All language subtitles for Taken Together 2024 1

[bike riding]

[Amber singing]Elizabeth and Lyric

I need you back in my hands

In my heart
My little tiny heart

I miss you, I miss you

I love you, I love you

Oh forever

[tense music]
[clock ticking]

[Heather]To whom it may concern.

We don't know who you are.

Or maybe we do.

[Drew] Maybe you are

someone who just acted
upon an impulse.

[suspenseful music]

[Heather] Maybe you planned
to take them.

♪

Taking the girls from us
has caused much pain.

Pain for them,
pain for us and our families.

[tense music]

[Heather]Maybe you've wondered

how you could
ever make it right?

[Drew] How to be
a hero not a monster.

♪

[Heather] We want you
to know

that we are praying for you
to do the right thing.

[tense music]

[Drew] Please let our girls...

[tense music fades]

come home to us. [cries]

[tense music]

♪

[beep sound]

[Man] Dylan's interview
in B cameras.

Get ready,
let's start at the beginning.

Tell me your... your name

and when did you
first hear of this story?

[Dylan]
My name is Dylan Sires,

and I first heard
about this story

when I worked as a local
news photographer in 2012.

And a call came out
across the police scanner

about two missing girls,
in Evansdale.

[dramatic music]
[birds chirping]

They grew up in the area,
my family grew up in the area

and it's my hometown.

When Lyric and Elizabeth
were abducted,

it was absolutely shocking.

[Dylan] Elizabeth was eight,
and Lyric was ten.

You know,
when something like that

happens in your back yard,
it pisses you off.

Rumors were rampant

and misinformation
was everywhere.

This investigation
was massive.

It was one
of the largest investigations

in Iowa's history.

So, in 2015,
I started to film and document

what was going on
in Evansdale.

[Man] So, right, I'm rolling.

[Dylan] You know,
I knew a lot of people

directly involved in the case.

I was able to get access,
inside information

to kinda have
my finger on the pulse.

I've shot
over 300 hours of footage.

[Man]
Right, I'm speeding.

[Dylan] Just tell me
a little bit about yourself.

I've done
over 100 interviews.

And, you know,
countless conversations

with the families.

Interviewing them
multiple times over years.

I noticed people changed.

[dramatic music]

[Dylan] I've interviewed
I think a person

from every facet of this case.

Except for a suspect.

[thud]

[beep sound]

[Man] -Sound speed.
[Man 2] -Speed.

[dramatic music]

[Dylan] You ready for this?

[Heather] Ah [sighs] sure.

[Dylan] Tim, are you rolling?

[clapperboard clapping]

Alright, can you just
say your name, who you are,

basically what
you can remember.

[Heather]
My name is Heather Collins.

[Heather]
I am Heather Collins.

I have four children.

♪

And I'm Elizabeth's mom.

♪

[Drew] My name's Drew Collins.

And Elizabeth Collins
is my daughter.

[tense violin music]

[Dan] My name's Dan Morrissey
and I don't know,

I'm just a simple guy.

Just trying
to make it through this life

figuring out something

that's worthwhile
or meaningful.

Lyric is my daughter
and God chose me

to be her father.

I was married
to her mom Misty,

who's my high school
sweetheart.

[Dylan]
Just talk about yourself.

[Misty] I don't know.
[sighs]

OK.

My name is Misty.

And I'm Lyric's mom.

[dramatic music]

[Misty] Lyric and Elizabeth
were cousins.

Lyric was ten,
Elizabeth was eight.

And they were good buddies,
liked hanging out together.

A lot of that took place
at my mom's,

which would be
their grandmother's.

Or at Heather's house.

[Heather] Misty's my sister.
A little bit under a year.

Her and
I are 100 percent different.

She has always been
outgoing, outspoken.

I have always been quiet
or reserved.

But Elizabeth and Lyric,

it was almost
like they were sisters.

They did everything together.

Elizabeth loved life.

She was
a very very social child.

[Elizabeth]
Here's one more tip.

Act cool.

[Drew] Elizabeth was
real bubbly, always smiled.

Super playful.

Full of joy.

[Heather] I do remember her

getting her hair cut
like mine.

I had got my hair cut short,

and she wanted
to look like mom.

[Haley] Elizabeth would call

like every single night
before bed,

and just wanted to talk to us
and tell us about her day.

Hear about our day,

tell us how much
she loved us.

[dramatic music]

[Lyric] Here.

[Woman] What you got Lyric?

[Lyric] -That my brella?
[Woman] -Yeah.

[Misty] Lyric was gentle.
She was loving.

[Misty] -I love you.
[Lyric] -I love you.

[children sing]

[Vicki] Lyric liked to sing.
She was always off key,

but that didn't matter
because it was the heart,

and not what comes out
of the mouth.

[Misty] Lyric was a fighter.

[Kaley] Definitely
more adventurous,

tough as nails for sure.

[Haley] Yeah, for sure.
[laughs]

[Dan] Lyric was trusting
and fearless.

You know, it was just
a blessing to be around her.

[birds chirping]

[Heather]Evansdale is a small town.

