Parents Write Open Letter Urging Kidnappers to 'Be a Hero' and Return Missing Evansdale Cousins

Drew and Heather Collins and Dan and Misty Morrissey-Cook, the parents of Lyric Morrissey-Cook and Elizabeth Collins, have released an open letter asking for the return of their daughters.

The cousins, Lyric, 11, and Elizabeth, 9, have been missing for four months as of today. Authorities are calling it an abduction. They were last seen on July 13 near Meyers Lake in Evansdale.

"Taking the girls from us has caused much pain, pain for them, pain for us and our families," they wrote in the letter that has been posted on the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier website. "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 a hero, not a monster. Things probably look pretty hopeless for a good outcome."

The full letter can be read on the Courier site.

Today, Drew Collins, reached by phone in Fort Dodge, said he and his wife are traveling the state from border to border handing out new fliers about the missing girls. Clearly, they have not given up hope.

"We want you to know that we are praying for you to do the right thing," they said in the letter. "By releasing the girls, everyone wins. Even you. The person who took them."

"Please, let our girls come home to us," they wrote. Do the right thing. Be a hero."