UPDATE: Search for Lyric and Elizabeth: Authorities Calling Evansdale Case an Abduction, Offer $50K Reward

Authorities are now offering a $50,000 reward to the arrest and conviction of the individual or individuals responsible for the disappearance of two Evansdale girls.

who are cousins from Evansdale, have been missing since July 13.

The case is now being handled as an abduction, according to a press briefing from Black Hawk County Sheriff's Office today.

"It is being called an abduction because those girls are not in that lake," said Rick Abben, from the Black Hawk County Sheriff's department. "Since we can’t find them, and they’re not in the lake, we’re calling it an abduction." 

Officials are sending evidence to the Division of Criminal Investigation labs in Ankeny. They didn't say what evidence they are sending, and it is unclear if the evidence was from security checks of vehicles today or a dive team that scoured Meyers Lake, near where the girls went missing.

Abben said that vehicle security checkpoints could continue next week, and more house to house searches are a possibility.

The investigation is not focusing on one set of parents, Abben said. 

"Everyone is a suspect until we find these people, these two young girls," Abben said. "We look at everybody, not just one set of parents over another."

Abben said that Friday was a "determining factor that the investigators are positive... that these girls were not in that lake."

Authorities held a press conference and released this statement attached to the article at 4 p.m. today. An FBI media representative who was present during the search of the lake, plans to conduct news conferences at 3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

Abben said that they draining of Meyer's Lake would cease, and that the lake would reopen in the near future.

For previous coverage from today, .