Everybody knows everybody.

You let your kids out
and play.

You don't lock your doors.

You trust everybody,

because they've never
given you reason not to.

[Larry] I had never been
to Evansdale

prior to this case.

My first impression
was it's a very small town,

a very quaint town.

If I lived there,

I don't think I would
have any problems

letting my kids
go for a bike ride,

or go for a walk,
and go to the park.

It seemed like
a very safe community.

[suspenseful music]

[Heather] So that day,

Drew got up, went to work.

It was early in the morning.

Elizabeth came and crawled
in my bed,

which she did often.

[suspenseful music]

It was just sweet,
always to have her come in

and snuggle next to me.

After dad got out of bed.

[Misty]I was living at my mom's,

and Lyric lived with me.

Dan and I were at odds,

we weren't together
at the time.

I had to go to work
at 9:00 am.

So, Lyric went with my mom
to Evansdale.

[Heather] My mom
was coming over with Lyric,

Elizabeth was still
in pajamas when I left.

[clock ticking]

[suspenseful music]

[Wylma] I was at Heather's.

I was gonna make lunch
pretty soon.

Lyric and Elizabeth,
they wanted to go

for this bike ride, and I said

"Well, don't go
very far Lyric,

because your mom's
gonna be coming."

They said they wouldn't.

[Heather] When I left,
I told the kids I love 'em,

and kissed 'em, and...

that was the last time
I saw her.

[Elizabeth]
I love you by the way.

[Lyric] Hi mommy.

[Elizabeth]Hey daddy, miss you.

Bye, love you.

[Lyric] I love you.

[suspenseful music]

[Misty]I got off at one o'clock.

And I was going down
to pick Lyric up

and we would be
going to the pool.

My mom called me,
she was like

"Misty, are you coming?

Because I can't find
the girls."

And I was like,
"What do you mean?"

She's like, "Oh, they went
on a bike ride,

and they're probably
just down the street."

And I needed
to come down there

and help look.

I figured they'd be close by.

[Heather] I got back
and my mom said

that the girls
still weren't back yet.

I just knew something
was wrong immediately.

[Drew] I came home,
and Heather's like,

"The girls
went on a bike ride,

and they're not home yet.
I'm starting to get worried."

[Drew] And I said,

"Oh, they're probably
just stopped at a friends."

[Heather] Got in my vehicle,

went and looked
at several places.

[suspenseful music]

[Wylma]And we drove everywhere.

Every imaginable place
we drove,

we drove like for an hour.

We couldn't find 'em.

[Heather]
They're nowhere to be found.

Nowhere.

I just felt it. I felt sick.

[cries] And went
to the police station.

[suspenseful music fades]

[Kent]Friday the 13th of all days.

At 2:42 Heather came
to the front doors,

and told me
that she couldn't find

Elizabeth and Lyric.

It was unbelievably hot
that day.

Temperatures high 90s,
my thought was,

the girls had stopped
at a friend's house,

were inside, where it was cool
with air conditioning.

And had lost track of time.

We had started checking
their friends' houses.

We'd gone door to door

in some of
the neighborhoods looking.

[Drew] People
from the Fire Department,

people from the city,
went out and did a search.

[Dylan]I remember it was a Friday.

And the call
came across the scanner

of two missing girls.

And actually, my first
initial thought was like,

"Oh [bleep].

I'm gonna have
to work late tonight.

Probably won't get home
till seven or eight

and they're gonna find
these girls at 7:45."

Because kids go missing a lot.

[suspenseful music]

[Drew] I wanna say
around five o'clock,

we got a call from the police

and then they came
and picked me up,

they wanted me to identify
some bikes at Meyers Lake.

[suspenseful music]

[Heather] Meyers Lake
is a little over a mile away.

Elizabeth has been there.

But it was always
with an adult.

I just knew
that there was no way

that she could have remembered
how to go there.

[Drew]We went down to the park

and they drove down
to where the bikes were found.

[Drew] There was
a few people out there and...

[suspenseful music]

saw the bikes.

[suspenseful music]

[Misty] I was sitting
on the couch with Heather,

Drew called and said the cops
and him were at Meyers Lake,

and they found the two bikes
that Lyric and Elizabeth

had been riding around on.

I knew I needed
to get down there right away.

[Drew] And we were
kinda just looking around

to see what we could find
and then we ended up

finding Elizabeth's purse
with her phone in it.

♪

And it looked like
it had been like

tossed over the fence.

[Heather] I got a picture,
Drew sent me a picture.

♪

It was of Elizabeth's purse,
her Hannah Montana purse.

♪

And I went "They're gone.

They're gone."

[Reporter]
Thank you for joining us.

We're following a search.

It's for two missing girls
in Evansdale.

Police are searching
for Elizabeth Collins

and her cousin,
Lyric Morrissey.

[dramatic music]

[Male Reporter] Family members
gathered near the boat ramp

at Meyers Lake and could only
watch helplessly

as rescue crews
searched for the girls.

Authorities found
the girls' bikes off a trail

on the southeast corner
of the lake.

