this crime are very familiar with Seven Bridges.'

Cousins Lyric Cook-Morrisey and Elizabeth Collins were reported missing on July 13, 2012, after going for a bike ride in Evansdale, a community near Waterloo in Black Hawk County. Their bodies were found on Dec. 5, 2012, in Seven Bridges Wildlife Area in Bremer County. The woodland is about 22 miles from Meyers Lake in Evansdale, where the girls' bikes were found.