Report: Scam Exploits Memorial for Murdered Evansdale Cousins

If someone knocks on your door asking for donations to build a memorial for murdered Evansdale cousins Lyric Cook-Morrissey and Elizabeth Collins, it is a scam.

Elizabeth's mother Heather Collins posted on Facebook Monday that she'd received reports of two young men soliciting money for Angels Park, the memorial to several Iowa kidnapping and murder victims being built on an island in Meyers Lake where the girls disappeared last summer.

"Very irritated just had someone send me a Facebook message letting me know that she had two lovely young men today come to her house and ask for a donation for Angels Park," she wrote. "She is having a bad day, and thank goodness she did not give them any money and wanted to know where it was she could donate when she is feeling better. There will never be anybody going door to door to collect money for the park."

Several legitimate fundraisers for the memorial have been held in the past, and there is an account open with the Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa that people can donate to.

Lyric, 10, and Elizabeth, 8, disappeared while riding their bikes July 13, 2012. Their bodies were discovered in December. The search for their killer is ongoing.

Black Hawk County Sheriff's Department Capt. Rick Abben told KWWL that, unfortunately, such scams are all too common.

"Ask them for literature on it so they can check it out and say, 'I'll look this over, and if I decided I want to contribute, I'll do that on my own at a later time,'" he said.