[Kent] The bicycles
where we found

were right
at the gated entrance

to the overflow,
which was a little peninsula

that runs off
of the south side of the lake.

At that point, my heart sank
because the overflow

is a gated access
and the gate was found open.

I felt that the girls
had gotten hot,

decided they were gonna go
walk in the water.

♪

I immediately thought
"We've got a drowning,"

and so, I notified
the fire department

to bring their boat down
with the dragging equipment.

[Male Reporter] Crews dragged
part of the lake,

and did at least

two searches by air
using infrared sensors.

[Female Reporter]Police have been going

door to door asking
if anyone's seen the girls

or anything suspicious
in the area.

[tense music]

[Misty] It's very difficult
but we're trusting in the Lord

and just trying to be patient.

And let everybody
do their job.

And we're just doing
a lot of praying.

[Dan] When I was
down there at the lake,

I'm just thinking,
"Man, she's in trouble.

She's in trouble."

And it wasn't
until a certain point

where it was just like,
"I'm in trouble.

[laughs] Where is she?
It's getting dark."

[tense music]

I'll never forget
that feeling.

[Misty] There was a cop
standing there on the lakeside

and I said
"Well, who's looking

in the island in the middle?"
and he was like,

"Ma'am, we'll get to that
when we get to it."

I said, "I'm going right now."

And we just got in the water
and started looking ourselves.

[Dan] Divers in the water,

all of a sudden,
they're coming out.

Why?

You know,
like why are they stopping?

[Larry] The divers spent
maybe an hour in the water

and came out and told me

"Those girls
were not in that overflow."

That changed things.

I knew we had
a missing person's case.

We were getting
an uneasy feeling

that whatever had happened
with the girls, wasn't good.

[Female Reporter]After more than nine hours

of searching,
tonight, police at Evansdale

have had no luck
in finding two missing girls.

[Drew] We looked till about
like nine or ten that night.

And then...

[clears throat]
they told us to go home.

[Misty]Well, it's getting dark,

and we're stop, and we need
to go home and get some rest.

And I said,
"What do you mean that's it?

There's two little girls
that are missing.

They went missing today.

Why does anybody need

to go home
and go to sleep tonight?

And I screamed.

There was no way

I could lay my head
down to sleep

knowing that they could be
going through

something horrible.

[Kaley] When it hit
around like ten,

11 o'clock at night,
that's when you knew

like something
really heinous happened,

like they would have found us,
they would have found a store

or a phone, or knocked
on a door or something,

if they were lost.

So that's when it started
to become

like really surreal that like,

someone really
did get them.

[tense music]

[traffic noise]

[child speaking]

[Heather] It's just horrific.
[sniffs]

Just praying that someone
will just,

just drop them off,
you know? [sniffs]

[tense music]

You know, I wake up
the next morning

and she's still not there.

[tense music]

[clock ticking]

[Kent] I wanted us to be able
to hit the ground running

as soon as daylight
popped up on Saturday.

We had detectives
in from Waterloo police,

Cedar Falls police,
Blackhawk County,

FBI had come in.

The DCI
offered their assistance

and we eagerly accepted that.

[radio communication]

[Larry] At the time
of the abduction,

I was a special agent
in charge

with the Iowa division
of criminal investigation.

It's the largest
law enforcement agency

in the state of Iowa.

And their mission is to assist
smaller departments,

or any department
that asks for assistance.

The best potential
crime scene we had

at that point
was that location.

[Dylan]I remember on the 14th,

it was really hot.

And I got called in

to work on the weekend,
overtime.

I remember just showing up
at Meyers Lake,

you see the FBI's there,
you see, I mean,

there's so many cops.

The response was huge.

And I just couldn't believe
how quickly

the case had escalated
media wise,

and we had
national news there.

[Nancy Grace] Breaking news
tonight live.

Cedar Falls suburbs.

A massive search underway
for two little girls.

[Reporter] The only evidence
found so far,

the girls' bikes and purse
have been processed for clues.

Rescue crews say
time is their worst enemy.

[Misty] Bring our kids home.

Bring them home,
bring them home now.

Lyric, if you're
out there, I love you baby.

Stay strong, I just,
I just pray,

I just pray that you're OK.

[tense music]

[Larry] A double abduction
is extremely rare.

Throughout the United States,

I think there's been
maybe 15 since the 1970s.

Extremely rare anywhere
in the United States

to have two children
abducted at the same time.

[tense music]

[Heather] So many people came

to the search of...

I don't even know
how many miles.

[Male Reporter]Hundreds of volunteers

lining up to help.

[Misty] Spent the next
two days walking fields.

Walking for hours and hours
and hours in the heat.

And through the weeds
and the grass

and searching for them.

[Dan] I got my four wheeler,
and we just went

all the places
where people can walk.

People that didn't have homes,

that were staying
off in the woods,

trying to look and see
any kind of evidence

of anybody over there.

The plane came,
it was flying over

and it had
the thermal imaging.

They said they would be able
to pick up a squirrel.

