Search for Missing Cousins Turns to Iowa Landfill

As the mystery surrounding the disappearance of two cousins in northeastern Iowa enters its seventh day, the search has moved to a landfill and a closer look into the lake near where the girls' bicycles were found. Black Hawk County Waste Disposal said authorities asked the company Monday to start dumping trash from Evansdale homes and businesses in a separate area of the county landfill. An official confirmed the landfill had been searched but declined to say what, if any, evidence was found.

Authorities dredged the lake, then began draining it on Monday in hopes of ruling out that Elizabeth Collins, 8, and Lyric Cook-Morrissey, 10, had died in the water. The effort was taking longer than expected, but the official said he expected it to wrap up by tomorrow with the use of some new heavy equipment. An FBI rep said a dive team from Los Angeles may be deployed to search the deeper spots in the lake. The girls' aunt said officers recently went into a family home and confiscated all the computers "for the purpose of seeing what information they could get off them." She did not say whose home the computers were taken from, and investigators did not comment on the removal of items from family members' homes. (More Elizabeth Collins stories.)