Michael Klunder Abducted Two Girls Then Kills Self; One Girl Still Missing
May 22, 2013 at 10:12 am by Morbid
DAYTON, IA – The search for 15-year-old Kathlynn Shepard is still ongoing after she and a 12-year-old girl were both abducted by 42-year-old Michael Klunder, a registered sex offender who committed suicide hours after the younger girl escaped.
Authorities say Klunder abducted the two girls after they got off a school bus on Monday, luring the girls into his truck with the promise of them making money cutting grass. He then took the girls to a hog confinement farm about 15 miles south of Dayton.
There’s not a lot of details regarding what happened once the girls were at the farm, but the younger girl somehow managed to escape Klunder and make a run for it. She ended up at a neighboring farm where two men found the girl as she was crawling to them underneath a wire fence.
She was wearing shorts and a T-shirt, but had no shoes. She also had a thick zip tie cable around one of her wrists that one of the men cut free before grabbing a gun and running towards the hog confinement facility.…
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Evansdale, Iowa — Kinda sad that I post so many of these stories (3,333 articles so far) that I totally forgot about the two girls who went missing in Iowa over the summer. But this afternoon, Blackhawk County authorities announced that hunters had found two bodies that may be linked to the disappearance of Lyric Cook-Morrissey and Elizabeth Collins.
Authorities say the bodies were found by hunters at 12:45 p.m. today. What they would not say was where the bodies were found or if the bodies were actually those of the girls. However, they did mentioned the missing persons investigation and said the bodies led them to believe the search for the girls would not have a positive outcome.
“It’s definitely not the outcome that we wanted,” said County sheriff’s Capt. Rick Abben as he appeared to fight back tears. The bodies have been sent to the state examiner’s office for positive identification.
Lyric Cook-Morrissey, 10, and her cousin Elizabeth Collins, 8, were last seen leaving their grandmother’s home after being given permission to go out on a short bike ride on July 13.…
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Evansdale, Iowa — A massive group of volunteers were out this weekend looking for 10-year-old Lyric Cook and 8-year-old Elizabeth Collins, the two cousins who went missing while riding their bicycles on Friday. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, they were not found.
The two girls were last seen leaving their grandmother’s home after being given permission to go out on a short bike ride. When they did not return home, police were called. Later that afternoon, their bikes were found abandoned near a bike trail.
By Sunday, the volunteer search effort grew to over 900 people and included local authorities and volunteers, as well as state and national agencies that included the FBI and National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. They searched a 12-square mile area, including dragging a 5-acre lake, on foot, horseback, and 4-wheelers while also using search and rescue dogs.
But even with all that, searchers have found absolutely no trace of the girls. ”It’s like they vanished,” Richard Abben of the Black Hawk County Sheriff’s Office said. “There’s just nothing.”
Police say that currently there is no evidence of foul play, and no indication of custodial issues.…
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