And they didn't pick up
anything bigger than like a...

a groundhog or a chipmunk.

[sighs] So that was rough.

[Dan Trelka]We got to that lake

early Saturday morning,

I believe
as the sun was coming up.

And the lake was nasty.

Green and nasty.

There was algae in it.

I've got little girls.

I said "There's no way
any of my daughters

would go swimming
in that lake."

I was convinced
the girls were abducted.

One part of the procedures
is to start looking

at the sex offender registry
and contacting them

and interviewing them.

Based on past cases

that's an obvious place
to start.

[Dylan] So in Iowa,

we have
a sex offender registry

that anyone in the public
has access to.

If you look up sex offenders
in the Evansdale area,

you know, ten-mile radius,

you'd be surprised
at how many sex offenders

are in that area.

When you look at a map
on the registry,

it designates someone
who offended with a child

with the letter M.

The M stands for Minor.

[Larry] Particularly
if they have

offended against children,

we're sending agents out
to knock on doors

and say "Where were you?"

Try to get those people
eliminated as suspects.

[Mike] The FBI was able
to bring in somebody

who just worked
on cell phones,

to gather that cell phone
tower data

to try to help and determine
where people were.

So, a lot to hammer out,
a lot of alibis to try to get.

[Drew] The days afterwards
were pretty...

pretty much just kinda
run together.

Like, everybody in town
was wearing the pink shirts.

[Heathe] We just want
our babies back.

Drop 'em off anywhere.

[tense music]

You know, like what
were we supposed

to tell our other children?

Their sister can't be found?

[Amber] [singing]Elizabeth and Lyric

I need you back in my hands

In my heart
My little tiny heart

I miss you, I miss you

I love you, I love you

Oh forever

[Drew]
When the girls were missing

we just... really, I expected
they were gonna come home.

Every night,
when we'd get off work,

we would just sit outside
until maybe 11 or 12 at night.

That's when it would get
really hard for me,

knowing the day was over
and nothing had happened

and that it was
another day gone.

[suspenseful music]

[Larry] One of the pieces
of information

that was collected
was a surveillance video

from an auction business

located near the home
of Elizabeth Collins,

where the girls left.

So that's the back
of the auction house there

with a surveillance camera
caught the girls

driving by on their bikes.
Shortly after noon.

That would be fair to say
it would be

the last known time
the girls were seen,

before they were
reported missing.

It gives us a time stamp,
it gives us a date.

Perhaps if anybody
following them

a short distance
behind 'em in a vehicle.

It gives us a confirmation

of what they're wearing
at the time,

the clothing.

Those are the things
we're looking for

when we try to collect video.

[Dylan] There were both
surveillance cameras

and eyewitnesses
the day the girls went

on their bike ride.

They saw 'em at multiple
positions in Evansdale.

♪

Sorry about that, Bob.

I interviewed them.

Just kinda run me
through the day here

when you saw the girls.

[Robert] Well,
I was standing over here,

raking, raking the yard
and stuff.

And the girls come down
Lake Avenue here,

they turned,
went up Gilbert Road here.

I was standing by the middle,

they come by on their bicycle,
and they go "Hi Bob,"

and I turned around
just quick enough

to say "Hi girls."

Probably have to be
close to noon or so.

But that's just guessing.

It's the last time
I've seen 'em.

[suspenseful music]

[Merville] I'm a truck driver.

I just love driving.

Somewhere right in here

about where
I seen the girls that day.

They were going towards
the tree area.

They were walking
towards the trees,

pushing their bikes.

It was around 12:30 that day.
20 to one, right in there.

I knew it was Elizabeth,
Drew's daughter.

'Cause I worked...
for his mom.

Well, then I got back that day

and didn't think
nothing of it.

That evening,
I heard they had been

kidnapped or gone.

And that's when
it really hit me,

that I wished I would
have stopped that day

and talked to 'em
or something.

Really, I was in tears.

It nearly broke my heart

when I heard
they were gone missing.

[tense music]

[Marlene] So, I'm driving
down Gilbert,

going towards Evans,

and there was a guy
standing right here,

by the No Outlet sign

with a girl on his shoulder,

and another
little girl with him.

And the girl on the shoulder,

I think was
kind of fighting him,

but I thought,
"Oh, it's a child

that doesn't wanna go home
from playing yet,

so they're mad at the dad.
No big deal."

There was a white van there
that day. Across the street.

I've tried remembering
what kind of van it was,

did it have windows?

I tried remembering all that,
and I can't remember.

I mean, you don't think,

"Oh my God, two little girls
are gonna go missing."

This is Evansdale
for God's sake.

This is a small town.

This is a town
that kids ride their bikes.

This is a town
that kids go out

and have ice cream.

I think about that day
every day.

To be so close,

if that would have been them,

that I could
have maybe helped.

I just hope and pray
that that wasn't them.

That's all I can say.

[tense music]

[Dan Trelka] The Saturday
after the abduction,

I swear that day
two or three tips

came in about a white van.

So every house
that we went to,

where I saw
a vehicle like that,

piqued my interest.

