Push for 'Cousins Law' Grows in Response to Lyric and Elizabeth's Deaths

Could more have been done to find two missing Evansdale cousins?

Robin Arnold isn't sure, but for the sake of future missing children, she wants the Iowa legislature to take action.

"We need better notifications and faster, better response," she said.

After Evansdale cousins Lyric Cook-Morrissey, 10, and Elizabeth Collins, 8, disappeared while riding their bikes at Meyers Lake July 13, the Cedar Falls woman started a petition for a "Cousins Law." Part of the proposal includes making it easier to issue statewide alerts when a child is reported missing.

Those alerts would be different than an Amber Alert. Amber Alert criteria recommends the incident be called an abduction and that there be descriptive information on a suspect for the public to watch for.

In the Evansdale case, the disappearance was not named an abduction until a week after the girls went missing, after Meyers Lake had been searched and drained. There was also no suspect information to disseminate.

That doesn't mean people weren't notified of the disappearance. A timeline of events, reported by the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier and taken from Evansdale Police Chief Kent Smock's notes, shows officers were searching the neighborhood within minutes of the cousins being reported missing at 2:48 p.m. Automated messages to alert nearby residents began at 4:40 p.m. via the County Emergency Management Agency. Media were informed at 5:30 p.m.

Sen. Jeff Danielson, D-Cedar Falls, said he will introduce legislation similar to portions of Arnold's proposed "Cousins Law" in the 2013 session.

"I am going to focus on improving the communications between the public at large, public safety officials and the media when a child goes missing," he said. "I think there are investments we can make in public safety that bring them into the 21st century when it comes to communicating with the public, asking their help and getting it. I think there are ways to improve that process."

He said another possible goal of the bill would be to strengthen partnerships between law enforcement and nonprofits whose mission is to protect missing and endangered children.

"I want a bipartisan, positive effort to pass a bill that honors the memory of the cousins from Evansdale," he said. "We will propose a bill that focuses on that goal. There are ways to do it."

More coverage:

'Dancing Up with Our Savior': Iowa Mourns the Missing Cousins of Evansdale

Cedar Falls Church Plans 'Life and Love Celebration' for Evansdale Girl 

Timeline of Lyric and Elizabeth: Evansdale Abduction Case

Community Remembers 'Our Girls' Lyric and Elizabeth at Evansdale Vigil

Bodies Discovered by Hunters May be Linked to Missing Evansdale Girls

Innocence Abducted: Noreen Gosch Blinded by Ugly World of Child Sex Trade (Part 2 of a Series)

Johnny Gosch’s Mom ‘a Pioneer’ in Protecting Children (Part 3 of a Series)