We discovered some stuff
that just didn't pan out.

There are so many
white vans out there.

[Mike] You'll find in almost
any unsolved case like this

there always seems to be
something in a report

about white vans.

I mean, white vans

just lead these types
of cases unfortunately.

We have, and we continue
to sometimes get

white van leads,
and we'll follow 'em out.

I'll never say,
until the case is solved,

and we know exactly
what happened,

that a white van
wasn't involved.

[Kent] I could walk
into a store

and could feel the tension.

This was eating
at our community.

The community changed.

You didn't see the kids
out playing

without a parent
right on top of 'em.

[dramatic music]
[clock ticking]

[Male Reporter] And we just
learned minutes ago

that investigators
will drain a lake in an area

where the girls
were last seen.

[Male Reporter 2]One of the newest efforts

in the Evansdale search
for two missing girls

Elizabeth Collins
and Lyric Cook.

[Larry] The FBI
has bloodhounds,

trained to track a scent.

Bloodhounds were brought in,

taken down to the area
where the bikes were found.

They apparently alerted
on a scent, by the water.

[Misty] Since the dogs
picked up their scent,

at the water's edge,

why they're draining the lake
to rule that out.

[dramatic music]

[Kent] We were 90 percent sure

the girls were not
in the lake.

We had the divers in the lake,
we'd uncovered nothing.

And I wasn't gonna walk away
and say

"Oh there's still
a possibility."

If the girls
had been in the water,

perhaps they'd been
weighted down.

We didn't know.

So, I talked with the mayor,
said, you know,

"Is there a way
we can drain the lake?"

You know,
they would have devoted

all their resources to say

you know, investigating
the neighborhood

and knocking on doors

and it turns out
the girls are in the lake?

That would be a pretty big...

♪

Mishap.

[Female Reporter]
It could take several days

before the lake
is drained completely.

[Heather] Elizabeth knew
that she was never

to be in water
without an adult.

Like in my heart, I just knew
that they weren't gonna find

anything in that lake.

I just knew.

♪

[thud]

And they didn't.

[dramatic music]

[Drew] You wanna find
where they're at.

And you don't know
like at that point you're...

you're like, "Are they alive
or are they dead?"

So, it's...

and it's
the same thing when...

oh [sighs]

[chair creaking]

[cries]

Damn.

[paper dabbing]

[birds chirping] [tense music]

[Elizabeth] I got a tattoo.

I got a tattoo. Right mom?

[Heather] No. [laughs]

[suspenseful music]

[Larry] Anytime you have
a violent crime,

you have to rule out
the family as a possibility.

[suspenseful music]

I mean it's just kinda like...
investigations 101.

[Heather] They questioned
me and Drew,

and Misty and Dan.

[Larry] Unfortunately,
sometimes parents do

bad things to their kids,
or siblings do bad things

to their siblings.

So you have to try
to rule those people out.

♪

[Drew] We did the interviews
and the... the lie detectors.

[Misty] They got
our fingerprints and our DNA

and so they also did that
with the kids.

[children shout and laugh]

[Misty] Here you go kids.
Hang on there, you'll fall.

[Drew] They wanted
all the computers,

like the laptops
and our phones.

They wanted to see

if somebody
was talking to the girls

on some sort of a chatline
or something like that.

Whatever they want,
you just give it to 'em.

You just want your kid back.

[Kent] Heather and Drew

were very forthcoming
to talk with us.

♪

Dan and Misty...

not quite as much.

[tense music]

[Reporter] FBI spokeswoman
Sandy Breault

says there are some roadblocks
in this investigation.

[Sandy] Unfortunately
in this case,

law enforcement has not
received total cooperation

from all family
and close friends.

[tense music]

[Dan] Drew and Heather,

they got treated
a little different, you know?

They were
more treated like victims.

We weren't treated like,
what do you say?

Villains?

Villain of the story,
you know?

"Ooh drugs. Shady."

[Reporter] Misty and Dan
are currently separated.

They've both done prison time
for felony drug convictions.

[Dylan] I know it's no secret
you dealt with addiction.

[Dan] Allegedly.

[Misty] When I was
eight months

pregnant with Lyric,

I got a federal indictment
for my criminal activity

prior to my pregnancy.

I got three years
in federal prison

for conspiracy to manufacture
methamphetamines.

[Tammy] My sister Misty
ended up going to prison

in West Virginia.

And so, I would just take
the video camera

wherever we would go,

and wanted to get
as much footage as I could

for Misty while she was gone,

so she would be able

to look back
and see the kids growing up.

[Kerry] -Hi Lyric.
[Lyric] -Hi Kerry.

[Misty] I went in 2003,
Lyric was 18 months old.

When I got out, she was four.

[dramatic music]

[Misty] That's me and Lyric.

[tense music]

♪

[Reporter] Investigators
also had said

they're frustrated
with Lyric's parents,

Misty and Dan Morrissey,
who are now separated.

Both have been
in drug trouble in the past,

Dan is awaiting trial

on charges he made
and dealt meth.

[Dan] I was a meth cook

before the abduction
of Lyric and Elizabeth.

I was facing charges
for conspiracy to manufacture

and marijuana
intent to deliver.

And I was in jail
for six months.

And then I bonded out.

I've only been out
for like not even a month,

I don't think.

[Dylan] The day
before the girls went missing,

Dan Morrissey was negotiating
a plea deal

that he ultimately
didn't take.

[Dan]They offered me 30 years.

He said
"Take it today or leave it,

and if you take it today,

I want you
to be taken into custody.

Today." And I'm like,
"No, my kids,

they don't know
I'm gonna go to jail today.

And I just bonded out
and spent all that money."

I was like, "There's no way.
I'm not doing it."

[Kent] So rather
than accepting the plea deal,

and go
to immediate sentencing,

they were now gonna
have to reset that for trial.

[Dan] And I walked
from the courthouse

back to my house,
and I was bummed out,

[sighs]

sitting there
just completely depleted

and next thing I know,
Lyric come flying in my room.

And hugged me, you know,

and just wanted to be
an encouragement to me.

And she said, "I love you."
[cries]

And that was the last time
I seen Lyric.

[scary music]

[Kent] Dan withdrew his plea

the day before
the girls went missing.

So, we wondered about that.

Was that playing into it?
Was he looking for sympathy?

Was he somehow
involved in hiding the girls?

And wanting to make a plea
for, for compassion

from the courts,
from the community that,

you know, how could we send

a father of a missing girl
away to prison

while his daughter
is still missing?

[Dan Trelka] Dan and Misty,
considering their past,

and their drug usage,
you do have to focus on them.

[dramatic rhythmic music]

[Tammy] The Feds were on top
of Misty and Dan hard

because of their drug usage.

They wanted polygraph tests.

♪

[Misty] I was not using drugs,
I'd been clean

for quite a long time
at that point.

Well, first we went
and did the polygraphs.

Dan was still getting high,
he told them that.

[Dan]The polygraph, the,
the first one I told 'em

I'd just smoked a blunt
before I come down here

to calm down.

And I had been using meth,
'cause I just stayed up

like three days or something.

I did not stop looking.

And they said,
"Oh it shouldn't matter."

Hooked me all up and asked me
all these questions.

He said "Just wait right here,

and then we'll be back
in a minute, you know?"

Two other officers come back,

and they start
trying to turn on me,

and tell me that I'm lying.

[Kent] Both Dan and Misty
took a polygraph

and the results
came back inconclusive.

[Misty] Things began shifting
really fast into

"You must be involved somehow"

and I knew that shift.
I felt it, I saw it,

you know what I mean?

I'd been under interrogation
before by police.

It just began
to be very just overwhelming

and, and so you know,
walls did go up at that point.

♪

[Kent] That's when they
terminated talking with us.

That brought up red flags,
why would,

why would you wanna not talk
with the police

who are trying
to help find your kids?

♪

[Larry] It's like, "OK,

if you're gonna make
yourself uncooperative,

you're gonna make yourself
a person of interest,

then we're interested."

[cars run]

[Misty] We were sleeping,

it was the middle
of the night.

And there's
a pounding on the door.

We opened the door.

[tense music]

And then they're yelling
at me, like,

"We know you thought
you were being a good mom.

You just wanted to do

what was right
for your daughter.

And things got out of control.
They got out of hand."

Then they start screaming
"You killed your kid.

You [bleep] killed your kid.

You better [bleep]
tell us what happened."

They're screaming at me.

[Dan] Imagine that, huh?

If your kid was missing
and they're investigating you?

Investigating you.

[suspenseful music]

[Nancy Grace]
Bombshell tonight.

Daddy storms out on police

after they accuse him
of murder.

[Reporter] All the while
troubling details coming out

about the family's past
drug use, prison time.

[Dan Trelka]
Dan and Misty's lifestyle,

that exposed those kids
to a lot of bad people.

So it could easily be
one of those bad people

that was involved in this.

[thud]

[Heather] Did they
owe somebody money?

Did they sell something bad
to somebody

and they're just there
to get 'em back?

[Misty] So for
whatever reasons and dynamics

beyond my control,
some type of chasm

was opened up
between our families

and there was definitely
a different experience

that Heather
and her family had.

[Dylan] So I have to ask you,

do you think
Misty was involved in this?

[Heather] [sniffs]

I can't answer that question
'cause I don't know.

[suspenseful dramatic music]

I pray she wasn't.

[tense music]

[Heather]
I love my sister Misty.

And to think
that she could harm my niece,

and her daughter,

just like broke my heart
to even think about it.

But like, just,
you just don't know.

And you know, Dan...

I've never liked him,
so, you know,

for me to think about that
wasn't really,

just being honest,
just wasn't that hard for me

[laughs] to think about.

[Drew] The time when Misty
had went to prison

in the early 2000s,
she had worked with the police

and... I think
some real big people went down

and when that happened,
I was really concerned

that someone would retaliate.

♪

[Woman] Dan has a history,

a long-term history
of meth use.

Would Dan
ever harm his children?

Absolutely not.

[Dan] The media,
they just treated us like,

[sighs] like we were
the next story.

We were the next,

we were the next thing
to talk about.

"Oh we found out
he's out on bond.

He's out on bond,
he's facing drug charges.

Oh, we got a story here.

Alright, let's get,
let's start asking questions."

Then they turned on me.

[Jane] If you're involved
with methamphetamine,

the chance of having
dangerous people in your life,

increases dramatically.

[Woman] Yeah, I mean,
that is not a newsflash Jane.

It's not uncommon
if you owe drug dealers money

or you owe somebody
a lot of money for your meths

that you're trying to use
to feed your addiction...

maybe your kid
gets taken as punishment

'cause you didn't pay?

[tense music]

[Haley] Social media
and the news and stuff,

like, it got to us too.

[Kaley] There's like comments
and stuff on Facebook

and all over the place
saying that like,

"Oh that aunt,

that aunt's the one
that killed them."

[Haley] And these were
just random people

who just like, "Oh you're
Lyric and Elizabeth's cousin?

Oh that, you obviously like,

you know that your aunt
and uncle did it."

[Kent] Because of Dan's
withdrawal of his plea,

were people
that Dan associated with

now becoming nervous
thinking that Dan

was gonna turn
state's evidence against them?

And so were they thinking
that "We've gotta do something

to make sure this guy
doesn't say anything?"

[Dylan] What about the notion
that someone

was holding the girls

so you wouldn't turn
the states evidence again

and it's part of a plea deal?

[Dan] [laughs]
It's the most stupidest thing

I've ever heard in my life.

That theory,
saying something about you

and being a meth cook

and everybody knows
you're telling

and the Mexican mafia,

and there's,
and if you don't tell on them

then they'll release Lyric
and stuff.

Like [laughs] has no truth
at all, period,

connecting me in any way,

in any aspect
of any of that stuff.

Never dealt
with the Mexican mafia,

never owed money,

never had any evidence
against anybody.

I cook my own drugs,

got high myself,
I did it to get high,

I didn't do it to make money.
I didn't have money.

I live with my mom.

[Vicki] They were saying
that it was the drug mafia.

No, it wasn't the drug mafia.

You know, he was [laughs],
he was a meth make,

he made the stuff himself
and sold what he needed

for his own use.

And a little money to get by.
Where's the mafia in that?

[Dan] As a parent who knows
I got nothing to do with it,

how do I convince you

that I have
nothing to do with it,

so you can get
after what's really going on?

[Kent] Within the next
couple of days,

they agreed to come back in,
take polygraphs again,

and talk with us
in a little more detail.

[Dan] I said,
"I'll take that same test,

do another polygraph
and I'll get clean,

and I guarantee you

it has something
to do with that,

because I told you I was
under the influence

and you guys said
it doesn't matter."

That's the only thing
I could think of.

Your test is wrong,
and that's lying.

Said OK, three days later
I came back,

answered the same test,
everything passed it.

And then they wanted
to ask me other questions.

I passed that.
And at that moment,

then they let me in
on everything.

On everything.

At that moment they knew
that I was telling the truth,

and everything was good.
But it wasted time.

[Larry]
Instead of looking over here,

and potentially finding
the right guy,

I'm wasting all kinds of time,
all kinds of resources,

all kinds of manpower,
trying to deal with you,

because you don't like
the police.

Or you've got a history

of bad relations
with the police.

And now
I've gotta send resources

to rule you out

when I could
have ruled you out easily

if you'd just cooperated

because you're being
a knucklehead.

[Dan]
Well, we're all villains.

And we're all heroes
and you know,

we're all different characters
in a movie

at some point
in time in our lives.

You know?

Doesn't mean
that I'm the villain.

I'm, I'm the victim.

[Dylan] Who's the hero
in this story?

[Dan] [laughs]
Lyric, and Elizabeth.

[tense music] [clock ticking]

[Reporter] New hope tonight
in the search

for two missing girls
from Iowa.

[Sandy] We believe
these girls are alive.

And we are not discouraged
by the passage of time

since their disappearance.

[Larry] I can't tell you
all of the factors

that went into that decision
to make that statement,

maybe it's...
in part for the families,

say "Hey, we're still hopeful
they're alive.

We think they're alive."

Maybe it's for the bad person,
you know, the suspect,

the perpetrator.

"We believe
they're still alive,

if they are still alive,

maybe keep it that way."

[dramatic music]

[Heather]It gave us a lot of hope.

With them saying
that they thought

that they were still alive.

[Drew] At four,
during the week,

Monday through Friday

we would meet
at Evansdale police station

for we'd call
like a debriefing.

[Larry] We would be limited
what we could tell them.

We may say "Well,
we have a pretty good suspect

we're looking at today
or this week,"

and without telling them
who they are,

or telling them
why they're a good suspect.

You know,
trying to not necessarily

get their hopes up.

[Drew] You don't know what's
going on in the investigation,

you don't know what they know.

There's a few times
"Hey, we got something

that looks good."

Then they would come back
and say

"Oh, it wasn't nothing."
It's like a roller coaster.

[dramatic music]

[Larry] Certainly
in the back of our minds

we were thinking of cases
where girls, young women,

have been abducted and maybe
held for long periods of time

and you know, occasionally
rarely they escape

or they're found,
months later, or years later.

And they're still alive.

If you're a person who prays
or praying for the fact

that the hope
that they're found

and they're still alive.

[tense music]

[dramatic music]

♪

[Dan Trelka] Drew would have
some dark dark moments

throughout this whole period

and many times
he would just call me,

and I told him, I said
"You can call me 24/7

and I'll come pick you up
and we'll go for a ride."

And we would just
drive around

and talk through it.

[dramatic music]

The saddest thing
is the parents' imagining

their children are alive

and what
they're going through.

I mean, that's tough.

So, the things that were going
through his mind,

as to what his daughter
was enduring,

was very painful for him.

[sad music]

♪

So, we'd drive around [cries]
and talk it out.

♪

[sad music]

I got quite close to him
through this ordeal.

♪

[sad music]
[clock ticking]

♪

[Lyric] Hi mom.

[Misty]
It was raining outside,

and I sat out in the rain
because I didn't know

if they were inside or not.
You know?

And if they were
out in the rain,

I didn't wanna be in comfort

and that's how
every single day was.

[cries]
'Cause you didn't know.

♪

[Drew] The police department,

I wanna say
sometime in October,

they were like "We don't need
to see you everyday."

That was really hard.

'Cause we'd liked going there
and getting updates.

It just kinda slows down,
other things happen,

and they have to work
other crimes.

[clock ticking] [soft music]

[Heather] We wrote a letter
as a family

to whoever kidnapped
Elizabeth and Lyric.

To whom it may concern.

We would use your name,

but we don't know
who you are, or maybe we do.

[Drew] Maybe you are
someone who knows the girls,

maybe you are someone

who just acted
upon an impulse.

[Heather] Maybe you planned
to take them. We don't know,

because we don't know
who you are.

Maybe we can sort of imagine
that you must not have had

the things you needed
to grow up

feeling safe and loved
because only someone

who hurts inside
would hurt another person

and their family.

[sad music]

[Heather]Taking the girls from us

has caused much pain,
pain for them,

pain for us and our families.

Since the time you took them,
maybe you've wondered

more than a few times

how you could
ever make it right?

How to be the hero
not the monster?

♪

We want you to know
that we are praying for you

to do the right thing.

By releasing the girls,
everyone wins. Even you.

Imagine how it would feel
to have everyone remember

that you were the one person
in all the missing cases

who cared enough
to let the girls go?

Our lives have not been
the same since July 13th.

[Drew] Please let our girls...

[tense music]

♪

come home to us.

Please do the right thing.

Be a hero.

Sincerely, Drew and Heather,
Dan and Misty.

[dramatic music]

[suspenseful music]
[clock ticking]

[suspenseful music]

♪

[suspenseful music]

[water gently flowing]

[suspenseful music]

♪

[footsteps on leaves]

[birds chirping]

[Amanda] It was the last
day of the hunting season

and the weather
was on the warmer side.

Not your typical winter.

[Kevin] Came out
and pushed from far end

all the way back this way
and I looked up

and I saw a fawn
off to the side.

And kinda signaled
to mom and dad

to post up, so I could kinda
flush 'em out.

[bird chirping]

Something
just kept telling me

like "No, further back,
further back."

We were guided back here
by some other power,

bigger than ourselves.

[mysterious music]

[Kevin] That's when
I seen the pink cloth,

is kinda what
stuck out to me at first.

And then
when I pulled that cloth back,

and saw a very human
skull looking back at me,

kind of stumbled back
and just in disbelief.

That's when
I saw the other skull

and shoe right there.

The longer we stood here,
we'd just see more and more

remains strewn
across the whole area.

[Amanda] We called 911
and basically just repeating

that "There's remains here,
there's clothes, shoes.

That we're pretty sure
it's human."

[mysterious music]

[Kevin] Then the first officer
came walking through.

"Yep, can confirm

we have remains
of two individuals here.

Looks like children."

[suspenseful music]

[Drew] I mean, when you look
at those girls,

they're beautiful.

Sweet.

Innocent girls

and this is a [bleep] monster
who did this.

[suspenseful music]

How do you snuff out
two little girls

and leave 'em

like they're trash?

You're not
doing that to my kid.

It's never gonna end
till we find out who did this.

And there's
no forgetting that for me.

[tense music]

[thud]

[phone call ringing]

[911 operator]911 Boone County,

what's the location
of your emergency?

[Dezi]Can you please help me?

There's...

[911 operator]What's going on?

[Dezi] This dude picked me
and my friend...

I am [bleep] worried
and I need help.

[Reporter] 15-year-old
Kathlynn Shepardand

and 12-year-old girl

whose name
has not yet been released,

were abducted
from a bus station

right near
an elementary school.

And the 12-year-old girl
managed to escape.

She provided key information
to investigators.

[suspenseful music]